The Texas Prairie Wetlands Program is administered and funded by the USDA-NRSC, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ducks Unlimited. Cost-share assistance (75 to 100%) is available to restore, improve, and create wetlands on private lands for waterfowl management. A 10 to 15 year wetland management plan and written agreement is developed jointly and is carried out by the landowner. NRCS and Ducks Unlimited write the management plan, survey, and design any need water control or earthen structures. The landowner agrees to follow the management plan (Wetland Development Agreement) for the life of the contract.

The Wetland Reserve Program is a federally funded program that administered by the NRCS. There are two basic requirements for the wetland to be eligible: The wetland hydrology must have been altered, and the wetland must be restorable. Applications are reviewed and compete on a statewide basis for Wetland Reserve Program funds.

Wetland Restoration Cost-Share Agreement – The landowner agrees to a minimum 10 year contract in return for cost-share (75%) to restore the wetlands. The landowner agrees to manage and sue the area according to the Restoration Plan.

30 Year Conservation Easement – The landowner sells a 30 year easement to the NRCS for 75% of the appraised agricultural value of the land. NRCS pays 75% of the cost to restore the wetland. Management and use of the land during the easement period is granted to the landowner by NRCS through a management plan. The landowner is allowed some use of the land through the restoration plan and by making compatible use request, which must be approved by the NRCS.

Permanent Easement – The landowner sells a permanent easement to the NRCS for 100% of the appraise agricultural value of the land. NRCS pays 100% of the cost to restore the wetland. A permanent easement is attached to the deed. The landowner agrees to manage the land according to a wetland management plan written by the NRCS to benefit native plants and waterfowl and describing acceptable uses of the land.

Throughout the nation the grant program has provided stable federal funding totaling more than $573 million since 2000 to state agencies such as Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which has received about $3 million a year for Texas conservation, which has been put to work on various fish and wildlife management projects across the state.

The Texas coalition is leading plans to host a series of 5 briefings and tours for elected officials and news media in early September. These special events will take place in Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston, as well as Northeast Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Texas Parks and Wildlife staff will be providing information and playing a supporting role in these events to help showcase how SWG funds have been used in Texas.

If you hunt, fish, or just enjoy looking at fish and wildlife habitat in Texas, then these grants have helped to make the state even better. Thanks to federal and state officials for putting these wildlife grants to good use!

There are many diseases that can plague both mourning and white-winged doves in the United States. And some of these mourning dove diseases and white-winged dove illnesses can cause problems for local and migrating dove populations. Avian trichomoniasis, a naturally-occurring parasite, is the likely cause of minor dove die-offs observed recently in the Central Flyway.

“It’s a fairly common occurrence, but folks should be aware of it,” said Corey Mason, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) dove program leader. Trichomonas gallinae is a single cell protozoan common in nature that circulates within bird populations, impacting many different bird species including mourning and white-winged doves. In fact, trichomoniasis is considered by many avian disease specialists to be the most important disease of doves in North America. Outbreaks at bird feeding stations and similar locations reported to the National Wildlife Health Center have occurred from coast-to-coast within the USA.

Epizootics due to T. gallinae can happen year-round, but most disease outbreaks have been reported during late spring, summer and fall. Because oral lesions often affect the ability of the mourning and white-winged doves to feed, infected birds lose weight, appear listless, and stand in groups. Although avian trichomoniasis poses no human health risks, precautions should always be taken when handling sick or dead doves and other birds.

Officials state that because this parasite is transmitted through cross-feeding and bill contact, impacts to mourning and white-winged dove populations can be minimized by taking precautionary measures, including removal of dead birds and temporary removal of artificial water and feed or routine cleaning of artificial watering areas and replenishing bird feeders with fresh feed daily. Platforms and other surfaces where feed may collect, including the area under feeders, should be frequently decontaminated with 10 percent solution of household bleach in water.

Though trichomoniasis is disease that impacts white-winged and mourning dove populations, it by no means threatens their populations currently. However, it is something that everyone must work to identify and avoid, especially those with backyard bird feeders. Mourning dove diseases and white-winged diseases can vary between different locations and times of the year, so learn as much as possible about each of the illnesses before making your diagnosis.

Alternatively, drought-prone ecosystems that already face extremely variable rainfall may be well equipped to withstand increased drought. How drought alters ecosystem function will be important for both the ecosystem itself and for ecosystem feedbacks to climate change.

The Edwards Plateau in central Texas is an ideal location for addressing the effects of increased drought on grassland ecosystems, because soil type (limestone-derived mollisols) and vegetation (grassland savanna) are largely similar while rainfall declines from east to west (see photo below). Rainfall across the Plateau varies from about 36 inches in the east to about 16 inches in the west, with a decrease of about 4 inches every 25 to 30 miles.

In a drier future climate, eastern areas of the gradient may face conditions now represented in the west. Working in savanna grasslands across the Plateau will be informative for ecosystems beyond central Texas, as these habitats represent 30% of the terrestrial Earth surface and are predicted to become more prevalent with increased drought.

We will focus on rain effects on ecosystem carbon cycling because of the importance of soil organic matter to soil fertility and structure, as well as the impacts of carbon balance on ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. Increased drought is likely to affect ecosystem carbon cycling through plant productivity (inputs) and decomposition rates (fluxes).

We will use the Edwards Plateau rain gradient as a proxy for future climate, to help increase our understanding of how future drought will affect carbon cycling in central Texas grasslands. We will focus on plant productivity, standing pools of carbon in soils, the flux out of those pools (decomposition/ respiration), and the microbial drivers responsible for loss of carbon from the soil pool.

Project Objectives

• Define baseline plant productivity, soil carbon pools, soil carbon process rates, and soil microbial drivers across the rainfall gradient.
• Determine how changes in rainfall will affect plant productivity, soil carbon pools, process rates, and microbial drivers.

More on this study of climate change.

The department has also said that all side roads are also impassable to motor vehicles, but habitat should respond well. The Texas Department of Transportation is assessing damages and repair costs and WMA staff is trying to get a handle on side road damage. According to local accounts, the event marks the heaviest localized flooding since the early 1970s.

In addition to road damage, the WMA lost a five-acre fishing lake on the northern end of the 11,000-acre property when a dam failed, but reports no other structural damage. Surrounding WMAs were also temporarily closed to public access immediately following the event, but Richland Creek WMA has since reopened and Big Lake Bottom WMA is expected to reopen later this week.

Gus Engeling is a state-owned property that serves as a research and demonstration (wildlife management techniques) areas for the post oak savannah ecoregion of Texas. The WMA is open to visitors, birders, and provides public hunting opportunities for ducks, wild turkey, and white-tailed deer.