Since Texas Parks and Wildlife Department launched a statewide appeal in early December for donations to aid a financially strapped Texas State Parks system, more than $1 million has been raised.

If you’re a saltwater angler and don’t like the idea of hundreds of abandoned crab traps catching and killing game fish you could have landed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for volunteers willing to help get rid of these derelict traps along the coast.

Today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation board of trustees voted to donate $500,000 to Texas State Parks, hoping to encourage more donations to aid the state park system, which is facing a $4.6 million revenue shortfall caused by heat, drought, wildfires and a drop in park visitation.

Beyond the loss of lives and property, the still-smoldering Bastrop Complex Fire has had a significant impact not only on the iconic and highly-popular Bastrop State Park but much of the entire Lost Pines ecosystem. The fire, which began north of the park on Sept. 4, claimed two lives, destroyed more than 1,500 homes, and changed the lives of thousands in Bastrop County.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is seeking online public input as the department revises its six-year-old wildlife action plan, a document now called the Texas Conservation Action Plan.

A couple with East Texas roots – Arthur “Buddy” Temple and his wife Ellen – have been presented the 2011 Leopold Conservation Award for Texas for their transformation of an over-grazed, over-hunted South Texas ranch into a haven for wildlife and valuable research venue.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department inland fisheries biologists today completed the first stocking of Guadalupe bass in the South Llano River. The release of fish here marks a new chapter in a decades-long effort to save the state fish of Texas. It’s also the first, prototype effort of a new watershed scale approach to water resource conservation in Texas.

Native habitat restoration and enhancement for the benefit of wildlife is a common thread among the recipients of this year’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Sand County Foundation are recognizing these model land stewards and others, who have shown exemplary efforts to manage their property as ambassadors of conservation.

The Llano River in Texas has been named one of 10 “Waters to Watch” for 2011 in the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. The watch list doesn’t necessarily indicate waters in trouble, but points to those that will benefit from strategic conservation efforts to protect, restore or enhance them, thus providing models for good work elsewhere.