Star-filled Skies at South Llano River State Park

 With official Dark Sky designation, this Texas Hill Country park offers stellar stargazing, as well as hiking, wildlife watching, and river frontage. Read about how to best enjoy what the park has to offer. 

Wildlife on the Border

Official borders may be a big deal to humans, but not for wild creatures. Along the Texas-Mexico border, for example, animals like ­ocelots, beavers, and black bears rely on habitat in both countries. Read more in this piece for Texas Highways. 

More plastic, more plastic waste, more problems

 As the problems from plastic waste continue to grow, we keep cranking out more plastic. Read the latest in this piece for Texas Climate News. 

The wild films of Ben Masters

From bighorn sheep to ocelots and the Rio Grande, Austin-based filmmaker Ben Masters uses films to promote conservation. Read my interview with Masters in Texas Highways. 

Impending ecosystem collapse and human disease

A growing body of research links environmental disturbance and biodiversity loss to human diseases, including those like COVID-19 caused by viruses jumping from animals to people. Read more in this piece in Texas Climate News. 

Bird blinds in state parks

Texas state parks have a lot of bird blinds, often built and maintained by volunteers. These make great spots to see an incredible variety of birds and other wildlife up close. Read more here.

Tracking wildlife for science

In this article for Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, I look at some of the animals scientists track in the state and what they're learning from it.

Ban trophy hunting?

A debate over the future of trophy hunting recently raged in the pages of Science Magazine. Many writers pointed out that effective alternatives to funding and supporting conservation have started to emerge and others made ethical arguments against the practice. Read my piece for The Revelator here.

When Light Becomes Pollution

Artificial light at night affects wildlife in many ways, including, according to some recent studies, by increasing predation on insects, decreasing amphibian reproduction, and interfering with nocturnal pollinators. Read more about the problem and easy solutions in this PBS Nature Blog post.

Image: NASA Earth Observatory

Watching wildlife from space

Scientists are using photographs taken from space and a tracking antenna installed on the International Space Station to learn more about the lives and travels of wild animals such as whales, sea turtles and birds. Read more in my Alert Diver article.

Photo courtesy Kate Mansfield, University of Central Florida

Citizen Science Projects

These days, much research depends on the input of citizen scientists, people who make and record observations on everything from the wild animals they see to how many mosquito larvae are in a discarded bottle. These three projects could use your help figuring out the effects of climate change.

Hurricane Harvey and the chickens

Record-breaking Hurricane Harvey caused widespread destruction along the Texas coast. In addition to the human toll, the storm also affected wildlife, including endangered species. This piece for Texas Climate News explains.

Walls versus Wildlife on the Border

In July, the federal government began unannounced preliminary work on more border wall in Texas, some of it on the grounds of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Read more about how this threatens habitat and wildlife in my piece for Audubon News online.

Don't feed the wildlife

People love to feed wild animals, everything from birds to sharks. This is seldom a good thing for the wildlife, and can be bad for people, too. Read about some of the reasons to step away from the chum.

Cats and Nature

Cats are great in memes and videos on the Internet, but out in the real world, they pose a serious threat to man and nature. Read more here.

Is Your Hiking Habit Harming Nature?

A scientific review looked at papers covering the impact of outdoor recreation on wildlife and found that 93 percent showed an impact, 59 percent of them negative. Spending time outdoors still provides immense benefits for people and for nature, but perhaps we need to be more careful. Read about the study on the Men's Journal website.

Grapevine Hills Trail in Big Bend National Park.

Palo Duro Wraps Year of Parks

My last feature for Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine's Year of Parks covers beautiful Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Fantastic hiking, incredible scenery, great wildlife.

Eulogy for a wolf

In his remarkable 10 years, Oregon's OR4 produced a number of famous offspring, proved himself an excellent father, and taught biologists a lot about wolves. For the most part, people either loved him or hated him. He was killed by state officials on March 31.

OR4 waking up after being collared in 2011. Courtesy Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department.

Environmental effects of the border wall

Some presidential candidates want to build more wall on our southern border. Here's a look at how it would affect wildlife habitat, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy of Texas.

Tony's ARK

Since 1976, Tony Amos has been rescuing injured marine wildlife at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas. The creatures are cared for at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep, or, aptly, the ARK. Read more in this piece for The Alcalde.