AUSTIN – The Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) has named the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as the recipient of its 2017 Agency of the Year Award. The award was presented at QDMA’s 2017 National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, in recognition of the agency’s commitment to a strong deer management program.
AUSTIN – For the first time since dove conservation measures were established in Texas nearly a century ago, hunters statewide will have an opportunity to pursue the popular game birds during the first weekend of September.
BASTROP — Tomorrow, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will hold a meeting to hear public comments on the development of the golf course area at Bastrop State Park. The golf course, which closed in 2015, will be repurposed for conservation and recreational uses.
AUSTIN— With the 21st annual Great Texas Birding Classic wrapped up for the year, the winners of the largest and longest bird-watching competition in the United States have chosen the nine conservation projects that will be awarded grant funds. Grants range in amount from $1,000 to $10,000.
AUSTIN – Texas Game Wardens logged nearly 13,000 patrol hours on state water bodies over the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend, conducting enhanced boating safety and compliance checks on 17,845 vessels carrying 60,673 boaters.
WASHINGTON— Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site will be hosting a free Juneteenth Heritage Celebration 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday to showcase the rich African-American heritage and culture of the Brazos Valley, past and present.
AUSTIN — Invasive zebra mussels have now been positively identified in the Guadalupe River Basin in what is now the state’s southernmost affected lake.
ATHENS— The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, headquarters for the Texas Division of the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest, announced the top 12 state winners May 31.
AUSTIN — In 2016, there were more than 35 boating fatalities and hundreds of boat accidents and injuries on Texas waters. As part of National Safe Boating Week May 20-26, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department boater education and law enforcement staff are reminding Texans to be safe Memorial Day weekend and all summer long by following the law and taking basic safety precautions while on the water.
AUSTIN – The state’s top land conservation award typically goes to a private ranch, but this year the honoree is a North Texas-based nonprofit which manages not one, but six different ranches, all of them devoted to demonstrating how good land management using cattle grazing can lead to more and better water for people and wildlife.