Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
November 07, 2026
Texas Pronghorn Comeback and Screwworm Return on Building Texas Show
TLDR
- Landowners gain a strategic edge by adopting low-fence conservation practices that sustain pronghorn while maintaining livestock operations.
- The episode explains how translocation, fence modifications, and sterile-fly technology work together to restore pronghorn and combat screwworm.
- Private stewardship and research are rebuilding pronghorn populations, fostering healthier ecosystems and a more resilient future for West Texas.
- Pronghorn cannot jump fences, so simple 18-inch wire adjustments can reopen ancient migration routes and save a species.
Impact - Why it Matters
The return of New World screwworm to Texas and the fragile recovery of pronghorn and desert bighorn sheep signal a critical moment for the state's wildlife and agricultural economy. Screwworm poses a direct threat to livestock, potentially disrupting cattle operations and food supply chains, while the pronghorn's dependence on private land stewardship underscores how conservation in a 95% privately owned state hinges on voluntary cooperation. The research and graduate training at Sul Ross State University's Borderlands Research Institute offer hope, but the converging pressures of drought, disease, and habitat fragmentation demand immediate attention. This news matters because it shows that conservation success is not permanent—it requires constant vigilance, adaptive management, and strong partnerships between scientists, landowners, and policymakers. For Texans and anyone who values working landscapes and biodiversity, the stakes could hardly be higher.
Summary
The latest episode of the Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie and published September 14, 2026, takes listeners to Alpine for a conversation with Lalo Gonzalez, chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at Sul Ross State University and a leader at the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI). Gonzalez unpacks the near-collapse and ongoing recovery of the West Texas pronghorn population, along with the return of New World screwworm to Texas after decades of eradication. The discussion highlights BRI's wide-ranging research portfolio and the mounting pressures on the Trans-Pecos region.
Key topics include the 2010-2011 Texas Parks and Wildlife translocation program that moved roughly 1,000 pronghorn from the Panhandle to the Marfa and Marathon grasslands, and the reemergence of New World screwworm—a flesh-eating fly larva that the U.S. once pushed south to Panama using sterile-fly technology. Gonzalez notes recent positive cases in Texas livestock and confirmed wildlife cases in northern Mexico, even as cattle imports have been paused. He also addresses the first-ever pneumonia outbreaks in Texas desert bighorn sheep, plus BRI research on scaled quail, black bears, mule deer, sandhill cranes, soil health, and hydrology. A central theme is the pronghorn's unique vulnerability to fencing and brush encroachment. "They don't jump fences. They physically can't," Gonzalez tells McKenzie. "So any fence is a barrier, pretty much. It's a wall that they don't cross." He praises landowners like Nile Maxwell who are opening gates, removing historic fencing, and lowering bottom wires to about 18 inches so pronghorn can slip underneath without disrupting livestock operations, calling private stewards "the best conservationists" in a state that is 95% privately owned.
The episode also connects these challenges to broader threats: drought comparable to Death Valley in some years and the steady loss of working landscapes from El Paso to Del Rio. Gonzalez highlights BRI's graduate program, which boasts a 95% job-placement rate at graduation, with millions of acres of West Texas serving as the classroom. The Building Texas Show continues to spotlight the people and projects shaping Texas, with new episodes weekly on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content distributed by Newsworthy.ai. Read the original source here, Texas Pronghorn Comeback and Screwworm Return on Building Texas Show
