During his 35-year career with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Durocher has been a key player in a conversion of bass fishermen from consumptive users to recreational anglers. Catch and release fishing.

With help from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a group of Texas fourth graders successfully enabled the Texas legislature to name the Texas Toad (Bufo speciosus) the official amphibian of Texas.

The sand-bottom Gulf of Mexico provides almost no natural reefs for marine life, which is why the Texas Artificial Reef Program was created to provide structures for a thriving ocean ecosystem of aquatic invertebrates and the fish that feed on them. A $1.5 million federal grant will fund creation or enhancement of seven reef sites off the Texas coast in coming years.

The Battleship TEXAS Foundation has donated $2 million to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to go toward constructing a dry berth for the aging landmark vessel moored at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in LaPorte.

Phase one of construction on a new $20 million Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton County is proceeding on schedule and on budget and is set to be completed by the end of December.

An ambitious new Web site called The Look of Nature: Designing Texas State Parks in the Great Depression explores the architectural heritage of the Civilian Conservation Corps still visible in state parks. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Web design firm Terra Incognita created the site, funded in part by a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

 A total of $225,000 in Texas Healthy Habitats Grants has been awarded to 15 different schools and non-profit youth organizations across the state, including near Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, Bryan, Lubbock and other cities. Each organization will receive up to $15,000 to support students doing service-learning projects to benefit wildlife and the environment.