DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, and the way I'm passing it along to you now, this stretch of the Texas Panhandle has a story worth knowing. Out here in Hemphill County, right along the north bank of the Canadian River, there sits roughly six thousand acres of some of the most quietly impressive land in all of West Texas. Upland sandhills, natural meadows, pastures, woodlands — the kind of country that doesn't announce itself with a shout but earns your respect the longer you look at it.
This is the Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area. Now, Gene Howe — his full name was Eugene A. Howe — was an Amarillo newspaper publisher.
And somewhere along the way, the man took conservation seriously. Not as a hobby. Seriously.
He served on the Texas Game and Fish Commission for more than nineteen years. That's not a stint. That's a calling.
When the State acquired this land in 1951, they named it for him, and it's hard to argue they named it wrong. The mission of the place is ambitious, and they weren't shy about saying so: to develop, through research and demonstration, better methods of game management that can be applied to the major vegetative types found across the High Plains and Panhandle regions of Texas. In other words, figure out what works out here — on this particular soil, under this particular sky — and share what you learn.
And the residents worth learning about? Well, let me run you through them. White-tailed deer.
Wild turkey. Bobwhite quail. Migratory waterfowl passing through on their long journeys.
Lesser prairie chickens and ring-necked pheasants, present throughout the year. And come winter, a wide variety of shorebirds drift in like they've heard there's good company. To keep all that wildlife fed and sheltered, the work has been deliberate and hands-on.
Dikes have been constructed to create marshes, and those marshes get planted with waterfowl food plants. Brush clearings have been cut into the cottonwood thickets and bottomlands — not to strip them, but to open up feeding areas and game openings where animals can move and gather. Small grain is sowed for the deer and turkey to see them through winter.
Every one of those efforts is pointed at the same goal: improve the habitat, increase the natural food supply, and let the land do what it does best. And here's the part that separates this place from a simple preserve: the scientific information gathered through this federal-state cooperative project is made available to surrounding landowners and anyone else who wants to know. The knowledge doesn't stay locked up on six thousand acres.
It travels. Nor does the wildlife, in a manner of speaking. When the area produces a surplus of game, hunters get a chance at it — harvested periodically under a controlled public hunt program.
Managed. Purposeful. The land giving back.
Six thousand acres on the Canadian River, carrying the name of a man who spent nineteen years arguing that this landscape was worth protecting. Turns out, he wasn't wrong.
What the marker says
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)