{"id":183328,"date":"2026-02-27T18:49:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/183328\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:49:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:49:31","slug":"funding-available-for-grassland-restoration-in-high-plains-rolling-plains-of-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/183328\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding Available for Grassland Restoration in High Plains, Rolling Plains of Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>February 27, 2026 \u2013 AUSTIN \u2013 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), in partnership with Quail Forever, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is now accepting applications for the Panhandle Grassland Restoration Incentive Program (PGRIP).<\/p>\n<p>West Texas has lost significant native grassland habitat due to increases in tree cover (for example, mesquite and juniper), conversion to cropland or pastureland, and urban and rural development. This loss threatens wildlife species such as bobwhite quail and other grassland birds, as well as pronghorn and mule deer that depend on large, intact, healthy native grasslands. PGRIP provides financial assistance to landowners and agricultural producers who voluntarily implement conservation practices to restore these habitats.<\/p>\n<p>Eligible practices include:<\/p>\n<p>Brush management (including mesquite, juniper)<\/p>\n<p>Prescribed burning<\/p>\n<p>Herbaceous weed treatment<\/p>\n<p>Planting native grasses and wildlife-friendly plants<\/p>\n<p>Prescribed grazing<\/p>\n<p>Since starting in 2023, PGRIP has obligated over $635,000 and successfully treated nearly 15,000 acres of native grassland habitat in the High Plains and Rolling Plains of Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Who can apply?<\/p>\n<p>Landowners and producers in the following counties (with exceptions):<\/p>\n<p>Priority counties \u2013 Armstrong, Bailey, Carson, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Lynn, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Terry, Wheeler, and Yoakum (for precise priority area boundaries, contact TPWD).<\/p>\n<p>Other eligible counties \u2013 Andrews, Borden, Briscoe, Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle, Dawson, Dickens, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Gaines, Hale, Hall, Hansford, Hardeman, Haskell, Hockley, Jones, Kent, Knox, Lamb, Martin, Motley, Scurry, Sherman, Stonewall, and Swisher (entire counties open), as well as priority counties outside defined priority areas (contact TPWD).<\/p>\n<p>Application Period:<\/p>\n<p>Feb. 6 \u2013 March 27, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Minimum project size of 25 acres, 100 or greater preferred.<\/p>\n<p>Additional program restrictions apply.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, contact your local\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tpwd.texas.gov\/landwater\/habitat-management\/find-a-wildlife-biologist\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TPWD biologist<\/a>\u00a0or reach out to Austin Teague, senior biologist (District 2, TPWD), 806-476-9829,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mail.google.com\/mail\/?view=cm&amp;fs=1&amp;tf=1&amp;to=austin.teague@tpwd.texas.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-48-1000x750.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-233779\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 27, 2026 \u2013 AUSTIN \u2013 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), in partnership with Quail Forever, National&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-183328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}