Small Acreage Land Management Workshop Offered June 7 in Alpine

Media Contact: Lois Balin, TPWD/El Paso, (915) 774-9603, icle__media__contact">Media Contact: Lois Balin, TPWD/El Paso, (915) 774-9603, lois.balin@tpwd.texas.gov

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ALPINE, Texas — For more than a century, rural Texas land has been owned mainly by farm and ranch families who lived there. In recent decades, the countryside has been fragmented into smaller tracts owned increasingly by former urban dwellers or absentee owners seeking closeness to the remaining pastoral lands of Texas. A workshop to be held June 7 will help West Texas landowners learn more about managing for wildlife habitat on smaller properties between two and 2,000 acres.

The workshop is designed to address the growing problem of Texas rural lands being fragmented into smaller tracts, often involving owners who are interested in wildlife conservation but may lack experience in wildlife or land management. Land fragmentation is one of the main threats to wildlife in Texas. It crowds and impairs necessary living space, blocks travel corridors and disrupts access to feeding areas.

The Alpine workshop will focus on helping landowners achieve their individual goals while managing property to benefit wildlife. Wildlife professionals from various agencies will give presentations concerning land and wildlife ideals, land-use in the Trans-Pecos, creating and improving habitat that benefit humans and wildlife. A session will include a landowner’s experience providing wildlife habitat. The workshop also includes a field visit to learn about native plants and water for wildlife.

Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD), Tierra Grande Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, Borderlands Research Institute for Natural Resource Management at Sul Ross State University and Sul Ross State University Range and Wildlife Club are sponsoring the event, which will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., June 7 at Turner Range Animal Science Center, room 130, Sul Ross State University East Highway 90.

The cost for the workshop is $25 per person which covers lunch, refreshments and materials. Registration is required by June 2. For registration information, please contact: Borderlands Research Institute for Natural Resource Management Sul Ross State University, PO Box C-16, Alpine, TX 79830, 432-837-8488.

For local contact, call Steve Elfring (432) 364-2673. For workshop information, contact Lois Balin, TPWD at (915) 774-9603 or lois.balin@tpwd.texas.gov or see the Landowner Workshops calendar on the TPWD Web site.