Teaming up with Invista Wetlands to celebrate their 25 years of environmental education in Victoria.
INVISTA Victoria hosted a community celebration on November 4, 2023 to commemorate 25 years of INVISTA’s wetland project, which has been an ongoing demonstration of the site’s commitment to environmental stewardship and dedication to the community.
Event attendees participated in hands-on educational activities and tours of the wetland led by John Snyder, the Victoria Independent School District (VISD) environmental science specialist who’s been teaching environmental science at the wetland education center since 1998 through INVISTA’s longstanding partnership with VISD.
Home to a diverse range of plant and animal species, the 53-acre constructed wetland was created to help restore and protect the natural ecosystem of the area. It is the primary water source linked to INVISTA’s advanced above-ground biological treatment system and provides an additional natural water-polishing step to the sites’ surface water before it enters the Guadalupe River.
The wetland provides a unique, hands-on learning environment for students to learn about wildlife and water conservation. To date, the environmental science education center has served as a STEM resource for more than 82,000 students and teachers across the community.
Five youth - and their guardian or parent – participated in the event. They were chosen by applications through Texas Wildlife Association’s Texas Youth Hunting Program and the City of Victoria.
Hunting conducted on Southern Jewel Cattle Company - which was purchased by the Port Authority - Navigation District of Victoria.
The Texas Wildlife Association’s Texas Youth Hunting Program was represented at the event by Chris Mitchell. The National Wild Turkey Federation was represented by NWTF Texas Regional Director Amanda Goodpasture; Tony Hawley, NWTF Texas State Chapter; Matt Olsen, NWTF Golden Crescent of Texas Chapter; and Houston Chapter volunteers - Ray Fitch, Kenny Flores and Tom Grahmann.
The Port of Victoria donated use of the ranch home and garage for the event. The Port of Victoria was represented by Sean Stibich and Randy Insley.
Eddy Foods of Yoakum donated 16 links of sausage and about four pork shoulders. Plenty of food to go around!.
The mayor of Victoria also gave out 5 goodie bags to the hunters and spoke for a few minutes. Mayor Jeff Bauknight was in favor of future youth hunts. Game warden Jared Lewis also gave a presentation on his job and contact with the hunting public.
Elijah Ramos with the Parks Department and two of his management folks assisted also
Special thanks to Victoria police Officer Brian who helped out generously. Brian brought a trailer BBQ pit, a police Department Polaris, and arranged for 2 police canine dogs - and their handlers. He demonstrated drug detection and how to take down an ‘assailant’ dressed in a dummy suit.
A shout out to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for helping with the event arrangements and to the awesome presenter for her entertaining and imformative presentation on snakes and critters.
A big thank you to Mike Shouse of the NWTF Texas State Chapter for all he did to make this event happen.
All in all, ten deer were harvested - all using MLD permits from TPWD. Each youth hunter took a buck and a doe.
Harvested bucks ranged from ten point to eight point. They were rough scored in the 130 - 120 class, the 8 point a bit less. All happy hunters and parents.
A combination of folks generously gave of their time to make this happen. The family hunters and all had a great time.
All deer were harvested on Friday and Saturday.
All pitched in to clean the deer.
Thanks to everyone that helped make this youth hunt a success.
Tom Grahmann
NWTF Houston Chapter
