The Latest Breaking News from Texas Parks and Wildlife

In Texas, oyster-shell waste became reef “shell bags”; along Galveston Bay, the new shell reefs supported living oysters and helped stabilize shorelines

The Galveston Bay Foundation has initiated a commendable recycling program to repurpose oyster shells from local restaurants for vital reef restoration efforts. These shells serve as a robust foundation for new oyster reefs within the bay. The devastation caused by Hurricane Ike severely affected existing reefs, making these recycled shells…

The Economic Times · Aug 27

Texas Parks and Wildlife commissioners inundated with border wall concerns during annual meeting

After bulldozers entered Big Bend National Park, hundreds of Texans came to Wednesday’s meeting to ask the agency to keep federal border barriers out of state parks.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 19

Invasive feral hogs are showing up in Texas neighborhoods for the first time as residents beg city leaders for help: report

Feral hogs cause millions of dollars in damage throughout Texas each year

The Independent UK · Apr 14

Texas takes its first steps to protect its mountain lions

While many other states limit hunting of the apex predator, Texas is only now introducing rules to ban canned hunts and require regular checking of traps.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 30, 2024

South Texas groups trying to stop state’s land swap with SpaceX

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is negotiating a land trade involving part of Boca Chica State Park.

The Texas Tribune · Apr 10, 2024

“We’d lose one after the next”: Texas bats face a pandemic of their own

Weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Texas, a biologist found a dead bat covered in a white fungus — the state’s first official case of white-nose syndrome. Now, scientists are on a mission to understand how many bats have been lost.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 14, 2023

Dallas developer starts construction at former Fairfield Lake State Park despite threat of land seizure

Todd Interests, which plans to turn the former park into a high-end subdivision, has a week left to respond to the state’s final offer for the property.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 10, 2023

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department opts for eminent domain to save Fairfield Lake State Park

With only three days left on the state’s lease, the agency unanimously voted to condemn almost 5,000 acres in Freestone County in an effort to keep the park open to the public after developers purchased the property to build a gated community.

The Texas Tribune · Jun 10, 2023

A Texas woman raised an alligator as a pet for 20 years. Now it's been seized

Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say that the woman in Caldwell County, Texas, treated the alligator as a pet. She named it Tewa.

WEKU · Mar 8, 2023

A Texas park on leased land near Dallas must close because the state’s landlord is selling the property to a developer

After investing $72 million in improvements at Fairfield Lake State Park over three decades, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is out. The state has 120 days to vacate the property.

The Texas Tribune · Feb 15, 2023