Everything Nac

Dr. Richard Herzog, Stephen F. Austin State University Texas Certified Public Manager Program Director, Master of Public Administration Program faculty, and professor of political science and public administration, recently received the 2018 Terrell Blodgett Academician of the Year Award from the Texas City Management Association.

According to the TCMA website, “The award is presented to an academician who has made a significant contribution to the formal education of students pursuing careers in local government.”

Herzog said he is honored to be the recipient of this award and said that the recognition from “the TCMA provides motivation to continue this work.”

Josh Selleck, city manager of Kilgore, nominated Herzog for the award. “As the Texas Certified Public Manager Program director at SFA, Herzog has promoted professional development of city officials,” Selleck said. “Just about every city with significant population in East Texas has a CPM from SFA.”

Herzog continually encourages strong relations between SFA’s CPM and MPA programs and city management professionals.

“In part, we rely on and coach seasoned city managers and department heads to help in the transmission of knowledge, skills and abilities,” Herzog said. “We always attempt to make our instruction relevant to public administration practice, and strong relations between academia and city management help this happen.”

Herzog’s award is one of four that will be presented, according to David J. Harris, TCMA president and city administrator of Balcones Heights. “These people represent the best in Texas local government leadership and are the result of a highly competitive review process by the TCMA Membership Committee,” Harris said.

The TCMA annual conference will be June 21-24, at Moody Gardens in Galveston.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture will host a public lecture beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in Forestry Building, Room 117, located at 419 East College St.

Dr. George G. Ice, retired hydrologist with the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, will present “Three Lessons about Managing Forests to Protect Water Quality: The Alsea Watershed Study Revisited.”

The Alsea Watershed Study was the first long-term fisheries research project to address the effects of forestry operations on salmonid populations in the Pacific Northwest using a watershed approach. To this day, it remains one of a very limited number of investigations that have provided long-term information on salmon and trout responses to forestry operations. These studies have had a significant impact on the development of state and provincial forest practices and regulations to ensure water quality.

Ice, a certified forester and professional hydrologist, has completed more than 40 years of forest watershed and water quality research. His research and professional contributions resulted in him being named an NCASI and Society of American Foresters Fellow. Additional awards include the SAF Forest Science Award, Association of State Foresters Jim Roberts Partnership Award and Oregon State University Outstanding Alumnus.

For more information, contact SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at (936) 468-3301.

Members of Stephen F. Austin State University’s student chapter of the Society of American Foresters recently collaborated with a number of partners including Rotary International, the Texas A&M Forest Service and Trees For Houston to promote conservation and urban tree health in Montgomery County.

“I applaud the students for helping make the conservation movement stronger in Montgomery County,” said John Warner, urban district forester for the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Forestry students Chris Longman, Tristan Clayton, Brian Smith and Andre Saenz planted a total of 60 trees, including ten pollinator specific flowering trees on the campus of Conroe ISD’s Runyan Elementary School. The students then moved on to W.G. Jones State Forest, one of the nation’s largest working urban forests, where they painted green bands on 20 red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees and constructed 25 erosion control structures for use on the property.

For a number of years, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have worked diligently to implement forest management practices to ensure the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker thrives in the urban oasis of Jones State Forest. Warner explained the green bands painted by the SFA students will help biologists and the public support the conservation of the endangered avian species.

“It is a visual for maintaining a non-disruptive distance from the tree of at least 100 feet, as well as being a visual cue to everyone that this is an important habitat tree for the woodpecker,” Warner said.