Texas Parks and Wildlife

From staff reports

Texas Parks and Wildlife has identified a missing boater found in Lake Travis Jan. 29 near the Grelle Recreation area.

Dispatchers notified game wardens around 11 a.m. of the report and launched a 24-hour search for the person identified as 53-year-old Tommy Eady of Buda.

The search effort included “multiple boats, side-scan sonar and an unmanned aircraft system, along with a K9 unit.

Special to The Highlander

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has added Lake Marble Falls and Granger Lake to the statewide list of lakes infested with invasive zebra mussels after discovering established, reproducing populations in the lakes this fall.

From staff reports

A local prosecutor has received a top award for his work in high-profile investigations involving Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The state entity recognized District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee by naming him winner of the 2019 TPWD Prosecutor of the Year Award, “for his work prosecuting natural and cultural resource violations and environmental crimes in the state.”

McAfee is the district attorney for the 33rd/424th Judicial District which encompass Blanco, Burnet, Llano and San Saba Counties.

From staff reports

Dove season begins on Sept. 1 for the central zone which includes Llano and Burnet County.

The season extends through Nov. 3, then starts again on Dec. 20 through Jan. 14, 2020. Statewide falconry hunting season is Nov. 16 through Dec. 2.

Legal shooting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise until sunset. Bag limits for the central zone are 15 birds daily, no more than two white-tipped daily aggregate and three times daily bag possession limit.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Texas Parks and Wildlife officials recovered two bodies in three days and unveiled the possible cause of death in the unrelated boating incidents over the weekend along the Colorado River on Lake LBJ.

Special to the Highlander

Texas Parks and Wildlife investigators are waiting for the autopsy results of a woman found unresponsive July 11 on Lake LBJ in Kingsland. Authorities believe the death may be related to a jet ski accident, according to a press release.

From staff reports

Marble Falls police officials are sending out an alert to residents about a possible mountain lion sighting May 8 near two churches within the city limits, according to a press release.

“[We] received an unconfirmed report of a possible mountain lion sighting in the wooded area east of 400 Avenue N,” the release stated.

A person reported to police that they spotted what they believed to be a mountain lion, also known as a puma or cougar,  in the early morning hours that day.

“Although this is an unconfirmed event, we want to notify residents in the area so that they may take proper precautions regarding children and pets,” an MFPD spokesperson stated in the release.

The agency contacted Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, which offered the following safety tips in the event a predator is lurking in the neighborhood:

• Keep children and pets inside from dusk to dawn;

Special to The Highlander

After finding more than 18 species of fish during a recent sampling trip on the Llano River, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries staff are encouraged to see fish populations rebounding following historic flooding in October 2018.

By Phil Reynolds
Contributing Writer

Pending the signing of an agreement with the selected contractor, work on the planned Granite Shoals sports complex could start “within a month,” officials said.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Landowners Steve Nash and Fermin Ortiz agree on one thing. There is a sand and silt issue in Sandy Creek and Lake LBJ; however they disagree adamantly on what to do about it.