ABSTRACT
Abstract .................................................................................................................. 100 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 100 Management-Based Research ................................................................................ 101
King Ranch Management before Biologists ..................................................... 101 Harvest Management .................................................................................... 101
King Ranch Management after Biologists ........................................................ 102 Current King Ranch Management .................................................................... 106
Research-Based Management ................................................................................ 109 The King Ranch Grass Program ....................................................................... 109 Consequences of the King Ranch Grass Program............................................. 112
Recommendations .................................................................................................. 113 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 114 References .............................................................................................................. 115
King Ranch and its South Texas Farm are located in Kingsville, Texas and have been in operation since 1853. Due to King Ranch’s in¦uential research and political efforts and the dedication of its family shareholders to wildlife conservation, it has established a reputation as a leader in both ranching and wildlife management. King Ranch strives to make conservation decisions based on sound research and has a rich history of research projects where management-based research was conducted to assist in decision-making processes. Research conducted on King Ranch can be broken into two categories: (1) management-based research, and (2) researchbased management. In the context of this work, the nature of management-based research is analytical and didactic, and the results of such research function as a tool for determining appropriate management decisions. Research-based management is experimental and ascertainable, and results are applied to achieve specišc management goals. Thus, by these dešnitions, research-based management is subject to consequences. Our objectives are to provide insight on how King Ranch has historically made wildlife, range, and other management decisions based on research and how King Ranch biologists Val W. Lehmann, William “Bill” H. Kiel, Jr., and Mickey W. Hellickson improved the welfare of King Ranch by conducting and applying sound management-based research. We also discuss the current King Ranch and how the family has always taken an innovative approach to wildlife and habitat management, and this commitment has remained steadfast as non-family professional management has taken a more active role in recent years in all aspects of ranch operations. In addition, we discuss how research-based management decisions were made and what the resulting unforeseen ramišcations were. We will draw on the introduction of non native grass on King Ranch to illustrate this objective. Ultimately, we encourage landowners, managers, and biologists to make management decisions based on accurate and long-term research and consider all consequences before making decisions.
