Mr. Davis was a cattleman who operated a family ranch in the Red River valley north of Paris for many years. He came to believe that the kind of industrial agriculture that is widely taught today in land-grant colleges has been ecological damaging and financially risky. He practiced a more conservative, low-input operation that used rotational grazing, high stock densities, late calving seasons, as options to the more traditional methods of continuous grazing, chemical weed control, parasiticide use, and ammonia nitrogen fertilization. He found that both the soil microbes and the cattle have benefited, as well as his own pocketbook, from this alternative approach, and was active in spreading the word through on-site consultation, Holistic Resource Management seminars and via writing in such publications as Stockman Grass Farmer.
Region: Crosstimbers
Katherine Goodbar
Ms Goodbar was a Dallas resident, high school science teacher, and educator at the Richardson Environmental Studies Center. Through her classroom work and frequent field trips, she introduced thousands of students to the wonders of the outdoors. As well, her love of nature led her to guide numerous tours through the Big Thicket, and help lobby for its protection as a federal biological sanctuary. She also sought to provide private protection to other Texas natural systems through her work as a board member and stewardship chair of the Texas Land Conservancy, the largest Texas-based land trust, which protects over 70,000 acres scattered among more than 90 preserves. Finally, in another effort to protect natural resources, she participated (serving as its president during 1982-83) in the successful effort of the Richardson Environmental Action League to create a city-wide, staffed recycling program there in Richardson. For this and other accomplishments, she received the coveted Chevron Conservation Award in the year 2000.
Pete Gunter
Dr. Gunter worked as a professor of philosophy at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he taught courses in environmental ethics and other topics. He was an accomplished author, having written The Big Thicket: A Challenge for Conservation, Texas Land Ethics, and a variety of other pieces, including fiction, philosophical monographs, and book reviews. He was also noted for his singing and songwriting, as recorded on “The Last Big Thicket Blues” and “Chicken Fried Escargot”. Finally, he was well known for his contributions to federal efforts to set aside the Big Thicket Natural Preserve, an area of great biodiversity and beauty.
Adlene Harrison
Mrs. Harrison has had a varied life of public service. She has served on the Dallas City Council, including a stint as mayor pro-tem, worked as Administrator for EPA’s Region 6 office, acted as a board member and chair of DART, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and volunteered as an advisor in the setup of the Texas office of Environmental Defense. In these different capacities, she has had a significant impact on improvements in mass transit, and in water and air quality.
Gerald North
Dr. North is a physicist. He has worked as a Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography at Texas A&M University since 1986, where he also served as head of the Department of Atmospheric Science from 1995 through 2003. He earlier worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Since the 1970s, he has had a strong interest in the earth’s climate, particularly computer simulations of its long-term behavior. As concerns over global warming have grown, his research and public education efforts have turned increasingly to those topics. For instance, in 1995, he wrote a book called “The Impact of Global Warming in Texas” (now undergoing revision and update), and in 2006, collaborated on a National Research Council review of temperature fluctuations and trends over the past 2000 years.
Campbell Read
Dr. Read taught statistics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas beginning in 1969. In the conservation field, he served as Vice President for Conservation with the Dallas Audubon Society and on the boards of the Texas Conservation Alliance and the Natural Areas Preservation Association. Dr. Read took a particular interest in the role of Creation and stewardship in religion, by serving as Area Coordinator for World Wildlife Fund’s Network on Conservation and Religion as well as by starting the Dallas Area Network on Religion and Conservation. Dr. Read was also concerned about the effects of globalization on the world environment, and took advantage of public opportunities to speak out against the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Association.
Bill Sheffield
Dr. Sheffield was a biologist who worked as a wildlife consultant and land manager for large private landowners, such as Humble Oil, and as a scientist for governmental agencies, including Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He was particularly well-known for his research and writing on the history and ecological role of exotic wildlife, as outlined in the books, “Nilgai Antelope in Texas” (1983), and “Exotics on the Range” (1994), co-written with Elizabeth Mungall. Axis deer, sika deer, fallow deer, Indian blackbuck, nilgai antelope, mouflon-type sheep, aoudad, and wild boar are some of the non-native species that are well-established in Texas, occur in over half of the state’s counties, and number more than 165,000 individuals.
Jim Teer
Dr. Teer was a wildlife biologist who worked at state agencies, such as the Texas Game and Fish Commission (1951-53 and 1955-60), taught at the university level, including Texas A&M University (1962-78, and 1999 to his retirement), administered a faculty (serving as head of the Texas A&M Wildlife and Fisheries Department from 1970 through ’78), managed a field biology station, the Welder Wildlife Foundation (1978-98) and consulted widely on private lands and abroad. He was particularly well-known for his research on white-tail deer, marked by the classic work, Ecology and Management of White-Tailed Deer in the Llano Basin of Texas (1965), and for his wide influence on his many students.
Betty Brink
Mrs. Brink was a journalist whose articles appeared in the Texas Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Dallas Observer, among other publications. She was also a political activist who wrote and spoke out about various north Texas environmental issues, including construction of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant.