Big Time Texas Hunts Winners Announced
November 6, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas — Seventeen lucky sportsmen are making special plans for hunting season as winners of this year’s Big Time Texas Hunts. The hunters were selected by random computer drawing from applicants in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department program.
All told, hunters bought 79,327 Big Time Texas Hunt entries during this year’s sales period through the Oct. 15 deadline. This generated $776,229 in gross revenue to support wildlife research, habitat management and public hunting.
Stephen Bauer has been entering the Big Time Texas Hunts for years as a way to support TPWD youth hunting and public hunting efforts. Bauer, who owns and operates two feed stores in the Kerrville area, said he puts in for every hunt category and that support paid dividends as he was drawn as this year’s Big Time Bird Hunt package winner.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Bauer. “This will give me an opportunity to hunt some bird species I haven’t hunted before.”
Bauer, along with as many as three of his hunting buddies, will enjoy a unique package of upland game bird hunts: two days of quail, two days of pheasant hunting in the Panhandle and two afternoons of dove hunting. There will also be a two-day guided spring turkey hunt for two included in the package.
The winner of this year’s Big Time Texas Hunts crown jewel, the Texas Grand Slam hunt package — which includes four separate guided hunts for Texas’ most prized big game animals; desert bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope and mule deer — will be facing a significant logistical challenge. The winner, Matt Portch, lives in Hopewell Junction, New York.
“Luckily I have a lot of frequent flyer miles,” said Portch, who works for a pharmaceutical company in Manhattan. “I lived in Texas for 10 years and have been entering the Big Time Texas Hunts since the first year of the program. I always applied with the hope, but never the intention of winning, so it was a marvelous surprise.”
Portch admits trying to coordinate four major hunting trips to Texas on the calendar is going to be a big challenge. “But, I will make it happen, it’s too important,” he said. “I have not done any hunting in New York, but have been looking for reasons to come back to Texas. Now I have four reasons!”
Following are the winners of this year’s Big Time Texas Hunts.
- Grand Slam — Matt Portch, Hopewell Junction, NY
- Premium Buck Hunt — Leon Pavlock, Guy, TX
- Exotic Safari — James Cavness, Sanger, TX; Joshua Bellman, North Richland Hills, TX
- Whitetail Bonanza — John Knotts, Streetman, TX; Kevin Harris, El Campo, TX; Dixon Presnall, Aledo, TX; Patrick Mitchell, Pine Bluff, AR; Clarence Davis, Groveton, TX; Matthew Zaiontz, San Antonio; Roddy Wade, Dallas; Neil Reichenback, Carrollton, TX; Thomas Patrick, Houston; Kenny Ferguson, Ackerly, TX.
- Big Time Bird Hunt — Stephen Bauer, Harper, TX
- Waterfowl Adventure — John Noland, Houston
- Gator Hunt — Mark Garrison, Houston
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Public Input Meetings Set on Flounder Regulations Throughout Texas
October 28, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division will be hosting a series of coastwide public scoping meetings to discuss potential changes to existing flounder regulations.
At the meetings, Coastal Fisheries Division staff will present the most recent data trends regarding the flounder fishery and will be seeking input regarding regulations or strategies for managing the fishery.
Public input will be utilized in preparation of the Statewide Hunting and Fishing Regulation packet which will be proposed at the TPWD Commission meeting in January 2009. Anyone interested in the Texas flounder fishery is invited to attend and provide comments about flounder at any of the following meetings:
All meetings will begin at 6 p.m.
Nov. 11, 2008
Port Arthur Public Library
Alcove/Gallery Room
4615 9th Avenue
Port Arthur, Texas
Nov. 12, 2008
TPWD Dickinson Marine Lab
1502 Pine Street (FM 517 East)
Dickinson, Texas
Nov. 18, 2008
Calhoun County Extension Service Auditorium
186 County Road 101
Port Lavaca, Texas
Nov. 19, 2008
Aransas County District Courtroom
301 N. Live Oak
Rockport, Texas
Nov. 20, 2008
Port Isabel High School Lecture Hall
101 Port Road
Port Isabel, Texas
Anyone who cannot attend any of the meetings listed above but would like to make comments about flounder may contact the following:
Tonya Wiley
Fisheries Outreach Specialist
Dickinson Marine Lab
281-534-0131
tonya [dot] wiley [at] tpwd [dot] state [dot] tx [dot] us
Art Morris
Fisheries Outreach Specialist
Corpus Christi Field Station
361-825-3356
art [dot] morris [at] tpwd [dot] state [dot] tx [dot] us
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“Fizzical” Research to Answer Questions About Deep-Caught Bass
October 13, 2008
ATHENS, Texas-Most anglers probably know that many fish caught from deep water can suffer from an over-inflated swim bladder, a condition called hyperbuoyancy. The air bladder inside the fish that inflates and deflates to give the fish neutral buoyancy can expand suddenly when a fish is brought to the surface after being caught. This puts pressure on other internal organs and may even lead to the stomach protruding from the fish’s body.
The fish may also be unable to swim upright and submerge. The fish will float at the surface for several hours until the swim bladder depressurizes. This condition by itself may not be lethal, but the fish expends a lot of energy trying to submerge, and it may be struck by a boat or killed by a predator.
Not all floating fish die, but enough do to be a concern.
What anglers and even fisheries biologists don’t know is the best way to treat hyperbuoyancy in order to increase survival of fish after they are released.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries biologists intend to find out.
“It’s important to understand that if you catch a fish from 30, 40, 50 feet deep and immediately release it, it usually goes right back down with no problem,” says Randy Myers, Inland Fisheries district biologist from San Antonio. “Even after it goes through the struggle of being caught, the fish may have enough energy to swim back down to a depth where neutral buoyancy is regained. But if that same fish is kept in a livewell for several hours with an over-inflated bladder, it becomes exhausted from struggling to stay upright and floats on the surface.”
Budweiser ShareLunker program manager David Campbell has probably dealt with more big bass suffering from hyperbuoyancy than anyone else, and he feels that fish can develop hyperbuoyancy for several reasons.
“I strongly believe that exhaustion happens when the fish is trying to adjust to its environment, whether that is caused by being pulled from deep water, the stress of being caught, lack of oxygenated water or being in a crowded livewell,” he says. “When a fish has room to swim but starts swimming nose down, has to fight to stay down or swims right-side up but never stays more than a few inches below the surface, it has preliminary hyperbuoyancy symptoms and needs relief-and the sooner the better for survival.”
Three techniques have been developed to deal with hyperbuoyancy. Two involve puncturing the air bladder to vent gas and reduce the pressure, a procedure commonly called fizzing because when done properly while holding the fish underwater, a stream of bubbles is released.
Fizzing can be done by inserting a hypodermic (hollow) needle into the air bladder through the fish’s side or mouth.
The third technique is deep release, sometimes called caging. Using this method, fish are lowered to the approximate depth where they were caught in a weighted cage (a small plastic laundry basket works well) that is open on the bottom. The cage is then lifted free of the fish, which will be repressurized and neutrally buoyant. Deep release can be done immediately or several hours after a fish was caught.
Hal Schramm, Ph.D., a fisheries biologist at Mississippi State University, helped develop deep release with Gene Gilliland, senior fisheries biologist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “No scientifically valid evaluations have been conducted on this technique, but the FLW Tour uses this for hyperbuoyant fish in their walleye tournaments, and they claim it works great,” Schramm says.
Schramm notes that valid scientific evidence does exist that deflating bass swim bladders with a hypodermic needle inserted through the side of the fish does not adversely affect them. David Campbell says his experience with ShareLunkers supports that.
“Before we started puncturing the air bladder, all the fish that had hyperbuoyancy symptoms died,” he says. “Since then we have punctured the air bladder on close to a hundred of these big fish, and most survived.”
“There is also evidence that swim bladder over-inflation in largemouth bass causes several physiological problems in addition to impairing their ability to return to depth,” Schramm says. “This suggests that the best time to relieve swim bladder over-inflation is as soon as possible after the fish is caught-after you have determined that the fish is unable to submerge. No one, to my knowledge, has tested the effects of depressurization immediately upon capture versus after several hours.”
Enter Randy Myers and his team of TPWD fisheries biologists.
“In spring and early summer of 2009 we plan to conduct studies to answer two questions,” Myers says. “One, which technique-side fizzing, mouth fizzing or deep release-increases survival the most? And two, will fish survive better if they are treated immediately after being caught rather than after having floated in a livewell for several hours?”
The study is particularly important to Texas, which has some deep reservoirs. “What alerted us to the problem was Lake Amistad,” Myers explains. “Often the majority of fish have hyperbuoyancy throughout the year, probably because the fish live deep.”
Fish do not have to be caught from extreme depths to be affected, Myers notes. “One study found that hyperbuoyancy signs could be seen when fish were caught from as shallow as 11.5 feet,” he says. “My experience is that fish caught from more than 20 feet deep will show some signs.”
Myers and his team will collect large fish for their study from Amistad by electrofishing. The fish will be put into drop cages and lowered to 30 to 35 feet, allowed to reach neutral buoyancy, and then winched back up quickly.
“All those fish will have been exposed to the same conditions,” Myers says. “Some we will put in livewells for four or five hours before treatment. Others will be treated immediately. We will use all three methods of treating hyperbuoyancy but will leave some fish untreated. We will also have a group of fish that do not have hyperbuoyancy, but we will fizz them to see how much sticking the fish with a needle affects survival. We’ll hold the fish in large cages for several days to watch for delayed mortality, and dead fish will be autopsied by TPWD fish health staff to identify cause of death. Above- and below-water video will be used to document the study and fish behavior in response to treatment.”
Schramm, Campbell and Myers agree that evidence is strong that fizzing and caging do work, but they also agree that having people who don’t know what they are doing sticking needles in fish would not be a good thing.
“Treating fish for hyperbuoyancy obviously helps, but we don’t know how much,” Myers points out. “We want to find out how much and which method helps the most. One of our goals is to learn enough that we can provide educational materials for anglers.”
The day has not yet arrived when the well-equipped tackle box will include a hypodermic needle alongside the plastic worms and crankbaits, but if that day comes, Myers wants anglers to be knowledgeable about the best way to ensure bass survival.
After all, the more fish in the lake, the more fun we can have catching them.
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Ike Impact on Coastal Fisheries Mixed, but Overall May be Beneficial
October 3, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas — Hurricane Ike, which devastated communities and residents of the upper Texas Gulf coast Sept. 12-13 may ultimately prove beneficial to the marine organisms that also call the area home.
That’s the preliminary conclusion of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division biologists.
“We may have some initial mortality due to black water,” said Lance Robinson, TPWD’s regional Coastal Fisheries Division director for the upper coast. “But that black water is also very nutrient rich. As it enters the bays it should result in a boom in primary productivity. We would expect to see good recruitment of game fish species in the next year or two.”
So-called “black water” is the anoxic or oxygen-depleted soup of decaying matter that is often left behind after flood or storm surge events. Areas around the eastern periphery of Galveston Bay were reported to have experienced a 15-foot or more storm surge from Hurricane Ike, and foul-smelling, brackish water still stands in many inland areas of the mainland there.
Robinson pointed out that hurricanes are natural phenomena and highly mobile and adaptable estuarine organisms are well-equipped to deal with them.
In fact, the first week of the fall gill net sampling season showed there are good numbers of recreationally important fish still in the Galveston Bay system. The sampling, now in its 33rd year, started in Galveston Bay three days after Ike passed through. Biologists say the data from the long-term monitoring program will detect any significant impacts on adult finfish populations.
“It’s early, but we’ve had some real productive gill net catches. We really haven’t seen any problems with dissolved oxygen in the areas we’ve set,” said TPWD’s Galveston Bay Ecosystem Leader Bill Balboa. “The fish seem healthy, and we’ve seen lots of them, of all species.”
Ike’s Impact on Commercial Fisheries
Oysters, like the other animals that make their living in the highly variable conditions of Texas bays, are well-prepared to survive calamities like hurricanes. Oysters can even change their sex from year to year to increase production if the environment demands it.
What they can’t do is get out of the way, and sedimentation over oyster reefs is a real concern.
“We have some side scan sonar data we’ve been collecting of oyster reefs,” Robinson said. “We’ll redo those on some transects to see if there was an impact on oyster reefs.”
On the Texas coast, there are almost always enough oyster larvae, but sometimes not enough hard substrate for them to attach to and grow to maturity.
Water quality in Galveston Bay, with numerous small oil and fuel spills as well as organic contaminants from decomposing livestock and flooded septic systems is a concern, and is monitored by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services has the bay closed indefinitely for molluscan shellfish harvest.
“The public oyster season doesn’t open until November, and we would hope that water quality would improve between now and then,” Robinson said.
Many bay shrimpers moved their boats before the storm, though some were sunk or destroyed during Hurricane Ike. Some areas that were known to be trawlable before Ike now may be filled with submerged debris.
Infrastructure Hit Hard
Perhaps the biggest challenge Hurricane Ike brings commercial and recreational anglers alike is the storm’s impact on infrastructure. Judging from initial surveys of marinas, canal subdivisions and debris fields, hundreds of boats were severely damaged or destroyed by the storm.
In a survey of 92 boat ramps around the Galveston Bay system last week, Balboa noted that just 29 were accessible. He said he found no functioning bait houses (in fact, many were destroyed), and the availability of fuel, ice and power at dockside is severely limited or nonexistent.
“From a fisherman’s standpoint, it will be fine. It will just be an inconvenience for recreational anglers for a while because it will be a challenge finding bait and places to launch,” said Robinson. “I think it will result in a shift in fishing pressure. We’ll probably see a shift in fishing pressure to Matagorda Bay and some of the other bays, so we’ll be watching for that.”
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Texas Bighorn Sheep Numbers Continue to Climb
October 2, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas -The last wild desert bighorn sheep in Texas was seen in a remote area of far West Texas a half century ago, in October 1958. That might have been the last chapter for the majestic animal in the Lone Star State, but today, thanks to ongoing efforts to restore this majestic game animal in far West Texas, there are more sheep than you can shake a stick at with numbers unseen since the late 1800s.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists recently completed annual desert bighorn sheep counts and report a record 1,193 desert bighorn sheep observed, up from 991 sheep last year.
“We rocked along for years with very low numbers, and that makes it hard for a population to gain momentum,” said Mike Pittman, TPWD Trans-Pecos Wildlife Management Area project leader. “You’ve heard of safety in numbers? With sheep that’s very true. With larger herd groups, there are more eyes to help avoid predators. Also, increased social activity means ewes going to lambing areas are able to produce more sheep.”
By conducting annual helicopter survey counts, TPWD biologists can ascertain not only how many animals are present, but also if there are surplus bighorn rams.
The number of harvestable rams seen on the survey makes possible a record number of sheep hunting permits to be issued during the 2008-09 season. The Department will issue 15 permits, 11 of which will be given to private landowners who have been instrumental in sheep restoration through habitat management, and four permits which will be used by the department.
Of those four permits, one will be auctioned by the Wild Sheep Foundation, with proceeds returned to fund the department’s bighorn program, and the remaining three will be included in TPWD’s public hunting program.
One lucky applicant in the Big Time Texas Hunts Grand Slam category will be selected to hunt a desert bighorn ram. Entries are $9 online at www.tpwd.state.tx.us/bigtime or for $10 at retail locations where licenses are sold or by phone at (800) 895-4248. There is no limit to the number of Big Time Texas Hunts entries an individual may purchase, and entries may be purchased as gifts for others. Purchasers must be 17 years of age or older. The deadline to apply for this year’s Big Time Texas Hunts is Oct. 15 to give the winners more time to prepare for their trips.
Two applicants in TPWD’s drawn hunts will be selected for a guided bighorn sheep hunt package. Application fee is $10 and the deadline for applying is Nov. 4. For more information, including an application, visit the public hunting section of the TPWD Web site.
The desert bighorn sheep was once prominent in the remote mountains of West Texas, with populations of more than 1,500 animals in the late 1800s. Largely because of unregulated hunting, bighorn numbers dwindled to about 500, according to the survey conducted by Vernon Bailey in 1903.
Protective measures for bighorn sheep began as early as 1903 with the enactment of a hunting prohibition; however, numbers continued to decline to an estimated 35 sheep by 1945. The last reported sighting of a native bighorn sheep in 1958 came from what would later become the first wildlife management area in Texas, the Sierra Diablo WMA. Biologists believe the last native Texas bighorns were gone by the early 1960s.
Efforts to restore bighorns in Texas began in 1954 with the development of a cooperative agreement among state and federal wildlife agencies and private conservation groups. Through landowner and Texas Bighorn Society support, remote mountains in the Trans-Pecos have been enhanced to meet the basic needs of the desert bighorn, including construction of numerous man-made water guzzlers. These capture the area’s limited rainfall to provide more reliable water sources for bighorn sheep and other wildlife.
“Although the restoration efforts to date have been a tremendous success, desert bighorn restoration in Texas is not complete,” reminded Calvin Richardson, TPWD desert bighorn sheep program leader. “Our immediate focus is on Big Bend Ranch State Park and the surrounding area, which have substantial quality habitat for desert sheep, particularly when including the rugged mountain ranges in Cañon de Santa Elena Protected Area immediately to the south in Mexico.”
Richardson noted that, with the help of partners in Mexico, including Cemex Corp., and Texas partners like the Texas Bighorn Society, Dallas Safari Club, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, and private landowners, TPWD will be working to address some challenges over the next few years and prepare Big Bend Ranch State Park for eventual restoration of desert bighorns to this historic range.
Other historic ranges are still unoccupied, including the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park, the Chinati Mountains, and the Guadalupe Mountains.
“Natural expansion is occurring to some degree and bighorns will continue to colonize suitable habitat, provided the unoccupied mountain range is not too distant and there are few existing barriers like fences and major highways,” said Richardson.
Some of those barriers can be overcome through trapping and relocation of bighorns and Richardson said the restoration tool of restocking historic range through translocation will continue to be used when suitable mountain ranges are isolated from other bighorn populations, preventing re-establishment through natural movements.
Additionally, translocations may be used to augment small populations that typically require many years to “get past” the multiple sources of mortality that threaten herd viability when bighorn numbers are few.
“Despite the dramatic success with the desert bighorn program in West Texas, particularly in recent years, TPWD and our partners must be persistent in management,” said Richardson.
Among the challenges facing bighorn restoration efforts are: control of exotics, control of predators in some situations, water development and maintenance and vigilance regarding one of the greatest threats to bighorn sheep — disease.
Because bighorns are highly susceptible to some diseases, contact with domestic sheep, goats or certain exotics, like aoudads, can potentially wipe-out an entire population. From the perspective of a bighorn sheep, West Texas is a very different environment than it was 300-400 years ago, with more barriers, more disturbance, and sources of disease that historically were absent.
“And, with an increasing human population hungry for petroleum products, wind energy, and minerals hidden in the mountains, I don’t anticipate a decline in the threats to desert bighorn survival,” Richardson predicted. “Regarding the desert bighorn program in Texas, we’re not done . . . and it will require a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to maintain what we’ve achieved.”
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Emergency Notice: Hurricane Ike News Updates - 9/19/2008
September 19, 2008
The Texas Governor’s Office is coordinating official communication about Ike for the State of Texas, including TPWD activities. For complete information, see the Texas governor’s web site at http://governor.state.tx.us/, or news media may phone the press office at (512) 463-1826.
Related TPWD News Updates (Latest First)
- Sept. 18, 2008 - 10 a.m. CDT - Update 10 - Sep. 18 Ike News Update from Texas Parks & Wildlife
- Sept. 17, 2008 - Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report
- Sept. 17, 2008 - 10 a.m. CDT - Update 9 - Sep. 17 Ike News Update from Texas Parks & Wildlife
- Sept. 16, 2008 - 4:30 p.m. CDT - Update 8 - Ike Update From TPWD: Game Wardens Complete Search and Rescue, Parks/Wildlife/Fisheries Staff Assess Damage
- Sept. 15, 2008 - 1 p.m. CDT - Update 7 - Ike Update From TPWD: Game Wardens Complete Search and Rescue, Parks/Wildlife/Fisheries Staff Assess Damage
- Sept. 14, 2008 - 6:30 p.m. CDT - Ike Evacuees Wait Out Storm At Texas State Parks
- Sept. 14, 2008 - Noon CDT - Update 6 - Ike Update From TPWD: Game Wardens Search and Rescue, State Parks/Wildlife Staff Assess Damage
- Sept. 13, 2008 - 6 p.m. CDT - Update 5 - Ike Update From TPWD: State Parks Host 4,600 Evacuees, Game Wardens Conduct Search and Rescue
- Sept. 13, 2008 - 11:45 a.m. CDT - Update 4 - Ike Update From TPWD: State Parks Host 4,000 Evacuees, Game Wardens Staged For Rescue-Recovery
- Sept. 12, 2008 - 8 p.m. CDT - Game Warden Takes Storm Prep Personally as Neighbors Brace for Ike
- Sept. 12, 2008 - 12:05 p.m. CDT - Update 3 - Ike Update From TPWD: Game Wardens Deployed, 32 State Parks Closed, Others Accept Evacuees
- Sept. 11, 2008 - 9:39 p.m. CDT - Forward-deployed Game Wardens Assist Elderly Evacuees at Staging Area, Prepare for Ike’s Landfall
- Sept. 11, 2008 - 4:39 p.m. CDT - TPWD Cancels Public Hunts Along Coast, In East Texas
- Sept. 11, 2008 - 11:53 a.m. CDT - Update 2 - Hurricane Ike Update From TPWD: Texas Game Wardens Deployed, Some State Parks Closed
- Sept. 10, 2008 - 12:18 p.m. CDT - Update 1 - Hurricane Ike Update From TPWD: Texas Game Wardens Deploy, Some State Parks Closing
- Sept. 10, 2008 - Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report
TPWD High-Resolution Images From Hurricane Ike
TPWD Images From Hurricane Ike
TPWD Parks Affected by Hurricane Ike
National Hurricane Center (National Weather Service)
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Ike Update From TPWD: Game Wardens Deployed, 32 State Parks Closed, Others Accept Evacuees
September 14, 2008
9/13/2008 - Below is information sent by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Governor’s Press Office today. The governor’s office is coordinating official communication about Ike for the State of Texas, including TPWD activities. The following information is provided as a service and convenience for TPWD’s audience. For complete information, see the Texas governor’s web site at http://governor.state.tx.us/, or news media may phone the press office at (512) 463-1826.
Texas Game Wardens/TPWD Law Enforcement Division
- TPWD has more than 180 game wardens and associated boats and equipment deployed in Southeast Texas. In addition, seven strike teams of 10 game wardens and one captain each have assembled from regions across the state, and those 70 wardens are ready to deploy tomorrow and be self-sustaining for five days when activated by the State Operations Center. All 500 game wardens statewide are preparing to deploy if needed.
- Game wardens were active in four main geographic areas today: Galveston, Beaumont, Orange and East Harris County.
- Capt. Rod Ousley of the TPWD Beaumont office and eight game wardens worked in Bridge City and Orange mid-day with airboats and had completed more than 50 rescues by 4 p.m.
- Strike Team One, a team of about 30 game wardens from outside coastal regions formed days ago, is traveling east on I-10 close to Beaumont at this hour to meet with coastal game wardens at the Ford events center and prepare to enter the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange area for search and rescue in the morning.
- In Galveston, game warden teams patrolled and searched residential areas, using boats to navigate flooded streets in some cases. Game wardens were among the first responders to reenter Galveston today, part of a large and diverse multi-agency force.
Texas State Parks
- At 5 p.m. today, 32 Texas State Parks remained closed due to Ike. Several previously closed parks in Central and South Texas have reopened. For the current list of park closures, see the TPWD Web site (www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/parkinfo/hurricane).
- Also as of 5 p.m., a total of 4,673 evacuees have been given shelter free of charge at 45 state parks outside the hurricane’s path. Evacuees from storm-damaged areas are allowed to tent camp or stay in RVs or campers at no cost in Texas State Parks, and they may stay in cabins or screen shelters at discounted rates. The latest information on parks closed or accepting evacuees is available through the TPWD Web site (www.tpwd.state.tx.us/site/emergency). The public can also phone individual state parks to see whether a park is closed or accepting evacuees.
- Damage assessments for the State Park Division are beginning to come in but are at this time incomplete. Although the full picture is not known, it appears Southeast Texas state parks sustained the most damage, where seven parks have reported significant impacts. Stephen F. Austin and Brazos Bend sustained substantial losses of trees without damage to infrastructure. San Jacinto Battleground, Village Creek and Huntsville sustained wind damage to trees along with varying degrees of structural/infrastructure damage. As many as 11 additional parks appear to have suffered various types of minor damage. No loss of life or injuries have been reported for the State Parks Division. However, Ike was still impacting parks in Northeast Texas at 6 p.m. On Sunday, response teams are scheduled to deploy to affected areas, inspect and report damage.
- The Coastal Fisheries Division, which maintains multiple offices, boats, laboratories and fish hatcheries on the coast, appears to have weathered the storm without major damage, although reports are preliminary and incomplete. The condition of TPWD’s Dickinson office complex is unknown. Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson sustained minor damage but appears to be in pretty good shape overall. So far, there are no reports about field stations and facilities in Palacios and Port O’Connor. Offices and facilities in Rockport, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville are all fine.
9/12/2008 - Below is information sent by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Governor’s Press Office today. The governor’s office is coordinating official communication about Ike for the State of Texas, including TPWD activities. The following information is provided as a service and convenience for TPWD’s audience. For complete information, see the Texas governor’s web site at http://governor.state.tx.us/, or news media may phone the press office at (512) 463-1826.
Regarding Texas State Parks, 32 parks are now closed due to Ike, as listed below. Other state parks are accepting people evacuating from areas hit by the storm. More than 1,000 Ike evacuees are now staying in state parks outside the storm’s expected path. Evacuees from storm-damaged areas may tent camp or stay in RVs or campers at no cost in