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

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission today approved $4.3 million in competitive grants for community parks, nature trails and recreation centers throughout the state. Nine projects from among 37 eligible applications submitted for recreation grant matching funds were selected by commissioners for funding.

Texas Game Warden Vance Wallace was recognized as the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies "Officer of the Year" today.

Game wardens in the Special Operations Unit of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Law Enforcement Division have arrested six men and executed two search warrants as part of Operation Texas Shuffle, a year-long investigation into the black market deer trade in Texas.
“Our focus here is stopping two main areas of criminal activity: deer being brought illegally across state lines, and wild deer being illegally laundered into deer breeding facilities,” said Col. Pete Flores, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement director.

The following are excerpts from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement reports.

A Texas man and a Minnesota man were both sentenced to federal prison terms yesterday for illegally transporting white-tailed deer across state lines.

The Nature Conservancy of Texas has purchased the 7,000-acre Fresno Ranch in far West Texas and plans to transfer it to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the purchase price of about $2.6 million. The deal culminates 20 years of work to remove the largest remaining in-holding inside Texas’ biggest state park, expands hiking and public access, and protects desert springs, Rio Grande river frontage, diverse wildlife and rich cultural resources.

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.