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About NREM Extension

Natural Resource Ecology & Management Extension offers a variety of educational programs and provides information and education on various natural resource topics of fisheries, forests, rangeland and wildlife. Find resources below to learn more about NREM Extension.

Other Cooperative Extension Programming

Natural Resource Ecology & Management Extension offers a variety of educational programs for youth and adults as well as working with natural resource organizations. Current programs include:

  • The Oklahoma Forest Stewardship Program

    The purpose of the Oklahoma Forest Stewardship Program is to encourage the long-term management of non-industrial forest lands, by providing free technical assistance to landowners. A primary focus of the program is the development of a comprehensive, multi-resource management plan that provides landowners with the information they need to manage their forest for a variety of products and services.

     

    Oklahoma Forestry Services has foresters located across the state to provide free technical assistance and help landowners develop a management plan for their land. Oklahoma Forestry Services recognizes landowners as “Forest Stewards” when they have implemented at least some of the recommended practices in their plan and continue to demonstrate good stewardship in the management of their lands. Forest Stewards receive a certificate and sign to post on their property as well as additional educational materials.

     

    More information can be found on Oklahoma Forestry Services website. This program is a cooperative effort between Oklahoma Forestry Services, United States Forest Service, OSU Natural Resource Ecology & Management Extension, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Conservation Districts and NRCS. For more information on the Oklahoma Forest Stewardship Program, please contact Erin Johnson at (405) 522-6158.

  • Master Naturalist Program

    Are you interested in learning more about Oklahoma ecosystems and experiencing some of the finest natural areas in the state? Oklahoma Master Naturalists do just that. To become one you will need to attend 5 one day workshops and two advanced workshops of your choosing, plus payback your training hours by participating in one of our ongoing volunteer activities or designing your own.

    Find out more by visiting Oklahoma Master Naturalist or calling Marley Beem at (405) 744-3854.

  • Prescribed Fire Training Program

    This course will focus on fire management practices, resources and provide updates about the prescribed fire program to help restore and conserve ecosystems.

     

    The self-paced course will prepare you to conduct a safe and effective prescribed burn by engaging in activities, watching videos, and taking quizzes. You will learn why fire is a crucial part of a healthy ecosystem and create a fire plan that meets your land management goals. The course is divided into 9 modules, each module will take about 30-60 minutes to complete.

     

    Following the course completion you will be able to:

    • Explain why fire is a crucial part of a healthy ecosystem.
    • Identify key considerations for creating a fire plan.
    • Recognize safe practices for conducting a prescribed burn, including equipment, firebreaks and smoke management.
    • Describe the best practices for meeting the land management objectives using prescribed fire, including ignition and season of burn.

     

    Find out more by visiting Oklahoma Prescribed Fire or calling John Weir at (405) 744-5442.

  • Field Tours and Demonstrations

    OSU Natural Resource Ecology & Management Extension offers a variety of field tours and demonstrations throughout the year. Working with other State and Federal organizations we are able to offer programs throughout the state. The Annual Forestry on the Grow Conference is but one example of this cooperative approach to educational programs. Another popular program is the Annual Cedar Eradication Field Day. For a listing of Extension programs in the near future, visit the OSU Extension Calendar of Events. If your group has need for a specific tour or an educational program on a particular subject, please let us know. For more information, contact Marley Beem at (405) 744-3854.

  • Conducting Deer Census

    Determining the number of deer you have utilizing the resources on your property is a valuable piece of information. This will allow you to know if there are more deer in the area than the resources can support as well as how your harvest management is changing density, sex ratio, doe/fawn ratio, etc. The most accurate method to determine densities is the use of motion activated trail cameras. This survey method involves baiting the deer to come to the camera sites. Thus, it should be conducted during a time when food sources are least abundant such as December or January. Studies have shown that one camera per 100 acres is optimal to achieve the most accurate results. Once you have identified one spot for each 100 acres, you must prebait the site for 10-14 days. Prebaiting with corn or milo is effective. Only by saturating the landscape with baited camera stations will you be able to determine sex ratios as bucks tend to dominate sites when only a few cameras are present and you will not be able to calculate sex ratios. Thus, this method is not very effective for areas less than about 1,000 acres. If you own or manage less than this acreage, consider forming a hunt cooperative with your neighbors to conduct surveys and other management actions. This will not only enable better deer management, but you can also spread out the expense of the cameras.

     

    Upon completion of prebaiting, you should install the camera and set it to take a picture every 4 to 5 minutes when activated. The camera should be placed about 10-15 feet from the bait pile and pointed north to avoid sun glare in the photos. Any vegetation that the wind might move will need to be mowed down to avoid unnecessary photos to sort through and to conserve battery life. Camera stations should be placed in locations that are easily accessed in order to save time when checking them during the survey period. The camera stations will need to be checked about every 3 to 4 days to replenish bait and make sure the camera is working correctly. The cameras need to be functioning for 10 days to two weeks in order to capture the majority of the deer in the area. After this period has ended you count the number of deer captured in the photographs.

     

    The calculations for interpreting the number of deer are based on the number of identifiable bucks observed in the survey. This means that you will need to save a picture of each different buck you find to calculate the total number of bucks identified in your survey. Thus, surveys should be completed before antler drop which can begin in January in Oklahoma. When looking through the pictures, you will need to record whether it was a buck, doe or fawn. If a picture contains a buck, doe and a fawn then you must record one count for each category. When you are finished examining the pictures you will have the total number of times a buck, doe, or fawn was captured in a photograph. The first step in the calculations deals with the bucks. Take the total number of times a buck was captured and divide that by the total number of identifiable bucks (determined by the unique antler configuration of that animal). This will give you an average number of times each buck was photographed. The next step is to take the total number of doe captures divided by the average pictures per buck. This will provide you with the number of does present during your survey. Note: The method is built on the assumption that bucks and does have equal chance of getting captured on camera (Thus, the importance of having many cameras in operation so that does are able to access the bait stations as well.) Take the number of captures of bucks divided by the number of captures of does to get the sex ratio. A 1:1 ratio is ideal. Take the number of captures of fawns divided by the number of captures of does to give you a fawn to doe ratio. This ratio multiplied by the total number of does present will tell you how many fawns there are. To calculate the density of deer on your property, combine the totals of bucks, does, and fawns and divide the number of acres on your property by this total number of deer captured. This will give you the density of deer on the property.


    Cameras should be placed 10-15 feet from the bait and aimed 2.5-3 feet above the bait to minimize photos of animals other than deer such as raccoons and crows.

     

    The following are examples of the analysis of camera surveys:

     

    Example 1

    # of identifiable bucks = 38

    Sex Ratio = 2,985 doe captures/1,950 buck captures = 1.53 does/buck

    Estimated doe population = 38 bucks x 1.53 does/buck= 58 does

    Estimated fawn population = 3,532 fawn captures/2,985 doe captures = 1.18 fawns/doe
    58 does x 1.18 fawns/doe = 69 fawns

    Total estimated population = 38 bucks + 58 does + 69 fawns = 165 deer

    Density = 2,000 acres/ 165 deer = 12.1 acres/deer

     

    Example 2

    # of identifiable bucks = 30

    Sex Ratio= 1,667 doe captures/ 1,118 buck captures = 1.49 does/buck 

    Estimated doe population = 30 bucks x 1.49 does/buck = 45 does

    Estimated fawn population = 1.321 fawn captures / 1,667 doe captures = 0.8 fawns/doe
    45 does x 0.8 fawns/doe = 36 fawns

    Total estimated population = 30 bucks + 45 does + 36 fawns = 111 deer

    Density = 1000 acres/ 111 deer = 9 acres/deer

Extension Publications

 Natural Resource Ecology & Management provides information and education on various natural resource topics. Listed below are publications related by topic:

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