The third cohort of the Texas A&M Forest Service Leadership Institute has graduated, following completion of its final session recently in College Station. The institute is a leadership program that aims to be a transformative experience for participants, hoping to leave a lasting effect on their ability to lead. It offers a constructive and inspiring learning environment, enabling opportunity for personal and professional growth by giving participants access to tools and speakers that will strengthen their leadership skills. “The vision of the institute was to establish a program that rallies existing and emerging leaders within the fields of natural resources and increases their capacity and ability to enact meaningful change throughout the state of Texas,” said Hughes Simpson, Texas A&M Forest Service forest resource development chief operating officer. This year’s class included a diverse group of 17 graduates from natural resource organizations across the state, including nonprofit professionals, fire chiefs, conservation managers and chief executive officers.

There are an estimated 6.9 million wild pigs in the United States, and the population has been rising in recent decades. In research published in Wildlife Society Bulletin, investigators used drones to capture images of the agricultural damage caused by these animals. Drones took pictures of corn fields at different growth stages during 36 missions over an agricultural region in Delta County, Texas in 2019–2020. Most damage occurred in later growth stages, when corn ears were maturing, seed was most nutritious, and producers had already invested in the majority of annual crop inputs. Wild pigs damaged up to 9.2% of a single monitored field, which resulted in an average loss of 3,416 kg of corn per hectare and a direct cost to producers of $17.18 to $48.24 per hectare of damage. “Drone technologies are advancing quickly and becoming a more common practice in the wildlife and agricultural industry,” the authors wrote. “Drones can be a great tool for landowners and producers to accurately estimate wild pig damage and crop yield loss, and to receive compensation for their lost income.”

Funding may be used to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) requirement that public water systems develop a service line inventory by October 2024 to assess the presence of lead in systems and implement mitigation efforts to remove and/or replace lead service lines. Specifically, the inventory and mitigation efforts will target water service lines from the water main to the building inlet. Premise plumbing is not eligible under this funding. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) appropriated additional funds for the DWSRF program, including appropriations for projects and associated activities directly connected to identifying, planning, designing, and replacing lead service lines. A total of $213,455,000 in below-market interest rate loans and principal forgiveness is available for projects that qualify under the 2023 LSLR Intended Use Plan. All eligible project proposals will receive a portion of principal forgiveness and loan funds.