Subject: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

• The Effects of Hurricane Ike on the Oyster Industry

  September 23, 2008

• Sanctuary

  The oil is gone from High Island, but the birds still come. So do the bird watchers.

  May 4, 1995

• Dead in the water

  June 29, 1995

• Press Picks

  September 14, 1995

• Murky Water

  April 11, 1996

• Down the Drain

  May 23, 1996

• Beastly Behavior

  August 22, 1996

• Press Picks

  October 16, 1997

• Letters

  April 30, 1998

• Killer Weed

  January 14, 1999

• The Battleship Texas Gets A Boost...If It Can Raise $4 Million

  The limping Battleship Texas, which has fallen into disrepair but has really been one of the underrated attractions in Houston, got some good news today: The state released $25 million in bonds for drydocking and repairs for the aging World War II ship.The not-so-good news: Supporters need to raise $4 million in private donations before they can spend the state's money.Still, the release of the $25 million is a solid step forward, Colin Parrish, a spokesman for State Rep Wayne Smith, tells Hair

  March 18, 2009

• News Hostage

  June 3, 1999

• Dish

  July 15, 1999

• Letters 07-20-2000

  July 20, 2000

• Oyster Lovers Unite

  February 12, 2009

• “Barry Stone: Highway 71 Revisited”

  This photographer found plenty of life under the road

  January 22, 2009

• The Gourds land a real Haymaker!

  January 8, 2009

• Klan Comedy

  Plus: Driving Him Mad, Cable Curse, Gay Players

  November 28, 2002

• Half Shell Face-Off

  Compare East Coast oysters to Gulf Coast oysters and see what you think

  December 28, 2006

• Letters to the Editor

  September 7, 2006

• Hog Wild

  Feral pigs are ugly, destructive and mean. Some people in Texas just love to trap, stab or shoot them. Or put them in rodeos. With dogs.

  August 24, 2006

• Dark Water

  A reporter, a photographer and canoeist Tom Helm paddle from the Galleria to Galveston Bay by canoe and kayak, finding beauty, danger and urban debris in equal measure

  July 20, 2006

• Gator Aid

  Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, alligators are everywhere in southeast Texas. So now the state is going to make it easier for you to shoot you one.

  May 25, 2006

• Hold the Salt

  Too much of a good thing threatens the oysters in Galveston Bay

  April 6, 2006

• I Am the Walrus, Part 1

  Winter is prime time at Willie G's oyster bar

  January 19, 2006

• Poured Out

  With archaic and self-serving laws, reforms don't come easy for the Texas booze industry

  April 7, 2005

• Love It, Fear It

  A Brit flourishes by studying Houston

  January 27, 2005

• Letters

  September 30, 2004

• Keeping It Real

  Spring Creek stands poised to ride into history, one way or another

  September 16, 2004

• Sex, Death and Oysters

  March 25, 2004

• What He Said

  Houston's new top cop may bring his own language barrier

  March 11, 2004

• Shooting Bambi's Mom

  November 6, 2003

• Wet World

  Texas Master Naturalists give kids a peek at life in the gulf

  September 18, 2003

• Truth Hurts

  Two University of Texas graduate students record small-town Texas life in Truth I Ever Told

  April 24, 2003

• The Bambi Syndrome

  Texas is overrun with native whitetails, so why do restaurants have to buy their venison from game farms?

  November 22, 2001

• Up a Creek

  Diverting streams into the Brazos and Posh Amenity lakes has been great for fancy Fort Bend developments. But it's killing Oyster Creek, the lifeblood for legendary Texas cattle ranchers.

  July 12, 2001

• Raw Roots

  Excavations for plantation artifacts - and the real truth - are unraveling the genteel gloss covering Texans' old notions about the slave era here

  June 14, 2001

• Green Port?

  A Port suit accuses several companies of contaminating its land for decades

  May 3, 2001

• Fish Tales

  Rayburn's bass diminish as debates continue over pollution discharges

  December 28, 2000

• Best Place to Canoe

  Armand Bayou Nature Center

  September 21, 2000

• Babe's Bad Night

  Feral hogs are on the increase. And so are those who hunt them.

  August 17, 2000

• Do As I Say...

  April 6, 2000

• Reeling

  Bass kills and lesions on fish worry Sam Rayburn anglers. So does the state's plan to lower the lake's pollution standards.

  April 6, 2000

• Press Picks

  March 17, 1994

• TPWD Says "Great Outdoors Day" Is Coming: How To Celebrate It With Your Teen-Ager

  Photo by marxchivistYou knew this, of course, but June 13 is National "Get Outdoors" Day. We knew this because the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department just sent out the news."As a part of the second annual GO Day, more than two dozen Texas state parks are joining federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and recreation industry leaders throughout the nation in hosting a variety of outdoor recreational activities and special events to mark the day," TPWD announced.How exciting can it get? This

  May 29, 2009

• Gulf Shrimp Season Ending This Week

  Gulf shrimp season is over as of this Friday, May 15. It is scheduled to resume in mid-July. "The closure is designed to allow these small shrimp to grow to a larger, more valuable size before they are vulnerable to harvest," said Robin Riechers, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division science and policy director. "The goal is to achieve optimum benefits for the shrimping industry while providing proper management to protect the shrimp." So what does this mean?

  May 14, 2009

• Recession Claims Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo

  The annual Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo, a giant exhibition held in Austin, will be suspended for at least the next two years, officials said.TPWD says they just can't line up enough corporate sponsors to defray the $400,000 cost of the October event, which features a 35-acre area filled with pools, rock-climbing, and places to fish, shoot and mountain-bike."This was a difficult and painful decision, but after looking hard at the financial realities and seeking creative ways to keep the event

  May 14, 2009

• Texas Traveler: Sea Center Texas

  Photos by Brittanie SheyAbout an hour south of Houston on 288, in a modern residential neighborhood in Lake Jackson, stands Sea Center Texas, an aquarium and educational center operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. As aquariums go, it's not the state's fanciest, but it does include exhibits dedicated solely to environments along the Texas coast, from offshore depths to jetties to salt marshes. Outside the facility there is a long boardwalk showcasing a coastal wetlands environmen

  July 6, 2009

• Texas Blind Salamander Blues

  Photo by Robb Walsh​The Texas blind salamander lives in a dark cave in San Marcos and doesn't see very well, hence the blues-guitarist moniker. It's also an endangered species. Blind Salamander Pale Ale from Rahr Brewery in Fort Worth is the first of a new series called "Rare Breed" beers. Each will be dedicated to a different Texas endangered species. When you buy the beer, Rahr makes a donation to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation to help with the recovery of the critter. Drinking

  August 28, 2009

• Sam Rayburn Reservoir Gets Hit With A Killer Weed

  ​A little over 10 years ago, we wrote about a "Killer Weed" that had been mistakenly introduced to some Texas lakes and was quickly covering them with a thick blanket of vegetation.Salvinia molesta, also known as Giant Salvinia, reproduces itself faster than the Octomom and is a dire threat to freshwater plants and organisms that need sunlight.The weed was first found at a Houston elementary school's pond, of all places. Texas Parks & Wildlife officials told us of how a bit of the weed, tr

  October 14, 2009