Landowners Learn Conservation on WMAs
Texas Wildlife Management Areas are a training ground for landowners who wish to become better stewards of their land.
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Texas landowners are vital to long-term statewide habitat and wildlife conservation strategies.
Something that folks really are not aware of is that the water that they drink, the air tht they breathe, the clothes they wear, and even the fuels that provide energy for their vehicles and power plants, come from private lands in Texas.
Dennis Gissell is Wildlife Management Area facilities coordinator.
Private landowners really are stewarding not only the natural habitat, but they’re providing the resources that we as humans must have to survive.
Texas Parks and Wildlife uses Wildlife Management Areas to educate landowners about conserving wildlife and habitat, including water.
When you’re dealing with either surface water or groundwater, people need to be aware that that surface water is coming through lands that are owned by private landowners, and the extent to which they manage the vegetation and the habitat there, allows that water to be filtered naturally before it arrives at a lake or a river.
Texas landowners take stewardship seriously. Gissell says he hopes this remains true as ownership changes.
The former farms and ranches that were owned by some of the original settlement families in Texas are being sold off and broken up to some degree; we call that habitat fragmentation. As landowners acquire those lands, we think it is very important that they understand the role of stewardship, and managing and conserving wildlife habitat.
The Wildlife restoration program supports our series and helps to fund the management of Texas’ 50 Wildlife Management Areas.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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