Carl Frentress

Athens | Wildlife Biologist

Mr. Frentress grew up in an old Texas family with farming traditions, earned a BS in Wildlife Science from Texas A&M University, and worked as a wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife beginning in 1972, serving as one of the first nongame staff in the department. He is noted for his pioneering work on aerial photo interpretation and use, his expertise in bottomland hardwoods systems, his knowledge about waterfowl, and his contributions to developing the wildlife management valuation as an option under the agricultural tax exemption. This last effort, often known as the “wildlife exemption”, allows landowners to use rural lands based on financial returns rather than tax consequences; the hope is that marginal ranching and farming operations will be discontinued, and those lands returned to wildlife use.