CONGRATULATIONS SHANE KIEFER, CERTIFIED WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST!

Shane Kiefer, Certified Wildlife Biologist

Plateau Land & Wildlife Management is proud to announce Senior Wildlife Biologist Shane Kiefer is now a Certified Wildlife Biologist! The certification is by The Wildlife Society, which is committed to the sound stewardship of wildlife resources under the guidance of well-educated, experienced, and dedicated wildlife biologists. To further this aim, The Wildlife Society has established standards for certifying the credentials of qualified wildlife biologists.

An applicant for professional certification who demonstrates this expertise through education and experience, and is judged to be able to represent the profession as an ethical practitioner will be designated as a Certified Wildlife Biologist (CWB).

Once approved as a CWB, the individual must stay abreast of new knowledge and practices through a self-directed, continuing education program, and apply for certification renewal every five years.

Learn more about The Wildlife Society Certification Program.

GO FREE FISHING ON JUNE 4TH!

Texas is one of the best places in the nation for fishing and on June 4, you can wet a line anywhere in the state for free.

As part of Celebrate National Fishing and Boating Week, on Saturday, June 4, local residents and visitors alike will be able to fish anywhere in Texas without a license. However, normal regulations concerning catch size and quantity still apply.

The annual national event is coordinated by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation and coincides with the TakeMeFishing nonprofit organization’s free fishing days throughout the country.

To celebrate this year’s festivities TakeMeFishing will be hosting a week-long Facebook contest for “Memories on the Water” video submissions beginning June 2. The video submission with the most “likes” at the end of the week wins.

And the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Go Fish! summer event series is in full swing. Free fishing lessons for the young and young at heart will be hosted around the state at selected state parks this summer. Get details and complete schedule here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BRAUN & GRESHAM

Braun & Associates is now Braun & Gresham, PLLC. Cassie Gresham, left. David Braun, also co-founder of Plateau Land & Wildlife Management, right.

Congratulations to our friends at Braun & Associates. Cassie Gresham is now a partner and the firm is now Braun & Gresham, PLLC.

Says David Braun, also co-founder of Plateau Land & Wildlife Management: “I started Braun & Associates in 2000 to provide legal counsel and practical advice for owners of rural property nationwide. Today, I could not be more proud to share the firm name with Cassie Gresham, a lawyer who has proved herself absolutely dedicated to serving the needs and protecting the rights of landowners.”

Cassie, who joined Braun & Associates in 2004, played a key role in bringing about last year’s historic Dahlstrom Ranch conservation easement in Hays County, a rare collaboration between a private landowner, a county, a federal agency, and a city to protect drinking water and provide public open space. She oversees the firm’s unique Ecological Laboratory program which arranges partnerships between rural landowners and research universities. Cassie also leads the firm’s lobbying practice where she has worked on significant legislation for clients and on three successful bond-election campaigns which raised more than $100 million for central Texas open space, parks and water quality. Along with other members of the Braun & Gresham litigation team, Cassie is actively representing landowners across Texas threatened by proposed CREZ transmission lines.

Prior to joining Braun & Associates, Cassie served on the staff of Texas Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff. She is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, where she served as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the State Bar of Texas Environmental Law Journal. She was also a Truman Scholar during her undergraduate career at the University of Mississippi.

Notes Cassie: “While our firm grows, our practice remains focused. The legal needs and rights of the rural property owner, whether rancher, farmer, non-profit, business, or individual client, will always be our top priority.”

About Braun & Gresham, PLLC
Braun & Gresham, PLLC is an innovative law firm providing a wide-range of expertise and legal service for owners of rural property including estate planning, purchase and sale of ranch or farmland, fighting property taxes, resolving neighbor disputes, protecting land in condemnation, and negotiating conservation easements. With a rapidly growing roster of condemnation and landowner rights cases, the firm has recently expanded its litigation group to three full-time attorneys. The firm is based on the outskirts of Austin near Dripping Springs, Texas, with an expanding office in San Antonio. For more information, visit www.braungresham.com.

COWBIRD TRAPPING UPDATE

Plateau Land & Wildlife cowbird trap.

There was a time when the Brown-headed Cowbird migrated with bison across the Great Plains. As birds on the road, cowbirds would lay their eggs in nests of other birds and then move on with the bison. After a cowbird lays its eggs in a host nest, the host bird returns to unwittingly raise the cowbird's young as its own. As typically larger eggs that hatch earlier than the host eggs, the cowbird hatchlings loudly vocalize their hunger, beg for food, and ultimately kick out the host bird's offspring. Back when cowbirds migrated with bison, the impact on a host species was not as great. Many songbirds when parasitized by a cowbird will simply build a new nest. If cowbirds were moving on down the road this would work, but, today, cowbirds hang with cows in fenced pastures. The cows don't migrate and neither do the cowbirds, which leave them to concentrate on one area and potentially decimate a species of host birds. If a songbird builds a new nest, the cowbirds are still around to parasitize that one as well. In fact, cowbirds are known to parasitize over 225 species of birds. Moreover, on average, female cowbirds lay an astonishing 40 eggs per year in other birds' nests.

While many argue the cowbird as misunderstood, the fact of the matter is that humans created this situation and, if we want to protect our songbirds, humans will have to take action.

Because Plateau believes the Brown-headed Cowbird poses a potentially dire situation for our native songbirds, we offer cowbird trapping and trap monitoring services. We have been trained and certified by Texas Parks & Wildlife to humanely dispatch the cowbirds and safely release non-target birds. The key time to implement remains until the end of this month when the songbirds are nesting. Plateau wraps up cowbird trapping in June as breeding season slows and the risk of trapping non-target birds (mainly juveniles) goes up. In addition to helping promote songbirds, cowbird trapping qualifies as an activity for Wildlife Management Tax Valuation purposes. According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, for each female cowbird caught, an additional 3.5 songbirds survive. By way of example, last year on one of our client properties a total of 49 male and 89 female cowbirds were caught and dispatched. Using the TPWD figure, the trapping that Plateau performed on that property resulted in 312 additional songbirds in western Travis County. Last week, a Plateau technician snapped the photo, above, while monitoring a cowbird trap on a client property. For more information on our cowbird trap sales and cowbird trap monitoring services, contact Plateau at (512) 894-3479 or toll free at (888) 289-9409 or email kbain@plateauwildlife.com.