Texas Parks and Wildlife will be hosting two scoping meetings in North Texas this month to get public feedback on a pair of proposed new regulations aimed at preventing the spread of exotic aquatic species in the state.

In the largest desert bighorn sheep relocation operation in Texas Parks and Wildlife history, 95 of the high country animals have been trapped this month in the mountains north of Van Horn and released some 190 miles away on Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Recent rains in many parts of the state have resulted in the lifting of burn bans, meaning campers at more Texas state parks will be able to warm their feet by a glowing fire and cook their favorite outdoor dish without fire restrictions.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has scheduled five scoping meetings this winter, starting Nov. 30, about two possible regulation changes for 2012. The scoping items include consideration of a new state scientific area to protect seagrass in the Laguna Madre near the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway in Nueces County, and a clarification of emergency rules to protect fish during coastal freezes.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists are asking hunters and landowners to bring their harvested mule deer to one of the six voluntary mule deer check stations in the Trans-Pecos region Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 10-11. Voluntary check stations will be set up during the two weekends in Culberson, Midland, Pecos, Terrell and Brewster counties.

The slogan of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is “Life’s Better Outside,” and department staff will show visitors to the Toyota Texas Bass Classic in Conroe October 28—30 why that’s so.

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

There was not much change in the red tide over the weekend. The bloom remains roughly from San Luis Pass to the Brazos River, with one report of stressed fish at the mouth of the San Bernard River and the ICWW.

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