The morning session will feature Billy K. Lemons, Principal Consultant with Resource Analyt & Management Group, a Nacogdoches-based natural resource consulting firm that represents land, mineral and royalty owners, exclusively, in matters of oil and gas leases, pipeline and roadway easements, surface damages, seismic permits, and royalty audits. 

During the past two years Lemons has been featured speaker for more than a dozen public seminars and workshops for land and mineral owners in East Texas, North Texas and Northwest Louisiana. His down-to-earth talks and print articles on stewardship of oil, gas and mineral assets are popular across four states in the immediate region and as far east as the Marcellus Shale play in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.

Lemons will provide an introduction to minerals asset management, with concentrations on understanding industry organization, who’s who when they call or come knocking, proper perspectives for valuing one’s minerals and prospective leases, the must of getting professional assistance, a long list of basic dos and don’ts in the business, and monitoring and enforcement.

Lemons is a 1974 graduate of the College of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University, and a 30-year veteran of the profession.  He is a member and Regional Vice President of the Texas Land & Mineral Owners Association. He is a member of the American Association of Professional Landmen, the Fort Worth Geological Society and the Shreveport Geological Society. He is a member of the Texas Forestry Association and has been a member of the Society of American Foresters since 1975, having served on the Executive Committee of TSAF from 1984 through 1990 and as Chairman of the Lufkin Nacogdoches Chapter of TSAF in 1984. 

Ben Elmore, an oil and gas attorney with the firm of Perdue and Kidd, LLP, of Houston, will begin the afternoon session with a talk on post-leasing legal issues that affect land, mineral and royalty owners, including royalty owner rights, lease provisions, implied covenants in leases, and surface damage issues.

Ben was born in Jasper and spent his early childhood on a working farm outside of Jasper in Bevilport, and at age 10 moved to Beaumont. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and a graduate summa cum laude of South Texas College of Law. Ben spent eight years representing oil companies in disputes with their royalty owners. Through this experience, Ben learned how oil companies manage their leased interests and relationships with their royalty owners. Royalty owners are oftentimes at a disadvantage when it comes to leasing and oil and gas production activities affecting their interests, and Ben understands how oil companies take advantage of this fact.

Ben’s law practice now focuses on representing land and royalty owners wronged by the aggressive tactics of oil companies. Ben and his family are royalty owners in Jasper and Newton counties, so Ben understands firsthand that the first step to protecting land and royalty owners’ interests is education about their rights.

Ralph Day, ASA, ACF, President of Day Forest Management & Appraisal, Inc., of Jasper, will provide the last session with a talk on surface and surface damage appraisal issues. Day is a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, a Licensed Real Estate Broker, and a Registered Senior Property Tax Consultant with over 32 years experience in forestry consulting, timberland appraisal, and expert witnessing.

Day is a graduate of Purdue University, receiving a BS in Forest Management (1976). He has been a Consulting Forester for over 32 years. He is a Certified Forester; a Licensed and Registered Forester; and an accredited member of the ACF - Association of Consulting Foresters.  He is a past Texas State Chairman of : the ACF; the SAF -Society of American Foresters; the Texas Tree Farm Program. He is a past President of the JNCFLA - Jasper – Newton County Forest Landowners Association. 

A question and answer period will follow.

Registration

Click on the following links for a Registration Form and a Map to the Seminar location.

Registration is by mail in advance and will be limited to the first 300 persons. Cost is $30 per person, including lunch, by check only. Completed registration forms with payment must be received by mail no later than Monday, May 11, 2009. To get a seat, please mail your registration forms early. Registration payment and contact information are provided on the registration form.   

All proceeds after facility and catering costs will go to Texas Lions Camp, providing camping experiences at no charge to children with medical conditions, since 1949. Speakers are donating their time. For additional information prior to registration, call the Texas Land & Mineral Owners Association at (512) 479-5000.