![Cow and calf standing in front of wildfire burned forest](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/CowCalf_BurnedForest_teardroptag_400px_0.png)
2025 Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium
California's Changing Landscapes
February 18, 2025 @UC Davis
![Rustici tour group discussion in riparian meadow](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/RusticiFieldTour_2016_teardroptag_400px.png)
Established in 2012, the Rustici Rangeland Science Symposia connect ranchers, land managers, conservationists, policymakers, and scientists to drive meaningful change on California's rangelands.
The 2025 Symposium will address transformational shifts in environment, policy, and society.
Key themes will include: 1) climate and weather; 2) wildfire resilience; and 3) ranching with wolves.
2025 Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium Registration is Now Open!
https://bit.ly/2025RusticiSymposium
This year's symposium is eligible for 6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from the Society for Range Management.
Agenda
8:00am
Registration opens
9:30am
Welcome and Overview, Dr. Ken Tate, Professor and
Cooperative Extension Specialist in Rangeland Management, UC Davis; and
Dr. Helene Dillard, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences
9:50am
Session 1 - Weather and Climate
Building Climate Resilience across California's Rangelands: Approaches for Sustainable Ranching, Adaptive Management, and Collaborative Conservation, Leslie Roche, Russell L. Rustici Endowed Specialist in Rangeland Watershed Science, Professor of Cooperative Extension in Rangeland Management, UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences
Can Conservation Practices Improve Soil Health in California? Anthony T. O’Geen, Professor & Soil Resource Specialist in Cooperative Extension, Russell L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Rangeland Watershed Science, UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources
Increasing hydroclimate whiplash in California: Implications for California's grasslands and shrublands (via zoom), Daniel Swain, Climate Scientist, California Institute for Water Resources, UC ANR and Institute of the Environment & Sustainability, UCLA
11:20am
Networking, Poster Session, and Hosted Lunch
12:50pm
Session 2 – Building Wildfire Resilience
California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force: Expanding the use of prescribed grazing as a landscape management tool, Patrick Wright, Director of the Governor's California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force
Reducing Wildfire Risk with Prescribed Grazing, Dan Macon, UCCE Livestock & Natural Resources Advisor, Central Sierra, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Building Strong Prescribed Grazing Programs, Bianca Artadi Soares Shapero, Targeted Grazing Practitioner and Project Manager at Star Creek Land Stewards Inc.
Ranching through Wildfire, Tracy Schohr, UCCE Livestock & Natural Resources Advisor, Plumas, Sierra, and Butte Counties
2:20pm
Break
2:50pm
Session 3 – Ranching with Wolves
Status of Gray Wolf Population and Conservation in California, Axel Honeycutt, State Wolf Coordinator, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The Costs of Coexistence: Impacts of Expanding Wolf Populations on California's Ranchers, Tina Saitone, Professor of Extension in Livestock and Rangeland Economic, UC Davis Agricultural and Resource Economics; Ken Tate, Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist in Rangeland Management, UC Davis
4:20pm
Closing Reflections, Lynn Huntsinger, Professor of Rangeland Ecology and Management and Russell Rustici Chair in Rangeland Management, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Berkeley
4:30pm
Mixer, Networking and Poster Session
Click to expand Symposium Speaker Biographies
![Photo of Dr Leslie Roche](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Roche_5x7.png?itok=MVFqBlPV)
Building Climate Resilience across California's Rangelands
Dr. Leslie Roche is Professor of Cooperative Extension in Rangeland Management and Russell L. Rustici Endowed Specialist in Rangeland Watershed Science at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. She uses interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to address issues critical to ranching and rangeland resilience, including rangeland drought and climate change and managing for ecosystem services on California’s working rangelands.
![Photo of Dr. Toby O'Geen examining a soil ped](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/OGeen_5x7.jpg?itok=QXjRbGDC)
Can Conservation Practices Improve Soil Health in California?
Dr. Toby O’Geen is a Professor and Soil Resource Specialist in Cooperative Extension and the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Rangeland Watershed Science in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis. His research program focuses on the application of soil-landscape relationships to address issues related to rangeland health, agricultural productivity, environmental quality and natural resource management. His outreach activities emphasize interactive online soil survey delivery mechanisms and decision support tools (apps) for the public: https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/soilweb-apps/.
![Photograph of Dr. Daniel Swain](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Swain_5x7.jpg?itok=t4L81r3i)
Increasing hydroclimate whiplash in California: Implications for California's grasslands and shrublands
Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist focused on the dynamics and impacts of extreme events—including droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires—on a warming planet. Daniel holds joint appointments as a climate scientist with the University of California and a research fellow at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research. He engages extensively with journalists and other media partners, serving as a climate and weather science liaison to print, television, radio, and web-based outlets to facilitate accessible and accurate coverage and conversations surrounding climate change.
![Dan Macon talking about sheep and only sheep](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Macon_5x7.jpg?itok=aJraWWfD)
Reducing Wildfire Risk with Prescribed Grazing
Dan Macon has served as a Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor for UC Cooperative Extension since 2017 (recently transferring to the Central Sierra office, serving El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties). His research and extension focus includes targeted grazing systems, rangeland climate adaptation, and livestock-predator interactions. He holds a masters in integrated resource management from Colorado State University and a bachelors in agricultural economics from UC Davis.
![Photograph of Bianca Soares Shapiro](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/BSoaresShapiro_5x7.jpg?itok=I_vqL6hU)
Building Strong Prescribed Grazing Programs
We are thrilled to feature Bianca Soares Shapero as a speaker at the 2025 Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium! She is the 4th generation in her family’s sheep company and an experienced prescribed grazing practitioner operating throughout California. Bianca will share her valuable insights into building effective prescribed grazing programs for vegetation management.
![Photograph of Patrick Wright](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Wright_5x7.jpg?itok=y2qhnt14)
Expanding the use of prescribed grazing as a landscape management tool
Patrick Wright is the Director of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, where he led the development of the state’s first Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. He was previously Executive Director of the California Tahoe Conservancy, and earlier served as both Director of the interagency CALFED Bay-Delta Program and as Deputy Secretary at the California Resources Agency in the Davis administration. He was also a Senior Policy Advisor to the Regional Administrator of EPA and the Deputy Secretary of Interior, and held positions in EPA’s Air and Water Management Programs in San Francisco.
![Photo of Axel Honeycutt](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Honeycutt5x7.jpg?itok=fCbs2acW)
Status of the Gray Wolf Population and Conservation in California
Axel is a wildlife ecologist and wildlife manager who has worked across North America and Africa with various large carnivores. As the State Gray Wolf Coordinator for the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, he leads the state’s efforts in gray wolf conservation management, recovery, and research.
![Photograph of Dr. Tina Saitone](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Saitone5x7.jpg?itok=L6TMsOsY)
The Costs of Coexistence: Impacts of Expanding Wolf populations on California's Ranchers
Dr. Tina L. Saitone is a Professor of Extension focused on Livestock and Rangeland Economics in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Saitone’s research and extension program is motivated by agricultural, environmental, and regulatory factors that impact the economic sustainability of ranching.
![Ken Tate standing between electric fence and barbwire fence with a cute lil' corgy in the background](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/styles/sf_small_width/public/media/images/Tate_5x7.jpg?itok=3gU7RUrm)
The Costs of Coexistence: Impacts of Expanding Wolf populations on California's Ranchers
Ken’s research and outreach is focused on developing sustainable livestock production enterprises on rangelands. He has examined plant, water, soil, and animal response to range management activities such as grazing, roads, prescribed fire, brush thinning, and restoration. He is currently studying the scope and scale of the conflict between Gray Wolf and cattle production in northeastern California.
Thank you to our sponsors!
![UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/UCDavis_CAES_logo_blue%26gold_web_whitebackground250px111.png)
![University of California Cooperative Extension logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/UCCE-logo_whitebackground_250px111.png)
Visit these sponsored booths during the social mixers and poster sessions
![Audubon California Logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/aucaslblack_audubon_250px_0.png)
![California Beef Cattle Improvement Association logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/CBCIA-whitebckgrnd-logo250px_0.png)
![California Rangeland Trust logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/CRT_Logo_whitebackground250px_0.png)
![ENVU Range & Pasture logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/ENVU_250px.jpg)
![USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service logo](/sites/g/files/dgvnsk13956/files/media/images/usfws-usda-nrcs-logo250px_0.png)
Getting to the Rustici Science Symposium @ UC Davis
The symposium will be held in the ARC Ballroom at UC Davis.
- Paid parking (via the AMP Park app or kiosk near entrance to the building) is available adjacent to the venue. Government vehicles with E plates or California exempt plates do not need an event parking permit to park on campus.
UC Davis is located just outside of Sacramento, CA and is near Sacramento International Airport (SMF). Taxis and ride-sharing apps are available modes of transportation, as well as car rentals. The airport is also serviced by public transportation. The University is about 1.5 hours from San Francisco International Airport (SFO), with car rental options available.
If staying in Davis, there is a student-operated bus line, Unitrans, that operates in town and will drop you off on campus. It’s an easy and economical way to get around Davis.
Davis Hotels
Hyatt Place UC Davis
Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Davis
Best Western Plus Palm Court Downtown Davis
Aggie Inn
Holiday Inn Express and Suites
Hyatt House Davis
Marriot Residence Inn Sacramento Davis