2 local students attend Brigades

By Sam Waller

Two Albany teens are again taking part in the Texas Brigades programs.

Riley Reames attended the North Texas Buckskin Brigade camp after taking part in the Ranch Brigade and Bobwhite Brigade camps the past two years.

Reames was selected as a Junior Director for the Texas Society for Range Management for its 70th annual Youth Workshop.

Connor Smith is attending the Bass Brigade camp as an assistant leader after being a cadet attendee last year. He will attend Coastal Brigade camp as a cadet.

Texas Brigade camps offer hands-on, five-day, immersive learning experiences designed to educate participants about the particular needs of various wildlife species. The program also offers a Waterfowl Brigade camp.

“We not only learned about quail in Bobwhite Brigade, we learned about habitats for quail,” Reames said of the Brigade program. “We also learned a little bit about cattle and a lot of leadership skills.”

This was the second year for Reames to attend the Youth Range Workshop.

“I was over about eight students, and there were four different groups,” she said. “I helped get students where they needed to go and helped directors out.”

The mission of the Youth Range Workshop is to educate young adults to provide the leadership for the future stewardship and management of rangelands based on sound ecological principles.

“There’s more of a stewardship focus,” Reames said. “It’s not only about learning how to grow grass but how to not take too much of it, how to keep it there for the future, and how to teach others to how to do that, also.”

The Texas Society for Range Management’s Youth Range Workshop was held June 18-23 at the Texas Tech University Center at Junction.

Bass Brigade is being held July 5-9 at Warren Ranch at Santa Anna. The ranch will also host the North Texas Buckskin Brigade July 23-27. Coastal Brigade will be July 25-29 at Sea Star Base at Galveston.

For Smith, the chance to learn about topics that interest him is the main benefit gained from attending Brigade camps.

“I learned about Texas Brigade through 4-H and looked into it last spring. I thought it would be a fun experience, and it was really fun, so I thought I would get more involved in it.”

Smith said his experience from a year ago led him to pursue a deeper level of participation in the Brigade program.

“I had to work hard to get the assistant leader position,” Smith said. “I want to go back to be a leader so I can learn more about the things I started last year.”

Smith said he is eager to see the similarities and differences between Bass Brigade and Coastal Brigade.