AUSTIN—Battling the devastating Bastrop wildfire and bringing back the Lost Pines forest, telling the Guadalupe River story to elementary schoolers, researching a new way to control the feral hog menace, and broadcasting the wildlife and parks message to millions of Texans on the radio—this year’s Texas Parks and Wildlife employee awards reveal the people behind these stories and others like them across the state.
AUSTIN – Funding to keep Texas State Parks open and provide grants for city and county parks, millions to aid the declining bobwhite quail and its grassland habitat, fisheries funding that benefits water resources, and dollars for conservation law enforcement are among the highlights of the 2014 budget approved today by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
HOUSTON — At a time when people in big cities are becoming increasingly disconnected from the world of nature and the outdoors, Take Me Outdoors Houston on Sept. 14 at Discovery Green offers a free, family-oriented festival to help urbanites in Texas’ largest city get back to nature.
AUSTIN — What does your Texas drought look like? With more than 97 percent of Texas suffering from drought conditions, that’s what the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) want to know. This coalition of state agencies today launched an interactive public awareness campaign inviting Texans to submit personal photos capturing what the drought looks like for them and how it has impacted their lives.
PORT ARTHUR — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department invites the public to attend an informational meeting regarding the upcoming migratory game bird hunting season and ongoing wetland restoration efforts on Wildlife Management Areas along the Upper Coast of Texas.
AUSTIN – Hunters could use dogs to trail a wounded deer in 12 counties in East Texas, a practice that has been prohibited in this area of the state since 1990, under a proposal being considered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department marks its 50th anniversary this summer with a special issue of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. The magazine tips a figurative Stetson to the various partners who helped further the agency’s conservation mission over the last five decades, and looks ahead to the next half century.
AUSTIN – Scores of illegal wildlife traffickers face federal and state charges for selling protected species online last summer.The cases result from a coordinated undercover law enforcement operation conducted simultaneously by Texas game wardens, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other states and federal agencies, and three Asian countries.
AUSTIN – Texas bird hunters might consider investing in an extra box or two of shells this year to take advantage of increased bag and possession limits and expanded opportunities.
AUSTIN – Swarovski Optik teams bested the competition in three different categories of the first statewide version of the Great Texas Birding Classic,and two of those wins enabled its teams to select which habitat conservation projects receive $10,000 of the $17,000 awarded from this year’s event.