Category: Wildlife Management

Providing quality habitat is the basis for wildlife management. Without a good place to live wildlife will not thrive and will in some cases struggle to survive. The Texas Section Society for Range Management (TSSRM) will be hosting their annual meeting in San Angelo, Texas on October 12-14, 2011 at the McNeese Convention Center. TSSRM is a society of landowners and professionals concerned with range, wildlife management. and water conservation in Texas. The theme for this year’s meeting is, “Rangeland Stewardship: A History of Heritage, A Future of Change.”

The annual event will start on Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. with a session for ranchers, land managers, and young range professionals. The Wednesday afternoon program will focus on using technology to promote rangeland products including: livestock, recreational opportunities and rangeland tours. This session will be followed by a job fair for those wanting to enter the range and wildlife management field. The habitat management focused conference will conclude with a reception featuring live music and auction.

The Thursday morning program will consist of presentations by ranchers and scientists discussing ways to adapt to the ever-changing field of ranching and range management. This session will be followed by an awards luncheon catered by Kenny Blanek. Following the annual awards luncheon, the afternoon activities will include an option of two events. Take a tour of historic downtown San Angelo and Fort Concho or join us for a friendly round of fire at the San Angelo Clay Bird Association. The day will conclude with the annual awards dinner followed by a dance, with entertainment provided by Johnny Dickinson and Big Country.

Friday morning participants will head to local working ranches to experience a variety of hands-on activities and current agricultural issues. Topics of interest on the tour will include habitat recovery after recent wildfires, along with the recent increase in wind energy and oil exploration. In addition, there will be demonstrations by Priefert Ranch Equipment and Stay-Tuff fence.

The meeting will focus heavily on range management for livestock, but also include habitat management for white-tailed deer, quail and other wildlife species. Those interested in attending the meeting can contact Corey Owens at (325) 942-2029, x 285. Visit the TSSRM Website to register online. For hotel accommodations, please contact Springhill Suites (325)949-6900; Holiday Inn Express (325) 223-2200, or Comfort Suites (325) 944-8600.

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There are many types of habitat management practices that can be effective for managing wildlife and developing better hunting, but fire, prescribed burning,  is one of the most cost effective ways to manipulate habitat at a large scale. Landowners and wildlife managers have been using prescribed burning as an effective habitat management practice for quail, turkey and deer habitat improvement. It’s a good tool that every person interested in wildlife management should have in their box.

A prescribed burn workshop is accepting applications for participants interested in learning more about prescribed fire. The course teaches attendees how to use prescribed fire as a tool for habitat management. The participants will gain an understanding of fire effects and how to use fire in a safe manner to accomplish certain land and wildlife management objectives.

In addition, the course combines lecture, group discussion, teamwork, individual projects and field work to increase each student’s knowledge of fire weather, fire behavior, physical properties and characteristics of fuels, and the effects of fire on vegetation, wildlife and soils. Students will become aware of the risks associated with prescribed burning, including smoke risks and the risk of fire escape. Laws pertaining to the use of prescribed fire and their influence on a burn manager’s planning and decisions will be explained.

After completing the prescribed burning course, individuals should be able to recognize different fuel models important for rangeland burning. The student should have the ability to determine fuel load and reliably estimate live and dead fuel moisture, as well as fire rate of spread and flame length. Participants should have acquired an introductory knowledge of the use of fire equipment. Additionally, each student will have developed a fire prescription, addressing multiple variables, to meet specific land management objectives, and will have created a prescribed burn plan that includes the use of natural and artificial fire breaks.

This prescribed fire workshop meets the training requirements set forth by the Texas Prescribed Burning Board for the Certified Prescribed Burn Manager program. Five CEU’s/day  are available for current Certified Burn Managers. Visit this site for more prescribed burning class information or registration info. If you are interested in long-term habitat management on your property, I would highly recommend taking a prescribed burning class at some time in the near future.

Some folks over in East Texas are in the beginning stages of forming a prescribed fire cooperative. The Pineywoods Prescribed Fire Cooperative is made up of private landowners who wish to burn on their own property for habitat management. The primary goal of this cooperative is to put fire back on the ground in East Texas. The benefit will be reduced fuel loads across the Pineywoods, resulting in wildfire protection and, indirectly, wildlife habitat creation or enhancement.

The Pineywoods burning cooperative will be based on several successful models that already exist in different parts of the state and will be run by its members. Members will benefit from this cooperative by on-the-ground training and networking with other landowners with common goals, resulting in possible collaborative burns, access to prescribed burning equipment, and possible cost-share assistance for burning or creation of fire breaks.

The cooperative will be supported by several partner agencies and non-governmental organizations to achieve the mutual goal of putting fire back on the Pineywoods landscape in a responsible manner. An informative meeting will be held from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. for landowners on July 5, at the Texas Forest Service Cudlip Training Center, located at 2127 South 1st Street, in Lufkin, Texas, off of Hwy. 59 South.

Find out about the cost-shares that are available and what the Pineywoods Prescribed Fire Cooperative can do for you. Texas’ burning associations allow members to get hands-on training by assisting with prescribed fires on other member’s property, all the while increasing the knowledge of individuals about the use fire as a wildlife management tool and improving native habitat and hunting.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reported that Arthur “Buddy” Temple and his wife Ellen have been presented the 2011 Leopold Conservation Award for Texas for their transformation of an over-grazed, over-hunted South Texas ranch into a haven for wildlife and valuable research venue. Recognition is conferred each year by Sand County Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as part of its Lone Star Land Steward Awards program for wildlife management.

The Leopold Conservation Award honors the legacy of Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), considered the father of wildlife ecology. His collection of essays, “A Sand County Almanac,” remains one of the world’s best-selling natural history books. Leopold’s godson, Reed Coleman, formed Sand County Foundation in 1965 to protect the Leopold farm from encroaching lot development along the Wisconsin River.

The Temple family and their ranch operators, the Sanders, took a worn out South Texas ranch and turned it into a model operation. Their work in reviving this ranch and restoring its historic ranch house and other sites is truly worthy of being honored with an award named for Aldo Leopold. In nominating the Temple Ranch for the award, TPWD wildlife biologist Daniel Kunz of Alice pointed to these wildlife management accomplishments:

• Quail management: Through efforts such as brush management, prescribed fire (patch burning), targeted grazing, native plant restoration, invasive plant control, water distribution, spreader dams, strategic harvest and participation in CKWRI Quail Associates, the owner-operators have increased usable space, overall bird numbers, and created a better distribution of quail throughout the ranch. Overall quail management efforts have focused on the fundamental need of bobowhite quail, providing good habitat.

• Deer management: Increased body weights and better age structure in deer found on the ranch are attributed to the owner-operator’s commitment to intensive harvest management, water distribution, prescribed burning, brush management, supplemental feeding and use of level 3 managed land deer permits (MLD Permits). Deer management techniques have focused on manipulating age, genetics and nutrition.

• Turkey management: Participation in the South Texas Rio Grande Turkey Project, along with riparian area protection and restoration, prescribed fire, and artificial roosts are all efforts undertaken to improve habitat, population, and understanding of habitat use of turkeys in south Texas. Turkey habitat management efforts have been part of an overall program for enhancing upland game bird habitat.

• Outreach and education: Temple Ranch owner-operators have participated in the South Texas Wintering Bird Program, the Freer ISD field day, Buckskin Brigades, Texas A&M Kingsville range management classes, and Wounded Warrior hunts. The owner-operators have also created native plant demonstration areas for historical preservation and education.

• Historical preservation: Working with archeologists, the owner-operators have restored ranch structures dating from the 1840s-1860s; got an historical marker placed on the ranch and have been working with the Texas Historical Commission to get the ranch added to the National Register of Historical Places.

Sponsors for the 16th annual Lone Star Land Steward Awards include Gulf States Toyota, Sand County Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Partners in Fish and Wildlife Program; Texas Wildlife Association; H. Yturria Land and Cattle Co.; Lower Colorado River Authority; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association; Texas Agricultural Land Trust; Llano Springs Ranch, Ltd.; Bamberger Ranch Preserve, Gardner Appraisal Group, the Ly.

Fire can be great for managing wildlife habitat. Wildfires start through natural processes and benefit native plants and animals in many ways. The impacts of wildfire on wildlife habitat are a positive, but in modern times wildfire is viewed as a negative. This is because property damage is involved and human lives can be put at risk. Wildlife biologist and habitat specialist realize that prescribed burning benefits both wildlife and people and it, unlike a wildfire, can be set and managed under a predefined set of environmental conditions.

The scarring left by wildfires that consumed more than a million and a half acres in Texas so far this year will continue to fade, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists. The well-charred habitat will eventually be replaced by a landscape in much healthier condition for wildlife. Despite the hardship endured by those closest to the recent wildfires, time will eventually illustrate the positive ecological role that fire plays.

Habitat recovery depends on a lot of things, but the most important element is rain–something Texas has been running short on this year. Good rainfall can get things green in a hurry and have habitat off and running, but a lack of rain can delay plant and animal recovery for seasons and even years. Glen Gillman, one of TPWD’s Wildland Fire Program Leaders, stated:

“Following sufficient rainfall, recovery of burned vegetation will be fairly rapid. Wildlife species such as white-tailed deer will move back into burned areas. This may take longer in areas where brush species were hit hardest.”

Initial field assessments by TPWD biologists indicate minimal losses to wildlife populations from recent wildfires, although some mortality is to be expected during large scale fires, and plant communities are expected to recover over time. Individual ranches may see fewer animals until overall habitat conditions improve. Chip Ruthven, TPWD wildlife management area project leader in the Panhandle, said:

“Once rains come, forbs and grasses will respond quickly on most wildfire sites. Typically with spring fires warm-season grasses will respond better than forbs. Regrowth normally has a higher nutritive content and woody resprouts are more available for species such as white-tailed deer.”

Big game animals, such as white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope, are capable of evading fire, burrowing animals can seek refuge underground and birds fly out of harm’s way.Even on ranches having high fences, deer usually can find an escape route. In fact, during a major fire that burned 95 percent of the high-fenced Chaparral Wildlife Management Area (WMA) southwest of San Antonio in 2008, relatively few deer were killed. Fast forward three years later and now deer densities on the WMA are a record highs!

The impacts of wildlfire on ground nesting bird species, like bobwhite quail and turkey, are tougher to project because nesting cover will take longer to recover. But, they do come back. Game bird species evolved with fire and are usually observed actively feeding in recently burned areas. Seeds become easier to find, but quail and turkey will not be nesting anytime soon.

The majority of Rio Grande turkeys probably did not even attempt to nest during the latest drought conditions, so the fire likely did not have a major impact on this year’s production. The greatest impacts of wildfires will be to reptiles and insect populations, both of which are capable of making rapid recoveries. You see, fires are a normal and natural process. Wildlife, and the habitats they depend on, have evolved with fire and, in the long-term, the effect of fires are quite positive. Just give it a little time–and some rain!

Wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement for the benefit of wildlife and native plant communities is a common theme among the recipients of this year’s Texas Lone Star Land Steward Awards. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Sand County Foundation are recognizing these model land stewards and others, who have shown exemplary efforts to manage their property as ambassadors of conservation.

On May 25 at the Austin Airport Marriott South Hotel in Austin, TPWD will recognize land stewards representing private ranches in various ecological regions, plus three separate categories recognizing achievements for wildlife management associations, special contributions in outreach and education, and corporate efforts. Also, the Leopold Conservation Award for Texas will be presented to the 2011 statewide land steward, yet to be announced, by the Sand County Foundation.

The annual Lone Star Land Steward Awards recognize and honor private landowners for their accomplishments in habitat management for white-tailed deer, turkey, quail, dove and endangered non-game species. The program is designed to educate landowners and the public and to encourage participation in habitat conservation. TPWD’s primary partner in the awards is the Sand County Foundation, with current sponsors that include Gulf States Toyota, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, Texas Wildlife Association, Lower Colorado River Authority, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, Llano Springs Ranch, Ltd., Texas Agricultural Land Trust, and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

Lone Star Land Steward Awards program objectives are to recognize private landowners for excellence in habitat management and wildlife conservation on their lands, publicize the best examples of sound natural resource management practices, encourage youth education and participation in promoting responsible habitat management and improved ecosystem health, promote long-term conservation of unique natural and cultural resources, promote ecosystem awareness and acknowledge the best conservation practices in the state’s 10 ecological regions, enhance relationships between private landowners and Texas natural resource agencies and illustrate the important role of private landowners in the future of Texas natural resources.

This year’s recipients characterize the unique cultural and natural heritage of Texas. Landowners restoring degraded habitats while conserving flora and fauna are a common thread. Following are summaries of stewardship highlights for each of the ecoregion and category recipients. Here is a list of this year’s Texas Lone Star Land Stewards.

Habitat restoration and enhancement is the key to maintaining healthy plant and animal populations on a property. Active habitat management of native plant communities for the good of wildlife is what this year’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards have implemented on their properties across the state. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Sand County Foundation are highlighting the following land stewards, in addition to others, who have taken outstanding efforts to manage their property for wildlife.

Texas is known for it’s great hunting, but more important than that is the great habitat that makes it all possible. Properties managed by Lone Star Land Stewards award winners often have both. It’s not a coincidence. The winners this year should be commended for their commitment to improve habitat for wildlife and the greater good of their community.

Blackland Prairie – Warbler Woods Bird Sanctuary, Guadalupe County;

Warbler Woods covers 124 acres of diverse Blackland Prairie habitat. For more than 15 years, owners/operators Susan and Don Schaezler have managed the property to provide maximum diversity of native plants and wildlife. Among their achievements include native grassland restoration, juniper control, and construction of ponds and other water features. The owners began inviting birders to the property in 1997. Interest by birders grew and today the family hosts 2,000 visitors a year who enjoy an incredible diversity of birds. Known throughout the nation, Warbler Woods became a charitable foundation in 2008. Now an oasis in the midst of development, the owners especially enjoy introducing children to nature and involving students and families in volunteer projects such as resource monitoring, habitat enhancement and bird banding.

Cross Timbers and Prairies – Lodge Creek Ranch, Jack County

Since 2003, Bryan Mitchell and his family have worked to improve the habitat diversity on their Lodge Creek Ranch primarily to benefit white-tailed deer. Prescribed burning and brush management has been used to improve plant quality and diversity, resulting not only in improved antler quality, but also helping expand turkey populations. Both winter and summer food plots provide supplemental nutrition to a variety of wildlife. Control of feral hogs is an ongoing challenge. Management includes watershed enhancement of the West Fork of the Trinity River, which runs through a portion of the ranch. Based on harvest recommendations, antlerless deer are taken by youth hunters participating in the Texas Youth Hunting Program. Active in the Cross Timbers Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, the ranch also helps raise money for charities such as the Union Gospel Mission by donating hunts each year.

Edwards Plateau – Blue Mountain Peak Ranch, Mason County

In 2001, with goals of increasing plant and animal diversity and putting more water in the ground for range health and groundwater recharge, Richard Taylor began restoring land heavily dominated by juniper to create a diverse landscape of oak savannah uplands with wooded slopes and drainages. Brush management, grazing deferment and prescribed burning have been used to restore range health, reduce erosion and rejuvenate dozens of springs that now run year round. The Taylors began a deer management program with assistance from TPWD in 2002 and became MLDP cooperators in 2004. The ranch offers commercial hunting along with guided hikes, photography, birding and mountain biking. They host the Texas Youth Hunting Program each year and invite students, landowners and natural resource professionals to use the ranch for educational programs.
Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes – A Country Life Ranch,

Austin/Colorado Counties

Using the land as an active educational tool to break down barriers between traditional ag producers and new suburban landowners, the Cary Dietzmann family’s vision is to improve plant and animal diversity while also enhancing recreational enjoyment. Practices such as rotational grazing, invasive species control, prescribed burning, strip disking, and wetland/riparian zone enhancement are used to accomplish these goals. Deer are managed cooperatively with neighboring landowners and bird diversity is enhanced using supplemental nest structures and water features. In an effort to reach out to neighbors, the ranch regularly conducts “Habitours” to show both traditional and new landowners management options and innovative practices that have worked well.

Pineywoods – Clear Creek Ranch, Sabine County

With assistance from TPWD Landowner Incentive Program and NRCS EQIP program, Mike Howard has restored on his Clear Creek Ranch more than 800 acres of the longleaf pine/native bunchgrass ecosystem that historically dominated much of East Texas. Prescribed fire is used to control yaupon and create an open longleaf pine forest that provides habitat for a diversity of wildlife. Because of their restoration efforts, the ranch is one of the few places in the Pineywoods where you can hear bobwhite quail whistle and see Bachman’s sparrow, a state-listed species of concern attracted to pine savannahs with grassy understory. These grasses provide nesting habitat and stabilize the highly erosive soils, reducing sedimentation into creeks. The ranch has hosted numerous youth groups, landowners, and resource professionals interested in learning about longleaf pine restoration.

Post Oak Savannah – Trinity Bluff Wildlife Ranch, Navarro County

Since 2002, the Brian Smith family has worked to transform overgrazed uplands, post oak woodlands and bottomlands into diverse habitats of native bunchgrasses, forbs and desirable woody plants. Livestock deferment, prescribed burning and native grass seeding has been used to improve plant diversity. Working with the East Texas Wetlands Project and Ducks Unlimited, the Smith’s constructed a 20 acre wetland in the Trinity River bottom that attracts a diversity of waterfowl, wading birds and shorebirds. A smaller wetland was constructed along a shallow draw in the uplands. White-tailed deer quality has improved as a result of population control and enhanced plant diversity. Leaders in the Trinity Basin Conservation Foundation, the ranch is active in Trinity LANDS educational program for 4th graders from Navarro and Dallas counties.

Rolling Plains – Hailey Ranch, Jones and Shackelford Counties

Described as “the hardest working man in wildlife management”, Rob Hailey is considered in his own humble way an evangelist for natural resource conservation, hunting ethics, and land stewardship in the Rolling Plains. A student of plants, Rob can tell you the names, values, soil preferences, and how to manage the hundreds of native plants on the ranch. As a testament to his management, you can walk a short distance nearly anywhere on the ranch and see a hundred different plant species. Over the past 15 years, the ranch has used innovative and proven management practices, such as disking, livestock deferment, prescribed burning, food plots, and wildlife friendly water troughs to enhance wildlife habitat. Management approaches are always ecologically sound, relying on principles of plant succession. The ranch hosts numerous field days and an annual youth hunting event for over 50 kids and parents.

South Texas Plains – Halff Brothers Ranch, Frio County

For the past 109 years, the Halff family has ranched through good times and bad. Continuous learning through the decades is the hallmark of achieving their goal of passing on a self-sustaining ranch to future generations. Jim Halff and his family use prescribed burning and aerial herbicide to manage brush and enhance native grasses, resulting in a robust turkey population. Wildlife-friendly water features benefit a diversity of wildlife. The ranch is currently enrolled in the NRCS bobwhite quail EQIP priority area to maintain and enhance nesting cover. Quality deer management is also a goal as they work with TPWD through the MLDP program. Income from farming, lease hunting, stocker cattle, and birding support management goals. Riparian area protection is a high priority as the ranch works to educate neighboring landowners by hosting Nueces River Authority riparian workshops.

Trans Pecos – O2 Ranch, Brewster and Presidio Counties

Owned by the Lykes Brothers since 1941, this 275,000 acre ranch began major restoration efforts in 1998 with ranch wide deferment from grazing. Over the years, Charles P. Lykes Jr. and ranch operator Homer Mills have partnered with Sul Ross State University, NRCS, TPWD and USFWS to protect, restore and monitor riparian areas and associated uplands. Treatment of 4,000 acres of shrub encroached land provides crucial habitat for grassland species such as prairie dogs, pronghorn, and burrowing owls. With assistance from TPWD’s Landowner Incentive Program, restoration efforts in the Terlingua Creek watershed have decreased invasive shrubs and bare ground, increased grass and forb cover, and reduced soil erosion. Committed to education and research, the O2 supports numerous research studies and hosts field tours for students, resource professionals, and landowners.

Wildlife Management Association – Colorado County WMA

For 15 years, the Colorado County WMA has been educating landowners on the benefits of good land management, helping agricultural producers understand how to be better wildlife managers. At each meeting, speakers are invited to address topics of interest, such as aging deer on the hoof, turkey management, wildlife census and prescribed burning. As a result of their collective efforts, members are reaping the benefits of better quality deer, improved wildlife diversity, and enhanced ranch income. Currently, members are cooperating in a breeding chronology study for the county. The WMA has provided $48,000 in scholarships to students and donates funding to assist local volunteer fire departments. Many members are MLDP cooperators who use their tags to provide hunting opportunities for youth and others in the community.

Corporation – North American Coal Corporation, Sabine Mine, Harrison County

The use of native grasses to stabilize soil has created grassland bird habitat rarely seen on other properties. According to breeding bird surveys, birds such as dickcissel, eastern meadowlark, scissor-tailed flycatcher, and bobwhite quail are abundant on the reclaimed areas compared with nearby sites. Outreach efforts include hosting teacher workshops for the Texas Mining and Reclamation Association, inviting Northeast Texas Field Ornithologist to monitor bird response, and working with UT Tyler on habitat preferences of mussels in the Sabine River. By protecting of the Pine Tree Caddo Mound, the mine has enriched our understanding of this important archeological site. Currently, they are working with TPWD to implement rotational shredding, strip disking, and woody cover establishment to enhance habitat for bobwhite quail.

Special Recognition – Education and Outreach – Cactus Creek Ranch, Cameron County

From restoring ocelot habitat or developing wetlands to organizing Ranchers for Wildlife, the Ocelot Conservation Festival, wildlife photo contests, and outdoor classrooms, Mary Jo Bogatto has done a lot for Texas wildlife. Her habitat work has been impressive – working with TNC to plant 20,000 native plants, restoring plant diversity and habitat for ocelots, Aplomado falcons, and Texas horned lizards. But her commitment as a conservation leader reaches far beyond her front gate. As president of the Laguna Atascosa NWR friends group, she played a key role in the acquisition of the 27,000 South Padre Island unit of the refuge. As a Master Naturalist, Hunter and Junior Angler Instructor, and hunting/fishing guide, Mary Jo is a model of how to motivate people of all ages for conservation of wildlife and habitats.

Texas hunting is dependent upon the recruitment of new animals into the game populations each year. Recruitment of animals such as white-tailed deer and bobwhite quail are closely correlated with habitat conditions. The dry weather that has plagued Texas so far this spring has put the hurt on native habitat and recruitment by wildlife species does not look good. And conditions are so bad right now that wildfires pose a serious threat of burning off the vegetation that is left.

The Texas Forest Service is reporting that extremely dry vegetation and widespread drought are combining across the state to create dangerous fire conditions. This is the first time this year that critical fire danger has been forecast for such a lengthy period of time. Officials reported that conditions are especially ripe for wildfire west of Interstate 35, including the Western and Southern Plains, Trans Pecos and Texas Hill Country.

Texas has not experienced similar drought conditions since 2006. That means the “fuels,” or grass, trees and brush, are dried out and easily ignited. The high winds Texas has seen this month can carry wildfire rapidly through a community. Many counties currently have burn bans in effect, but landowners with prescribed burning plans can still burn if an exception is received.

“Consecutive days of accelerated drying have pushed fuels to the critically dry and extremely dry level for a large portion of the state,” said Brad Smith, a fire behavior analyst with Texas Forest Service. “When fuels reach these levels, it takes less weather to produce significant fires in high-risk fuels.”

So far this year, Texas Forest Service has suppressed 605 wildfires that have burned over 70,000 acres. That’s compared to 149 fires burning 5,221 acres at this time last year. In fact, in the past seven days alone, the agency has responded to 67 fires burning 23,439 acres. And since the elevated fire risk was identified on April 3, Texas Forest Service has responded to 28 fires burning almost 14,000 acres. In that short time frame, 160 homes were saved and seven were lost.

Current wildlife habitat conditions are poor and the lack of rain will further hurt the situation. Deer antler growth is highly dependent upon adequate rainfall, so as of right now do not expect a banner year of deer hunting regardless of which part of the state you hunt. Persons can monitor the current wildfire situation through the Texas Forest Service website.

Land and habitat management for wildlife has become the first priority of many Texas landowners in recent years. The social importance of hunting combined with the economic incentives from activities such as deer and dove hunting, in addition to other game and non-game animals, have landowners looking at wildlife management more than ever.

To help interested landowners out, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Anderson-Houston Soil and Water Conservation District will hold a workshop on managing small acreages for wildlife at the Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area on Friday, May 13th.

The habitat workshop is designed for landowners interested in wildlife management on properties of 250 acres or less or those who are interested in a wildlife tax valuation. The workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m to 4:00 p.m. and the cost is $15.00, which includes a barbecue lunch.

Space is limited, and payment must be made in advance, so don’t waste time registering for this one. RSVP by mailing a letter with your name, property county, contact information, email address and $15 per person (check made payable to Anderson-Houston SWCD) to Engeling WMA, 16149 N. U.S. Hwy. 287, Tennessee Colony, TX 75861.

The Gus Engeling WMA is located northwest of Palestine on U.S. Hwy 287. For more information on the wildlife management workshop or to register by phone, contact Eric Woolverton, Tucker Slack or Jennifer Ganter at 903-928-2251.

For landowners interested in wildlife management, habitat management is the key to success. One of the best management practices out there is prescribed burning. There are Prescribed Burning Associations (PBA) located throughout the state of Texas, and landowners can obtain a lot of knowledge by joining and helping. PBAs are non-profit organizations that are owned and operated by landowners to expand the use of prescribed burning across the landscape.

Prescribed Burning Associations share resources, knowledge and expertise to increase the application of planned prescribed fires to enhance agricultural production and wildlife habitat. Burning is one of the most powerful practices for managing wildlife habitats on a property. It may seem simple to light a match and watch a place burn, but specific habitat management goals with this powerful tool takes considerable study and knowledge.

The first thing to know about prescribed burning is that safety and fire control are absolutely essential. Learning fire behavior takes time, though it may never be fully understood. Education should be the first step in using prescribed fire. A landowner considering prescribed burning for wildlife and habitat should learn about fire behavior, fire and smoke management, burning laws, plant responses, animal needs, and animal responses.

Landowners who use fire as a management tool should continually strive to increase their knowledge about fire and habitat management. There is much to learn, but it’s a hot topic. No person should ever attempt to conduct a prescribed burn until he or she has intensively studied burning and gained burning experience by assisting educated and experienced burn managers. There are several classes and workshops provided annually by a number of organizations. Additionally, a prescribed burning association can educate you while acquiring skills and receiving on-the-ground experience.