How does one go about changing the way an entire county thinks about wildlife habitat and management? The answer, for Cass County, TX, is “one family at a time.” Increasing knowledge and stewardship of forests and grasslands owned by private landowners has been supported by agencies such as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and by partnerships such as the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture (LMVJV), but most important of all, these efforts have been led by families like the Weerts.

Prep prior to shortleaf planting at the Weerts Family farm

Michael Weerts is a local Resource Specialist II with the Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS). In 2017, he attended the first shortleaf pine tour hosted by the LMVJV’s Northeast Texas Conservation Delivery Network (NETX CDN), of which both TPWD and TFS are active members. Soon after, he began restoring some family land near Douglasville by planting 30 acres of shortleaf pine. Michael and his parents, Gene and Judy, also began some prescribed burning and pollinator habitat practices.

In 2019, the 108-acre Gene and Judy Weerts Family Project was assisted ($3,499) by the NETX Habitat Incentive Program and completed during Summer 2020. The project included prescribed burning, firebreaks, and mulching in the fall of 2019 with final prescribed burns and seedlings planted by spring of 2020. Michael Weerts and Penny Wilkerson of TPWD worked together as project managers. Through the years the Weerts family has also received funding from the NRCS EQIP program and most recently though the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program.

Small Acreage Landowner Workshop at the Weerts Family farm

In February 2020, the Weerts Family Farm hosted a “Small Acreage Landowner Workshop” and field day partnering with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, TPWD, and TFS, as well as local foresters and non-profit organizations. Two dozen attendees gathered to learn more about techniques for establishing pollinator plantings and the management of hardwoods, shortleaf pine, and wildlife habitat. They were also treated to a live prescribed fire demonstration.

Prescribed Fire at the Weerts Family Farm workshop.

The Weerts Family has been instrumental in developing a newly formed private landowner cooperative, the Northeast Texas Wildlife Cooperative, which aims to provide in-the-field hands-on demonstrations to help educate landowners and habitat managers, to create a family environment, and to form a network of like-minded individuals to help one another achieve their goals. Through the Weert's family's tireless volunteer efforts in the community, on their lands and in their jobs, they have created a community where the sound stewardship of Cass county's wildlife, forest, and waters abounds.

It is no wonder, then, that in September 2021 the Weerts Family Farm received the Marion-Cass Soil & Water Conservation District (#433) award for Area IV Outstanding Forestry Conservationist. The 215-acre farm has been in the family since 1918 and is currently managed by Michael and his brother Chuck Weerts. ”Countless acres and people have been impacted by the work of this family with deep east Texas roots,“ said Penny Wilkerson of TPWD. “It is an honor to work with every single member of this family, and I am blessed to call them friends.“

Growing Wildlife Managers in Cass County, TX—One Family at a Time