ITMN Chapter Meeting

February 24

Western Navarro County Bobwhite Restoration Initiative

Texas contains more than 141 million ac. of private “working lands” which seems very large, but with the continued increase of the state’s population and expansion of urban areas, these lands have become divided into smaller and smaller units. In addition, approximately 2.2 million ac. of “working lands” were lost and converted to non-agricultural uses between 1997 and 2017.  During this same period, Texas gained roughly 1000 new working farms annually, totaling over 240,000 new ownerships.  With this dramatic increase in the numbers of new ownerships across the state, the average ownership size has decreased from 581 acres in 1997 to 509 acres in 2017.  This decreasing trend in average ownership size is expected to continue as our population continues to grow.  The challenge for wildlife conservationists is maintaining landscape level wildlife habitat integrity into the future by applying beneficial management practices on smaller and smaller tracts of land.

Since he was a young boy, Jay Whiteside has always been interested in learning about all wild things and being outdoors.  That outdoor journey has led Jay down his pathway to promote conservation efforts, and towards his current profession as a Wildlife Biologist with TPWD. Jay graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry with a major in Forest Wildlife Management. Although Jay loves all aspects of his job, he is especially fond of working directly with landowners in delivering specific wildlife conservation projects such as native grassland restoration, prescribed burning, and brush management.  One of Jay’s proudest achievements to date has been his close involvement with the Western Navarro Bobwhite Recovery Initiative (WNBRI).