On Dec. 2 the North Deer Island Protection Team received the Coastal America Partnership Award-the only environmental award of its kind given by the President of the United States-for their efforts to protect the most important colonial water bird rookery on the upper Texas coast: North Deer Island.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has begun construction on two oyster reef restoration projects in Galveston Bay funded by multi-million dollar federal grants to restore hurricane damage. One project is in East Galveston Bay, an area hit hard by Hurricane Ike. The other project is located along the north facing shoreline of Eagle Point near the community of San Leon.

At a time when people in big cities are becoming increasingly disconnected from the world of nature and the outdoors, Take Me Outdoors Houston on Oct. 10 at Discovery Green will offer Houston’s first free, family-oriented festival of the outdoors.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on Aug. 21 approved $10 million in competitive parks and recreation grants for city and county parks and other sites across the state. Grant project descriptions are listed by county below.

Three priority bird species-the endangered Brown Pelican and threatened Reddish Egret and White-faced Ibis — have been conserved thanks to an erosion-protection project on North Deer Island in West Galveston Bay. Project partners protected the highly populated bird nesting habitat by armoring approximately 1.7 miles of shoreline.