Most of the folks in the
Wildlife Division know you well.
For those who don't, can you briefly
describe your 16-year career at
Texas Parks and Wildlife that led
you to this this newest position.
I started in 1993 with the Wildlife
Division in east Texas, in Jasper.
I was hired as the district leader for
the Pineywoods and I spent about
9 years over there before I was hired
as the white-tailed deer program
leader and moved to the La Grange
area and spent a couple of years in
that position and then late
in 2003, I took the job as
big game program director,
was operating out of the La Grange
at that time as well and served
in that capacity until here recently
when I took the job as
Wildlife Division director.
What have you done to transition
from the big game program director to
the Wildlife Division post?
Well, I've taken some advice from some
wise people
I was adviced that I need to
try to extract myself from my previous
duties. And so I've asked Mitch
Lockwood, who is our white-tailed
deer program leader to be our acting
big game program director.
And Mitch had been serving in that
capacity in this interium period when
Clay Brewer was interium director
and so he was well equipped to go ahead
and continue to do that and so
Mitch right now is our acting big game
program director and I am letting him
take care of it completly.
What's at the top of your list of
things to accomplish at this time?
Basically, your top goals for the
division right now?
Right now, the Wildlife Division
is in the middle of our strategic
planning process. This started several
months ago, but our leadership
recognized that we need to understand
where our focus was and
where our limited resources should
be put. So we started strategic
planning and we're in the middle of
that process and I want to see that
through and make sure that all
the work that we've done in our
strategic planning process helps guide
us and keeps us focused and doing the
things we need to be doing to help
wildlife in Texas.
It sounds like a challenging
assignment. Do you foresee a shift in
focus ahead?
I don't see a shift.
You know our...if we're going to do
our jobs right in Texas,
it's going to happen on private land.
Ninety-five percent of Texas is
privately owned and if we are going to
have a positive impact for hunting and
for wildlife, it's going to happen on
private land and that's where our
focus has always been.
I do think that many of our folks feel
like we have a lot of distractions
and they're not necessarily
bad distractions or they're good
projects, but it does cause us to
dilute our effort.
So what we are hoping to achive is to
prioritize all the things we do
so we can allocate more time to
working with private landowners
to enhance habitat in Texas
for the resource itself and
also for hunting.
It has only been a couple of months
since you have been on the job,
what do you like the most, so far,
about this new position?
I like the support.
I've received a lot of support from
our staff in the field
and I've also received a lot of
support from other division directors
and from executive staff.
I think it's the kind of environment
we all feel here at
Texas Parks and Wildlife.
It's a family environment
and it's very supportive.
And I've really enjoyed that because
there's a lot of things to do and I'm
in a very steep learning curve.
And if it weren't for that support
I think I would, I'd be pretty scared.
Anything else you'd like the employees
at Parks and Wildlife to know
about you or that you would
like to say to them?
I'd say thanks to them,
especially to our Wildlife Division
employees for all the support.
I'm asking for some patience.
I am in a steep learning curve,
right now.
I'm learning a lot or
I am attempting to learn a lot
and so I am asking for their patience
as I start learning my new task
and I'd ask that they be patient
with me.
Thank you very much Clayton.