Texas Public Lands Conservation

Have you visited many Texas Parks and Wildlife Department WMAs or USFWS Refuges with significant waterfowl habitat that didn’t have a DU project sign somewhere? Your answer is likely to be, “now that you mention it, no!” That’s because DU and our public agency partners have been working together in Texas for over a decade, protecting, restoring and enhancing wetland habitat. The first public land projects in Texas were on Engeling and Richland Creek WMAs in northeast Texas and were completed in October 1989. Since then we have conserved over 100,000 acres on 33 different WMAs, refuges, and other publicly owned lands across Texas. To date, DU has expended over $6.4 million on these projects.

The most recently completed list of projects includes 533 acres of wetland restoration and enhancement at Anahuac NWR (Chamber Co.), Mad Island WMA (Matagorda Co.), and Whitney Lake (Bosque Co.). In the current fiscal year, we are scheduled to complete projects at J.D. Murphree WMA, Lower Neches WMA, Mad Island WMA, Guadalupe Delta WMA, Sheldon Lake State Park, Taylor Lakes WMA, San Bernard NWR, Brazoria NWR, and the City of Uvalde.

Ducks Unlimited invests in these areas because we know that public lands are important to us all. They provide excellent places to view wildlife, opportunities to educate our youth, oases of secure, quality wildlife habitat, and for many of us they provide the bulk of our hunting opportunities. DU has always understood these values and has worked with area managers and agency administrators to ensure that these wild lands held in public trust provide the best possible wetland habitat for the continent’s waterfowl and other wetland wildlife.

For more information on Public Lands Projects, contact:

Keith McKnight
Regional Biologist
1620 FM 2218
Richmond, TX  77469
(832) 595-0663
kmcknight@ducks.org

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Texas Habitat Projects

Gulf Coastal Prairies Public Lands Projects J.D. Murphree WMA Peach Point WMA Mad Island WMA Guadalupe Delta WMA Estero Llano Grande State Park Private Lands Program Texas Prairie Wetlands Project Southern Great Plains Public Lands Projects Taylor Lakes WMA Buffalo Lake NWR Gene Howe WMA Playa Lakes WMA

West Gulf Coastal Plain Public Lands Projects North Toledo Bend WMA Alazan Bayou WMA Old Sabine Bottom WMA Gus Engeling WMA Keechi Creek WMA Richland Creek WMA Big Lake Bottom WMA Private Lands Program East Texas Wetlands Project Texas WRP 1990-2000 Band Recovery Map Large   XLarge