BOBWHITE BRIGADE, dba TEXAS BRIGADES

Description

Texas Brigades provides educational programming and leadership development for adolescents through three conservation-driven, statewide programs: Summer Camps, Experiences, and Wildlife Intensive Leadership Development (W.I.L.D). Through these programs, Texas Brigades molds over 300 youth leaders each year, with participants coming from over 1,000 communities across Texas. Participants leave with a connection to the land, informed and ready to make conservation a life-long passion.

Texas has lost 2.2 million acres of native landscapes due to population growth and urbanization. Home to seven of the 15 fastest growing cities in the U.S., Texas' population has increased over 48% in the last decade alone. With this mass urbanization, less than 1% of Texans are landowners and there’s a diminished connection to nature for urban youth. The majority of landowners are aging, and over the next 20 years, Texas will undergo the largest intergenerational transfer of land in its history.

This profound demographic shift with the diminished connections to nature requires engaging and educating a new generation of conservation leaders to ensure the natural resources and native landscapes our economy depends on are protected. With a vision to create "conservation leaders in every community," Texas Brigades provides a solution to ensure that natural resource stewardship and conservation are a long-term priority for urban and rural backgrounds, alike.