State officials are reminding hunters and meat processors in South Texas that additional precautions are required when handling deer carcasses due to concerns about spread of fever ticks in the region.

Expanded conservation efforts are in the offing for the desert bighorn sheep, an iconic symbol of wilderness in West Texas, with plans to extend bighorn restocking efforts into Big Bend Ranch State Park and elsewhere in the region as part of a comprehensive Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration Plan.

Five Texans will receive the President’s Volunteer Service Award Oct. 25 for donating more than 5,000 hours of service to the Texas Master Naturalist Program, a partnership effort between Texas AgriLife Extension and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The 2008 awards nearly double the number of volunteers who have previously reached the milestone in the 10-year-old program.

The views from inside Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the United States’ second largest canyon, will remain grand thanks to the addition of a 2,912-acre property known as Fortress Cliffs Ranch. The tract has been purchased by a coalition that includes The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), protecting almost six miles of scenic cliffs along the park’s northeastern edge.

The photographer-landowner team of Rolf Nussbaumer of New Braunfels and the Fennessey Ranch in Refugio County received the William Henry Jackson Award grand prize Saturday night for the 2008 Pro-Tour of Nature Photography: Coastal Bend of Texas. The photographer and ranch owners split $51,000, the top award out of a total of $160,000 in prize money.

The views from inside Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the United States’ second largest canyon, will remain grand thanks to the addition of a 2,912-acre property known as Fortress Cliffs Ranch. The tract has been purchased by a coalition that includes The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), protecting almost six miles of scenic cliffs along the park’s northeastern edge.

TPWD Texas Parks & Wildlife TV Program (weekly schedule and show for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) has recently been updated.