David Riskind retired in 2020 after 47 years with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, where he was Director of Natural Resources. David was instrumental in creating a key piece of conservation legislation to protect rare and threatened native plants.
David Todd is a Texas conservationist, rancher, philanthropist, architect, environmental lawyer, writer, and artist. In 1998 he founded the Conservation History Association of Texas to support public education and understanding of our natural resources. In 2005 he cofounded the Blunn Creek Partnership to protect and restore public lands in the Blunn Creek Watershed of South Austin. His work on the Texas environment can be found at texaslegacy.org, texaslandscape.org, and texasnotebook.org.
Dr. Marshall C. Johnston, Professor of Botany (ret.) at the University of Texas, tells why we must overcome cultural plant blindness and return the study of plants back to the educational system.
Pat McNeal, founder of McNeal Wholesale Growers, is a horticulturist and plant explorer extraordinaire who grows native plants for the landscape trade and commercial installations. Pat served as the principle endangered plants species researcher for the biological advisory team for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Balcones Canyons lands habitat conservation plan. And he believes that the Useful Wild Plants Project is very important. Read more about that here.
Jay Kleberg talks about his family’s history of wildlife conservation, the need to balance conservation and the economy, and instilling a love of nature and a stewardship mindset in our children.