Fort Hood balances training, habitat/species protection, land/water availability

With nearly 200,000 acres, including 93 miles of streams and 584 surface-acres of impounded water resources, along with 43 acres of shared shoreline with Lake Belton, Fort Hood has a lot of ground and water to cover.

To effectively manage this vast resource, while maintaining and continually improving the training capabilities core to the installation’s mission, the Natural Resources Conservation team at Fort Hood has built comprehensive plans to track and bolster wildlife populations, protect, and preserve fragile environments and the animals and plants that live there, while also seeking to provide access to fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities.

“Our team provides and supports fish and wildlife management, land management, forest management, special protection and management to boost recovery of threatened and endangered species, as well as species of concern,” said Dr. Amber Dankert, supervisor of Fort Hood's wildlife management. “To do that, we engage in multiple collaborative relationships, and actively engage in community outreach and environmental educational programs.”

One observable success the team points to is the preservation and restoration of the black-capped vireo, a songbird that was listed as an endangered species in 1987, but due in part to the team’s efforts, the species was delisted in 2018. Monitoring of black-capped vireos on Fort Hood is ongoing and continues to show success. In 2020, the team detected 689 individual vireos and 202 nests. In 2021, the team found 278 nests.

The team is now at work on efforts to protect and bolster the endangered golden-cheeked warbler, including the use of a geolocator study to better understand the migration corridors, overwintering locations and other factors that affect the warbler population.

The team also is engaged in seeking to reduce the numbers of brown-headed cowbirds, which are a threat to the vireo through parasitic nest practices that harm vireo nesting and population.

An important goal of the team is fish and wildlife management to provide quality recreational fishing and hunting resources, while maintaining the biological integrity of waters and land under the team’s management.

“We are actively engaged in wildlife surveys, habitat delineation and inventory of forests, grasslands, shrub lands, management of habitat, diversity of wildlife populations and habitat, and protection of water resources,” said Virginia Sanders, supervisor of Fort Hood’s endangered species, adding the team uses extensive data bases and geospatial data collection to track this information to help inform land management decisions on the installation.

A partnership with the Compatible Lands Foundation helped the team launch a 120-acre grassland restoration project that helped provide improved habitat for the monarch butterfly, which migrates through the installation. The project included planting native milkweed and nectar plants and removing invasive species. The Fort Hood project was part of a three-installation program that improved 325 acres of land along the migration patterns to benefit the butterflies.