During this season of Thanksgiving, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) has a cornucopia of reasons to be thankful, and it’s our honor to count our many wild blessings with you. This year, we are especially thankful for:

Two good neighbors. Thanks to the foresight of the Gragg and Campbell families, nearly 10,000 more Texas acres will remain forever wild. The Gragg family’s former 6,900-acre property is now Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) newest Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The Trinity River WMA, forever conserves rare bottomland forests, wetlands, and prairies along a growing East Texas conservation corridor that now spans 38,000 acres.

And Ginger Campbell’s Rim Ranch, which encompasses over 3,000 acres along the rim of Palo Duro Canyon, will soon be permanently protected thanks to Campbell’s decision to establish two conservation easements. The move protects the ranch from future development while allowing the family to retain ownership and Texans to continue taking in one extraordinary view.

Countless pivotal partners. Our daily work is fueled by the unwavering, generous support of our corporate partners, including Texas giants H-E-B, Toyota, and more; the expertise of our trusted network of conservation organizations like Borderlands Research Institute, Gulf Trust, Coastal Conservation Association, and others who help carry out vital on-the-ground initiatives; generous foundations like The Horizon Foundation, The John M. O'Quinn Foundation, and so many more; and the thousands of individuals who give to TPWF. With your support, we are able to continue achieving conservation at landscape scale, proving time and again that philanthropy keeps Texas wild.

Thirty more years of East Texas angling traditions. The Edwin L. Cox, Jr., Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens has offered countless new anglers the opportunity to bait a line and reel in their first catch under the East Texas pines. After nearly 30 years and over a million visitors, TPWF carried out an extensive $8 million renovation so TFFC can continue welcoming and wowing its next million visitors.

Hundreds of future conservation leaders. Through Stewards of the Wild, TPWF’s conservation leadership program, we continue to build Texas’ bench of future conservation leaders. For more than a decade, we have annually engaged and encouraged hundreds of young adults to become thoughtful advocates of our wild things and wild places through mentorship, immersive outdoor experiences, and local chapter and statewide leadership opportunities.

4,781 new acres of outdoor adventure. The final touches are being placed on Palo Pinto Mountains State Park, Texas’ newest state park in a generation. We can’t wait to share the wonder and awe of this rare North Texas oasis with all of Texas.

One West Texas icon. In the ongoing effort to reverse the decline of Texas' desert bighorn sheep, TPWF partnered with Borderlands Research Institute this month to carry out a successful capture-and-collar event of more than 130 bighorns, aoudad, and mule deer. The latest effort will allow researchers to assess the current health of bighorns and provide priceless insight to better understand interactions between the herds.

60,000+ acres of oysters in Texas bays. Texas’ wild Gulf oyster reefs are enjoying a restorative reprieve from chronic overharvesting, thanks to TPWF’s S. Reed Morian Oyster Buyback Program, which recently yielded a 20 percent reduction in existing commercial oyster fishing licenses. Key supporters of the new program include the Laurie and S. Reed Morian Foundation, Coastal Conservation Association, the Brown Foundation, the Earl C. Sams Foundation, Jeffery and Mindy Hildebrand, Beaver and Joanie Aplin, John and Mary Eads, and Bobby and Sherri Patton.

Tons of trash removed from Texas waterways. TPWF and partners across Texas participated in the Gulf Trust’s inaugural Trash Free Gulf campaign last spring. Hundreds of volunteers took part in dozens of litter cleanups across every major watershed and along the Texas Coast to remove tens of thousands of pounds of trash from our precious waterways.

Thousands of selfless stewards. Texas’ growing network of state parks, wildlife management areas, and 1+ million acres of public hunting land couldn’t run without the collective support of committed staff, dedicated volunteers, private land stewards, and local partners who selflessly devote their time to keep these treasured wild places thriving.

550+ Texas Game Wardens. Time and again, they have stepped up to lead whenever disaster strikes. And last July, the nation stood witness to their incredible bravery as they led the front lines of the Central Texas flood disaster response and recovery. In the hours, days, and weeks that followed, 375 Game Wardens were mobilized, 33 lifesaving water rescues were completed, and 434 evacuations were conducted. And, as the best-trained corps of conservation officers in the nation, they stand ready to do it again the next time disaster strikes and duty calls.

The unbreakable spirit of millions of Texans. Even during the darkest hours of the devastating floods, one bright light persisted—the unbreakable spirit that has defined Texans and Texas at large for centuries. A spirit that was evident in every boot on the ground, every coordinated convoy of support, and every kind gesture. And that spirit persists today in the hearts of grieving moms, dads, sons, daughters, siblings, families, friends, and entire communities.

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving, we keep these families closest to our hearts and vow to carry forward a lasting legacy for their loved ones through our work to conserve the very nature they loved.

On behalf of our wild things and wild places, we humbly extend our most heartfelt thanks, now and always,

 
Anne Brown
Executive Director
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation