Presenters: Mary Fields

Commission Agenda Item No. 3
Action
Approval of Projects Funded from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Capital Account (Account 5004)
November 6, 2008

I. Executive Summary: Section 11.043 of the Parks and Wildlife Code provides that money in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Capital Account (Account 5004) may only be spent on certain projects that have been individually approved by the Commission. This item seeks Commission approval of proposed FY2009 projects funded from this source.

II. Discussion: The Commission approved FY2009 operating and capital budget (approved August 2008), included a total of $4.2 million related to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Capital Account. This figure included Sporting Goods Sales Tax transfers into the account totaling $1.1 million, conservation license plate balances and revenues totaling $0.5 million, and account balances of roughly $2.6 million. While overall amounts were approved at the August meeting, the individual projects funded from these sources were not explicitly discussed. The discussion will also include projects to be funded over and above the original FY2009 budgeted amounts.

In compliance with statutory requirements, staff requests Commission approval of the specific projects to be funded from Account 5004 as listed in Exhibit A.

III. Recommendation: Staff recommends the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopt the following motion:

"The Commission approves expenditure of FY2009 Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Capital Account funds, including any additional amounts realized in FY2009, for the individual projects shown in Exhibit A."

Attachments - 1

  1. Exhibit A - FY 2009 Project Listing

Commission Agenda Item No. 3
Exhibit A

FY2009 Texas Parks and Wildlife Capital and Conservation Account Project Listing

Division Project Name Project Description
Communications License Plate Marketing for Conservation Plates Funding to pay for various marketing efforts for all conservation plates. Includes print and online advertising and point of sale materials.
Department wide SORM Payments Payments to the State Office of Risk Management.
Inland Freshwater Resource Management Develop fish stocking plans, habitat improvement, and research to improve the statewide fisheries program.
Infrastructure Infrastructure Program Administration Provide capital construction project management, professional planning, design, construction, and technical services.
Infrastructure Support Services Provide statewide radio and vehicle management, headquarters facility management, headquarters complex security, and coordination for statewide energy conservation and safety programs.
Implement Capital Improvements and Major Repairs Deliver capital construction projects.
State Parks Equipment Acquisition Acquisition/Replacement of Needed Capital Equipment.
Minor Repair Funds various minor repair projects based on the priority listing of projects in FMIS.
Wildlife (Horned Lizard) Operating Costs — Wildlife Diversity Program Funding for operating costs such as fuel, consumable supplies, utilities, travel, and rent related to Wildlife Diversity Program operations.
Grant Program to implement the Texas Wildlife Action Plan Funding for grants to land managers, conservation organizations, universities, and other partners to assist in implementation of the Texas Wildlife Action Plan. Approved grants will involve the following areas: (1) nongame inventory and monitoring on private lands; (2) rare and endangered plant surveys on private lands; (3) invasive species monitoring and management (4) land conservation technical assistance and (5) habitat restoration for species of concern on public and private land.
Grant Program for research addressing priorities in the Texas Wildlife Action Plan and integration of climate change adaptation strategies. Funding for grants to universities to investigate nongame and endangered species management and recovery on private lands, habitat restoration in priority ecoregions according to the Texas Wildlife Action Plan, and integration of climate change adaptation
Outreach activities for the Texas Wildlife Action Plan Videos, conferences, publications and other outreach material for promotion of the Texas Wildlife Action Plan.
Meeting sponsorships Co-sponsorship for various meetings concerning nongame and endangered species management and education.
Texas Birding Classic Annual prize money for habitat enhancement/ protection.
Wildlife (White-Tailed Deer) Deer and Habitat Management Publications Funding for printing of mule deer management guidelines for distribution to west Texas landowners/managers and for publication of a flyer describing development/use of the Stem Count Index to evaluate browse utilization in South Texas.
Research to Enhance Mule Deer Population Surveys Fund flight hours for mule deer sight ability model research, to enhance confidence intervals for current population estimate.
Research to Improve Pronghorn Sampling and Herd Unit Determination Fund 3-year pronghorn genetics study and to enhance current survey efforts for pronghorns.
Hardware to Implement Science Review Recommendations Purchase research and survey hardware to supplement current survey efforts, test advances in technology for potential hardware purchases as current hardware becomes obsolete, and purchase "real-time" GPS collars for use on a study related to white-tailed deer distance sampling surveys.
TWIMS Development Development of big game applications within Texas Wildlife Information Management Services to assist in permit administration and issuance, data collection and storage, and information dissemination to customers.

Human Dimension Contract Cost share efforts to obtain human dimension information regarding big game management and hunting.
White-tailed Deer Research Fund small Department research projects involving white-tailed deer.