The Land Steward Podcast

Season 3 is here! We’re joined by Dr. Stephen Webb, a senior research scientist with NRI and a research assistant professor with the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management, to discuss his research focused on big game species in Texas and beyond. Using advanced tracking and sensors, Dr. Webb models animal movement ecology to better understand their resource selection, in...

In this episode, BW discusses the threat Texas is facing as the parasitic New World screwworm (NWS) advances northward through Central America and Mexico. The latest fact sheet from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, "Wildlife Monitoring and Management for New World Screwworm," discusses this emerging threat and what knowledge both urban and rural Texans need to properly monitor, detect,...

In this episode, we’re joined by Jenny Sanders, Coordinator of the Texas Longleaf Team, to explore the revival of one of the southeast’s most iconic and ecologically rich landscapes: the longleaf pine ecosystem. Jenny shares how the Texas Longleaf Team fits into the broader America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative and what makes this habitat so vital for biodiversity, water conservation, and even...

In part 2 of our series on the celebrated Texas Land Trends program, we’re joined by Dr. Roel Lopez, NRI’s director and head of A&M’s Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. He reminisces on the program’s inception, the last 25 years of data, partnerships, influence, and a vision for the future.  We also have a special announcement—after a year of hard work under wraps, we’...

Texas lands are changing drastically day by day, driven by some of the fastest population growth in the country. For the last 25 years, the Texas Land Trends program has been monitoring the status and changes of land use, ownership size, land values, and more across the state. In part 1, BW discusses some program background and the four highlights that came out of the 25th anniversary iteration of...

For our season 2 premiere, we’re joined by Erin Davis and George Clendenin from the Camp Bullis Sentinel Landscape Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) to discuss the conservation of Sentinel Landscapes in Texas. They share a little bit about the program area, their expertise, and their passion for working with landowners to create landscape-wide conservation impacts around military la...

In this episode, we discuss the Managed Lands Deer Program and properly managing deer populations on your land. BW has a rainy-day chat with her family about their land before and after joining the program and how one decision became the spring board for a new kind of family partnership. She walks through the value of deer management for habitat health, and their experiences as a family—with no sh...

Small but mighty: Small acreage landowners—land stewards who own about 100 acres or less—represent more than half of the operations in Texas (and counting!). In this episode, we chat with Chase Brooke, a small acreage wildlife management program specialist, whose role is to help new and small acreage landowners develop strategies for their land and get connected with the resources and expertise th...

In earlier episodes, we spent some time talking about endangered species and the act that binds each careful decision by landowners and specialists to preserve and rehabilitate entire ecosystems depending on disappearing wildlife. We took the trapeze to the other end of the spectrum in this month's episode to talk about one of the most abundant and costly wildlife species in Texas—the wild pig...

Land and wildlife stewardship is hardly a solo show. Whether you own or manage land, recreate or depend on land for your livelihood or are simply interested in contributing to the open spaces that offer so much more than fresh air and room to roam, there's a natural resource professional in Texas waiting for your call (at no cost to you). This episode is a journey through some experiences, per...

Welcome back to the Land Steward Podcast, and thank you for joining us for part 2 of our episode on the Endangered Species Act. This week we're taking you behind the scenes of the Endangered Species Act 50th Anniversary Symposium that took place in Austin, TX in November. BW recaps the event and interviews a few different guests at the event about their experiences being in the room with some...

Welcome back to the Land Steward Podcast. This week we’re excited to dive in with our first guest host, expert in conservation education and endangered species processes, Shelby McCay, to talk about the Endangered Species Act, its legacy over the past 50 years, and what the future of endangered species conservation looks like as a new generation of leaders take the helm. We discuss the upcoming ES...

Welcome to The Land Steward Podcast. We're excited to get this new podcast off the ground to provide a space for land stewards who are looking to learn, no matter how they relate to the land, and a library of relatable conversations and resources around stewardship. At the Institute, we're fortunate to be in a unique space between research on the landscape and teaching within the College o...