Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Authorizes New Yoakum Dunes Wildlife Management Area in Panhandle

By: Tom Harvey

It’s the first new WMA in Texas since the 2006 donation of the McGillivray and Leona McKie Muse Wildlife Management Area in Brown County.

Acquisition of land for the WMA was made possible through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy of Texas, The Conservation Fund and Concho Resources, Inc., an oil and gas company operating in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico that donated $400,000 to The Conservation Fund towards land acquisitions for the WMA. The donation leveraged $1.2 million in federal Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program funds.

“Conserving the lesser-prairie chicken all comes down to habitat, and the new Yoakum Dunes Wildlife Management Area will provide vital breeding and nesting habitat for the species in a critically important part of its range” said Ross Melinchuk, TPWD deputy executive director for natural resources. “It would not have been possible without federal wildlife grant funds and support from private partners.”