Dates for the highly-anticipated return of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC), the world championship of professional bass fishing and country music festival, were announced today with all of the action set to begin Friday, Sept. 28.

Central Market and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) have joined forces to bring wild game Cooking Specialist Chef Lisa Freeman into Central Market Cooking Schools to lead five February classes showcasing wild fish and game with award-winning olive oils. The classes will feature TPWD experts on hand to answer questions about game, conservation and the great outdoors.

If you’re a saltwater angler and don’t like the idea of hundreds of abandoned crab traps catching and killing game fish you could have landed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for volunteers willing to help get rid of these derelict traps along the coast.

On January 5, 2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published its Final Rule governing the breeding and taking/culling of addax, dama gazelle and scimitar-horned oryx. The exemption from permitting is being eliminated,and the same two permits (Captive Bred and TAKE) that apply to barasingha, Arabian oryx, Eld's deer and red lechwe, will apply to the three species.

Today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation board of trustees voted to donate $500,000 to Texas State Parks, hoping to encourage more donations to aid the state park system, which is facing a $4.6 million revenue shortfall caused by heat, drought, wildfires and a drop in park visitation.

Three forms will be held Jan. 18 and 19 in Kingsland and Marble Falls and Burnet to address the threat of invasive mussels in the Highland Lakes. The purpose of these forums is to raise awareness of potential consequences associated with zebra and quagga mussels in the Colorado River system.