Practitioner in Residence brings global initiative to Range students

Baydack’s course will include a review of ecological principles and management approaches, seminars and case studies, and emphasize practical learning through individual and group assignments. The students will work in groups to create an ecosystem management plan based on goals from four local landowners and their agroecosystem managers.

Baydack spent two weeks in January meeting students, lecturing, and meeting landowners. Now, in Canada, he will have students complete four progress presentations online before he returns April 20 to hear the students’ final presentations.

According to Baydack, ecosystem management was established about 50 years ago with the idea that humans could develop goals and objectives for various types of ecosystems, and through a consultation process, it could assist with management in order to achieve sustainability. He said the class exercises are meant to allow students to learn as they go.

“A sustainable ecosystem is what we strive to achieve in any of these exercises. Ranches can be very sustainable if they are managed in a way that satisfies the land owner’s objectives,” Baydack said. “The ecosystem can be maintained through an adoption of a variety of different management techniques and strategies.”

In addition to agricultural landscapes, the concept of agroecosystem management can be applied to various other ecosystems, such as wilderness, national parks, city parks, and suburban subdivisions, according to Baydack.

“This is a global initiative. It is used virtually in every country in the world,” Baydack said. “It has become a very common approach to managing our planet and environment hopefully for sustainability for future generations.”

Chadron is familiar territory for Baydack, who has been hunting turkey in the area for 20 years. Thanks to a connection with Dr. Teresa Frink, professor of agriculture and rangeland management, through the Wildlife Society, he became aware of the Practitioner in Residence program.

Baydack earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Master of Natural Resources from the University of Manitoba and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Since 1979, he has worked at the University of Manitoba.

—Kelsey R. Brummels, College Relations