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Soil Health Conference in Fort Worth on Jan. 13 & 14

December 5, 2014 by Administrator

Green Cover Seed will be hosting the Southern Soil Health Conference, an Educational Opportunity for Producers and Land Owners, in Fort Worth on January 13 and 14, 2015.

The Dixon Water Foundation is one of several organizations sponsoring the conference: Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Texas Grazing Land Conservation Initiative, No-Till on the Plains, Sand County Foundation, Out On The Land, and Natural Resources Defense Council.

This unique conference will focus solely on the Five Keys to Soil Health: Keep the Soil Covered; Minimize Soil Disturbance; Crop Diversity; Living Roots in Soil at all times; and Integration of Livestock with the Land. This conference is for producers and land owners, 75% of the registration slots will be reserved for people directly involved with the land: production agriculture (crops and/or livestock) and land owners. This conference will also be producer driven with almost all the speakers and presenters being farmers. Keynote speakers will include; Gabe Brown, Scott Ravenkamp, Robin and Kelly Griffeth, and Paul Jasa. In addition, we will have 8-10 Texas and Oklahoma producers sharing about their individual experiences with Soil Health and how it has affected their farming operations. Some of these speakers are Todd Kimbrell, Terry McAllister, Jonathan Cobb,and Lisa Bellows. And this conference is about knowledge and learning and not selling products. We will not be having a commercial trade show to promote individual companies or products.

To register or learn more, visit Green Cover Seed’s conference website.

Location:
Best Western Plus South
100 Altamesa Boulevard E
Fort Worth, Texas, 76134
Phone: 817.293.3088

Date: January 13th & 14th, 2015

Cost: $100 Per Person – Your Spouse can register for $50**

*NOTICE – The cost of registration DOES NOT reserve your hotel room. You must book and cover the cost of your hotel room on your own. To reserve your room at the Best Western Plus, contact the hotel (information listed above) and be sure and mention Southern Soil Health Conference when you are booking your room to get the discounted rate of $69 per night.

RMBO produces video about Mexican grasslands

October 14, 2014 by Administrator

One of our partners, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, collaborates with private landowners in northern Mexico to support working ranches and improve grassland habitat for birds and other wildlife. They produced this great video about sustainable ranching in Chihuahuan Desert grasslands earlier this year.

Dixon presents Sul Ross check for sustainable ranching program

September 6, 2014 by Administrator

Officers of the Dixon Water Foundation presented a $200,000 check to Sul Ross State University on Tuesday, Sept. 2. The check represents the first of six annual $200,000 increments to fund the creation of both a B.S. degree and a certificate program in sustainable ranch management at Sul Ross, as well as a permanent endowment for the Clint Josey Chair of Sustainable Ranch Management. The check presentation was featured on NewsWest9.

Pictured (from left) are: Dr. Robert Kinucan, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences; Robert Potts, DWF President and CEO; Melissa Bookout, DWF secretary-treasurer and Education Program director; Clint Josey, Vice President and Chairman of the Board; Dr. Bonnie Warnock, professor of Natural Resource Management, who will be the program’s endowed professor; and Sul Ross President Dr. Bill Kibler. Warnock is developing a curriculum this year, with the first students to be enrolled in the program in fall 2015. (Photo by Steve Lang/Sul Ross State University)

Dixon funds agroecology institute at NCTC

August 8, 2014 by Administrator

GAINESVILLE―A new institute at North Central Texas College will promote sustainable agriculture and healthy food production.

The Josey Institute for Agroecology will conduct research and offer educational programs on sustainable ranching and farming for NCTC students, as well as land owners and the general public. The institute’s creation was funded through an $88,000 grant from the Dixon Water Foundation, which promotes healthy watersheds through sustainable land management and has two ranches in Cooke County.

“This institute will help train a new generation of land stewards to manage economically and ecologically sustainable ranches, which are so important to our state’s future,” said Robert J. Potts, president and CEO of the Dixon Water Foundation.

Receiving the foundation’s check on his first day as NCTC president, Dr. Brent Wallace said, “Service to the community is a vital part of our mission. The establishment of the Josey Institute at NCTC is going to allow us to explore some innovative approaches in serving our students, as well as the entire community, by including programs for planetary sustainability. We are extremely grateful for the monetary contribution, but even more honored to have the opportunity to work in partnership with the people at Dixon Water Foundation.”

Science professor Lisa Bellows will direct the institute. “This will be an exploratory year for the Josey Institute, so that we can define the needs of our community, organize our approach, and target the position of NCTC as a leader in agricultural ecology,” Bellows said.

The institute will serve as the new home of the Promoting Agriculture and Conservation Education (PACE) Project, an existing collaboration between the college and the Gainesville Independent School District. PACE students learn about sustainable ranching on a holistically managed property south of the Gainesville High School. Rotational and multi-species grazing are demonstrated on the property, which is owned by the school district and leased by the college. The Dixon Water Foundation has previously funded the PACE Project as well.

The PACE Project has offered several programs for agriculturalists in the past three years. Bellows said, “Internationally recognized soil microbiologist Dr. Elaine Ingham attracted over 180 visitors to our campus, and we provided soil micro training for over 100 participants this past year.”

Through the institute, Bellows will be teaching a Sustainable Agriculture course this fall, in which Whole Land Management will be the focus. The institute has also scheduled several programs for the general public in the coming year.

The Dixon Water Foundation’s mission is promoting healthy watersheds through sustainable land management. To that end, the foundation demonstrates sustainable land management practices at its four ranches in north and west Texas. In Cooke County, the foundation’s Leo ranch is the site of the new Betty and Clint Josey Pavilion, which aims to be Texas’ first Living Building, the highest standard in sustainable building. The foundation also hosts educational programs, partners with researchers, and funds grants for projects that further its mission.

Dixon Water Foundation board chairman Clint Josey presented the check for the Josey Institute of Agroecology to NCTC on August 1. From left to right: Dr. Brent Wallace, president of NCTC; Mr. Josey; Dr. Lisa Bellows; and foundation President and CEO Robert Potts.

Gainesville Daily Register features Josey Pavilion and holistic management

May 5, 2014 by Administrator

Gainesville reporter Kit Chase has two articles in this week’s Daily Register about the Dixon Water Foundation.

“We’re grass farmers basically as well as raising cattle and sheep. We’re (also) raising our native grasses. We like to create an environment where there’s enough diversity for all of our animals. We take very good care of our land,” Dixon Water Foundation treasurer Melissa Bookhout says in the article, “Cooke County ranchers practice holistic land management.” The article focuses on the foundation’s Lone Star Land Steward Award, in addition to giving an overview of our grazing methods at Leo and Pittman Units

The second article, “Living Building’ soon to be complete,” features the new Josey Pavilion.

Cooke County ranchers practice holistic land management – See more at: http://www.gainesvilleregister.com/local/x360418990/Cooke-County-ranchers-practice-holistic-land-management#sthash.542yZz7S.dpuf

Odessa American reports “Good News” of Dixon endowment at Sul Ross

March 14, 2014 by Administrator

Odessa’s newspaper featured the Dixon Water Foundation’s endowment at Sul Ross State University. The $1.2-million gift will fund the creation of a new degree program in sustainable ranch management.

Dixon endows Sul Ross chair in sustainable ranch management

February 20, 2014 by Administrator

Sul Ross State University will offer a new degree program in sustainable ranch management, thanks to a $1.2 million endowment from the Dixon Water Foundation of Marfa and Decatur.

The endowment establishes the Clint Josey Endowed Chair for Sustainable Ranch Management in the College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Through $200,000 annual increments over a six-year period, the foundation’s gift will pay for the creation of both a B.S. degree and a certificate program in sustainable ranch management as well as a permanent endowment.

“Young, experienced ranch managers are in short supply,” said Robert J. Potts, president and CEO of the Dixon Water Foundation. “This program will help train young people how to manage economically and ecologically sustainable ranches that are so important to our state’s future.”

Bonnie Warnock, professor of Natural Resource Management, will be the endowed professor.

“This is an academic program that will study the ranch as an ecosystem, with people as an integral part of this system,” she said.

Warnock has conducted extensive ecological research on the Dixon Water Foundation’s Mimms Unit northwest of Marfa. Mimms Unit is one of four Dixon ranches in Marfa and northeast Texas, where the foundation demonstrates sustainable land management practices.

Under terms of the endowment, Warnock will begin developing a curriculum this year, with the first students to be enrolled in fall 2015.

She noted that a ranch is a rangeland ecosystem, and successful management of a ranching enterprise should involve an understanding of soils, water, energy, nutrients, vegetation, wildlife, livestock, in addition to economics and business. The curriculum will include classes in soils, range management, wildlife management, animal husbandry and agricultural business.

“We are looking at our ranching heritage with traditional range animal science classes, but we are really buying into the future,” Warnock said. “We will be learning how to incorporate a sustainability component.”

Rob Kinucan, dean of the College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, said the endowment was the result of a lengthy working arrangement with the foundation.

“Bonnie has worked with the Dixon Water Foundation at the Marfa ranch for a number of years, and they appreciated the research she was conducting,” he said. “This endowment grew from that working relationship. The foundation board is an excellent group of people, and we are really pleased with this turn of events.”

Founded in 1994 by Roger Dixon, the Dixon Water Foundation promotes healthy watersheds through sustainable land management. In addition to demonstration ranches, the foundation finances annual grants, sponsors research projects and offers educational programs for landowners, students and others interested in sustainably managing land, water and wildlife.

Clint Josey is vice president and chairman of the board. When Roger Dixon died in January 2005, Josey became executor of his estate and president and CEO of the foundation. The foundation later changed its name to The Dixon Water Foundation. In 2007, Robert Potts became president and CEO, and Josey became vice president and chairman.

Warnock, who received Sul Ross’ Outstanding Teaching Award for 2011-12, joined the faculty in 2001. She ranches with her husband, Seth, near Marathon. Her family has been active in ranching near Marathon and Sanderson since the 1890s.

At Sul Ross, she teaches undergraduate classes in soils, range ecology, fire ecology, watershed management, habitat management, range inventory and plant identification. Warnock also teaches graduate classes in restoration ecology and field ecology.

This is the second endowed position at Sul Ross, both in the College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. In 2012, a $1 million gift from Peggy and Dan Allen Hughes Jr. of San Antonio/Beeville established the Dan Allen Hughes Jr. Endowed Director for Borderlands Research. Hughes is a member of the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) Advisory Board of Directors.

Pictured (seated, from left) are: Josey, Vice President and Chairman of the Board; Dr. Quint Thurman, Sul Ross interim President; Robert J. Potts, President and CEO, Dixon Water Foundation. (Standing), David Rogers, president of the Sul Ross Foundation; Dr. Bonnie Warnock, professor of Natural Resource Management; Dr. Rob Kinucan, Dean, College of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. (Photo by Steve Lang)

Dixon sponsors Playa Country radio series on grazing management

January 25, 2014 by Administrator

The Dixon Water Foundation is sponsoring an upcoming series of Playa Country radio programs on sustainable grazing management. Playa Country is produced by the Playa Lakes Joint Venture.

Grazing Management Benefits Livestock & Wildlife (Week of Feb. 2)
Landowner Story: Deferred Grazing on Grissom Ranch (Week of Feb. 9)
Landowner Story: Managed Intensive Grazing on Birdwell and Clark Ranch (Week of Feb. 16)

RFD TV’s Out on the Land features Mimms Unit

January 20, 2014 by Administrator

The Dixon Water Foundation’s Mimms Unit in Marfa will be profiled on RFD TV’s Out on the Land on February 4 and 5, 2014. For showtimes and channel information please visit Out on the Land‘s schedule. [The complete episode is now available online.]

Dixon’s land management practices featured in Texas Wildlife magazine

December 1, 2013 by Administrator

“Manage the land properly and the wildlife will come,” says Dixon’s Vice President Clinton Josey in this article from the Texas Wildlife Association’s magazine. Writers Robert and Janelle Fears describe how wildlife benefits from holistic land management on Dixon’s four ranches. The article from the December 2013 issue of Texas Wildlife is republished here with permission of the Texas Wildlife Association.

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