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Another Big Push to Protect Bighorns
Last December, a standout moment in Texas conservation history took place—the translocation of 77 desert bighorn sheep from Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) to their new home in Franklin Mountains State Park. Stakeholders from across Texas came together to carry out this mammoth effort and give desert bighorn sheep a fighting chance against the deadly bacterium M. ovi, of which bighorns are highly susceptible.
This November, Borderlands Research Institute (BRI), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Desert Bighorn Sheep Coalition partners will once again convene at Elephant Mountain WMA and Black Gap WMA to conduct a significant capture and collar event for the area’s bighorn sheep, aoudad, and mule deer populations. TPWF is a proud supporter of the comprehensive effort to capture over 120 animals to be fitted with GPS collars, ear-tagged for easy identification, sampled and tested for M. ovi, and released back into the wild. The large-scale effort will allow researchers to assess the current health status and better understand ongoing interactions between herds.
TPWF has raised $50,000 for this effort to date, but we need your help to reach the $75,000 necessary to carry out this vital initiative. Will you donate to TPWF and join us in taking a stand for our iconic, majestic bighorns? Your support today will fuel this and future on-the-ground efforts to help bring bighorns back from the brink of an uncertain future.
DONATE TODAY
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Texas Native Plant Celebration at H-E-B Throughout October
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) is once again partnering with H-E-B and Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) for H-E-B’s Texas Native Plant Celebration, part of the company’s Our Texas, Our Future commitment to Texas’ pollinators. During the month of October, gardeners will find a wide selection of native plants at nearly 200 H-E-B stores with Texas Backyard departments. Native plants aren’t just beautiful—they’re drought-tolerant, return year after year, and provide essential habitat for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
To mark the occasion, NPSOT volunteers will be on hand at 25 H-E-B stores with Texas Backyard departments during the weekends of Oct. 11-12 and Oct. 18-19 to answer questions about native gardening and hand out free pocket prairie seed mix packets from TPWF, while supplies last. Visit the NPSOT webpage for a list of stores and times when NPSOT’s native plant experts will be in-store.
The seed packets are part of TPWF’s Pollinators & Prairies program, launched last year to conserve Texas’ native pollinators and grasslands. Powered by Presenting Sponsor H-E-B Our Texas, Our Future and Contributing Sponsor Phillips 66, the program encourages Texans to create native habitat in yards and communities across the state.
And there’s more good news for gardeners: later this month, TPWF will launch Wild Thumb, a new app designed to help both beginners and seasoned gardeners plan, grow, and care for native plant beds or pocket prairies.
As an e-newsletter subscriber, you’ll be among the first to know when Wild Thumb goes live. Share the buzz—encourage friends and family to sign up for updates.
LEARN MORE ABOUT POLLINATORS & PRAIRIES
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Shoring up Safe Havens for Shorebirds
Every October, Texas’ endless skies transform into an avian superhighway for fall migration. The Lone Star State has long served as the perfect pit stop or wintering location for shorebirds traveling between the Arctic north and South America’s southernmost tip. Sadly, the healthy wetlands, prairies, and coastal ecosystems that have long fueled shorebirds’ past voyages are beginning to dwindle or disappear altogether.
While programs to support habitat management and restoration exist for private lands, there are limited funding opportunities for public lands. To help fill this gap, TPWF has launched the Shorebird Habitat Management and Restoration Fund (SHMRF). This new initiative aims to restore and enhance habitat for shorebirds on Texas’ vast patchwork of public lands, with emphasis on the most important locations for seven priority shorebird species using an approach developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and also supported by the Knobloch Family Foundation.
Of Texas’ 2.7 million acres of public lands, many often lack sufficient funding to carry out the water control, vegetation management, and infrastructure maintenance shorebirds require for ideal habitat. By providing flexible, supplemental grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 for qualifying projects on public lands, SHMRF will help expand the footprint of Texas acres that consistently provide feeding, nesting, and migratory stopover opportunities for struggling species.
By directing resources to public lands from our Gulf Coast to our Panhandle, we can help ensure that shorebirds can continue to fly high and find refuge in Texas.
LEARN MORE
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For the Love of All Things Wild, Join TPWF Today
From our mighty bighorns of West Texas to our shorebirds along the Texas Coast, to red fish, to bluebonnets, to the Blackland Prairies, TPWF is committed to conserving Texas’ full spectrum of wild things and wild places.
When you become a member of TPWF, you become a vital partner in our mission to keep Texas wild. Your support today will ensure that current and future generations can enjoy, explore, and be inspired by the native wildlife and wildscapes that make Texas so undeniably Texas.
JOIN TODAY
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And, if you join or renew your TPWF membership* between January 1 and October 31, 2025, you will be automatically entered for a chance to win a $500 Texas State Parks gift card** and the limited edition book The Art of Texas State Parks: A Centennial Celebration 1923-2023. This giveaway is your chance to get out and discover the many wild wonders of Texas State Parks!
Join TPWF today and help us keep Texas wild!
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*The price of membership pays for TPWF membership only and not for the chance to win the Texas State Parks gift card. Members who join or renew between January 1 and October 31, 2025, are automatically entered in the drawing.
**Texas State Parks gift card is valid for three years from date of issue and can be used to pay for entrance or facility fees, Texas State Park Passes, and merchandise at state park stores managed by TPWD. Restrictions apply. See complete details.
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Have a DAF? Give a Gift!
DAF Day, a national day of giving with donor advised funds (DAF), is on October 9—just two days away!
By giving on DAF Day, you can show the world the collective good that DAFs can do when we all give together. And by making a grant recommendation to TPWF through your DAF, you can show your love for Texas’ wild things and wild places while making a wild impact. To give, simply:
- Access your DAF platform
- Search for TPWF by entering our Tax ID: 74-2602504 -or- our legal name: Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas
- Select your gift amount
- Submit your grant recommendation
Don’t have a DAF just yet? It’s a great way to invest in giving—just like a 401k for your retirement. You can contribute cash, stocks, or other assets, get the tax deduction up front, and then recommend grants to organizations like TPWF when you're ready. You can even establish a DAF at TPWF. DAFs are a great way to plan and simplify giving.
This DAF Day and every day, we greatly appreciate your galvanizing support of our work to keep Texas wild. Our collaborative efforts today are helping to ensure many more wild tomorrows for future generations of Texans.
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Thank You for Bidding BIG to Support Gear Up
We'd like to extend a Texas-sized thank you to all our donors, brand partners, and supporters for making TPWF’s 5th Annual S. Reed Morian Gear Up for Game Wardens Online Auction a roaring success! Together we raised a record-breaking $350,000+ in support of the S. Reed Morian Gear Up for Game Wardens program to help ensure TPWF can continue gearing up your Texas Game Wardens!
Since 2017, generous supporters have helped Gear Up for Game Wardens deliver over $7.5 million in lifesaving equipment to Texas Game Wardens for use in critical search and rescue operations, disaster response, and much more. With each new piece of equipment procured, Gear Up helps ensure game wardens can perform their jobs more safely and return home to their families after every patrol.
Proceeds from the annual online auction provide critical operational support to ensure Gear Up for Game Wardens can continue its work to get specialty equipment in the hands of your Texas Game Wardens.
On behalf of the best-trained corps of conservation officers in the nation—and the many wild things and wild places they are sworn to protect—THANK YOU!
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TPWF has moved! Please note our new address:
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation
6220 Gaston Avenue, Ste. 700
Dallas, TX 75214 |
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