Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Executive Director Carter Smith announced today he will retire effective January 2023, ending a nearly 15-year tenure that strengthened private-lands stewardship, expanded state parks and wildlife management areas, bolstered conservation, law enforcement, and park funding, and brought a renewed focus on connecting Texans young and old with the state’s natural resources.
“The opportunity to work alongside the immensely talented and dedicated men and women of this Department has been the privilege of a lifetime,” said Carter Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Their unending passion for stewarding and protecting Texas’ rich bounty of fish and wildlife resources, creating new opportunities for Texas families to get out and make lasting memories in the outdoors, and helping to leave the lands and waters, habitats and parks of our home ground better than before has been a great inspiration to me, personally and professionally. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Chairman Aplin and to the entire TPW Commission, past and present, for placing their trust in me, as well as for their leadership, mentorship and commitment to advancing our mission. Last, but not least, as a Dad, a sportsman, a conservationist, and as a proud Texan, I am grateful beyond measure for all the landowners, land stewards, outdoor enthusiasts, and partners across Texas who not only make conservation possible, but actually happen.”
Read the full press release from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department here.