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MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — SpaceX would acquire public land in Texas to expand its rocket-launch facilities under a tentative deal that is moving forward after months of opposition from nearby residents and officials near the U.S.-Mexico border. Although SpaceX is proposing swapping the public land for 477 acres, it has not yet purchased that property. The deal started in 2019 as a conversation between the state and SpaceX. But it was finally worked out in 2023, said David Yoskowitz, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's executive director. We the voters of Texas have given you money to purchase valuable land," Reed said, referring to the state's Centennial Parks Conservation Fund.

Persons: ” Jeffery D, Hildebrand, Greg Abbott, David Yoskowitz, Cyrus Reed, Reed, Kathryn Lueders, ” Organizations: SpaceX, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Boca, Gov, Texas Parks, Wildlife Department's, Democratic, Texas General Land, Lone Star, Sierra Club, Parks Conservation Fund, Texas, NASA, “, Texans, Wildlife Locations: MCALLEN , Texas, Texas, U.S, Mexico, Boca Chica, Brownsville , Texas, Austin, Florida

☆ Climate change, overharvesting exacerbating Texas oyster decline
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Evan Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

GALVESTON, Texas, Nov 28 (Reuters) - For the second year in a row, Texas has closed the majority of its public oyster reefs for harvesting due to declining populations. DECLINING POPULATIONSScientists estimate at least 85% of the world's oyster reefs have been lost, largely to overharvesting and disease. To harvest oysters, boats drag an underwater dredge across oyster reefs, collecting reef material that is dumped onto the boat. But dredging destroys the oyster reefs, which are also a habitat for fish and crabs, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. "And so, especially in the past decade, we've seen impacts from both harvest and heavy rainfall, heavy drought impacting those oyster populations."

Persons: Joel Gutierrez, Oysterman Romeo Bilcic, we've, Zach Olsen, TPWD, Olsen, we're, Jennifer Pollack, it's, Evan Garcia, Christina Anagnostopoulos, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, state's Department of Health, Human Services, Oceanic, Atmospheric Association, Reuters, Texas, M University, Corpus Christi, Thomson Locations: GALVESTON , Texas, Texas, Galveston, Galveston , Texas, Galveston Bay

☆ Are Butterflies Wildlife? Depends Where You Live.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

The creatures are simply left out of state conservation statues, or their situation is ambiguous. “State agencies are really at the forefront of conservation for wildlife,” said Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit group that advocates for insect conservation. Sometimes, aquatic insects come under the purview of state wildlife agencies. But across the states without insect authority, officials are often reluctant to broach adding it, Mr. Winton said. Seven of the states without insect conservation authority are in the West, which has felt the effects of climate change intensely.

☆ In Texas, hunters shoot feral pigs from helicopters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Evan Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRYAN, Texas, Feb 3 (Reuters) - On a bitterly cold January morning, a helicopter soars above central Texas farmland. The four passengers hanging outside the aircraft are hunting - going after feral hogs, an invasive species in the southeastern United States. First introduced to North America by early explorers hundreds of years ago, feral hogs can wreak havoc on agriculture, tearing up soil and eating plants. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, an estimated 6.9 million feral hogs roamed the United States in 2016 – with more than one-third of that population, 2.6 million hogs, living in Texas. For hunters like Mitchell Birkett, a 21-year-old Texas A&M University student, going after the hogs was a chance to combine pleasure with purpose.

☆ Hiking has become a nationwide New Year's Day tradition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Just 380 people participated in the initial First Day Hike in 1992 at the nearly 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation just south of Boston. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in First Day Hikes at hundreds of parks in all 50 states. The late Patrick Flynn, the former supervisor at Blue Hills, came up with the original plan. In 2012, First Day Hikes went nationwide when the National Association of State Park Directors endorsed the idea. Elijah Bristow State Park near Eugene is even offering a first day horseback ride.

☆ Liquid nitrogen leaked onto wetlands around SpaceX launch pad before rocket-test explosion, federal regulators confirm
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-15 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

There was a liquid-nitrogen leak at SpaceX's Texas launch site, federal regulators told Bloomberg. An aerial video shows patches of wetland that are snow-white from the liquid-nitrogen leak. Elon Musk's aerospace company uses liquid nitrogen as a coolant when launching rockets. Bloomberg reported that the leak happened three days before SpaceX's Starship rocket booster prototype burst into flames at the launch site. SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider about the liquid-nitrogen leak outside normal business hours.

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