Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service educates Texans in the areas of agriculture, environmental stewardship, youth and adult life skills, human capital and leadership, and community economic development. Extension offers the knowledge resources of the land-grant university system to educate Texans for self-improvement, individual action, and community problem solving. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is a statewide educational agency and a member of the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) linked in a unique partnership with the nationwide AgriLife Extension System and Texas county governments.
Extension values and promotes principles of citizen and community involvement, scientifically based education, lifelong learning and volunteerism. We provide access to citizens in all 254 Texas counties and we work with other Extension units as well as external agencies and organizations to achieve its goals.
Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University
The mission of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences is the discovery and communication of knowledge relevant to wildlife and fisheries resources issues. This mission is accomplished through an integrated teaching, research and extension program, comprised of:
- Academic instruction and training for undergraduate and graduate students;
- Scholarly research that advances scientific knowledge and emphasizes conservation and management of wildlife and fisheries resources; and,
- Extension educational activities that are research-based and are designed to meet the needs of Texans and guided by the principle of “helping people to help themselves.”
Programs are focused on native vertebrates and their exotic counterparts, both in natural and man-made habitats. Long term goals include developing an understanding of the bio-physical and socioeconomic issues related to fish and wildlife resources, identifying associated opportunities and problems; then generating and applying adaptive management strategies to exploit opportunities and mitigate problems. At each step, observations from nature and experimental results are used to evaluate hypotheses generated from existing theory and to develop new ones to guide future decisions.