Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

A drought should end when it starts to rain, right? Well, not necessarily.

This is a major drought we’re in right now. A lot of people think it’s just right now. No it started three years ago.

That’s J. David Bamberger. Two streams at his fifty-five hundred acre ranch dried up ten months ago. At his ranch, Bamberger has created water trapping systems that help make efficient use of water. But even with his conservation system, he couldn’t keep the streams alive.

So, Bamberger says, when the rain cuts back, people need to cut back on their water and land use. Before the drought, Bamberger had two hundred and twenty-five cows on his land. He keeps selling them and now has only sixty-five.

Part of our mission here is to say to landowners, “You can have your cattle. You can have your sheep, your goats, horses. You can be a farmer. You can be a rancher. And you can be a protector of all the species. It’s just being able to manage your land and read natures’ signals and signs that she gives to you.”

Bamberger says he’ll need a lot more rain before his streams flow again.

We’d probably have to have sustained rain up in the twenty to thirty inches in order to get back to that.

…and that could be a while.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Wildlife Restoration program supports our Series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

J. David Bamberger on Drought Play Now | Play in Popup | Download