While striving to be one of the top programs in the nation, the Department of Natural Resources Management at Texas Tech is all about managing the impact humans have on the environment. The department, once known as range wildlife and fisheries, is now combined with generic conservation, and conservation law enforcement.

“The department is currently striving to produce students that will be great in their field of work,” said Mark Wallace, Ph.D.  He said students have been winning awards quite often for the research they are involved with. Actually, most students are conducting “funded research” so it is considered very important, and extremely detail oriented. Within the research

Wallace said students have been winning awards quite often for the research they are involved with. Most students are conducting “funded research” so it is considered very important, and extremely detail oriented. Within the research teams, there’s currently graduate students working in Texas and the nearby states, but there have also been students conducting research all over the United States including Alaska and Maine.

New NRM faculty member Matthew Barnes has been working on environmental DNA. Thanks to his research, they can now sample water or dust particles anywhere and determine what exactly the particles have come in contact with upwind or upstream. There have been several big things accomplished within the department recently, and there should be a lot more throughout 2017.

There have been several big things accomplished within the department recently, and there should be a lot more throughout 2017.

“What inspires my research is the fact that we depend on so many natural resources, both tangible and easy to quantify like energy and food, and more intangible like clean air and water as well as recreation and fascinating biodiversity,” Barnes said. “Our department focuses on a wide variety of natural resources. Whether you’re interested in aquatic systems, rangelands, wildlife, or other aspects of the natural world, there is probably someone in our department who is studying it.”

The NRM department continues to bring in students from all of the country to Texas Tech.