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Texas Wildlife Census�Transforming Statewide Wildlife Monitoring Through AI and Citizen Science

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Dr. Ty Werdel, co-lead – assistant professor in the Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Department at Texas A&M – extensive experience with camera trap research – lucky to have him on board

Dr. Jim Cathey, co-lead – associate director at the Natural Resources Institute – national expert in wildlife management and extension – grateful for his leadership

Dr. Lopez, co-lead – department head at the Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Department and Director of the Natural Resources Institute – extremely experienced and accomplished and again, we are grateful for his leadership and involvement

Finally, I want to thank all of you for giving us the opportunity to share about this exciting project

Ty and Kim – feel free to chime in if I miss something

Vision is truly to revolutionize wildlife monitoring in Texas by implementing the first statewide camera trap monitoring network with rigorous protocols at an unprecedented scale

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Importance of Wildlife

Significant economic driver and goal for Texas landowners
Wildlife survey methods are 60+ years old
Texas has extraordinary but limited standardized statewide data
Wildlife monitoring is currently fragmented, inconsistent, and costly

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$48B – Tx Outdoor Recreation
State Rank Compared to US:

Hunting/Shooting/Trapping (#1)
Climbing/Hiking/Camping (#2)
Fishing/Boating (#3)

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Information Needs

How many coyotes, predators?
How many white-tailed deer? Potential impacts due to new world screwworm?
How many feral hogs or wild turkeys, distribution?
What are the impacts of aoudad on native big horn sheep populations?
What are the trends in biodiversity related to land use changes?
Why it Matters?

Without reliable data, conservation and land management decisions are reactive instead of proactive
We can’t conserve what we can’t consistently measure

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Texas Wildlife Census

A statewide, data-driven approach to conserving Texas wildlife for future generations
Building the first repeatable, technology-enabled system to understand and steward wildlife across Texas
Added dimension to the Texas Land Trends framework

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Why Now?

Increase availability and affordability of IR cameras (≈10 years)
Development of statistical occupancy models (≈5 years)
Use of AI for image processing (≈1 year)

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How it Works

Statewide network of ~3,000 cameras across 12 ecoregions
Powered by AI-assisted image recognition for scale and efficiency
Driven by 7,000+ trained citizen Scientists
Producing 20-25 million wildlife observations annually
Initial deployment efforts will focus in the Hill Country region

A modern, scalable system for understanding wildlife at the state level

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Natural Resource Impact

Creates a long-term, statewide deployment platform for camera technology
Enables large-scale, standardized field testing across diverse and extreme environments
Generates unmatched data at scale
Engages 7,000+ active users
Establishes a national model for conservation at scale

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An investment in knowledge, stewardship, and applied technology that delivers value for generations

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Opportunity

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We’re seeking the help of Texas Master Naturalists to revolutionize wildlife monitoring in Texas by deploying cameras across the state at an unprecedented scale

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Phase 1 - Objective

With the help of Texas Master Naturalists, we aim to deploy 1,000 trail cameras to document wildlife across the Texas Hill Country

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Phase 1 – Study Area

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Texas Hill Country

Delineated by the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion
Covered by 1,987 survey grid cells
Unique ecoregion featuring a distinctive geology and climate, strong gradients, and high mammal diversity, including several species of greatest conservation need

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Phase 1 – Study Area

Texas Hill Country

Delineated by the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion
Covered by 1,987 survey grid cells
Unique ecoregion featuring a distinctive geology and climate, strong gradients, and high mammal diversity, including several species of greatest conservation need

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Phase 1 – Data Portal

We’re developing a user-friendly web application to facilitate participation
The data that Texas Master Naturalists collect will culminate in impactful science that benefits the people and wildlife of Texas

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Join the Team

Sign out Equipment

Deploy Cameras

Retrieve Memory Cards

Upload Data

Impactful Science

Select Survey Grid Cells

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Phase 1 – What’s Next?

We will formally launch the Texas Wildlife Census at the Annual Texas Master Naturalist Meeting in October.

We have a presentation at the meeting scheduled for Saturday, October 24 from 8:00 – 10:10 AM
We will also distribute cameras, memory cards, and batteries at the meeting

You will soon have the opportunity to join the Texas Wildlife Census team and request survey grid cells using the data portal
We will share the data portal, protocols, and training materials before the launch

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Thank You

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We appreciate the important work that Texas Master Naturalists do, and we look forward to revolutionizing wildlife monitoring in Texas together

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