Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area
Canadian, Hemphill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area contains approximately 6,000 acres of upland sandhills, pastures, natural meadows and woodlands fronting the north bank of the Canadian River. Named for Eugene A. Howe, Amarillo newspaper publisher, dedicated conservationist and member of the Texas Game and Fish Commission for more than 19 years, the area was acquired by the State in 1951. The objectives: to develop, through research and demonstration, better methods of game management which can be applied to major vegetative types found in the High Plains and Panhandle regions of Texas. Chief projects on the Area involve the white-tailed deer, wild turkey, bobwhite quail and migratory waterfowl. Lesser prairie chickens and ring-necked pheasants may be found throughout the year and winter brings a wide variety of visiting shorebirds. To improve wildlife habitat and increase the yield of natural foods for wildlife, dikes have been constructed to create marshes which are planted with waterfowl food plants; brush clearings have been made in the cottonwood thickets and bottomlands to provide suitable feeding areas and game openings; small grain is sowed for winter feeding of deer and turkey. Scientific information acquired through work done on this federal-state cooperative project is available to surrounding landowners and others who are interested. Game surpluses produced on the area are harvested periodically by hunters under a controlled public hunt program. (1963)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area spreads over some 6,000 acres of sandhills, meadows, and woodland along the north bank of the Canadian River. Acquired by the State of Texas in 1951, it honors Amarillo newspaper publisher Eugene A. Howe, a conservationist who served nearly two decades on the Texas Game and Fish Commission. Created as a research and demonstration ground for game management—white-tailed deer, wild turkey, quail, and waterfowl—it developed and shared better wildlife practices with landowners across the High Plains.
Why it matters
The area reflects the mid-twentieth-century conservation movement that turned wildlife from a resource to be exhausted into one to be studied and managed for the future.
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Related people
- · Eugene A. Howe
Themes & tags
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