Texan by Nature (TxN) is proud to partner with 105+ conservation organizations working to positively benefit Texas’ natural resources and communities through innovative approaches. TxN accelerates conservation by bringing conservation organizations and business together through programs that connect and convene diverse stakeholders and catalyze science-based conservation efforts and projects to accelerate impact.
Learn more about TxN Conservation Partner, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and how they are using honey bee conservation to positively impact military veterans.
Q: Tell us about the Natural Resources Institute and its mission.
A: The Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI) is made up of 80+ researchers, scientists, extension agents, and policy experts stationed in 12 states across the U.S. who are all interested in promoting the value of land stewardship and wildlife conservation. Between our in-house expertise and our extensive partner network, we’re uniquely positioned to identify information gaps existing anywhere from natural resource policy to the knowledge base of private landowners. Our mission is to solve complex natural resource challenges through discovery, engagement, innovation, and land stewardship.
Q: What is the history of NRI?
A: Officially staffed in 2007, NRI became a grant-funded (public and private) natural resource research and extension unit, led by the Land Grant University mission under Texas A&M University. As a member of the state’s land-grant system, our initiatives are founded on the basic need to enrich Texas with comprehensive agricultural and life sciences knowledge and services to restore connections among people, agriculture, food, science, and the economy.
Q: How do you work to achieve your mission and who is your audience?
A: NRI leads four major program areas – land, wildlife, military, and private lands.
- With our Land Trends and Demography program, we use geospatial tools and landscape planning to support research and extension projects with accurate, scientific data;
- Our Wildlife Conservation and Mitigation program conducts research that addresses the current problems surrounding wildlife and habitat management and promotes their stewardship to landowners and policymakers;
- Our Military Land Sustainability program works to support military readiness and land stewardship through integrated management practices on military bases;
- Using engagement and partnerships, our Private Land Stewardship program allows us to provide landowners with research results and solutions to some of their most pressing natural resource challenges.
“We work every day to stay ahead of some of the most complex natural resource concerns, but an immense part of what we do depends on thoughtful collaboration with other experts in the field. We thrive in this space where we’re able to positively impact entire ecosystems together and prove a return on investment for the people who benefit from wild places and healthy working lands. It’s exhilarating to see this institute move when there’s a call and it’s even more exciting to get to tell our stories.” – Brittany Wegner, NRI Project Specialist
Q: What are some examples of your projects or programs?
A: NRI is known for our ability to be nimble and to find the right expertise for the challenge in everything we do.
The Texas Land Trends project under our Land Trends and Demography program monitors the status and changes in land use, ownership size and land values of working lands. Research results are published as topic-based reports through txlandtrends.org, an award-winning interactive website. Users can also explore and query the Texas Land Trends data through the web-based mapping service. Texas Land Trends provides decision-makers and stakeholders with timely information to support the conservation and strategic planning of working lands within a spatially explicit context. Here’s a preview of a few tools we’ve developed through the Texas Land Trends project:
- Data Explorer: This tool allows users to curate land trend data based on their area or areas of interest. Custom data queries by users generate an output of summary statistics, which demonstrate land demographic data in three primary categories: land use, land values, and ownership. These data are displayed through interactive mapping, tables, graphs, and general text to allow unique visualization of occurring changes on the selected areas of interest.
- Texas Early Notification Tool (TENT): This tool allows users to create custom queries based on their area or areas of interest. If the area selected intersects a military asset notification area that warrants early notification, the tool will generate an output with the notification areas and associated point of contact information. These data are displayed through interactive mapping, tables, and general text.
- Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI): This tool provides users with GIS locations of all military installations nationwide with completed REPI transactions, along with relevant information and resources for these projects such as economic data and project profile pages. Custom query feature allows users to pull REPI data for multiple installations at the local-, state-, and regional-level.
- TxMAP: Over the last year, our geospatial analysis team ideated and developed a web-based desktop mapping application called TxMAP allowing users to see how the water, wildlife, military and demography data we use relates to the land around it. Readers can explore the data layers to answer questions and better visualize natural resources across Texas through boundaries and markups, and then publish and print a summary of their findings. Individualized map reports created in TxMAP can be used for policymakers, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies and private landowners and managers giving a comprehensive review of desired geospatial information.
Under the Wildlife Conservation and Mitigation program, the most recently pursued project in partnership with East Foundation, the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo, the University of Tennessee Comparative and Experimental Medicine Program and Center for Wildlife Health, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a study of the viability of potential actions designed to establish a new population of ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in South Texas to both help prevent their extirpation and increase their numbers in the U.S.
Through this project, officially called “Developing and Assessing Strategies for Reintroducing Ocelots to Historical Texas Habitat,” NRI and our partners are exploring the feasibility of reintroducing the endangered ocelot to a portion of their historical range in Texas that is distinct from known populations’ currently occupied habitat.
The project’s exploratory research efforts include:
- 1) assessments of where ecologically and socio-politically suitable ocelot habitat may occur in South Texas (and thus where possible reintroduction sites may occur);
- 2) the methods for sourcing individuals for an additional population of ocelots;
- 3) strategies for successfully releasing ocelots into the wild;
- 4) development of plans for the long-term management of reintroduced ocelots;
- and 5) determining the long-term viability of a reintroduced population given ecological constraints.
Another wildlife-related project under the Private Land Stewardship program called “The Reversing the Quail Decline Initiative” was one of NRI’s most wide-reaching projects for six years and provided extension programming, research summaries, and other valuable resources to landowners who were interested in learning about or pursuing quail conservation on their property. We held the ever-popular “QuailMasters” programs to teach landowners all about native quail and the management of their habitat, gathered statewide population data through the Texas Quail Index, and shared blogs and videos that reached thousands of Texas viewers.
NRI also collaborates with the Texas Water Resources Institute on our freshwater mussel program where researchers study the biology, population distributions, and conservation statuses of declining freshwater mussel species. The research conducted in this lab helps promote aquatic ecosystem and species conservation and inform policymakers as to whether certain species should be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
An ongoing partnership under the Military Lands and Sustainability program is the Sentinel Landscapes Project where NRI works with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) who relies on critical land, air and sea space in which it can train troops and test vital weapon systems. These testing and training areas, once remote in location, now face increasing encroachment. Housing developments and schools built adjacent to installations pose safety concerns. Conversely, noise and dust from military training exercises are a nuisance to those same schools and housing developments. The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership is an innovative collaboration to promote compatible land use around important military facilities.
While large rural landscapes such as farms, ranches and forestland are vital to sustaining agricultural and timber productivity and protecting wildlife habitat, they are also good neighbors to military bases. Private landowners maintaining rural lands, in some cases for decades and without due recognition, have significantly contributed to the nation’s defense.
Through the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, the Interior and Defense are recognizing and incentivizing landowners to maintain working lands, undertake conservation practices that benefit wildlife habitat, and continue land-use practices that are compatible with the military’s mission.
NRI understands the unique relationship between natural resources and national defense and is assisting these departments in implementing Sentinel Landscapes. It provides its management expertise in programs and policy development where national defense requirements and natural resource interests meet, especially as we consider DoD as one of the largest land managers in the U.S
Q: What are the ecological and economic benefits of your organization’s projects/programs?
A: Many of our programs directed at private landowners teach them how to implement conservation practices on their land. Healthy, biodiverse land not only creates valuable habitat for wildlife, but increases the inherent value of the property. Our sentinel landscapes program maintains the health of military lands and their neighboring rural lands, economically benefiting the Department of Defense by reducing the need to relocate military installations around sensitive species and reducing future land maintenance costs that may arise due to climate change or urban encroachment.
We also recently began calculating the value of ecosystem services on conserved and managed lands, a term used to describe things like clean air and water, carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat that are necessary to live—essentially affirming the valuable public benefits of conserved land. For example, we discovered that the state taxpayers receive a 27:1 return on investment for conservation easements, where the state funds $4 million per biennium (since 2015) and the annual value of ag commodities, water regenerations and wildlife consumption tops $10 million on those same lands.
Q: Tell us about the future of NRI. Do you have any upcoming initiatives, exciting events, or challenges ahead?
A: Top of mind for everyone right now is our new opportunity to collaborate, and even integrate in some regards, with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management (RWFM) within the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences. Our director, Dr. Roel Lopez recently accepted a dual appointment to continue serving as NRI’s director and the department head for RWFM. We’ve worked closely with the department since our inception to ensure RWFM (previously Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences) students are granted access to real world, contracted and field research experiences under PIs as they pursue their masters and doctoral degrees.
Through this collaboration, we’ve started to see opportunities for our project and service crossovers like, geospatial services for extension specialists to help them solve challenges across the state on private land.
We are also currently hosting a live video series once a month on Facebook called Leopold Live! where we and experts from the Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve discuss practical wildlife and habitat management techniques and answer questions from viewers. Some of this season’s topics include using game cameras, supplemental water, and herbicides and brush management.
Q: How can people get involved with and learn more about NRI?
A: Our work focuses on connecting with landowners and managers, other researchers, students and conservation organizations. One of our ongoing goals is to make sure that research and insights end up where they can be used, rather than sitting on the proverbial shelf. We launched the seasonal NRI Sourcebook in 2020 where you can find the latest research and resources all in one place complete with abstracts and a brief demonstration of what the work means for conservation. We want readers to use the information, to dive into the research and allow it to catalyze initiatives dependent on sound science.
Those interested can always follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) where we share our latest resources and updates. You can also sign up to receive our articles, editorial and think-pieces on Medium at https://tamu-nri.medium.com/.
If you would like to contact us directly, email us at nri@tamu.edu or visit our website at nri.tamu.edu.
You can read the latest issue of the NRI Journal, as well as past issues, here.
Texan by Nature is proud to partner with 105+ conservation organizations across Texas. Through our Conservation Partner network, we connect conservation organizations with the resources and relationships they need to extend their initiatives’ impact. Partner benefits include on-going features on social media, monthly media round-up, quarterly meetings, aggregated resources on fundraising, marketing/social media, and more.