Range management program gains meeting's spotlight

Both Dr. Jim O’Rourke, professor emeritus of the CSC program, and Dr. Chuck Butterfield, an associate professor, received special awards.

In addition, a Chadron State junior, Kody Schwager of Bartlett, Neb., was elected secretary of the Student Conclave and two more range management majors from CSC completed terms as national officers. Michelle Miller of Bayard was the conclave president and Jamie Hornickel of Ord was the reporter.

O’Rourke received the Frederic R. Renner Award and Butterfield received the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award during the annual meeting.

The Renner Award is the most prestigious given by the SRM. It is presented with the belief that the recognition will foster better use of rangeland resources and provide a broader understanding of the contributions that the resources make to the welfare of all people.

O’Rourke has been an active member of the Society of Range Management for more than 40 years.

He came to Chadron State as an agriculture professor in 1988 and founded the college’s range management program soon afterwards.  He was on the faculty 14 years before retiring in 2002 to devote full-time to national and international range management activities. He still maintains an office on campus.

O’Rourke was president of the Nebraska Section of the Society of Range Management in 1994 and was president of the national organization 2000-01. In 2003, he was elected president of the International Rangeland Congress and led the organization’s meeting in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, a province in north-central China, in 2008. He was on the IRC Continuing Committee, made up of leaders from each continent, 13 years and is helping plan the next international convention that will be in Argentina in 2011.

He received the Society of Range Management’s Fellow Award as well as its Undergraduate Teaching Award, both in 1998. Only 150 of the Fellow Awards had been given in the 50-year history of the society when O’Rourke was honored.

While serving as the SRM president, O’Rourke emphasized partnerships with similar professional groups and worked to increase interactions with elected officials and federal agencies. He has served as a rangeland consultant in at least 25 countries. Prior to coming to Chadron State, he had spent eight years as a range management specialist in several African countries.

O’Rourke believes his most lasting contribution may be in teaching and working with students, spanning from elementary to graduate schools in activities such as plant identification and youth camps.

O’Rourke and his wife Lora, a range conservationist with the Pine Ridge District of the Nebraska National Forest, and their twins, Seth and Shannon, have numerous agricultural enterprises on their ranch south of Chadron.

Butterfield has been on the Chadron State faculty since 1999, and teaches a variety of courses. He was president of the Nebraska Society of Range Management 2005-06 and has missed just one national range management meeting since joining the society in 1979.

He was president of the SMR’s Student Conclave while he was attending the University of Wyoming and was an advisor of the group throughout his tenure at Chadron State until a year ago. He also was president of the society’s Range Science Education Council in 2002 and was presented the SMR’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Academia/Research in 2008. That year, he also received Chadron State’s Teaching Excellence Award.

In 2006, the Nebraska Chapter of the Wildlife Society presented its Career Service Award to Butterfield, who was nominated by 11 wildlife biologists and conservation officers who work in western Nebraska. In particular, Butterfield was recognized for his leadership in establishing a wildlife management curriculum at Chadron State.  

The Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award which O’Rourke received in 1998 and Butterfield received this year recognizes exemplary and dedicated teaching.  Only one of the awards is given annually. Under their leadership, Chadron State’s range management program has grown into the second largest in the nation. The curriculum is offered at about 25 colleges and universities in the nation. Chadron State has 96 majors this year.

Butterfield’s wife, Dorrene, is a web page designer who posts Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinions weekly and keeps the courts’ rules pages up to date. Their son, Austin, and his wife, Allison, are attending college in Lincoln. They have a son, Torsten.