Off to see the wizard!

Well, I'm heading to Vancouver tomorrow for the annual SRM (Society for Range Management) conference. People come from all across North America to go to the conference. Last year it was in Fort Worth, Texas - that was a fun trip (stopped in Vegas for the weekend on the way back)!

The U of A sends a team of students every year to compete in the undergrad range management exam (URME) and the undergrad plant id exam part of the conference. It's part of a course that we take (Encs 407: Range Plants of Western North America), and the university pays our plane ticket and accomodation. It's a good deal. Next year it's in Reno....

We've been studying for the past 6 months, and have been tested every week (twice a week for the past two months!) on the plants we'll see at the conference. For the id exam there are 200 plants that we need to know, but we're only tested on 100. It's a station exam, with one minute at each plant mount. The URME is two hours and we're tested on everything from plant community types in the sagebrush-grass range type, to average annual precip patterns in the Pacific Northwest, to range improvements such as stock watering systems. We also have two lengthy calcualtions that we have to do (ie pure live seed, fertilizers, carrying capacity, grazing rotations with different species of animals, stocking rates, etc.).

Teams come from universities all across Canada, the States, and Mexico to compete in one or both of the exams. Last year our team placed first in the written exam, second in the plants, and first in the combined score. We are consistently in the top 3, and this year we're going for all firsts. Mexico is our nemesis when it comes to the plant id exam. They send a team that competes only in the plants (we do both, so we have more to study), and they have been first almost every year since the dawn of time (one of my professors beat them when he competed!). Texas A&M and Nebraska are our main competition in the URME, but we smoked them both last year!

I'm excited to be going, but nervous as well. I want to do really well and win one of the scholarships for a top 5 placing. There's a lot of pressure on myself and Dean (we're both returning students - can take it as many times as we want as long as we're undergrads) to do well and bring home the trophy. My goal is to do my personal best. If I do that, then I'll do really well.

Wish me luck!