San Antonio, TX, October 24, 2024 –– FarWide Conservation Trust, a non-profit conservation organization, is excited to announce a $250,000 grant has been received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help improve wildlife habitat on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The grant, along with matching funds, will be used to enhance over 8,000 acres of tall grass prairie and shallow wetlands on refuge lands. Steve Donovan, Executive Director of FarWide Conservation Trust, is thrilled about the opportunity to enhance such a huge quantity of important habitat on the refuge. “Aransas NWR is one of the most important national wildlife refuges on the Texas coast. It is particularly important for migratory birds, like the endangered whooping crane, and waterfowl,” he said. “Unfortunately, much of the original tall grass prairie and shallow wetland habitat has become degraded. This funding will allow us to dramatically improve habitat on the refuge,” he added.
The tall grass prairie and wetlands on Aransas, and many other wildlife preserves along the Texas coast, are all suffering from a similar problem. Invasive woody species, like running live oak, Chinese tallow and Baccharis, are running rampant and replacing with original grasslands and emergent marsh wetlands with dense stands of woody plants. The resulting condition does not provide the type of habitat needed by wintering whooping cranes, waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and other species of wildlife. The challenge is not unique to Aransas NWR. Many of the federal refuges, state wildlife management areas and other lands managed for wildlife are suffering similar challenges.
“Prior to European settlers arriving here, the Texas coast was home to massive herds of large herbivores, like bison. The grazing actions of bison and periodic wildfires served as the necessary disturbance actions that maintained healthy, diverse prairie and wetlands. That is how wildlife evolved here over the ages,” said Donovan. The elimination of grazing and the political and economic challenges associated with prescribed fire management have helped create conditions that allowed invasive woody species to replace native vegetation.
Bill Stransky, with the non-profit conservation organization Texas R.I.C.E., has spent most of his adult life restoring and managing grasslands and wetlands along the Texas coast. He has been a first-hand witness to the changes in wildlife habitat that have occurred here. “We have bird count data from several managed wildlife habitats that show a cataclysmic decline in bird use when wetlands and grasslands become infested with woody species,” said Stransky. “It is very clear to us old-timers that we need to invest heavily in the restoration of these important habitats,” he added. Texas R.I.C.E. is an important partner in the project, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
FarWide Conservation Trust is a non-profit conservation organization established three years ago and dedicated to the conservation of fish and wildlife habitat while also working to expand opportunities for the public to enjoy a variety of outdoor recreational activities, including hunting and fishing. The $250,000 grant was awarded through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the only federal grant program dedicated to the conservation of wetland habitats for migratory birds. This grant will be used to remove the invasive woody plants and restore high quality wintering habitat for whooping cranes, waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and many other species of wildlife. The restored habitat will also benefit locally breeding wildlife species of importance, such as the mottled duck.