Texas’s 29 million-person population is expected to double by 2050, negatively impacting the state’s land, water, wildlife, and infrastructure. With a GDP of $1.9 trillion and the world’s tenth-largest economy, new water opportunities and conservation investments are required to maintain economic leadership.
Texas Ducks Unlimited Chapters
Texas Ducks Unlimited has recently joined forces with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Water Action Collaborative to create about 206 acres of new wetlands within Texas’ Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA). This partnership will help improve water resources and wildlife habitats in the Trinity River Basin.
Water will flood the wetland complex from the Trinity River during the winter, providing various bird species habitats. In contrast, water will flow from the wetlands back into the river during the spring. The wetlands design will help decrease sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorous levels in the water, helping to improve overall water quality in the Trinity River by reconditioning more than 200 million gallons of water each year.
John Silovsky, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Wildlife Division Director, is excited about the partnerships. Since 1987, Ducks Unlimited Texas has partnered with them to assist TPWD in constructing about 1,350 acres of essential wetland habitat on Richland Creek WMA.
The Texan Water Action Collaborative (TxWAC)
The Texas Water Action Collaborative, led by Texan by Nature, comprises industry, nonprofit, and government entities formed in 2021 to invest in Upper Trinity River, resulting in positive water quality and quantity returns. The collaboration began with the Upper Trinity Basin because the Trinity River system serves many citizens in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, Texas’s two largest human and corporate populations.
Texan by Nature’s (TxN) mission is to fuse business and conservation for the good of the environment. The goal is to positively impact our natural resources throughout Texas and the rest of the country. TxN has deep relationships with business leaders, conservation groups, and communities for the common goal of environmental protection. Their projects have touched all 254 counties in Texas, 19.5 million acres, and over 7 million people in 2 short years.
TxWAC has received support from its partners, such as Facebook, PepsiCo, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and a private family foundation. These partnerships are a huge opportunity to use their reach to ensure a more sustainable future.
PepsiCo Positive is an initiative of PepsiCo that put a spotlight on sustainability. They have partnered with Ducks Unlimited to create a positive change. Their partnership will see Trinity River Basin’s water replenishment project implemented.
Texas Ducks Unlimited and TxWAC
The TPWD manages Richland Creek WMA near Richland Chambers Reservoir, built in the 1980s by the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) to help meet the region’s growing water supply needs. The WMA’s establishment facilitated mitigating wildlife habitat loss caused by reservoir construction.
Since its construction, the TPWD has collaborated with TRWD to create an extensive wetland treatment system on the WMA, covering over 5,000 acres and treating raw Trinity River water before it enters the reservoir, eventually delivered to municipal and industrial water users. This collaboration will serve as a model for the new project, providing similar advantages to fish, wildlife, and water quality in the Trinity River.
Texan by Nature’s CEO and President, Joni Carswell, believes the partnerships will expedite conservation activity and produce significant results.
Texas Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited is a nonprofit organization committed to North America's waterfowl conservation and habitat restoration. The DU was established in 1937 because of the decline in duck populations, and with the help of hunters, community members, and sponsors, they have been able to conserve more than 15 million acres of land.
With over a million supporters and investments in research and development, Ducks Unlimited’s contributions to waterfowl conservation, habitat restoration, and management have been unparalleled.
Charity Safaris and Ducks Unlimited Texas
Charity Safaris will fulfill all hunting donation requests for Texas Ducks Unlimited fundraising efforts. Additionally, the DU can keep all proceeds from their fundraising events to help their cause. If you are looking for volunteer or gift donations to support du's conservation mission, you are not alone. People across the country are coming together in the support of wetland conservation and the protection of waterfowl habitats.
Apply for our hunting trip donations on our online donation request page today and make the most of your fundraising event!
