Explore the story of Texas through maps in the new NRI store
The Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI) is proud to announce the launch of its new online Map Store, offering public access to a curated collection of award-winning maps that showcase the people, places, and natural resources that define Texas.
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NRI expands web tools to help protect military training spaces from incompatible development
With funding from DOD's Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, NRI developed the new Texas Compatible Use Zones (TCUZ) Viewer (tcuz.nri.tamu.edu), the first centralized web tool to display military compatible use zones (using DOD AICUZ and ICUZ data) for active-duty installations across the state. The TCUZ Viewer helps anyone considering development near a military installation in Texas identify whether their location of interest may conflict with military operations in that area.
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Texas A&M AgriLife leaders offer New World screwworm experience
Veterans of 2016 Florida outbreak reflect on lessons learned, share insight to protect Texas livestock and wildlife
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Up to $3 million available for landowners to protect natural resources near Camp Bullis
The Camp Bullis Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) is now accepting applications from voluntary landowners interested in permanently protecting their land and natural resources through conservation easements. These tailored easements support compatible land uses, such as agriculture, wildlife habitat, and open space, that also help safeguard the military mission and training capabilities of Joint Base San Antonio–Camp Bullis.
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From Maps to Mentorship: NRI partners with Borlaug Youth
The story of Texas’s working lands, or privately owned farms, ranches, and forests, is one of rapid changes that have widespread implications for national and food security, rural economies, and the conservation of wildlife, water, and other natural resources. Over 139 million acres of valuable landscapes supporting these processes are threatened by suburbanization, rural development, and land fragmentation driven by rapid economic and population growth.
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Working Lands, Wildlife: A Wild Goose Chase Win
In the rolling Baraboo Hills of Wisconsin, just a quarter mile from Aldo Leopold’s Shack—where A Sand County Almanac took root—a diverse group of two dozen gathered for the Wild Goose Chase II meeting. Private landowners, conservationists, federal agency leaders, policy experts, and academics united with a shared goal: conserving species while keeping America’s working lands thriving.
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Creative Solutions for Species Management: The ESA Toolbox
Today, the DOD manages over 500 species listed as either threatened or endangered under the ESA and hundreds more “species-at-risk” that may warrant federal protection in the future. The DOD is committed to providing conditions compatible with conducting military training, testing, and operational missions while ensuring the conservation of ecosystems on which these species depend. However, in some circumstances, overlap between military mission activities and species habitats can result in area access and training constraints. Creatively managing the military mission and species conservation can reduce—or even eliminate—potential conflicts.
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My Quest to Find the Elusive Texas Alligator Lizard
On a warm spring morning a few years ago, I ducked into a rock shelter on Austin’s Barton Creek Greenbelt while taking a walk. Sunlight cut through the live oaks and painted the walls of the limestone canyons. Only as I stood up to leave did I see it: a slender, serpentine lizard sitting on a ledge, its armored back banded in orange and white, its narrow face and glittering eyes set in an expression of faint distaste.
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Podcast Ep. #9: The Story of Texas Land Trends
Over the last 25 years, we’ve documented how rapid population growth has changed Texas lands through fragmentation, development, and suburbanization. More and more people are moving to Texas every year, prompting decision-makers to seek additional natural resources and land to support them. In a state as vast as Texas, which boasts 142 million acres of private farms, ranches, and forests, our working lands are the beating heart of our state. Losing working lands impacts everything from wildlife habitat to rural economies to food and water security for major urban centers. Our changing landscape will impact all Texans, and a better understanding of the drivers of change will support the future conservation of working lands.
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Lone Star Healthy Streams workshop set June 13th in Bay City
A Lone Star Healthy Streams workshop will be held on June 13th at the Bay City Service Center (2105 Ave. M, Bay City). This event is hosted by the Matagorda County SWCD#316, open to the public. Although the education is funded, there is a $30 registration fee for refreshments and steak lunch.
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