Retired scientist Dave Ganskopp honored during the day-long festivities held at experimental range headquarters

By Josie Davies
Burns Times-Herald

The 2009 Range Field Day held on June 24 was dedicated to recently retired range scientist Dave Ganskopp, who has been at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center (EOARC) since 1982. The field day was held at the Northern Great Basin Experimental Range (NGBER) headquarters.

According to Tony Svejcar, research leader and rangeland scientist, Ganskopp has made several contributions to the EOARC program. Through his research, he has improved the understanding of rangelands and livestock behavior. However, Ganskopp still enjoys his line of work and will not give research up entirely.

Svejcar and Dave Bohnert, range animal nutritionist welcomed everyone and made the opening remarks for the field day.
Research projects and experiments were presented by several range scientists from the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center as well as visiting scientists.

Range scientist Pat Clark from the Northwest Watershed Research Center in Boise, Idaho, presented his research involving cattle and wolf interactions. His project objectives were to evaluate factors influencing habitat with the use and activity patterns of range cattle under varying wolf presence and cattle productivity responses under varying wolf presence.

Marty Vavra, a disturbance ecology and management team leader at the Pacific Northwest Station Forestry and Range Sciences Lab in La Grande,  talked about cattle, deer and elk interactions.

After a break, Doug Johnson, a professor in the department of rangeland ecology and management at the Oregon State University, presented his work on riparian grazing. His research was focused on his experiment on the Catherine Creek near Union.

Then Ganskopp, presented his research findings on his experiments involving pre and post burn cattle distribution in sagebrush steppe. He runs the cattle on the butte in the NGBER and tracks them with GPS collars. He uses the three largest areas on the butte with the lowest elevation of 4,500 feet and the highest at 5,500 feet.

The newest member at the EOARC, Reinaldo Cooke, is an assistant professor and beef extension specialist. His presentation focused on beef cattle temperament and performance.

Lunch was provided for all attending.

After lunch, Cooke and Bohnert gave a demonstration of cattle temperament and assessment at the butte handling facilities.
Range scientist, Jon Bates, Ganskopp and Svejcar ended the field day with a look at the post-burn cattle distribution and veg recovery above range 7, which is the stock water site.

For those who have questions regarding these topics,  call the EOARC at 573-8900 for more information.