Thank you for visiting the Texas Legacy Project, an oral history archive about efforts to protect the natural resources and public health of Texas. This page holds a collection of short, 2-4 minute excerpts pulled from interviews conducted from 1997 through 2018 with conservationists in some 60 communities across the state. As you can see, these videos span a wide variety of topics, including water, air, habitat, environmental justice, wildlife, politics, and other subjects. We hope that you find these stories interesting and helpful. Thanks for taking a look.
Agriculture
- Alan Birkenfeld: Grass-fed Livestock
- Andy Wilkinson: Panhandle Farming
- Clarence Ogle: Organic Farming
- Darryl Birkenfeld: Food Awareness
- Dennis Holbrook: Organic Farming
- Don Kennard: DDT
- Donnie Dendy: Confined Feeding
- From the Ground Up: Farming, Ranching, and PolicyCompilation
- Gary Oldham: Cotton Farming
- J.D. Green: Community Garden
Air Quality
- Adlene Harrison: Utility Emissions
- Ben Sargent: Regulation
- Bill Dawson: Environmental Justice
- Billie Woods: Lignite Plant Emissions
- George Smith: Petrochemical Emissions
- Kamlesh Lulla: Remote Sensing
- Lanell Anderson: Petrochemical Emissions
- Neil Carman: Texas Air Control Board
- Sue Pope: Hazardous Waste Incineration
- T.C. Calvert: Utility Emissions
Aquifers
- Armando Quintanilla: Groundwater Contamination
- Bill Bunch: Barton Springs
- Bill Oliver: Barton Springs Eternal
- Brigid Shea: Development
- Echoes from a Well: Edwards, Ogallala, Bone Springs AquifersCompilation
- Fay Sinkin: Edwards Aquifer
- George Rice: Edwards Aquifer
- George Veni: Karst Systems
- John Carpenter: Groundwater
- Ken Kramer: Edwards Aquifer Authority
Bays
Birds
- Bessie Cornelius: Birdwatching
- Buddy Hollis: Red-cockaded Woodpecker
- George Archibald: Cranes
- Greg Lasley: Birds
- Jesse Grantham: Piping Plover
- Jim Stinebaugh: Golden Eagle
- Kenneth Seyffert: Panhandle
- Marjorie Adams: Journalism
- Midge Erskine: Oil and Gas Exploration
- Rob Lee: Hunting
Climate Change
Dark Skies
Deserts
Energy
- Andy Sansom: South Texas Nuclear Project
- Ben Figueroa: Uranium Mining
- Betty Brink: Nuclear Energy
- Bob King: Efficiency
- David Freeman: Lignite Mining
- Jim Marston: Renewable Power
- Jim Schermbeck: Nuclear Power
- John Prager: Coal and Lignite
- Karen Hadden: Coal Plants
- Lon Burnam: Oil and Gas Exploration
Environmental Education
- Alma Burnam: Grade School
- Bob Ayres: Camp
- Bob Burleson: Farewell to Texas
- Carla Marshall: The Green Classroom
- Carol Cullar: Monarch Butterfly
- David Bamberger: Habitat Restoration
- George Russell: Ignorance and Greed
- John Dromgoole: Horticulture
- John Graves: Literature
- Katherine Goodbar: High School Science
Environmental Justice
- Alfred Dominic: Pollution
- Brandt Mannchen: Command-and-Control
- Carlos Truan: Birth Defects
- Ernie Cortes: Just and Decent Society
- Grover Hankins: Pollution
- Lauren Ross: Racism in Public Works
- Roy Malveaux: Petrochemical Emissions
- Susan Mika: Maquilladoras
- Susana Almanza: Hazardous Waste
Fish
- Clark Hubbs: Endangered Species
- Felix Cox: Gulf of Mexico
- Jim Earhart: Fish Contamination
- Walt Kittelberger: Sportfishing
Forests
- Ike McWhorter: Sandyland Sanctuary
- Jim Neal: Old Growth
- John Bryant: Clearcutting
- Larry Shelton: Logging
- Pete Gunter: Private Property
- Richard Alles: Development
- Richard LeTourneau: Tree Crusher
- Char Miller: History of the U.S. Forest Service
Grasslands
- Bill Neiman: Blackland Tallgrass Prairie
- Ellen Temple: Highway Wildflowers
- Jim Eidson: Native Tallgrass Prairie
- Mickey Burleson: Tallgrass Prairie
Green Building
- David Lake: Community Connections
- Gail Vittori: Rainwater Collection
- LaVerne Williams: Professional Ethics
- Pliny Fisk: Construction
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat
- Alan Brothers: White-tailed Deer
- Hal Flanders: Desert
- Jim Blackburn: Native Ecosystems
- John Echols: Wetlands
- Mary Arnold: Development
- Ned Fritz: Prescribed Burning
- Winnie Burkett: Bolivar Flats
Hazardous Waste
- Beverly Gattis: Nuclear Weapons
- Bill Addington: Low-level radwaste
- David Marrack: Medical Research Corruption
- Gary Oliver: Radioative Waste
- H.C. Clark: Landfills and Waste Sites
- Marvin Legator: Health Risks
- Mavis Belisle: Nuclear Weapons
- Pat Suter: Uranium Mining
- Phyllis Glazer: Waste Injection
- Susan Curry: Radioactive Waste
Land Use
- Bob McFarlane: Engineers and Ecologists
- Carroll Shaddock: Billboards
- David Crossley: Smart Growth
- Ed Scharf: Sprawl and Environmental Protection
- Evangeline Whorton: Overdevelopment
- Helen Dutmer: Sprawl
- John Scanlan: Growth Planning
- Larry DeMartino: Frederick Olmstead
- Mary Anne Piacentini: Growth Planning
- Roger Duncan: Redevelopment
Mammals
- Bill Sheffield: Exotic and Invasive Animals
- Billy Pat McKinney: Mountain Lions
- Billy Platt: Game Law Enforcement
- Bonnie McKinney: American Black Bear
- David Langford: Hunting and Nature Tourism
- Dede Armentrout: Deer
- Jim Teer: Deer Hunting
- Lanny Sinkin: Whales
- Merlin Tuttle: Bats
Market
Parks
- Ann Hamilton: Municipal
- Babe Schwartz: Public Access to the Shore
- Big Thicket: Botanist, Biologist, Advocate ViewsCompilation
- Bob Armstrong: Matagorda Island
- Bob Eckhardt: Big Thicket National Preserve
- David Schmidly: Public Access
- Earl Burnam: Big Bend
- Ed Harte: Mustang and Padre Island
- George Bristol: Public Funding
- Geraldine Watson: Big Thicket
Plants
- Bill Carr: Fire Impacts
- Bob Randall: Home Landscaping
- Carl Schoenfeld: Horticulture
- Fred Wills: Ashe Juniper
- John Fairey: Horticulture
- Maryanne Pickens: Horticulture
- Memories of Lynn Lowrey: HorticultureCompilation
- Mike Shoup: Horticulture
- Scooter Cheatham: Wild Plant Uses
- Sowing the Seeds: Native Prairies, Community Gardens, Grazing, Wild Plant UsesCompilation
Politics
- Craig McDonald: Campaign Contributions
- Irene Scharf: Green Party
- Sissy Farenthold: Corruption
- Stephen Klineberg: Public Opinion
- Tom "Smitty" Smith: Renewable Power
Recycling
Religion
- Bee Moorhead: Progressive Faith Views
- Campbell Read: Episcopal Liturgy
- Frank Kurzaj: Judeo-Christian Tradition
- Leroy Matthiesen: Roots
- Words and Deeds: Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, and Wikken TraditionsCompilation
Reptiles
- Deyaun Boudreaux: Sea Turtles and Shrimping
- Sharron Stewart: Sea Turtles and Pygmy Whales
- Tony Amos: Sea Turtles
South Texas Brushlands
Staff Views
Streams
- Carl Frentress: Dams
- Carmine Stahl: Rainstorm
- Dan Lay: Dams
- George Cofer: Barton Creek Watershed
- Janice Bezanson: Dams
- Joe Moore: Estuarine Inflows
- Marcos Paredes: Rio Grande
- Mary Kelly: Fish
- Richard Donovan: Neches River
- Ripples on a Pond: Origins, Impacts, Irrigation, Hydroelectricity, Heritage, Community, Ecosystem, Wilderness, FutureCompilation
Transportation
- Bebe Fenstermaker: Endangered Species Habitat
- Char Miller: Foot, Mass Transit, Cars
- David Stall: Multi-mode Tollway
- Fred Dahmer: Caddo Lake
- Gary Vliet: Electric Vehicles
- James Matz: Laguna Madre
- Johnny French: Intracoastal Waterway
- Linda Stall: Public Commons Use for Private Profits
- Martha Fenstermaker: Habitat
- Mary Lou Campbell: Laguna Madre
Views
- Coastal Plain: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Cross Timbers: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Hill Country: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Lower Rio Grande Valley: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Panhandle: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Pineywoods: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation
- Trans-Pecos: Habitat, Industry, and CommunityCompilation