AUSTIN – In response to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s decision to establish a 3-day recreational season for red snapper in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which opened today and runs through Saturday, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Executive Director Carter Smith issued the following statement:
The following items are compiled from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.
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 – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved amendments to chronic wasting disease (CWD) management response rules based in part on discovery of the disease in a free-ranging white-tailed deer west of San Antonio. The changes address containment and surveillance measures, and permitted movement of live deer, in portions of Bandera, Medina, and Uvalde counties as well as zone delineations in the northwest Panhandle.
AUSTIN— The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission today approved $3.46 million dollars in grants to help enhance 22 motorized and non-motorized recreational trail-related projects across the state.
AUSTIN— A Chambers County game warden, the Fort Boggy State Park superintendent and Whole Earth Provision Company were recognized during the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting held Thursday morning in Austin.
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.
HOUSTON – Trading on the internet can be a wild experience with deals on practically anything and everything one can imagine just a click away. Some online sellers in the Houston area learned this week that illegal sales of wildlife products can become high ticket items.
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.
TEXAS—The Texas Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) is working to restore the Texas coast along the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and is seeking public comment on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Texas Trustee Implementation Group Draft 2017 Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters. The draft plan, published May 18, 2017, proposes a suite of restoration projects to compensate for injuries to natural resources caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Texas TIG reviewed more than 800 restoration projects suggested by the public, state and federal agencies, and other various stakeholders. Of these projects, the Texas TIG included 13 preferred projects in the draft restoration plan and environmental assessment.