Texas State scientists head to the West Texas desert for Christmas Mountains Research Symposium
Matt Joyce | May 17, 2023
Deep in West Texas on the border of Big Bend National Park, Texas State University will convene scientists and others interested in the environment and natural history of the Chihuahuan Desert next week for the annual Christmas Mountains Research Symposium.
TXST is located a seven-hour drive east of the Christmas Mountains but the university is tied to the desert range through its affiliation with Texas State University System (TSUS), which owns the 9,270-acre former livestock and hunting ranch.
Dr. David Lemke, a TXST biology professor, has organized the symposium each May since its inception in 2013 (minus two years canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic). The May 22-24 event features morning outings into the mountains — including a drive to the 5,728-foot summit — followed by research presentations on topics ranging from botany to zoology, archaeology, geology, astronomy, and conservation.
Lemke said the symposium’s purpose is to bring together researchers, governmental agencies, landowners, and members of the public to network and share research. The host facility is Terlingua Ranch Lodge, which is located at the foot of the Christmas Mountains about 35 driving miles from the unincorporated town of Terlingua. The lodge offers guest cabins, campsites, the Bad Rabbit Café, and a swimming pool.
“We run it like a scientific meeting, but it’s very informal,” Lemke said. “The symposium has a relatively narrow focus, and it’s relatively small group of attendees, but they’re all interested in the area and the topics that we present.”
One goal of the event is to raise the profile of the Christmas Mountains, Lemke said. The Texas General Land Office donated the property to Texas State University System in 2011 to manage it as the “largest outdoor classroom in Texas.” A cosponsor of the symposium, TSUS encourages scientists to conduct research on the property, while it also permits public access for drivers, hikers, and horseback riders. TSUS is also planning to build a Christmas Mountains field research station at the base of the mountains to provide lodging, lab space, and classrooms for visiting researchers and students.
Lemke is one of many Texas State scientists to visit the Christmas Mountains over the years. Since about 2012, he’s been working on a vegetation survey of the mountain range, recording more than 1,000 plant collections from the area.”
“I’ve been trying to identify everything that’s out there,” he said. “It’s got everything from low-elevation desert plant communities to mountain scrub communities. With the different canyons and arroyos, it’s surprisingly diverse, more so than you might think when you first look.”
Lemke said his goal is to create a baseline inventory of plant life to provide a reference for researchers in perpetuity.
“Now that the university system owns the mountains, they won’t be disturbed,” he said. “It will always be there for educational and research purposes. That’s why it’s important to do these baseline studies to document what’s there, so that 100 years from now, if there are changes, people can document those changes.”
The TXST contingent at this year’s symposium includes biology professor Dr. Timothy Bonner and master’s student Lauren E. Chappell, who together are presenting on fish communities in semi-arid environments; Maya Ressler, a TXST grad who’s now a master’s student at Sul Ross and is part of a group presenting on Montezuma quail and feral pigs in the Davis Mountains; and Rachel Connally, a graduate who is now an employee of Texas Parks & Wildlife and is presenting on electric fencing and bears.
Dr. Rebekah Rylander, who completed her master of science in 2016 and her Ph.D. in 2021 at Texas State University, will present on her work with the Rio Grande Joint Venture. She holds TXST degrees in wildlife ecology and aquatic resources and integrative biology. “Basically, I studied birds and avian conservation,” she explained.
Now employed by the American Bird Conservancy, Rylander is the science coordinator for Rio Grande Joint Venture, a public-private partnership dedicated to protecting and restoring bird habitat in the Chihuahuan Desert, Tamaulipan Brushlands, and the Mexico portion of the Gulf Coast Prairie.
Rylander previously attended the Christmas Mountains symposium in 2014. “It was a wonderful event to bring together researchers, landowners and hobbyists to talk about areas of expertise, topics of concern for the aera, and collaborate and have very fruitful discussion,” she said. “It’s more relaxed in nature than other conferences, which I really enjoy because it makes you feel more comfortable talking to people. And of course, the venue and scenery are second to none.”
Rylander said the Rio Grande Joint Venture is currently focused on protecting bird habitat in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands, particularly for the chestnut-collared longspur, thick-billed longspur, Sprague’s pipit, and Baird sparrow. All four species spend winters in the Chihuahuan Desert.
“The grasslands are declining at an absurd rate due to land-use change and climate change,” Rylander said. “One of our main reasons for going to the Christmas Mountains Symposium is we’ll hopefully be able to make new connections and learn what other people are already doing out in the West Texas Trans-Pecos area and potentially how we can help and assist.”
Along with TXST representatives, symposium registrants include TSUS institutions Sul Ross State University, Sam Houston State University, and Lamar University, and Lamar Institute of Technology. Angelo State University, Georgetown University, and Midland College are also sending people, as are the National Park Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, McDonald Observatory, and other institutions.
While attendance is capped at 80, Lemke said he does allow walk-up registration.
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