Winning teams in the 2008 Great Texas Birding Classic have awarded their conservation prize money to fund seven habitat projects totaling $73,000 along the Texas coast. Touted as the world’s longest birding competition, the Birding Classic has funded a total of $651,000 for avian habitat conservation since it began 12 years ago.

Improvements Reflect Support From Voters, Legislature

Research surveys show that finding a place to hunt is a barrier for many people in today’s Texas, which is why Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has created the Hunt Texas Online Connection, a new, free Web service that allows anyone to view hunting opportunities posted by private landowners across the state.

A regulation requiring inland party boat operators to be licensed and their vessels inspected goes into effect June 1. A party boat operator license is required of operators of charter vessels more than 30 feet long and carrying more than six passengers on inland waters.

Dr. Larry McKinney, known affectionately as "Dr. Doom" for his candid, outspoken approach to addressing environmental issues, is leaving the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department a legacy not built on despair, but on hope.