A massive wildfire that torched 95 percent of the 15,200-acre Chaparral Wildlife Management Area spared much of the wildlife on the state’s premier public hunting site, according to initial findings during aerial surveys by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists.

Biologists flew the area on Thursday, March 20, aboard TPWD’s law enforcement helicopter counting deer and other animals and will compare those findings with recent annual aerial survey results, which should provide an estimate of wildlife loss from the fire.

“I am amazed how adaptive wildlife can be during a natural disaster; we found very few carcasses and have observed a lot of live animals — horned lizards, whitetail deer, javelina and quail,” said David Synatzske, Chaparral WMA manager. “We have between 20 and 25 wildlife biologists and technicians on the site assessing damage and fixing fences and they are not finding dead animals. We discovered about 30 dead animals in one location, but have not found concentrations elsewhere. I drove the entire 30-mile perimeter fence line and found only two carcasses. Considering 95 percent of the area burned, that’s incredible.” (more…)

How does a $14.4 billion Texas-based industry go unnoticed? Easy when you consider most of its participants go about their business cloaked in camouflage or tucked in some secluded backwater hideaway.

Despite not appearing on the stock market rolls, hunters, anglers and wildlife watchers in Texas collectively are a major economic force, according to new findings by the Southwick Associates, a Florida-based research firm specializing in economic and business statistics related to fish and wildlife resources.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Division commissioned the Southwick group to ascertain the economic effect from fish and wildlife-related recreation in Texas, based on data in the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. The firm recently completed its Texas-focused report.

According to the Southwick report, the economic effect from Texas hunters, anglers and wildlife watchers was estimated to be $14.4 billion. In other words, if these outdoor enthusiasts were to stop spending money in Texas and not spend these dollars on other in-state items, the state economy would shrink by $14.4 billion. (more…)

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The primary goal of the Treessentials Company is the successful establishment of difficult to grow seedlings on challenging sites. We work with private landowners, wildlife managers and foresters, federal, state and local land management agencies, and non-profit habitat organizations across the country to achieve that success. (more…)

The Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrhinos)is easily identified by its upturned snout. The Eastern Hognose is a very stout-bodied snake with brown blotches on a background that can vary from light tan to gray. Color can vary substantially between the habitats that this snake lives in. This is also a very unique snake with very unusual defenses!

When this non-venomous snake is first encountered, it will flare its neck and head so that it somewhat resembles a cobra and hiss very loudly! If this doesn’t scare you away, the snake may roll over on its back with its mouth open and “play dead.” If you roll it back upright, it will flip itself back onto its back, as though insisting that it is dead!

The adults average around 2 feet long, and they feed almost exclusively on toads.

Hunting accidents and fatalities in Texas continued their long-term decline in 2007, still down below three accidents per 10,000 hunters in recent years. That compares to about 12 accidents per 10,000 hunters in 1966, the year records began.

Short-term, Texas had 26 injuries from hunting accidents in 2007, two less than the year before. The state had four fatalities in 2007, the same as the previous year.

Although any fatality is tragic, Texas accident numbers are small compared to the number of hunters. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national survey, 1,112,099 people hunted in Texas in 2007.

“The statistics show hunting is safe and getting safer in Texas,” said Steve Hall, education director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “And we do believe that is directly related to hunter education.”

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Tyler State Park Lake sent its second Budweiser ShareLunker and a new lake record to Athens Monday. The 14.5-pound largemouth bass took a rainbow-trout imitating swim bait being worked in 3 feet of water by Tyler angler Brett Harris. The fish was 27.75 inches long and 20.25 inches in girth.

Harris’ choice of baits seems odd until you realize that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stocks rainbow trout into the lake during the winter to increase angling opportunity. Largemouth bass were stocked into the 64-acre lake in 1975, 1985 and 1990. The previous ShareLunker and old lake record weighed 13.28 pounds and was caught in 2000. (more…)

Bastrop State Park will host 100 or more former Civilian Conservation Corps members who helped build the foundation of the Texas State Park system back in the 1930s and 1940s. The March 28-29 event commemorates the 75th anniversary of the CCC, started by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration in 1933 to address joblessness during the Great Depression years.

Most of the young men whose skilled hands worked on soil conservation and forestry projects, and helped build the structures that form the backbone of such outstanding state parks as Caddo Lake, Garner and Indian Lodge have passed on as the 75th anniversary approaches. Those CCC workers who are still alive today are in their 80s and 90s. (more…)

By Bill Ward, Native Plant Society of Texas

What is the most precious natural resource in the Texas Hill Country? For most people the answer to that question is a no-brainer. Water, of course! Surface water or ground water? There you might get different answers, but those “in the know” would think this is a dumb question.

That’s because around here, most surface water and ground water are part of the same hydrologic system. They shouldn’t be considered separately, especially here in this expansive area of karst limestone terrain.

Groundwater issuing from springs is the source of most big creeks and rivers in the Hill Country. Stream beds are the main zones of recharge for our aquifers. (more…)