High school youth benefit from range management forum in California

The Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management was well represented at the 2026 High School Youth Forum held in Monterey on Feb. 8-12, 2026. The HSYF is an integral part of the SRM annual meeting. This year there were 24 delegates representing 10 of the SRM Sections. During the forum, high school youth from all parts of the western United States attended an ecological field tour and were invited to participate and interact among the various professionals and college students attending the meeting. 

This year the Colorado Section SRM sponsored three delegates to Monterey. Aleigh Grubb of Severance FFA, Kaylee Coin of the Lone Star FFA, and Renzo Bustamante of Lone Star FFA were selected to participate in the SRM Forum. All three delegates were chosen based on their exceptional achievements in rangeland management programs, and specifically based on their high individual scores on ecological site judging and plant identification at the Eastern Colorado State FFA rangeland judging Career Development Event.

The goals of the HSYF are to recognize youth for outstanding accomplishments in range management activities and to provide young people the opportunity to discuss rangelands, career options and meet with leaders in the field of range management. One requirement of the HSYF is that each delegate must write a paper and then present an illustrated talk on some aspect of rangeland conservation or grazing management.

Aleigh’s presentation was titled The Importance of Proper Livestock Grazing.

Aleigh talked about the history of range management and the evolution of rangeland science in the U.S. She highlighted Colorado State University Extension’s project on the seven principles for successful livestock grazing management.

Kaylee presentation was titled Redefining the Fenceline.

Kaylee highlighted the Levi Kokes Ranch located in Logan County and the work Kokes is doing to implement the livestock grazing tool of virtual fencing. She talked about how Kokes has experiment with two kinds of virtual fencing and that the results have been very successful.

Renzo was honored with fourth place in the paper presentation contest at the SRM awards ceremony for his presentation. His presentation was titled Unsung Heroes of the American Range: The Role of Sheep and Sheepherders in Colorado’s History.

During his presentation Renzo talked about the history of sheep ranching and sheepherding in northwest Colorado. He interviewed and highlighted the Kevin Villard ranch near Craig.

All three of their papers can be viewed at the Colorado Section’s website at http://www.cssrm.org/. The Colorado Section SRM congratulates Aleigh, Kaylee and Renzo for their outstanding achievements in range management and wishes them the best as they further pursue their ambitions in the field of natural resource management. Contact Ben Berlinger (719) 980-0518, youth activities chairman, for more information about the SRM High School Youth Forum.