Conservation in Texas

Texas is part of the Central Flyway and provides important winter habitat for waterfowl that are produced in the U.S. and Canadian prairies.  Texas is unique in that it winters 90% of duck populations and 75% of snow goose populations found in the Central Flyway.  Rice fields, prairie wetlands and associated coastal marshes provide important habitat for hundreds of thousands of white-fronted geese, several species of diving ducks, mottled ducks, and other species of puddle ducks.  DU has worked to conserve over 155,000 acres of waterfowl habitat throughout Texas since 1985.  DU’s Texas CARE Initiative seeks to protect and restore an additional 62,500 acres in Texas.  Our goal is to conserve habitat to secure the future of waterfowl throughout Texas and North America. Your support of DU will help us achieve that goal.

Texas Habitat Projects

Gulf Coastal Prairies  J.D. Murphree WMA Peach Point WMA Mad Island WMA  Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR (new)  Guadalupe Delta WMA Estero Llano Grande State Park   McFaddin NWR Willow Slough   McFaddin NWR Wild Cow Bayou (new)

Southern Great Plains  Taylor Lakes WMA  Buffalo Lake NWR  Gene Howe WMA  Playa Lakes WMA West Gulf Coastal Plain  North Toledo Bend WMA Alazan Bayou WMA  Old Sabine Bottom WMA  Gus Engeling WMA  Keechi Creek WMA  Richland Creek WMA  Big Lake Bottom WMA

RICHMOND, Tx., March 30, 2009 – Ducks Unlimited was awarded a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to enhance over 5,728 acres of wetland habitat in Chambers and Jefferson counties along the Texas coast. Partners contributed more than $2 million to match the $1 million received from the federal grant. The project will restore high priority wintering habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds within the Chenier Plain of Texas.

“This proposal represents a continuation of long-term efforts to protect and enhance important wetland habitats along the Gulf Coast. These habitats support a rich diversity of wildlife species,” DU Manager of Conservation Programs for Texas, Todd Merendino said.

Early this past spring, Ducks Unlimited volunteers and staff, the USFWS, and Reliant Energy collaborated in an effort to restore tidal wetland habitat on the Riverbend marsh of San Bernard NWR. Two-dozen DU volunteers literally got their hands dirty planting smooth cordgrass in two important areas of the marsh.

As with many areas along the Texas coast, foraging by snow geese has denuded a significant portion of the marsh. Historically, there was plenty of wetland habitat for snow geese to feed on periodically, then move on to greener pastures while the wetlands slowly recovered. Unfortunately, rising snow goose populations during the past decade have severely stressed the fragile coastal marsh ecosystem. Large goose eat-outs, coupled with increased salinity levels and increased tidal energy flow, result in further loss of vegetation and a continuing cycle of marsh degradation. These conditions make it difficult if not impossible for marsh vegetation to recover, and prohibit the growth of beneficial submergent plants such as wigeon grass...