Photos shot for the January | February issue
Spend 2020 with 20 Wild Women
2020 is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. What better way to honor this historic milestone than to salute 20 Wild Women of Texas Conservation?
Each issue will feature two, selected from a long list of amazing, accomplished Texas women. We hope this series will encourage others to to uncover and publish stories of other historic Texas women. We'd love to hear from you if you have such a story to share.
Trail Blaze
TPWD offers land and water routes for every interest and skill level.
When Brownsville city leaders went looking for something that would increase the health of the city's residents, provide overall community benefits and boost economic opportunities, they found their solution in an unexpected place: trails. The resulting Active Plan envisions a 428-mile network of cycling, walking and paddling trails in the Rio Grande Valley.
When Colleen Simpson took over as parks director in Port Aransas, one of her top priorities was trails. The city's birding and nature sites existed independently of each other, and Simpson wanted to connect them. Her new parks master plan, approved last spring, calls for an interconnected system of hike-and-bike trails to link the parks.
Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Dirt
Archeological field school uncovers the past at Palo Duro Canyon.
The shortgrass prairie of the Texas Panhandle, with its unbroken horizon, is like the bottom of the ocean; the endless blue sky above is the water. Then that smooth, exposed seafloor falls away into the depths of a magical, rust-red canyonland where crumbling walls are laced with veins of sparkling white gypsum, boulders perch on thin columns of soil like castle spires, and quiet rivers flow beneath the shade of cottonwood trees. Palo Duro Canyon, a sanctuary of the ages, holds the secrets of thousands of years of human habitation.
Peak Performance
Tackling your first mountain trek takes preparation, especially if it's Texas' tallest.
I have never climbed a mountain, but this metaphorically resonant activity has always appealed to me. Believe me, as an outdoor novice, such a feat can seem daunting. From the bottom looking up, the task of ascending a mountain seems nearly impossible. I want to see just impossible it actually is.
This is the story of my attempt to reach the top of Texas' highest peak in the middle of summer. If you're as brave (or maybe as foolish) as I am, I hope you'll come along for the hike.
Keep Texas Wild
It's not just for kids. If you like nature-related topics in an easy-to-read format, you can find three years of our popular Keep Texas Wild issues and the teacher resources to go along with them.
