Caesar Kleberg Keynote Offers Big Conservation Lessons from Texas

Texas offers some unique challenges for conservation. Land ownership is overwhelmingly private in the state, and urbanization and industrial development can leave large footprints on the landscape. But these challenges can also result in some surprising opportunities that can benefit conservation and serve as models elsewhere.

This year’s Caesar Kleberg keynote address at TWS’ Annual Conference will focus on how Texas’s diversity of resources can serve as a model for conservation. Some of the very issues that make Texas challenging can also be surprising sources of support for conservation efforts, said David Hewitt, executive director of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University Kingsville, which sponsors the keynote.

“It doesn’t come to mind to approach energy companies, developers and corporations, but there are all kinds of businesses out there that have an interest in conservation and want to help steer their contributions in ways that would make the world a better place,” he said.

This year’s keynote will be delivered by Joni Carswell, CEO and president of Texan by Nature, a Texas nonprofit founded in 2011 by former First Lady Laura Bush that strives to bring the conservation and business worlds together.

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