By Azalia Rodriguez, Defenders of Wildlife
As the Texas Hill Country landscape continues to change, local wildlife is being pushed to its limits. Golden-cheeked Warbler populations are declining, indicator species in our waterways are disappearing, and migratory birds are being directed off their natural flight pathway.
Director of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit and grants manager for NRI, Debbie Danford, was recognized as part of this year’s CESU Network National Awards for her outstanding leadership and individual contributions to the advancement of the Gulf Coast network.
The recently released Land, Water, Sky, and Natural Infrastructure Plan expands our perspective of Hill Country infrastructure beyond the concrete and steel that physically supports our cities and society. This plan provides us with a framework for conversations in our communities to value natural infrastructure in the same way we value built infrastructure – as critical and tangible systems necessary for our way of life and worthy of major investments.
The global COVID-19 pandemic changed the course of education, including how professors taught wildlife management classes. It's difficult for students to collar a deer or capture frogs when they're in lockdown in their parents' basement, after all.
But TWS member Shelby McCay, project coordinator at the Texas A&M University's Natural Resources Institute, had the perfect prescription for the challenges online learning caused for her students.
In this issue’s Q&A, Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Todd Votteler, interviews Dr. Roel Lopez, Director of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and Department Head for the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management at Texas A&M University.
