Acknowledgements &

Disclaimer

[ Home ]

In tasks of knowledge the individual worker can rarely accomplish anything without the support of colleagues. The examples of range vegetation types compiled here exemplify that axiom. This collection and its presentation required the labor and advice of supportive people too numerous to remember. Recognition of some of the indispensable supporters must begin with Mr. Jerry Morse and Dr. Al Stagenberger of the Department of Forestry & Resource Management at the University of California, Berkeley who a quarter century ago provided the council and patient instruction that enabled a neophyte shutterbug to pursue this aspect of his avocation. The continuing friendship and "firey" ecological advice of Dr. Ron Wakimoto, fellow assistant professor at Berkeley and later professor of fire ecology in the School of Forestry at University of Montana, traces to the author's earliest days of photographing vegetation.

Several individuals kindly took slides for this publication upon request by the author. Dr. Joe Cadle, graduate school classmate and fellow professor at Tarleton State University kindly consented to expend some of my Kodachrome in his Canon while "on the slope" of Prudoe Bay thereby allowing inclusion of some tundra range types in this collection. Tarleton graduate student John Ashe took some slides of Sonoran Desert vegetation as part of a problems course which allowed more coverage of this harsh but romantic range type. Former Tarleton student Miss Lee Anne Scott, intern with the Student Conservation Association, and Dr. Naida Lehmann, National Park Service botanist at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, also put some of my Kodachrome to good use and provided slides of the jack pine, basswood and beech-sugar maple forest cover types. The self-less assistance of Dr. Lehmann, who never met the author yet came to the aid of a colleague in an academic endeavor, was most professional and appreciated. Mr. Tim E. Walker, Tarleton State student and now with Texas Parks and Wildlife, took photographs of the open understorey loblolly pine forest type and its regeneration as part of a special problems course. Three of those slides were included with the southeastern pine types. Dr. Michael Wade, professor of horticulture at Tarleton State, took two slides of the eastern white pine-eastern hemlock forest and of American beech specifically for this publication. Miss Allison Weir, with the apt assistance of Miss Manon Brinegar, (two fine graduate students at Tarleton State) put some of the author's Kodachrome to the best use yet to bring back several beautiful and instructive scenes of the Chihuhuan Desert, including cactus species therein, and trans Pecos semidesert grassland. Appreciation is extended to Dr. Harold F. Heady, professor of range management at University of California, Berkeley, for use of two slides of Great Basin vegetation.

Mr. Allen Stahnke, former student in Tarleton's Range Ecology course, as a member of the Soil Survey party in the Texas Big Thicket kindly gave two days out of his rump-bustin' schedule to guide his taskmaster professor to some of the most remote but choicest examples of these rare forest range types and sites. (An instructor's greatest gratification comes when his former student becomes the "on-fire" expert and takes over the role of professor.) Examples and description of various range types and sites in central Florida "collected" on a Society for Range Management tour were made possible by the advice and one-on-one, on-location lecture by Mr. Clifford W. Carter of the Soil Conservation Service (State Range Conservationist Florida and, later, Regional Range Conservationist). Without the patience and expertise of this old-hand the sides of Florida types would have been a jig-saw puzzle. Dr. Tom Shiflet, former chief of Range Conservation (Soil Conservation Service), provided similar aid and general sound advice regarding range types while on an SRM tour of oak-hickory savannas and bald knobs in the Missouri Ozarks, and again several years later just prior to his last battle with cancer.

Prof. Wayne Hamilton and Dr. Bobby J. Ragsdale of the Department of Range Science, Texas A&M University, and Range Specialist of Texas Agricultural Extension Service, respectively, were especially kind to let the author "tag along" on their outstanding summer course, Field Studies in Range Management (Range Science 421). Everyone on this southwest ranching and vegetation safari had his share of "sinking spells", but the unforgettable experience provided a rare opportunity to learn about the rangelands of the mixed prairie in the Rolling Red Plains and of the Rio Grande (South Texas) Plains from two old Aggie masters and to include some examples of one of Earth's biggest, toughest brush patches. Their hospitality and open-book courtesy to a member of a "step-child" campus is remembered with fondness.

The author acknowledges with extra fondness and the most pleasant of memories his debt and gratitude to two Cal Foresters. Drs. Joe R. McBride, chairman of the Department of Forest Science, and Paul J. Zinke, professor emeritus of soil science and forest influences, at University of California, Berkeley made possible most of the portions dealing with the vegetation of the Sierra Nevada and northern Coast Range. Lasting friendships and professional associations between these "forest patriarchs" and the author began years ago when all were fellow faculty members. On a specially arranged visit for preparation of this work Chairman McBride graciously welcomed back a "wayward son" and generously provided room and board (by the board foot) at UC Summer Camp 2000 along with prized rare advice on where to find the priceless trophy vegetation. McBride unselfishly gave of his scarce time to see to that the author collected many examples of the mixed conifer type and got accurate information for descriptions of them. He also furnished a slide of Idaho fescue coastal prairie that was included herein. Prof. Zinke, an ole warhorse who had done some of the pioneer work of the California Soil-Vegetation Survey, took the photographer under his fatherly tutelage and furnished one-of-a-kind transportation, travel log, and tour guidance to a cornucopia of climax and seral communities. Daylong excursions to Lassen Volcanic National Park and national forests were some of the finer times of this project and resulted in such cover types as red fir, mountain hemlock, yellow pine chaparral, wet meadow, and the entire transect (full elevational range) of Sierra Nevada vegetation. Paul and Joe were outstanding "references" on forest ecology and silvicultural systems (as well as local history, most of which is not the sort that is printed). All this "fire-in-the-belly" Forestry was "leavened" with ever-helpful tips from Drs. Al Stagenberger and Jim Bertenshaw (and smoke from the latter's pipe). Such Berkeley brotherhood was essential to inclusion of many of the range types of floristically rich northern California. Just saying "thanks" for the longstanding help and friendship of these Cal Foresters fills this photographers frame with a "warm glow" (though still a remote sensing distance from flower child "touchy feely", fellows).

Dr. Walter D. Willms of Agriculture Canada and Mr. Frank J. Hecker and Mr. Troy Ormann of Land Classification Unity, Agriculture Center, in Lethbridge Alberta gave most freely of their time to provide information regarding location and details of the rough fescue foothills grasslands of the western Prairie Provinces. The openness and neighborliness of these gentlemen was a perfect match for some of the most extraordinarily beautiful range imaginable and a tribute to the best neighbor nation a country ever had.

Prof. Harold L. Osborne, University of Idaho Extension forester and manager of Flat Creek Experimental Forest, unselfishly took the author under his wing and on a personal, "practice tour" which filled in many of the details of forest and forestry in the Northern Rocky Mountain Region. This is one of the most diverse forest regions on the continent with an array of forest management practices equal to the natural diversity. Harold's professionalism; breezy, nothing-to-hide openness; and array of knowledge (especially in regards to forest communities and silvicultural systems) were hopefully reflected in the series of slides from Flat Creek. This university forest was an outstanding example of multiple use forestry and Harold is of the Pinchot breed of forester and a testament to his employer institution.

Dr. Russ Pettit, Professor of Range Management at Texas Tech University, provided indespensible insight into the shinnery oak range ecosystem. Russ spent the better part of his research career working with shin oak range and as one of the leading authorities on this climax shrubland furnished descriptions, explanations, and insights into management of this rangeland cover type that few, if any, other range scientists could have offered. Russ' friendship over a span of two decades was one of the finest examples of collegiality and professional hospitality extended to this author during the Texas phase of his study of range vegetation.

The author was particularily indepted to Dr. J. Daniel Rodgers, range scientist at University of Wyoming, for his insights into the Canby bluegrass-threetip sagebrush range community and details of the habitat on which it develops. There are not good descriptions available for many of the range types and range sites in Wyoming. Range scientists working with range typical of much of Wyoming traditionally emphasized plant taxonomy and applied range management research such as grazing trials rather than descriptions of range vegetation or related areas of Vegetation Science. Prof. Rodgers' insights were indespensible given the oral rather than written accounts of range vegetation in such environments as those of the Front Range, Medicine Bow Mountains, and grasslands of the Central Rocky Mountains.

Mr. Stephen J. Campbell, Natural Resources/Forestry Specialist, Cooperative Agricultural Extension, University of Arizona in a long, detailed discussion painstakeningly described the sacaton flats form of semidesert grassland as well as the complex interactions of grazing, fire, and silviculture of southwestern pine-grass forests and pine-juniper-grass woodlands in northern Arizona. Steve Campbell was a fine tribute to the University of Arizona. He so embodied the features of an extension specialist that he personified Agricultural Extension as most extension faculty wished they had the dedication to reflect. In similar fashion, Mr. David Fisher of the Springerville, Arizona district office, Natural Resources Conservation Service provided useful information about the semidesert grasslands and pinyon pine-juniper woodlands of northeaastern Arizona. David also sent along a hard copy of the soil survey for this part of Apache County, Arizona which allowed the author to avoid that awkward and abhorred Web Soil Srurvey. (It was also enjoyable discussing mutual friends in range conservation with these two devoted public servants.)

Dr. Peter F. Kolb, Montana State University Extension Forestry Specialist/ Associate Professor of Forest Ecology & Management (stationed at Department of Forest Management, University of Montana) gave unselfishly of his time in a lengthy telephone conversation to explain details of river bottomland forests including hardwood as well as Douglas-fir forest communities. The situation regarding Populus species in Montana and Wyoming is confusing to say the least. Dr. Kolb provided essential insights into this aspect of management and ecology of forest ranges.

Other notable examples of forestry professionalism and extra helpful folks included Mr. Jack Puckett, retired U.S. Forest Service fuels specialist for Region One, and his cheery wife Louise. This delightful couple were volunteer hosts at the historic Lochsa Ranger Cabin and they stayed over an hour past quitting time to explain in great detail where to find relict stands of western white pine and other "secrets" of the Idaho mixed conifer forest. Another of the Pinchot breed was Mr. Bear, manager of Heyburn State Park in northern Idaho. He directed the author to the old-growth western white pine forest at Heyburn. These blister rust-resistant trees comprise some of the few remaining stands of this now rare forest cover type. Mr. Bear's knowledge, goodwill, and foresight to reserve from harvest virgin stands made it possible to show students examples of what was once -and hopefully with plant breeding will again be- some of the finest lumber-producing forests in North America.

The U.S. Forest Service came through again with priceless help in regard to the oak-hickory-shortleaf pine type in the Boston Mountains. Mr. Ralph Odegard, Range Management Specialist, and his enthusiastic staff and colleagues of the Boston Mountain Ranger District, Ozark National Forest in Ozark, Arkansas provided the author with materials regarding vegetation classification from the Forest Service "use book" as well as the Arkansas GAP analysis project.Their first-hand familarity with the general forest vegetation, specifically forest range, and of insect pests like oak borers was of great benefit.

One of the warmest receptions and some of the most knowledgable assistance ever received came from Mr. Jim Caldwell, Public Affairs Officer, and Mr. Phillip E. Hyatt, Botanist, of the Kisatchie National Forest in Pineville, Louisiana. The entire segment devoted to the longleaf pine cover type is a tribute to these two men. Without their kind, extremely informative, never-too-busy-to-help "rescue" the author would have been roving the woods of western Louisiana without finding the "crown jewel" of the remaining longleaf pine-pinehill bluestem range.

Miss Rhonda Huston, Wildlife Bilogist, and Mr. Chris Morgan, Forester, Ouchita National Forest provided information regardng plant species of the shortleaf pine-mixed hardwood forest type. In addition, Chris provided insight on silviculture of this type on the Ouchita National Forest plus details about river bottomland forests of the Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge near where he grew up and worked in his early years.

Mr. Kevin R. Herriman of the Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area, Texas Parks & Wildlife, answered many questions regarding one of the more unique oak-dominated bottomland forest forms of the Texas Pineywoods. Detailed descriptions of this forest range type would have been impossible without Kevin's gracious assistance.

Special thanks to Mr. Glen Snell, retired from Soil Conservation Service, for detailed discussion of Iuka IV eastern gamagrass and the "storey behind the storey" of this amazing cultivar, and for doing his part to preserve germ plasm of one of the most productive temperate forage grasses ever developed. It was a pleasure to experience the unquenchable zeal of one of the old-timers and true believers.

Mr. Jack Henson, another range conservationist with the Soil (Natural Resources) Conservation Service, spent over 30 years in the Texas Chihuhuan Desert, Edwards Plateau, and Rio Grande Plains (before the NRCS "computered me out") and shared benefit of his experience in this vast area with the author. Mr. Henson provided a very informative explanation of the unique range vegetation (a mixed scrub-grass savanna) and range sites in the transition zone (ecotone) where these three vegetational (land resource) areas "overlap" or merge into "hodge-podge habitats.

Dr. James Bradley Johnson, Lecturer, Colorado State University provided help in identification of several rush and sedge species in the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Allan Nelson, Assistant Porfessor of Botany, Tarleton State University "networked" with bryologists to identify some of the species of true mosses included in this publication. Mr. Mike Pittman and Mr. Scott Lerich provided background information on geology and vegetation of Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area that contributed to a portion of the Chihuhuan Desert section.

Mrs. Cyndi Cogbill botanist with Missouri Department of Conservation at Wild Cat Glades Conservation Area, provided important help on several occasions in plant identification and graciously sent the author a copy of the plant species list for various natural hibitats of the glades range . The list proved helpful, though woefully inadequate. For example, it did not even include Panicum virgatum, the dominant climax species of these Ozark Plateau chert glades! This was certainly no reflection on Cyndi (who did not compile the list), but it was a good example of why field scientists must always be careful to double-check references. Sometimes experts make big mistakes.

Special acknowledgment is due Dr. Jim Sprinkle, University of Arizona Area Extension Animal Science Specialist, for directions and details on locations of the ponderosa pine-Arizona fescue forest range that made it possible to include this remarkable cover type. Mr. Jimmy Paz, manager of Sabal Palm Grove Audubon Center & Sanctuary, answered questions, helped with basic plant identification, and provided a partial list of plant species all of which contributed immensely to inclusion of one of the most unique and resticted forest range types in North America.

Well-earned appreciation is expressed to Mr. Bob Mountain and his range survey staff on the Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming for help with the confusing array of Poa species growing on the lovely ranges of the foothills, montane zone, and subalpine meadows of that well-managed public land. Mr. Jack Mononi, Bureau of Land Management range conservationist out out of the Cody, Wyoming field office, proveded detailed "vocal volumes" of information and knowledge about saltbush desert scrub range in the Big Horn Basin Garden. (We also took time to wax nostalgic about range vegetation and Agriculture in general within northern California.) Thanks to Mrs. Linda Bishop at the Pruitt Ranger Station, Buffalo National River for answering numerous questions about plant species as well as sending check lists of plants growing along tributaries and the corridor of this Ozark Plateau river which is one of the best preserved natural streams left in a settled part of the continent.

Dr. Michael Fountain, Professor and Acting Dean of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin University, gave generously of precious time amid the search for a new dean of the Forestry School to instruct the author in numerous details of forest vegetation, forest management practices, silvics, and dendrology of the Texas Pineywoods. Dr. Fountain's generosity and collegiality extended in a first-class, crash course to this outsider rangeman greated expanded coverage of forest range types, especially loblolly pine, in this part of the Southeast Forest Complex. Seldom did anyone convey as much knowledge in as busy a time as did Dr. Fountain, a natural "goodwill ambassador" from a fellow member of the Agricultural Consortium of Texas.

Miss Melisa Shawcrost, range conservationist with the Bureau of Land Management out of the La Jara field office graciously took the time to provide the author with details of the Foothills Allotment which was the most beautiful natural Indian ricegrass semidesert grassland this author ever saw. Folks, its at the at base of the Sangra de Cristos Range in the San Luis Valley if you want to see a rangeman's Garden of Eden. Thanks to Miss Shawcrost for giving us the specifics of its stewardship.

Enthusiasts on tours sponsored by North American Prairie Conferences proved to be some of the most knowledgeable, if less formally educated, students of grasslands "available anywhere". These folk, who tend to be biologists from obscure Midwestern colleges and junior colleges or state park systems, often provided insights and observations on the true and tallgrass prairie types that are not standard fare among professional rangemen. They were an enlightening crowd of individualists.

Countless public servants with agencies ranging from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and National Park Service to local and state parks provided invaluable directions, tips, etc. on where to find relict and typical vegetation of range types and sites. In visits to local offices of conservation and ranger districts, as much as headquarters of National Parks, the devoted personnel were never too busy to provide help, some of it better than others. Local ranchers, cowhands, loggers, sportsmen, and even bed-and-breakfast- proprietors were typically the most reliable sources for sound suggestions. There is something about a cowboy armed with a camera that brings forth a font of information from local denizens when they learn the trespasser is interested only in "the woods" or "my pasture".

Of course, I am indebted for much of my knowledge to numerous professors and, in later years, many colleagues at the five land grant university systems I was privileged to be a part of. This debt is even greater to fellow graduate students and, above all, to the "little people" like shepherds, herdsmen, field technicians, and shop mechanics who know best where to get the "really good shots".

Dr. Lori Hidinger, program manager of the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative of the Ecological Society of America, was a tremendous help in directing me to Web Site addresses for The Nature Conservancy United States National Vegetation Classification System and the Vegetation classification Panel of the Ecological Society of America. More importantly, our personal discussions at the 1999 SRM annual meeting and over the telephone enabled me to better understand this major project in classification of our nations' vegetation. Lori's rapid response to requests attest to the professionalism of the ESA even if the system they are helping develop is not very compatible with the vegetation cover types of the SRM and Society of American Foresters.

Dr.William A. Laycock, Professor of Range Management, University of Wyoming encouraged the author to express his views that more recent interpretations of plant succession such as state-and-transition models were consistent with and additions to the classic Clementsian paradigm rather than replacements of this traditional interpretation of vegetation development.

Mr. Brian Moran of the Western Ecology Division, Environmentap Protection Agency, Corvallis, Oregon graciously and unquestioningly sent "droves" of maps of Ecoregions (Levels III and IV) of many states--including most of the Western Range Region--in rapid response to my requests which made possible inclusion of these ecological units in the publication. Later Miss Beth Timmons, GIS analyst, of Western Ecology Division assumed the role of ecoregion map supplier. These maps were invaluable in delineating and permitting inclusion of ecoregions in descriptions and hierarchial arrangement of range types.(Whoever said that agency bureaucrats were unresponsive to needs of their fellow citizens never dealt with public servants like Brian Moran and Beth Timmons.) Likewise, the wonderful staff at the state (Austin) office of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality graceously and speedily sent along a copy of Ecoregions of Texas, the bound complement to the map of the same name.

Mr. Joel Tuhy, Director of Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy of Utah, kindly went to the trouble to send the author an indespensible list of natural plant communities for Utah and Nevada. This work was a great aid in dealing with Great Basin range vegetation. Mr. Marty Bray, manager of McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge (Jefferson County, Texas), was very knowledgeable about the coastal marshes and explained to the author details of salinity relations among the various bulrush or tule species. Bray's insight combined with his higher education and practical experience contributed much to the treatment of coastal tallgrass prarire and marsh vegetation.

Mr. Broden Staples, branch manager of the Enterprise car rental agency at the Spokane airport pointed the author to location of some the prime channeled scablands ranges of eastern Washington. It is remarkable that some of the best tips in regard to range vegetation come from some of the seemingly least likely sources. Miss Terrace Olson, botanist, Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests provided invaluable insights and assistance in regard to plant identification, species composition, vegetational change and development, and general information on forests of the Northern Cascades.

Mr. Lee O. Voigt, area range specialist, Natural Resources Consrvation Service stationed in Jamestown, North Dakota explained in detail the phenomenon of Kentucky bluegrass invasion of mixed prairies in eastern portions of the Northern Great Plains as well as occurrence of granitic glacial erratics. Mr. Cory Swenson, range conservationists, Natural Resoruces Conservation Service, Powder River, Montana provided a lot of background and general descriptions of range in southeastern Montana.

Drs. Ryan Hammit and Steve Vanderpool graciously gave permission to the author and his Tarleton collague, Dr. Allan Nelson, to enter their private property in order to take quantitative measurment and photographs of the climax Quercus margarettiae-Smilax bona-nox scrub community known locally as "sandrough" or "sandtangle". Dr. Vanderpool served as "tour guide" and accompanied the author through the nearly physically impenetrable and, certainly, merciless vegetation of "sandrough" on his land.

Dr. William R. (Bill) Stevens hauled the author down into McDonald County, Missouri and helped locate two examples of native canebrake (Arundinaria gigantea grassland) in the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Mountain System. Two days later at the age of 67 Bill died talking to the author on the telephone. Fond memories and a forever indebtedness to a true, trustworthy, lovely friend. The Gardner family of McDonald County graciously permitted entry onto their private property (though unknown to some family members at the time) for purposes of photographing what little relicts of canebrake remained in this locality.

Mr. David Cope, superintendent, Southwest Missouri Research Center (branch station, Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station), provided useful basic knowledge regarding tame pasture experimentation in the Ozark Plateau of southwest Missouri.

Glen and Carol Roark sent two digital images of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) which permitted inclusion of this unique range type in this publication (These photographs became the only two digital images herein).

It is to the family of Tarleton State University to whom most of the credit for this presentation must go. Miss Barbara Schmidt of the media department was always personable, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful in demonstrating use of the latest computer technology. Her friendship and professionalism over the last 15 years has been most rewarding. Mr. Kevin Kenworthy, Dr. Rob Rhykerd, Dr. Mark Yu, and Dr. Erda Wang are younger faculty members and of the generation that grew up with computers so it fell their lot to continually rescue me from the anguish of machinery that I know next to nothing about (and care less). Dr. Yu was especially helpful in this regard. Mr. Chad Alleva was the graduate student counterpart of this "computer-literate" generation as he did more than anyone to allow me to complete my mission. (I did uphold my role in instruction by teaching Mr. Alleva some appropriate terminology as I reminded him that computers, like mules, "Don't understand nothin' but cussin'.")

Miss Jennifer Heirman, MS student, provided one of the most essential tasks in the painstaking--and always cheerful--scanning of slides onto disks for transferal to the CD ROM. Her successor was Mr. Justin Parker who managed to scan in several hundred slides in between sampling woody vegetation of the Cross Timbers. The lasting friendship with these young people remains a pleasure. Mr. John Bird, graduate student in a neighboring department, tried to do some editing on the second edition; there is something to be said for the "college try". The computer skill of Miss Jana Jordon, Work-Study student at Tarleton State, proved of incaluable value at certain critical points in this effort.. Mr. Matthew Mills of the computer technician with Tarleton's instructional technology unit was a "life-saver" worker whose apt skill at installing slide-scanning software and patience with an "old dog" computer-illiterate professor salvaged an otherwise wasted week of spring break. (One more example of "quail and manna from heaven".) Mr. Logan C. Byrd served as trouble-shooter when some files grew too large for themselves and Tarleton's Office of Web Services also provided essential service at one important juncture when Mr. Daniel Carpenter set up some files in the DreamWeaver program and Miss Karole Schroder showed the author how to adjust for excessive darkness of JPEGs due to improper scanning by an Epson 700 scanner.

Miss Schroder, Accessibility Coordinator & Web Designer/Developer in the Office of Web Services (long title and every "longer" on the essential service she provided) proved indispensable again when she created several new files in Dream Weaver. Karole became one of the most instrumental and essential of all the folks the author gratefully--though inadequately--acknowledged for their efforts. Karole spent hours of her own time cleaning up immense and immensely awkward files of the numerous chapters of Range Types. Likewise, Miss Schroder had three students work on this project, each of which "did an incredible amount of work" (Karole Schroder in an email to the author) to clean up the messy files. Those indispensable students were: Danielle Dunigan, Suleima Rangel, and Renee Warner. To these four kind, hard-working individuals goes a woefully inadequate "thank you".

Later in this project Mr. Nicholas Page, as a member of Informational/Instructural Technology at Tarleton, devoted time and unusual expertise and insight in after-work hours to bring this web site up to more efficient and effective operation. Mr. Cord Brown, Tarleton graduate student in Agricultural Economics, graciously and unselfishly helped the author complete and endure many bureaucratic nonsense ordeals at Tarleton when this institution wound up being run by faceless bureaucrats who are not in the classroom, do no research, assist in no high school outreach events but think up countles meaningless projects for faculty and graduate students to do in ordereto justify their exitence. Cord walked the author through many of these worthless exercises at the same time that he provided first-hand education in irrigation agriculture on the Texas High Plains as well as details of country-western music to which both of us are "addicted".

The respect and conservative compliment for this publication by former Dean of Agriculture and Technology, Dr. Don Knotts, was especially appreciated for its sincerity and appropriate dignified expression.

A special "thank you" to the helpful staff of Tarleton's Dick Smith Library, especially to Miss Linda Nichols, Cathy Hare, and Jane Dickson. Dedicated staffers like these and the marvelous arrangement of interlibrary loan enable those of us at small, backwater teaching colleges to have access to knowledge comparable to faculty at real universities (even if the availability is slower and half the stuff has to be sent back for proper photocopying).

Miss Kay L. Kersh did the entire formatting for the first edition of this project. Even if she does "overload her boat" such that academic projects compete with countless extracurricular events her name is deservedly on the title page where its presence says it all. Miss Jennifer Rodriguez and Dr. Mark Yu were Kay's talented and most willing successors for a brief period. Ginny Vest and Catherine Packard provided brief help (when they felt like it).

Mrs. Teresa Svacina and Miss Shelayna Sanderson were ultimately the two people whose professionalism, charm, patience, and computer skills enabled publication of the second and third editions of the project. Words are inadequate for praise and thanks to these lovely ladies. Their names as the "second generation" formatters is the most understated acknowledgment herein. They were followed in a much more brief and less demanding but necessary sucessional order by Mr. Thiagarajan Ramakrishnan and Prashant Amatya. Miss Sara Best of the author's "home department" performed yeoman's service that was indispensible in completing later editions of Range Types.

Lastly, Dr. Larry Rittenhouse, professor of Range Science at Colorado State University, is most graciously thanked for providing the idea of this project. To Larry must go the credit for suggesting a publication that will hopefully serve those students of Agriculture who have not had the opportunity to experience firsthand the raw grandeur of our natural pastures and see the diverse array of native vegetation on what is generally regarded as the continent most manifestly endowed with natural resources.

The author must specify clearly that while he received indispensable help from the many individuals named this was voluntary and out of friendship. The author obtained essentially zero institutional help and none at the department or college level except from former Dean of Agriculture & Technology Dr. Don Knotts whose good-natured and low-key but sincere modest support were most encouraging. The Tarleton State University webmaster office is woefully understaffed, and while the author is indebted to Miss Lea Schultz the lack of adequate personnel whenever she was absent left a void that often resulted in delays that "trajected" out to two weeks. It was only friends and colleagues of the author that made this collection possible. Tarleton State University as an organization provided no help or encouragement, often the contrary.

For example, the prudish, mindless, and constitutionally questionable censorship practices regarding use of the agriculture computer laboratory coupled with the disrespectful treatment and the lack of collegiality by the Tarleton computer services group set into motion a chain of events that delayed publication of an expanded, revised edition of this web publication by five and a half months.

Aid from the computer unit at Tarleton (so-called "Information Resources, Academic Computing Resources") was invariably short of service and long on a relatively high level of incompetence and long response time during the first two editions of this publication. For instance when new, more powerful computers were installed the out-sourcing technician who installed these computers informed "Information Resources" that the hand-me-down computer (but at least, and long last, one with a zip-drive) passed along to this author had a bad hard-drive that needed replacement. When six weeks later nothing was done the author's secretary called Information Resources. Their people came and, as typical, looked and did nothing. Three weeks later the hard-drive cratered and Information Resources was again notified. This time these folks took the computer and installed a new hard-drive. Then they could not reinstall the programs that had been on the old, crashed hard-drive. Two students came and the second one finally installed most of the programs that had been on the old C drive. Then the computer would not print. Now we were into spring break and still no functional computer after Computing Resources had been advised by an impartial knowledgeable technician as to this problem one week before start of the semester. Had Computing Resources gotten on top of the problem when told of it by an impartial party and through proper communication channels there would have been no down time at all. As it was however one half of a semester was required to perform a routine maintenance operation. If this is not incompetence the author has been blessed not to see incompetence.

In subsequent years and for later editions the computing unit became much better staffed and more proficient and responsive to computer-users. Mr. Stephen Wilson was a courteous, extremely knowledgable computer specialist who provided invaluable assistance on several occasions. Mr. Wilson did much to restore confidence in a bureaucratic unit that had heretofore been long on titles and short on installation skills and trouble-shooting. Later, and still under leadership of Mr. Wilson, more outstanding, dedicated people were added to this inadequated funded unit. Mr. Mr. Jeff Stanfield, Technology Support Specialist, was one such super-capable member who provided perfect service.

For approximately the first eight years of Range Types of North America Tarleton State University per se with its plethora of inept, self-serving bureaucrats interfered painfully, indirectly though it was, with this project. Flatulent boasts about "excellence" and "support or backing of the faculty" not withstanding, Tarleton did NOT foster excellence or even mediocrity in collegial non-interference with web authors, let alone in rendering assistance to faculty members slugging through the up-hill battle of on-line publication.

During those extremely trying years publication of the material herein could not have been accomplished through organized campus channels and positions.

Publication was achieved only by the tactics of beg, borrow, bootleg, and bellyache, and by payment for services by the author himself with zero financial or other support from his department or college. There were literally cases when some capable, "computer literate" graduate students and Work-Study students who were being paid by the authors department played video games in the front departmental office while the author had to hire- and pay with his own money -other students to assist in completing this project.

Selfless service "above and beyond the call" by graduate students, fellow professors, and support staff (especially in the Dick Smith Library)- not university personnel shown formally and officially in channels and positions of the irrelevant university organization chart- made the material herein available to www. clientele. It was members of the Tarleton "family" who volunteered their services- not those officials who shirked their duty- and Tarleton State University as an institution- not a top-heavy organization- that enabled presentation of this reference work during that extremely frustrating time.

Perhaps it was expecting or asking too much of a higher education organization devoted strictly to teaching to provide formal assistance in publishing, even with an online teaching reference like this publication. If that is the case, there are two relevant and unarguable, non-debatable points. Point one: Tarleton should not ask nor expect its faculty to publish. As Mr. Shakespeare noted what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Point two: the organization should be honest enough to truthfully call itself a college (the teaching organization in higher education) and not falsely advertise or purport itself to be a university (the research organization in higher education with its origin in the German model). If Tarleton State is not going to provide the support staff and structure for scholarly publication it should replace its counterfeit use of the word "University" with the legitimate term "College" and abandon the Graduate College (the educational unit existing solely for the training of future researchers). Substantial progress has been made in this regard, but the overall problem still exist. This is especially obvious in certain areas of Tarleton's agricultural college where much ado is made of "research" yet peer-reviewed articles in the relevant journals (the "coin of the realm") have not become the standard research publication.

Conditions for on-line publishing of scholarship by independent authors as just described existed for the first eight years of producing this publication. After those tremendously trying years, service through official channels of support and organized university units improved remarkably. For instance, there was the almost unbelievable improvement in service from Computing Resources that was indicated above. As more offices and more staff workers became involved in computer and related classroom technologies at Tarleton State spectacular improvements were made in effeciency, turn-aroung-time, and courtesy for computing activities, including assistance for those who publish on "the Web". Such positive developments apparently defied the oft-seen trend for matters to get worse with increased bureaucracy. Such progrsssive changes went a long way toward rectifying earlier headaches and heartbreaking discouragements, but they cannot completely absolve the organization of its previous ineffectiveness and apathy.

Personal honesty and accurate acknowledgments demanded these specifics and clarifications. In regard to this web site, for about the first eight years Tarleton State University was a paymaster, telephone line, and an address. During that approximate eight-year period Tarleton as an organization deserved credit for nothing else with respect to Range Types of North America. Thereafter, services through official units and channels of Tarleton State University improved phenomenonally. After those trying years of creating obstacles for on-line authors Tarleton State grew into a willing and effective helper for faculty who published on the Web. Still, in the context of giving the devil his due, the administration of Tarleton State University should be acknowledged for its "get even" treatment of the author after the resolution of the bifurcated case of Rosiere versus Thompson. Such use of appointed rank to take unfair advantage, cowardly conduct from which "real men" refrain, taught this worker the deep joy and personal satisfaction that comes when one does indeed work without regard of recognition and reward. Besides, the petty (and largely ineffective) meaness of autocratic, vengeful administrators was offset many fold by the ethical conduct and assistance of countless Tarleton colleagues and staff (even a few fair-minded administrators), the enthusiasm of some knowledge-hungry students, and the informed support of courageous, faithful friends "fit to ride the river with".

These more obvious contributions acknowledged it remains but to state the standard that any errors, imprecise applications, mistaken interpretations, incorrect identifications, and so on are those solely of the author. I accept full blame for inaccuracies or confusion caused by faulty writing. It is emphasized that this collection was donated to the Society for Range Management. The Society did not invite, appoint to, or delegate this work; nor did it officially endorse any of the material contained herein. Comments, conclusions, opinions, perspectives, interpretations of the literature, and viewpoints are mine alone. Duly advised, "Mount Up"!

R.E. Rosiere, Professor of Range Management
Certified Professional in Rangeland Management (CP00-31)
Tarleton State University
Texas A&M University System

Footnote on local histories and acknowledgements: acknowledgments given above were of those people who directly (and to the author's knowledge) contributed--almost all postively; a few negatively--directly to this publication. Not included above were references to the unknown folks, those individuals and groups whose efforts at conservation, education, and institutional development resulted in contributions--sometimes unwittingly or even unintenionally--that made possible (directly or indirectly) the images and knowledge given herein. These contributors--direct and indirect--varied from founders who built ranching and lumbering empires to selfless public servants working for the greater public good to skillful politcians (perhaps a few were even statesmen) driven by various motives (honorable and otherwise).

Every ranch, large or tiny; each national (or state) forest and national grassland; national park or monument; national (or state) wildlife refuge, experimental range and forest; all universities; even nongovernment organizations devoted to nature and natural resources have their own rich, unique history and a past (always colorful, often "checkered") that explains to large degree where these individuals or institutions are currently and where they might be in the future. Perhaps even more important--at least in some instances--is the unwritten "history" or, or maybe more accurately, the "lost heritage" of organizations. One of the melancholy features in the march of humanity has been the loss of our knowledge of things past. This certainly applies to now-unknown endeavors that were necessary in providing the "raw material" for Range Types of North America.

One example of such fragile and fleeting--partly known yet more unknown--history that has been kept alive only through the oral tradition concerns that of the Tarleton State University Hunewell Ranch from which numerous photographs of range plants were taken for inclusion in Range Types. A review of the interesting history of the small holding (1172 acres) known as Hunewell Ranch illustrated the social phenomenon of "lost" (or "almost lost") history and the fragile nature of the oral tradition.

Dr. Chris Guthrie, Professor of History, Tarleton State University published the following concerning Dennis G. Hunewell:

"Before he retired, Hunewell had purchased a 1,200-acre ranch, about seven miles southeast of Stephenville. He moved to this rural property after retirement and devoted himself to raising registered Hereford cattle. He seldom referred to Stephenville or Tarleton. He would come to town only at "tax paying time" once a year or to stay at his old apartment in the Hall Hotel. He would receive old friends, colleagues, and students for a few days and then return to his ranch for another year, Neighbors found him dead from pneumonia at this ranch on the morning of December 19, 1959. He was eighty-three years old.

"Hunewell left his ranch to Tarleton in his will. According to the provisions of the document (which was probated in early 1960), the school would rent the land out and use the proceeds to fund $200 scholarships for ten band students per year and purchase instruments, uniforms, and other equipment needed by the band. Tarleton leased the property to private individuals for five years and used the revenue as Hunewell had intended. In 1965 the music and agriculture departments at Tarleton worked out an agreement whereupon the latter department would use the property for its rang management classes in exchange for an annual payment to the Band Fund. This arrangement, with several modifications in the number and amounts of the band scholarships to compensate for inflation, remains intact today. Dennis G. Hunewell, through his gift of Hunewell Ranch and his insistence on excellence from his students, continues to have an important influence on Tarleton long after his death."

Guthrie, Christopher. John Tarleton and his Legacy: The History of Tarleton State University, 1899-1999. Acton, MA: Tapestry Press, 1999. pp. 382-385.

So much for formal or recorded history. (Actually Dennis Hunewell and his wife left the property that came to be known as Hunewell Ranch in their recorded will [written in 1949] to Tarleton State College upon death of both husband and wife.) Strictly speaking, at least in spirit if not letter of the will, the real estate was left to the Tarleton band (or its administrative unit). There was nothing in the Hunewell will that stipulated the band unit or the music department of Tarleton State College had to retain this property. At that time the real estate could have been sold, though it was common knowledge at Tarleton State that Dennis Hunewell wanted the land retained by the college as a memorial to the Hunewells with the money from the lease, the renting out of the land, to be used for "bandmen". For five years after Dennis Hunewell's death the Hunewell property was leased out to a private party. Then, as Prof. Guthrie correctly wrote, beginning in 1965 and continually since that time the agricultural college of Tarleton State University has leased Hunewell Ranch from the music department of Tarleton State.

What is not clear from this brief, accurate, and incomplete account is when the College of Agriculture of Tarleton State University first started using Hunewell Ranch as range for its own cattle. The College of Agriculture apparently sub-leased grazing privileges to Hunewell Ranch to a Mr. Purvis for approximately five or six years before Agriculture started running its own cattle on Hunewell range. (The actual year that Tarleton Agriculture took possession of Hunewell range is apparently unknown.)

Hunewell Ranch was (and still is) in a decrepit (= deteriorated) state from an ecological standpoint. There were apparently old farm fields on this property that predated ownership by Dennis Hunewell, and it was part of the oral history regarding Hunewell Ranch that Dennis Hunewell himself tried to continue farming some of these fields. This was back in the 1940s and 1950s when this area of Texas was still part of the agricultural region known as the Cotton Belt and these fields had been plant to uplant cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) to cotton with little if any conservation tillage practiced. Some of these old fields have lost all or most of their topsoil (the A horizon of these in situ soils). Such old fields (formal term used by ecologists) are what rangemen call "go-back ground" or "go-back land". It is land reverting back--to the extent possible given severe soil loss--to natural vegetation via secondary plant succession. It is certainly a documented historical fact that in the late 1990s assistant professor Roger Wittie and Tarleton State University farm staff plowed up retired old fields (some with eight percent slopes) that had well-established stands of weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) protecting their highly erodible soils. These weeping lovegrass stands had been established under advice and supervision of the federal Soil Conservtion Service and financed by funds appropriated by the Texas legislature (see below). This author-observer has 35mm Kodachrome slides documenting this improper management and the soil erosion that resulted before that "broke-out" introduced (weeping lovegrass) grassland was reseeded to native prairie grasses or started to revegetate through secondary succession.

The reseeding of the old weeping lovegrass field (itself an earlier reseeding project) demontrated in miniscule the fragile nature of local history and how even seemingly trivial facts can later become relevant, even highly important. The highly erodible land of the old weeping lovegrass field was re-reseeded to a mixture of native tallgrass and midgrass species using a Brillion cultipacker seeder borrowed from the Bosque Soil and Water Conservation District. Mr. Tony Huffman, Erath County district conservationist of Natural Resources Conservation Service, provided expertise on the reseeding mixture and made arrangements for loan of the cultipacker-seeder. Mr. Allan Morgan, Tarleton manager of agricultural operations, helped correctly re-adjust the seeder and Mitchell Keeling, a Tarleton undergraduate farm worker, drove the tractor doing the actual seeding (planting of the native grass mixture). This reseeding project was made possible by allocation of college operating funds by the always-amiable and ever-cooperative agriculture dean, Dr. Don Kotts (Ph.D., Agricultura Eduction; successor to Jesse L. Tackett). Dr. Randy Rosiere, Professor of Range Management, initiated and oversaw this re-reseeding project and recorded the reseeding operation on slides (Kodachrome 64 film). Rosiere also kept a record of all details (eg. species composition of the reseeding mixture), including correspondence, regarding the reseeding project. Grass seed was purchased from Turner Seed Company of Breckenridge, Texas. This was the largest--though the second time around--revegetation project in the history of Hunewell Ranch. Rosiere incorporated 35mm slides of this project in some of the Range and Ranch Management courses he taught as well as inserting a few slides in Range Types of North America.

Not only had much of the soil on Hunewell Ranch been mined (the conservation term for improper use of soil that results in its lost beyond rates of soil replacement or new soil formation), but the property suffered from brush invasion, a trend unfortunately that has greatly increased during possession by Tarleton State University. Range on Hunewell Ranch continues to suffer from periodic overuse (riparian zones are overgrazed) and brush encroachment. Prescribed fire had not been used in the last two decades, and prior prescribed burning did not amount to much. This trend in mismanagement developed--certainly increased--roughly a quarter century ago. During this time frame there has also been increased human use of Hunewell Ranch beyond grazing and farming, including greater use in teaching resulting from more high school judging contests and more courses taught by Tarleton faculty that use Hunewell Ranch for laboratories.

This recent history of mismanagement has made for effective teaching from a negative standpoint (ie. how not to run a ranch and manage Grand Prairie and Cross Timbers range resources). Ironically, there is probably more botanical and general ecological diversity (= greater number of plant species and local plant communities)--and thus more educational opportunities from that limited standpoint--as a result of mismanagement. Likewise, much of the degradation at Hunewell Ranch results from unavoidable damage caused by (and inherent in) educational activities, especially high school judging contests (eg. enlarged sacrifice areas due to traffic of large student-transporting vehicles, open soil pits, off-road traffic, etc.).

From here on there has been no written record of the history of Hunewell Ranch and the "horse-trading" activities (ie. university politics) intricately related to Hunewell Ranch. Enter Clyde H. Wells and Henry W. Turney. Wells was a ranchman who was born and spent his boyhood days in Stephenville, Texas, the location of Tarleton State and where Clyde Well's father worked for 30 years on the Tarleton College Farm. Henry Turney was born and raised up in the nearby community of Purvis, Texas. Henry was two years older than Clyde Wells, but both young men attended Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College, majoring in fields of Agriculture, at about the same time and became close, lifelong friends. For two years during World War II, Clyde Wells taught Agronomy (field crops) at Tarleton State College. Wells then went on to become manager of a large commercial ranch. Henry Turney was a a stock-raiser and peanut-grower on his small operation near Purvis. Beginning in about 1960 Turney taught Range Management, as a half-time Lecturer, at Tarleton until retiring in 1984.

Clyde Wells was active in both the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Associations. He served on the board of directors of two banks. Clyde Wells became "well-placed" in Texas politics. He was appointed to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in 1961. He served as a regent for the next 20 years. From 1969 until his retirement from the governing board in 1981, Clyde Wells was president of the Board of Regents of Texas A&M University System (Guthrie, 1999, ps. 160-164 passim; Department of Fine Arts and Communications, 2005).

Clyde Wells, Henry Turney, their families, and some other friends had extended annual fishing trips to the Colorado River. On these (and perhaps other) occasions Wells, then president of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, and Turney, currently a half-time faculty member at Tarleton, discussed at length matters related to A&M. For example, at one time the most difficult issue facing Texas A&M University, College Station was the proposed admission of women to the all-male "bastile on the Brazos". Of course, Texas A&M University eventually became co-educational, but getting there was the proverbial "major battle". Turney and Wells discussed this matter at length. (Tarleton had always admitted women so many devout Texas Aggies sent their daughters off to Tarleton, but feminine invasion of the "fatherland" was another matter entirely.)

It was on these Colorado River fishing trips that long-time friends Henry and Clyde discussed the Agriculture program at Tarleton. (Recall that Wells' father worked on the Tarleton College Farm for over 30 years and that both men had attended and taught at Tarleton.) After Dennis Hunewell died and Tarleton took possession of the Hunewell property that came to be known as Hunewell Ranch, the two stock-grower classmates and fishing buddies concluded that the Agriculture College at Tarleton State University should be the one to use that "run-down" property. Agriculture could pay the lease to the Music Department (or whatever the administrative unit of the "bandmen" was called) and incorporate Hunewell Ranch into the agricultural curricula and outdoor laboratory operations. This would be especially important now that Tarleton had recently become a baccalaureate-granting "university". Plus, the newly emerging (started in 1973 to 1974) Horse Program at Tarleton State University, which was one of Well's "pet projects" (Guthrie, 1999, p. 144-145), would require that additional pasture be found for the beef herd.

Clyde Wells' interests were more encompassing than production agriculture or even agricultural and engineeering education. Wells and his wife enjoyed the "more refined" or "cultured things" of life as well as ranching, banking, and politics. The Wells were ardent members of the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council. Through the fine arts council the Wells became friends with Prof. Mary Jane Mingus, a professor in theater at Tarleton State. For a number of years, Tarleton State had tried to get a new building to house such things as music and art. Tarleton President William O. Trogdon, a soil scientist (Ph.D., Ohio State University), worked tirelessly to get funding for this project, but largely to no avail (Department of Fine Arts and Communications, 2005). (Perhaps Trogdon's predcessor had attempted the same, but that is apparently one of those facts lost to recorded history.)

Guthrie (1999, ps. 160-164) recounted the "formal" (ie. the publicly known) history of the political maneuvering involved in securing funding for construction of a Fine Arts building (eventually named the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center). Cooperation among Wells, Mingus, Trogdon, and new assistant professor Christian Rosner (who took the lead, did the "grunt work" of this project, and first met with Wells in 1974) was presented by Guthrie (1999, ps. 160-164), but the intricate details and "under the radar", "behind the scenes" "wheeling and dealing" among these and, unnamed actors (Henry Turney was one) will probably never be revealed. In fact, these details were most likely lost for good with death of all these participants.

Likewise, the role of Hunewell Ranch, that was presumedly or actually (whichever) left to the music department or the Tarleton band, as a financial asset (or the "bargaining chip") is now unknown. For that matter, the impact of Hunewell Ranch in getting the Fine Arts Center was never "officially" known, this being a matter kept closely (and tightly) held among the working group, the gang, of Wells, Mingus, Trogdon, Rosner, and Turney. Perhaps there were other individuals who were intimately involved in negotiations of the Fine Arts building (and the future of Hunewell Ranch) who were not part of Tarleton State University and the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, but neither Turney nor Trogdon ever gave any other names to R.E. Rosiere who is apparently the only person to relate these details in print. (Both Turney and Trogdon independently confided details of the deal to Rosiere, who at that time was assistant professor of Range Management.)

At one point it appeared that Hunewell Ranch would be put up for sale to obtain some of the funds needed to build a fine arts facility. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents had approved 1.5 million dollars for a Fine Arts complex in 1973, but it was obvious from the onset that this sum was grossly insufficient for the project (Guthrie, 1999, p. 160). How far the idea, suggestion, or "talking point" of selling Hunewell Ranch to help build the proposed Fine Arts complex ever came to being a formal proposal or serious consideration is another one of those points of Tarleton history that appears to have been lost forever. This much is known. In 1969 Dean of Agriculture Jesse L. Tackett sent a letter to a Mr. Purvis, who at that time was leasing Hunewell Ranch for cattle grazing, informing him that there was a distinct possibility Hunewell Ranch would be offered for sale. Hence, Mr. Purvis should be prepared to find other pasture. What the relationship between the College of Agriculture and Hunewell Ranch was at that time is not clear now given that Tarleton State University was not grazing its own cattle there, yet apparently using it as a contest location (and probably for laboratory exercises in Tarleton courses). Nor is it documented (or accurately remembered) when the agricultural program of Tarleton State University actually took possession of and started running its own cattle on Hunewell range.

Eventually, with allocations by the Texas A&M University System, as well as through numerous other sources and "schemes", funding for the fine arts building at Tarleton State came to fruition. Again, in all sorts of round-about manuevers and, of course, with the able assistance of the "culture-loving" president of Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Fortunately, this much of Tarleton history was written down and published: for the Twenty-Fifth Anniversity of the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center (Department of Fine Arts and Communications, 2005).

Guthrie (1999, ps. 160-164) provided the following details regarding the building of the Fine Arts Center. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved 6.26 million dollars for construction of the Fine Arts building which was allocated out of Permanent University Funds. This was the first time PUF monies had ever been used on campuses other than those of Texas A&M University (College Station) and University of Texas, Austin. It was left up to Tarleton State University to raise the 1.25 million dollars that would be needed to equip the Fine Arts building, presumedly this was to come from private sources. Construction began on the Fine Arts complex in 1977 and it was opened for classes in 1980.

A little-known (because most of the principal players have been long-since dead)--and probably one of the most influencial and pivotal--aspects of getting the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center was the affiliation of this building with the restored Kerr's Opera House (opened in 1886) in Grandbury, Texas that was restored (following years of severe deterioration) and re-opened in 1975 as the Grandbury Opera House by the Grandbury Opera Association (Texas State Historical Marker). Somehow (and the facts appear to have been lost with deaths of the principal players) these two buildings became involved with each other. Stage plays under direction of Tarleton professor Mary Jane Mingus did routinely perform at the Grandbury Opera House beginning soon after its operning as reported frequently in the Tarleton State newspaper, the J-TAC.

"According to legend" (or "rumor has it") Prof. Mingus did not always get along all that well with Mrs. Mary Lou Watkins who was the undisputed civic leader in historic preservtion/restoration of Grandbury and the main "mover and shaker" for the restoring and re-opening of Grandbury Opera House. In Mary Lou Watkins' obituary (January, 2001) it was requested that any memorial contributions be given to the Grandbury Opera House Preservation Fund.

There were also rumors to the effect that around 1976 (or sometime shortly before that year) when federal grants became available for historic preservation in celebration of America's bi-centennial, Clyde Wells at least attempted to obtain federal funds for the Grandbury Opera House and this necessitated linking such effort to some public project. Allegedly, the Tarleton Fine Arts Center was proposed to be that affiliated/associated public project (Assistant Professor Mark Davis, a forty five year veteran member of the Fine Arts faculty at Tarleton State University, personal communication). Constance P. "Connie" Birdsong, co-founder of the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council, was also involved (somehow; more details lost to formal history) in this intricate web of building the Clyde Wells Fine Arts Center.

The now obscure relationship between the the Clyde Wells Fine Arts Center and the Grandbury Opera House has apparently become another bit of lost Tarleton history. The extent of involvement of Mrs. Mary Jane Mingus (and possibly others such as Mrs. Mary Lou Watkins) will probably never be recorded. (Details were probably never known except among those few directly--and only partly "officially"--involved). It is certain that the most lengthy discussion and some of the final plans for "horse-trading" and "log-rolling" needed to secure funding for what became the Clyde Wells Fine Arts Center were concocted between Clyde Wells and his long-time and close Texas Aggie friend, Henry Turney.

Somehow, on one (or several) of the Colorado River fishing trips (and maybe with return-home, follow-up conversations) Clyde Wells and Henry Turney in a round-about process hatched a scheme to get financial support from the Texas A&M University System (the Board of Regents of which Wells was president) to construct facilities for the fine arts, performing arts, whatever while at the same time securing lasting use of the music department's Hunewell Ranch by Tarleton's agriculture college (whatever name was in use then). In an unofficial, informal way; in a "just- between-us" meeting of the minds this unwritten "gentlemen's agreement" was reached.

Clyde Wells did not stop there. Although he apparently never held one of the higher elected offices, Wells was an astute politician and a "horse trader" par excellence. Wells button-holed Texas congressman Tom Creighton (Mineral Wells) and eventually got at least two line- item appropriations from the Texas legislature during the early 1970s for improvement of Hunewell Ranch. These line-item appropriations eventually amounted to over $150,000. This state money was used for a number of range improvements and developments (establishing permanent pasture, reseeding deteriorated ranges, construction of internal fences, etc.) on Hunewell Ranch. This was in cooperation with the Soil Conservation Service (United States Department of Agriculture) which assisted Tarleton faculty in planning and instituting these projects. These actions are a matter of public record done out in the open in the "full light of day", but there was other history--the "nitty-gritty" stuff--that was behind the scenes involving very few people and not publicly revealed.

Such "real" history", the true goings-on or the actual "poop", is the stuff of proverbial smoke-filled back rooms (or, in this instance, the smoke of camp fires on banks of the Colorado River). It is in such atmospheres that political deals are really made. The fact of the line-item appropraitions and funding through official sources was public knowledge. The inner workings regarding "off-the-record", unspoken deals are details available only through oral transmission by those who struck the deals (or by those who were told the details by the deal-makers).

Specifics regarding whatever "wink-and-a-nod" decisions were made regarding Hunewell Ranch and the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center, much of which was conceived on fishing trips to the Colorado River, were relayed orally by retired instructor Henry Turney to Randy E. Rosiere (Ph.D., New Mexico State University), assistant professor of range management, in the mid- to late 1980s. One semester following Turney's retirement Rosiere embarked on a tenure-track, assistant professor position at Tarleton that had been created by the one-half Full Time Equivalent of Turney and another one/half FTE of a retired professor in Agronomy. Turney (35 years older than Rosiere) and Rosiere (veteran faculty member from University of California, Berkeley who left Cal for lack of tenure) developed a close relationship when they set up (put together) high school range and pasture contests, most of them located at Hunewell Ranch. Turney enjoyed relating such intimate and intricate (and intriguing) details of deals (such as of Hunewell and the fine arts center) to Rosiere. Turney thought the world of Wells. Rosiere had the same sort of respect for Turney.

In time, Rosiere also got to know Tarleton president emeritus William (Bill) Trogdon who, on retirement from administration, went back to the classroom and taught freshman Agricultural Economics. Rosiere taught freshman Agronomy. With a common freshman fate and a different relationship from that with faculty who had served under president Trogdon, the retired president and the assistant professor became frequent communicants. Trogdon confirmed Turney's rendition of facts on the unofficial agreement between Hunewell Ranch and the Fine Arts Center.

Turney confided the general details of the trade or "swap" of funding for the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center and the music department's continued leasing of Hunewell Ranch to Rosiere on several occasions, with at least one of these to both Rosiere and full professor Clyde R. Stahnke (co-superintendent of the FFA land or soils contest). It is likely that dean of agriculture, Jesse L. Tackett, also knew this much of the deal (and also probably through Henry Turney). Wells never told Turney the most intricate or intimate details of the academic trade-out, who was involved in this university "log rolling", or how it was tacitly communicated. The obvious (to those close to it) implicit agreement had to have involved Clyde Wells, Mary Jane Mingus, and Tarleton president William Trogdon. It is also probable that Dr. Christian Rosner, at some point head of the Department Music and Art (Department of Fine Arts and Communications, 2005), was involved in this apparaently largely unspoken but well-understood arrangement.

Matter of fact, one of the more humorous (downright comical, if one is an academic) anecotes in this tangled deal-making has it that during final negotiations over funding for the Fine Arts facility, Tarleton State president W.O. Trogdon was not in the "inner circle" of deal-makers (purposeful exclusion or oversight was never established). Instead, Dr. Trogdon had to contact Profs. Mingus and/or Rosner to find out what was going on. Local legend was that President Trogdon felt rebuffed and probably offended over this, but he was always the gentleman about it. Besides, president Trogdon was an astute politician and practical administrator who would not threaten a multi-million dollar building project over a slight (intended or otherwise). Trogdon's omission was almost certainly not meant as a personal affront (he was just irrelevant). Of course, Henry Turney held the lowest academic rank of Instructor, was non-tenure track, and had no graduate education. (Neither did Clyde Wells.) Who, if anyone, else was involved in the informal, Fine Arts Center-Hunewell Ranch back-stage swap will probably never be known. Wells, Mingus, Rosner, Trogdon, Turney, and Tackett are dead.

The above "wheeling and dealing" did not finalize the status of Hunewell Ranch. In the following decade another chapter was added to the Hunewell Ranch saga. In 1987, word leaked out that Tarleton president Barry B. Thompson (successor to W.O. Trogdon) had been secretely considering selling Hunewell Ranch as "surplus system property". Lower-level administrators, including agriculture dean Jesse Tackett, were flabbergasted. Tackett was especially concerned because the FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) soils and range/pasture contests were held at Hunewell. Furthermore, Hunewell Ranch furnished all kinds of forage (range, pasture, and hay) for livestock and habitat for wildlife. Hunewell Ranch was Tarleton's largest outdoor laboratory. And, if all this was not enough, at this time Hunewell was the private (and non-paid) hunting lease of Jesse Tackett. (That arrangement eventually came to an end; at about this time as a matter of fact.)

Thompson's clandestine, tentative plan to sell Hunewell Ranch came to light in late 1987 (or, maybe, early 1988). In February, 1988 Rosiere met with dean Tackett regarding the rumor of the possible sale of Hunewell. A year or so earlier president Thompson had unilaterally chosen to build Tarleton's new baseball diamond on the existing Horticulture Farm (in spite of a campus master plan that located the baseball park elsewhere and left the Horticulture Farm intact). Agriculture dean Tackett found out about construction of the ball park on the Horticulture Farm when undergraduates asked him why bulldozers were moving earth on the farm. Fear of losing Hunewell Ranch at the whim of autocratic Barry Thompson--and before consulting any lower level administrators-- was well-founded.

The main use of Hunewell Ranch was (and still is) the holding of contests (and for student recruitment more than education or teaching per se). Rosiere understood full-well that these FFA contests were to Tarleton what research was to a real university. The obvious possibility of trying (typically in vain) to find places to hold three contests each spring on private property both annoyed and alarmed Rosiere. Add to the nearly impossible task of finding this many contest sites each year, the dictatorial and mercurial personality (and management style) of Tarleton president Thompson--especially as evidenced by his recent actions--and it was only rational and to be expected that Rosiere and Tackett conferred on the potential sale of Hunewell Ranch.

Using information given him by Tackett and with Tackett's permission, Rosiere wrote a candid and factual memorandum outlining why even consideration of selling Hunewell Ranch was a foolish notion. Rosiere's memorandum went up the chain of commmand (or at least word of it moved up the command chain) in late February, 1988.

Also in February, 1988, Rosiere submitted his application for tenure and promotion to associate professor. Some other related events took place, especially at an FFA contest, but the upshot was that in late August, 1988 president Thompson unilaterally denied tenure to Rosiere after all other lower steps in the tenure process and all other levels in the administrative hierarchy (department, college, deans council, provost) had recommended tenure.

Rosiere undertook the authorized Tarleton (Texas A&M University System) internal appeals process. The intramural appeals was to no avail. Thompson's retaliation was glaring and blatant, but the appeals procedure was informal (without legal consul present) and committee members were not instructed as to the difference between the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt and the civil legal bar of a preponderance of the evidence. Next, Rosiere appealed to chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, Perry L. Adkisson (Ph.D., Entomology). Dr. Adkisson promished in writing (on official letterhead stationary) to Rosiere that he would look into the matter. Chancellor Adkisson broke his word. Nothing was ever heard from him.

With no other recourse than the court systems, Rosiere obtained counsel of a team of "hot-shot", "ace" lawyers out of Arlington, Texas who specialized in academic law. A law suit was filed that later became a bifurcated case with some charges filed in Texas court and other charges filed in the United States court system. The case of Rosiere v. Thompson went to jury trials in both court systems. During depositions and, later, at time of trials two eye-witnesses came forward with direct corroborating evidence of retaliation (civil conspiracy) by president Thompson (and one of his cronies) against assistant professor Rosiere.

Profs. D. Frank Gilman (Ph.D, Agronomy, Texas A&M University) and Clyde R. Stahnke (Ph.D., Soil Science, Oklahoma State University) proved to be infallible and fearless "smoking guns". They gave riviting testimony that they--independently of each other--had overheard conversions by the accused in which Rosiere's up-coming tenure application was discussed vindictively and in regard to Hunewell Ranch. Rosiere and his lawyers were victorius in both jury trials. It had taken five years to progress this far.

Texas A&M Univrsity System appealed the Texas ruling and won that appeal in Texas Appellate Court with that court's opinion ignoring the jury verdict and implying that the Texas trial was irrelevant given Rosiere's victory in Federal District Court. While the plaintiff team was preparing an appeal of the appellate decision to the Texas Supreme Court both plaintiff aned defendant agreed to efforts at an out-of-court settlement that was conducted by a retired Texas judge. Eventually, both parties agreed to a confidential settlement that combined Texas and United States cases. This proposed settlement included monetary jury awards plus reinstatement of Rosiere with tenure retroactively and credit for the missed five years.

Defendent Thompson was sued in his individual capacity, but in actuality the Texas A&M University System was on trial also because all members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents were named individually. Defendents were represented by the office of Texas Attorney General in trials and out-of-court settlement proceedings. Eventually, terms of the proposed out-of-court settlement were presented by a representative of the Texas Attorney General's office to a meeting of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Apparently, there was a prolonged discussion of this proposed settlement (in closed session) with eventual acceptance (the following morning) of the terms of the out-of-court compromise agreement.

Rosiere returned to Tarleton State in 1994 where he has continued to serve for an uninterrupted duration of 30 years at time of this writing. Also in 1994 (less than one year after resolution of Rosiere vs. Thompson), Barry B. Thompson was chosen by the Texas A&M Board of Regents to be chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. In coverage of Thompson's selection for chancellor, the highest administrative position of the Texas A&M University System, major newspapers across Texas noted that Thompson had been found guilty of retaliation in a tenure case and in violation of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Thompson served as system chancellor for five years after which the title of chancellor emeritus was conferred upon him by the Board of Regents, Texas A&M University System. Thompson died in 2014.

The latest chapter in the history of Hunewell Ranch began in 1995 when Tarleton president Dennis P. McCabe (successor to Barry B, Thompson) issued a statement announcing that Hunewell Ranch had been made a permanent part (or words to that affect) of Tarleton State University. From president McCabe's letter it appeared that this decision had approval of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Since that time, a small observatory with radio tower has been built on Hunewell Ranch. Perhaps there was a connection between the addition of a structure as expensive and educationally prominent as the observatory and the Regents' action that apparently made Hunewell Ranch a lasting or permanent part of Tarleton State University.

Also, over time more military exercises have been conducted on Hunewell Ranch by the Tarleton Reserve Officers Training Corps. Agricultural use of Hunewell Ranch increased with addition of more FFA contests and development of an expanded Wildlife Management major at Tarleton State. Such actions would seem to imply that Hunewell Ranch is unlikely to be considered "surplus university property" any time soon.

This does not necessarily mean that Hunewell Ranch will always be a part of Tarleton State University. Some--perhaps most--matters in Academe are never final. (Afterall, the Texas A& M University System Board of Regents is an instututional stream undergoing constant change corresponding to loss and gain of regents.) As for the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center, it remains the centerpiece (more likely "the whole kit and caboodle") of the performing and visual arts at Tarleton State University. Tarleton State is supposedly regarded as the "flagship campus" for culture and refinement in the Texas A&M University System. (No comment from an author lacking credentials in such matters.)

The comparatively brief history of Hunewell Ranch demonstrated how people who were not directly or currently involved with a literary work, research project, etc. can nonetheless have a decisive impact on those undertakings. The Hunewell Ranch example illustrated (and, in this author's experience, rather dramatically) the importance of past events--human actions and their actors--that have shaped the present and the future. These background characters cannot be acknowledged in the usual sense, but maybe they should be noted somehow--for better or for worse.

Literature Cited

Guthrie, C. 1999. John Tarleton and his Legacy: The History of Tarleton State University, 1899-1999. Tapestry Press, Acton, Massachusetts.

Department of Fine Arts and Communications. 2005. Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center- A Tribute to the First 25 years, 1980-2005. Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas.

[ Home ]