Bluestem Master Naturalists offer Landowner Seminar Sept. 17: Managing Your Land for Wildlife

September 17, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Grayson County, Texas -- Bluestem Master Naturalists, a local organization that promotes conservation and nature education, is offering a seminar for landowners aimed at helping them make their land more “wildlife-friendly”. The 92 volunteers in this group provide education programs for both adults and children, as well as doing trail maintenance and other support activities at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and Eisenhower State Park.

Landowner Seminar: Managing Your Land for Wildlife

The seminar will provide landowners with: 1) guidance on applying for a Wildlife Special Valuation, a tax status that offers the same tax rate as agriculture; and 2) practical advice on ways of attracting and supporting wildlife on your land. For owners of small parcels, a sensible approach is to focus on birds and pollinators such as bees and butterflies. The seminar will also offer tools for controlling brush and invasive species that tend to crowd out vegetation that will support wildlife.

The seminar will be held on September 17 in the Visitor Center at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Sherman, from 9:00 am to 4:30 p.m.

How to register

To register or get your questions answered, email landownerseries@gmail.com. There is no charge for the program, but space is limited and reservations are required.

Rapid development in Grayson County means less habitat for wildlife.

We are all living with the impact of growth in our area; the population grew 13% since the last census, and local planners report that the growth rate is accelerating. New housing developments are springing up, and traffic is congested due to highway expansion. There is another impact we need to be concerned about, though: we are losing habitat for all kinds of wildlife. This issue is particularly important for birds because Grayson County is on the “flyway” for many migrating birds.

Since 97% of the land in Texas is privately owned, managing you land for wildlife can have a big impact. Simple interventions such as making small brush piles for cover, providing supplemental food and water during weather extremes, and planting native vegetation can help your land support more wildlife—and increase your enjoyment of your land as you observe the wildlife that is attracted to it.

Practical benefits of managing your land for wildlife

There are practical and financial benefits, too. In Grayson County, if you have at least 12.5 acres of land under an agricultural valuation, you can apply for a Wildlife Special Valuation through the County Tax Assessors Office. The landowner commits to taking certain actions that improve habitat for wildlife, in exchange for getting the same property tax rate as agricultural land.