AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Buffalo Soldiers program celebrates its 20th anniversary during Black History Month with living history events at three Texas state parks.
AUSTIN — For the fifth year in a row, Whole Earth Provision Co. will donate the proceeds from the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour to Texas State Parks. This Texas-based travel, adventure and nature store has sponsored the film festival in Austin for over a decade and always selects a worthy organization to receive the proceeds.
CONCAN – Several hundred undesirable visitors to Garner State Park have been abusing this treasured Hill Country destination, leaving park officials with little choice but to take strong measures to remedy the problem. Invasive exotic axis deer are eating up a limited supply of the groceries and displacing the local inhabitants.
ROCKPORT – This week, certified arborists will tend to “Big Tree” at Goose Island State Park, providing the aging icon with the best possible care.
AUSTIN – A 3 1/2-year-old captive raised white-tailed buck harvested in early January by a hunter from a release site on a ranch in Medina and Uvalde counties has been confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The deer’s origin has been identified as an onsite deer breeding facility and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) are conducting an epidemiological investigation.
AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is considering expanding white-tailed deer hunting into 14 counties across the western Panhandle, and creating additional deer hunting opportunities in East Texas. The recommendations are among a slate of proposed deer hunting regulation changes for 2016-17.
AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is starting the next phase in an ongoing effort to restore the San Jacinto Battleground to its appearance in 1836. The restoration efforts, which date back to 1994, include reseeding prairie areas as well as marsh restorations on more than 120 acres so far.
AUSTIN —Fisheries staff with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are considering proposals to adjust bass and catfish fishing regulations in specific waters and areas, move saugeye under walleye harvest regulations, and clarify length limits on black drum and amberjack and rules prohibiting snagging of fish with pole-and-line.
AUSTIN — For more than a decade, countless volunteers have spent 10 days each February searching Texas bays for abandoned crab traps left to foul shrimpers’ nets, snag anglers’ lines and create unsightly views.
The following items are compiled from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.