Ruger Carter
Beaver, Utah
Agriculture Science w/ emphasis in Range Management
Leadership
Public Land Management Solutions
For my Edge project, I competed in the Range Cup at the Society for Range Management national meetings in Saint George, Utah. I presented on the problem of federally owned and managed land. I was able to use my leadership skills to guide and persuade people to switch the public lands to state ownership. I also had to use presenting skills to be persuasive. I was also able to use my research skills to obtain quality information for my project.
My solution was to change the land ownership from the federal government back to the state it is found in. This way the states could manages those lands to best fit the needs of the community. In the long run it will help people who recreate on public land, ranchers, farmers, miners, etc. I did not win the competition, but I made a great impression on the professionals of the Range Management field. This issue is one I could be facing in my field in the very near future.
The was inspired to do my project by my professor, who is also the Range Cup coach for the SUU Range and Natural Resources Club. He discussed with me the problems that public land managers are facing. I have a very strong passion for these issues, and I would like to do everything I can to fix them. This is why I decided to commit to the Range Cup for my Edge Project. It helped me become a better professional of Range.
I encountered a lot of problems in researching data and information for my project. A lot of information I found was based on opinion instead of statistics. To be persuasive I had to find statistics on how the states could have better managed the land. This included pouring over land management documents from Federal Agencies and State agencies. Every state was very different as well, and all the western states have an abundance of federally owned land. I had to research for many more hours than I had anticipated
Luckily, my project was able to benefit my SUU Range Team, as well as myself. To be eligible for the Society for Range Management Trail Boss Award, you must compete in all the competitions, including the Range Cup. I was the only person who competed in the Range Cup from SUU, so I was able to make our team competitive for the Trail Boss Award.
I was able to benefit from the project by making an impression on professors from all around the county. I particularly stuck out to one professor from North Dakota State University. His name is Dr. Kevin Sedivec, and he offered me an Internship in North Dakota as a range management technician. After the summer, he was pleased with my work, and he offered me an assistantship for graduate school, pending on my grades and GRE scores. So thankfully to the Edge Program, I may be going to graduate school next year.
"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." Variations: "The harder I work, the luckier I get." - Thomas Jefferson
"Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things." Peter F. Drucker.
