AUSTIN – This spring turkey season, hunters in Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Fayette, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Milam and Wharton counties are required to report their harvests. Mandatory harvest reporting will increase the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) ability to manage wild turkey populations by accurately estimating the harvest in these counties.
AUSTIN—The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) released the findings of an independent panel reviewing the circumstances and cause of an escaped prescribed fire at Bastrop State Park. The findings of the review, also known as a facilitated learning analysis, communicate strengths of TPWD actions during the Rolling Pines Wildfire as well as recommendations for addressing deficiencies, which staff have begun incorporating into the department’s prescribed fire protocols.
AUSTIN – The Texas State Parks Ambassador Program is accepting applications for the newest class of Ambassadors in Panhandle and North Texas State Parks. Applications are due March 30.
ATHENS – Anglers landed five Lunkers in five days, in the process recording two new lake records and two Top-30 fish – including the seventh largest in Texas history – to close out an active February in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD)’s 2022 Toyota ShareLunker season.
AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Commission approved proposed rule changes to bag and size limits for spotted seatrout on the middle and lower Texas coast during the January 2022 meeting. The new rules take effect on March 16 in Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, and the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre Bay systems.
AUSTIN— The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is hosting a town hall meeting Monday, March 7 to discuss the independent panel’s findings regarding the Rolling Pines Fire.
AUSTIN – Communities in Texas will have more opportunities to explore their natural surroundings thanks to grants awarded through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Community Outdoor Outreach Program (CO-OP). These 41 grant partnerships, totaling $2,048,678, will support community-based conservation and outdoor recreation activities throughout the state and build on $22 million already awarded by TPWD over the past 25 years.
AUSTIN – Texas Game Wardens are currently accepting applications for summer internships across the state. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department encourages college students of all backgrounds and fields of study to apply for these 12 available openings.
HUNTSVILLE – To address concerns about the welfare of a large colony of free-tailed bats in a warehouse operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is working alongside TDCJ staff to develop a safe, slow, and progressive movement (exclusion) of the bats from the building. The exclusion effort will help to minimize potential human-bat conflict.
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 has released its Draft Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #2. This plan includes restoration projects to partially compensate for the injury to natural resources caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The total estimated cost for the 13 proposed projects in the draft plan is approximately $39 million.