Comptroller to give endangered updates

On Oct. 15, the Comptroller’s office will host a virtual meeting to provide updates on endangered species research and policy in East Texas. The meeting also will inform industry leaders, government agencies, local stakeholders and scientists about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) status assessments and plans for more than a dozen species under review, including the western chicken turtle.

Unprecedented cooperation between these groups in the last six months, facilitated through the Comptroller’s East Texas Initiative, has created a unique opportunity to pursue range-wide surveys, consider voluntary conservation plans and create regulatory certainty for those who depend on and work in the piney woods and rivers of East Texas.

“Economic and ecologically sustainable solutions can be found when industry and business stakeholders join together with private landowners, passionate nonprofits, government agencies and expert researchers to solve issues in a collaborative way,” said Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. “The potential for results that benefit the economy and the environment is now great in East Texas. I’m excited to see what comes next in this stakeholder-driven process, and my office will continue to facilitate communication and research among these diverse partners.”

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