Texas

Bat Conservation International
Developing Community-Centered Outreach for Bat Conservation
Develop a community-based and deeply collaborative outreach program about bat conservation to serve as a model for other conservation NGOs. Project will share lessons learned with other organizations that grapple with similar challenges to be inclusive and responsive to diverse communities.
$44,997

City of Houston
Designing Pocket Prairies to Reduce Flood Risk in Houston (TX)
Conceptualize five sites as Pocket Prairies that will reduce flood risk by relieving stormwater systems and restore wetlands and prairies in highly developed areas. Project will use the Complete Communities and community-led, council approved, action plans as a guide to select priority sites and develop the conceptual design which will serve as pilots to develop a replicable and scalable design for future design and implementation.
$200,000

Community In-Power and Development Association
Collaborative Coastal Resilience Planning in Jefferson County (TX)
Integrate community knowledge with multidisciplinary community planning, through a diverse partnership of local stakeholders, community planners, landscape architects, nature-based infrastructure experts, and hydrologists. Project will develop a plan, priorities and strategies for building coastal resilience in West Port Arthur with a focus on nature-based solutions that protect human life while improving the region’s endangered and threatened wildlife habitats.
$233,965

Forest Landowners Association
Engaging Large-Scale Landowners for Longleaf Pine Restoration (Multiple States)
Establish 2,500 acres of longleaf pine and improve 5,500 acres of existing longleaf forest with prescribed fire on large-acreage private lands within the historical longleaf pine range. Project will address barriers to restoring longleaf pine on large-acreage private lands by building trust among stakeholders to achieve collaborative conservation for at-risk and listed species, and providing technical and financial assistance to support planting and management of longleaf pine.
$250,000

Manomet
Coordinating American Oystercatcher Recovery and Conservation along the Atlantic Coast (multiple states)
Coordinate the American Oystercatcher recovery initiative, conduct a range-wide aerial survey to count all wintering oystercatchers along the Southeast Atlantic and Gulf coasts (United States), and reduce the impact of predators and human disturbance on populations of coastal breeding shorebirds. Project will support the goals of the Atlantic Flyway Business Plan by creating a framework for long-term protection, restoration, and creation of shorebird habitat at key sites.
$205,000

Manomet
Western Atlantic Flyway Whimbrel Conservation Program (Multiple States)
Expand on efforts to coordinate conservation and monitor declining whimbrel populations using the western Atlantic Flyway. Project will increase coordination of whimbrel partners working throughout the flyway, address information gaps on whimbrel ecology and demography, and continue development of a monitoring program built around night roosts.
$120,000

Mote Marine Laboratory
Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery Electronic Monitoring (FL)
Continue the Center for Fisheries Electronic Monitoring at Mote’s efforts to streamline artificial intelligence driven data collection processes by creating a repeatable process for generating data and algorithms. Project will make strides in applying artificial intelligence in the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery to serve as a foundation for providing more timely and efficient data for management and industry applications.
$349,000

National Audubon Society
Conserving Shortgrass Prairie Habitat through Conservation Ranching (NM, TX)
Implement on-the-ground restoration efforts in the shortgrass prairie ecosystems of the Texas panhandle and southeastern New Mexico through the Audubon Conservation Ranching Initiative. Project will improve grazing management on 50,000 acres of private, working ranches and implement a spectrum of technical guidance tools and development of ranch-specific habitat management plans and monitoring efforts to benefit Lesser Prairie-Chickens and other native species.
$175,346

NOAA Fisheries
Non-invasive Diet Characterization of Southern Resident Killer Whales (WA)
Test the use of stable isotopes to analyze dietary composition for Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea using naturally occurring chemical tracers. Project will measure how stable isotopes in fecal matter and breath samples reflect diets from a feeding study on captive killer whales and compare to archived collected samples from Southern Resident killer whales.
$148,760

Parks and Wildlife Foundation of Texas
Supporting the Grassland Restoration Incentive Program (OK, TX)
Support the Grassland Restoration Incentive Program, a multi-organization effort aimed at achieving grassland bird conservation objectives in focus areas throughout the Oaks and Prairies Ecoregion of Texas and Oklahoma. Project will restore nearly 9,000 acres of private working lands habitat for grassland-obligate species.
$186,615

Pheasants Forever
Increasing Capacity for Grassland Conservation On Working Ranches (TX)
Increase capacity and technical assistance in the Texas Panhandle to improve grassland health, increase habitat quality and provide benefits to priority wildlife species including lesser prairie-chicken, pronghorn, migratory songbirds and monarch butterfly. Project will improve management on 8,000 acres of working ranches to improve grassland health, support biodiversity and increase carbon sequestration to improve climate resilience.
$200,000

Pheasants Forever
Improving Grassland Bird Habitat (TX)
Provide incentive payments and technical assistance to landowners for land management practices that improve and restore habitat for grassland birds and mottled ducks in coastal areas of Texas. Project will restore more than 3,000 acres of coastal grassland habitat by improving habitat diversity and structure on private working lands.
$150,000

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Expanding the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert Motus Network to Inform Migratory Bird Conservation (multiple states)
Expand efforts to build a network of automated radio telemetry stations (Motus) throughout the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert that will help fill demographic knowledge gaps, characterize stop-over and migratory connectivity, and strategically inform full annual cycle habitat conservation for steeply declining grassland birds. Project will install 10 new Motus stations and deploy bird tags to inform future conservation delivery for grassland birds.
$250,000

Texas A&M Forest Service
Restoring Longleaf Pine in the Big Thicket and Longleaf Ridge Regions of East Texas
Coordinate education, outreach, technical, and financial assistance to restore, enhance, and conserve the longleaf pine ecosystem in East Texas through prescribed burning, plantings and silvicultural management, benefiting northern bobwhite, brown-headed nuthatch and game species, such as eastern wild turkey. Project will plant 775 acres of new longleaf stands, implement prescribed burning on 4,100 acres, enhance 250 acres through woody plant control and educate 150 private landowners.
$490,000

Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Native Seeds Development and Outreach for Grassland Restoration in the Pecos River Watershed (NM, TX)
Develop ecotypic native seed sources for the Pecos River watershed in West Texas and New Mexico to support successful grassland restoration. Project will address limitations to native grassland habitat restoration through outreach and technical assistance to landowners, energy operators, and related contractors reseeding in the watershed, by expanding an established native seed research and development program, and by collaborating with the commercial seed trade to expand seed source availability.
$195,891

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation
Northern Hudspeth County Grassland Restoration (TX)
Conduct herbicide application to restore 6,000-9,000 acres of brush-invaded dry mixed prairie in northern Hudspeth County, Texas. Project will strategically expand the existing grassland for the greatest net gain of contiguous, usable habitat for grassland obligate species like pronghorn.
$250,000

Texas Tech University
Using Virtual Fencing to Improve Grazing Management, Carbon Sequestration, and Wildlife Habitat (TX)
Utilize virtual fencing as grazing management tool to implement an adaptive grazing system to improve grassland health and associated ecosystem services in the Texas Rolling Plains. Project will employ virtual fencing on 10,000 acres of private, working ranches to promote healthy grasslands that increase productivity, soil health and function, carbon sequestration, and habitat for grassland-obligate songbirds.
$193,672

The Nature Conservancy
Develop, Test and Deploy Machine Learning to Reduce Storage for Electronic Monitoring of Fisheries (multiple states)
Develop, widely test and deploy open source computer vision tools which identify and trim video segments to reduce archival video storage costs for fisheries electronic monitoring. Project will employ a two-step process where detection of humans is completed during video review and trimming is done only after video review is completed to reduce risk of eliminating important fishing activity and to facilitate adoption by regulators.
$144,889

Toyah Limpia SWCD
Central Trans Pecos Native Grassland Restoration and Management (TX)
Restore high-quality Chihuahan native grassland habitat for migratory grassland birds and pronghorn on private land in Reeves, Jeff Davis, Culberson, and Pecos Counties, Texas. Project will address habitat quality, connectivity and management for native grasslands by managing encroaching woody species like mesquite, tarbrush, whitebrush, acacia and creosote brush.
$195,000