Texas A&M AgriLife honors Jason Ellis with Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (January 13, 2023) — Texas A&M Forest Service District Forester Jason Ellis has been awarded the 2022 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Public Service in Forestry.
The award, the highest employee award given by Texas A&M AgriLife, was presented Jan. 12 on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station.
Ellis has worked at Texas A&M Forest Service for 20 years. Since 2006, he has managed the Jacksonville District, a three-county area on the western fringe of the Texas Piney Woods that includes the 2,788-acre I.D. Fairchild State Forest.
“As a District Forester, Jason has excelled in assisting non-industrial private forest landowners with the sustainable management of their forestlands,” said Jordan Herrin, Texas A&M Forest Service Regional Forester for East Texas. “Jason is looked upon, by both the landowners he serves and his peers in the field, as not only a technical expert but also an excellent practitioner of the principles in which he recommends.”
Ellis and his team have done extensive work to restore areas of Fairchild State Forest to native shortleaf pine habitat. Ellis has implemented projects to advance forestry practices that promote multiple uses, including timber harvesting, habitat management for endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, and recreation. He uses different areas of the forest to demonstrate to landowners the benefits of reforestation, prescribed burning, mulching and herbicide applications. Ellis and his staff hold numerous workshops, tours, youth hunts and Eagle Scout projects at Fairchild State Forest, using the land to showcase best practices and build relationships.
Ellis credits his staff for making the Jacksonville District a model of good forestry.
“We’re managing intensively, which means more time and more effort, not just from me but from my staff,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to have a solid team, and I don’t think I’d be receiving this award unless I had really good people around me.”
Al Davis, Texas A&M Forest Service Interim Director, said Ellis is known as a mentor to those around him and exhibits the tenets of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic philosophy, which connects care for people with care for the land.
“Jason Ellis is a sterling example of a selfless servant. As a leader of people, on a routine basis, he exhibits a commitment to their safety, technical and professional development and their well- being. Simply stated, he cares,” Davis said.
The Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence program was established in 1980 to recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife and provide opportunity to celebrate the achievements of those honored. Learn more at https://agrilifeawards.tamu.edu.
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Texas A&M Forest Service Contacts:
Jason Ellis, District Forester, 903-586-7545, jellis@tfs.tamu.edu
Communications Office, 979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu
Message from the TNFLA Board of Directors
Thank you for a wonderful year. Our association is only as strong as its members are active. Currently, we have over 100 active members! We are committed to providing you with two membership meetings each year (Fall and Spring) - if you would like to be a speaker or have a topic that you would like a speaker to discuss, please contact us by clicking HERE.
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Solar Lease Information
Recently, the TNFLA Board has learned that some of its members have been approached by companies touting solar projects. Know that solar project leases are different from other forms of leases (and different from other forms of energy leases). For more information, please see: https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/?s=solar.
Trinity-Neches Forest Landowner Association, Inc.
Trinity-Neches Forest Landowner Association Meeting!!
Date: Friday April 14, 2023
Location: ArborGen – Richard O. Barham SuperTree Nursery
1235 FM 3198
Bullard, TX
Time: 8:30 am check in/registration, 9:00 am meeting starts
Speakers include:
- Al Davis, Interim Director of the Texas A&M Forest Service – Keynote Speaker
- Shannon Stewart, ArborGen –ArborGen pine/hardwood seedlings, nursery
- Andy McCrady, Texas A&M Forest Service – Northeast Texas Conservation Delivery Network – who we are, cost share availability for landowners
- Michelle Moore, Texas A&M Forest Service – Carbon sequestration and carbon credit markets
- PJ Putnam, TNFLA Board Member – Water Rights in Texas
Field tour of the ArborGen nursery in the afternoon
REMINDER: 2023 Membership are due. Can be paid at www.tnfla.org or mailed to PO Box 196, Rusk, TX 75785
A grilled hamburger/sausage lunch (for all paid 2023 members) will be prepared and served at the meeting – Heritage Land Bank
Please RSVP, by Friday April 1, 2023, can be made HERE or email us at tnfla.tx@gmail.com.