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TCA News Fall 2025

TCA's Rivers and Waterways 2025 Raffle

Last Day to Buy Tickets: December 8, 2025

Live Drawing: December 11, 2025

As 2025 comes to a close, the Texas Conservation Alliance continues to make steady progress in protecting wildlife, rivers, forests, and wild places. Our recent Loco Trash Bash on the Colorado River was a great success, bringing together volunteers, partners, and sponsors including Clean Up the Colorado and All Water Guides to remove tons of litter and restore river habitat. These community-driven efforts reflect the true spirit of TCA’s mission and the shared commitment to keeping Texas rivers healthy and clean.

Our annual raffle is now underway, featuring outstanding prizes generously provided by Tailwaters Fly Shop, NRS Fishing, and other partners who share our passion for the outdoors and conservation. Proceeds from the raffle directly support TCA’s statewide education, community conservation, and advocacy initiatives. Raffle details and ticket purchases are available at tcatexas.org/event-details/tca-raffle-2025

Earlier this fall, we held our Annual Meeting at Canyon of the Eagles, where members, board, and staff gathered to reflect on TCA’s ongoing work and look ahead to the opportunities before us. We extend our sincere thanks to Jay and Chrissy Kleberg (below) for delivering an inspiring keynote presentation, as well as their partnership regarding the Gulf Trust.

Jay and Chrissy Kleberg

Canyon of the Eagles

As we approach the end of the year, we encourage you to consider supporting TCA through a year-end gift. Contributions can be made online or by mail to P.O. Box 822554, Dallas, TX 75382. Every gift helps us continue protecting the lands, waters, and wildlife that make Texas special.

I want to take a moment to express deep appreciation for our staff, board members, volunteers, and partners who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to advance our mission. Our staff continues to bring professionalism, creativity, and dedication to every project—from field events and education programs to policy and advocacy. Our board provides vision and steady leadership, ensuring that TCA remains focused and effective. And our volunteers and members—who plant trees, clean rivers, advocate, and engage their communities—are the heartbeat of this organization. Each of you represents what makes TCA strong: a shared belief that conservation is not just a responsibility, but a calling.

Finally, TCA remains actively engaged in reviewing and providing input on proposed state and federal legislation that impacts conservation in Texas and beyond. This responsibility is central to who we are, ensuring that sound, science-based policies guide the future of our natural resources.

Together, we continue to build on more than fifty years of conservation leadership—protecting the Texas we all love and call home.



“On behalf of my fellow board members, I am thrilled that Davin Topel has joined TCA’s Board of Directors.  Davin brings a wealth of knowledge, passion, and energy regarding conservation and will be a great asset to TCA’s mission,” said Justin Lannen, Board Chair.

Davin Topel has always felt most at home on the water and in the outdoors. Growing up in Minnesota, he learned early on the value of wild places and healthy fisheries. Later, while working as a whitewater river guide in Utah, he discovered his true passion for life on the water and the outdoors. That path eventually led him to become a fly-fishing guide, sharing the art of the cast while helping others build a deeper connection to rivers and the wild spaces around them.

In Texas, Davin has organized and led river cleanups, pulling trash from creeks and waterways to protect the fisheries and habitats that define so much of the state’s landscape. His conservation work is rooted in the belief that healthy rivers mean healthy communities, and he’s proud to lend his time and energy to projects that ensure future generations can fish, paddle, and enjoy the outdoors the way he has.

In addition to his work with the Texas Conservation Alliance, Davin serves on the board of the Brazos River Cleanup Project, championing hands-on stewardship of one of Texas’ most important waterways.

When he’s not on the river, Davin works as a ranch real estate agent, master distiller, community guide for YETI and outdoor storyteller. He lives in Bee Cave Texas with his wife Brie, son Ryder and daughter Stevie where they can commonly be found boating on Lake Travis or exploring the wild spaces Texas has to offer.

We are honored and excited to have Davin on the TCA team.

Texas has long led the nation in energy produced by wind turbines. When TCA took on a landscape analysis of renewable energy in Texas this past year, what we found was a stunning growth in industrial-scale solar facilities as well. Texas is No. 2 in the nation in solar “farms” and likely to be No. 1 by the end of the year. While this augurs well for reducing fossil emissions, it doesn’t come without problems. TCA conducted over 30 interviews and hosted three listening sessions with landowners, wildlife and ag interests, the energy sector, and state and community leaders to hear the benefits – and problems – of such rapid renewable energy development.

“The top issue identified by stakeholders was the siting of solar installations,” says Jen Mock of JMS Natural Resource Strategies, who led the project for TCA. “Covering thousands of acres with solar panels and fences changes land use patterns, fragments wildlife habitat, alters water flows, and impacts the quality of life for communities and other landowners in the area.”

While TCA, the National Wildlife Federation (who partnered with TCA in the analysis), and most stakeholders support renewable energy and recognize it is essential for clean air and limiting climate change, we find that Texas needs to get a grip on minimizing the impacts that come with covering hundreds of thousands of acres in solar panels, erecting thousands of wind turbines, crisscrossing the state with hundreds of miles of transmission lines, and threatening the degradation and depletion of our aquifers and water supplies.

One step that would be a big help is educating landowners about protections for wildlife habitat and quality of life that can be written into their land leases for renewable energy facilities. TCA and NWF are focusing on identifying these and other ways that conservationists can help alleviate the byproducts of renewable energy development.



Community Conservation

Shaping a Safer Passage for Migratory Birds 

As migratory birds filled Texas skies this fall, Lights Out, Texas! continued to shine, from downtown skylines to college campuses.

Making Dallas Safer for Birds

Led by Texas Conservation Alliance, Audubon Texas, and Environment Texas, efforts to ensure the Dallas Convention Center renovation includes bird-safe design have gained strong momentum, with national and local coverage from NPR, KERA, and The Dallas Morning News.

An op-ed by Deedie Rose, a supportive response from Former U.S. Senator Hutchison, and a Lights Out resolution introduced by Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia helped bring bird-friendly design to the forefront of Dallas’s future.

Universities Taking the Lead

After three years of TCA-led efforts, Texas A&M University–College Station adopted a Bird Collision Deterrence Guideline requiring bird-friendly design in all new construction. The campus bird-friendly working group also secured a $75,000 three-year commitment from the university to sustain student-led collision monitoring after TCA concludes its Lights Out program this fall, ensuring continued progress. Program Coordinator Skyler Nix shared these milestones with nearly 600 attendees at the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting, where the initiative received an enthusiastic response.

Education & Outreach

TCA and partners completed the Lights Out, Texas! curriculum for grades 3–8 and are developing informal education materials to reach community programs statewide in 2026.

Native Plants Take Root

Through restoration and education, the Propagation Center, a partnership between the Dallas Zoo and TCA, made great strides this year. Nearly 10,000 native plants were delivered through partnerships to city parks, nature centers, state parks, and residential landscapes.

Increasing Municipal Engagement

Through ongoing collaboration, TCA continues to engage municipalities to establish a strong native plant culture across North Texas. Our partnerships have expanded to include four major cities, strengthening local restoration and community engagement.

Expanding Retail Partnerships

Our partnership with Wild Birds Unlimited expanded this season, with TCA hosting pop-up native plant sales at three locations—up from just one in recent years. With six locations planned for Spring 2026, the growing demand shows that native plants are truly taking root in residential landscapes.

Growing National Wildlife Federation’s “Certified Wildlife Habitat” 

Texas continues to play a leading role in promoting wildlife-friendly landscapes, inspiring Texans to transform their yards into thriving habitats that support pollinators and other wildlife across the state.

Let’s Grow!

With the help of Garden for Wildlife by National Wildlife Federation, you can order low-maintenance live native plants designed to thrive in your garden year after year.



https://www.tcatexas.org/statewide-shipping-native-plants

East Texas Engagement

East Texas offers rich outdoor opportunities, from the Pineywoods to scenic lakes and winding rivers. To further its mission, TCA enhanced local conservation by facilitating the Project WILD curriculum, expanding recreational learning programs, and continued leading hands-on projects such as invasive removal and cleanups.

Careers in Conservation Internship

Building future leaders remains central to TCA’s mission. From classrooms to field sites, our interns are shaping the future of conservation in Texas. This fall, four young leaders gained hands-on experience restoring habitats, propagating native plants, and inspiring communities to take action for wildlife.

Texas Conservation Alliance is the Texas Affiliate of National Wildlife Federation.

All donations remain in Texas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.