Dr. Neal Wilkins serves as the Director of the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources and the Texas Water Resources Institute where he coordinates the programs of more than 45 scientists and professional staff.  His primary focus is habitat management and conservation of land, water, and wildlife resources on private lands. Much of his work integrates science, policy, and economics for developing incentive-based conservation programs.  Until 2006 he was statewide program leader for wildlife & fisheries with Texas Agrilife Extension Service. Prior to joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1998, he directed wildlife and fisheries programs for Port Blakely Tree Farms, a 150,000-acre forest landholding in the Pacific Northwest. He currently serves as Vice President for the Texas Wildlife Association and is a professional member of the Boone & Crockett Club.  He is a Governor appointee to the Texas Farm & Ranchlands Conservation Council and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Economics and the Environment, Texas Wildlife Association Foundation and Houston Wilderness. Wilkins is a Certified Wildlife Biologist, holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University, a Masters of Wildlife Science from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida.

Education

Ph.D. (Wildlife Ecology) University of Florida, 1992
M.S. (Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences) Texas A&M University, 1987
B.S. (Forestry) Stephen F. Austin State University, 1984

Affiliations

Texas Agrilife Research, Texas Agrilife Extension Service, Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science

Professional Employment and Academic Appointments

• Director, Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, 2006-present
• Director, Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas Agrilife Research, 2011-present
• Associate Director, Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources, 2006
• Associate Department Head (Extension), Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences Dept., TAMU, 2001-2006
• Extension Wildlife Specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension, 1998-2006
• Professor, Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences Dept., TAMU, 2006-present
• Associate Professor, Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences Dept., TAMU, 2001-2006
• Assistant Professor, Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences Dept., TAMU, 1998-2001
• Wildlife & Fisheries Program Manager, Port Blakely Tree Farms, L.P., Seattle, WA, 1992-1998
• Research Scientist, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, 1991-1992
• Research Assistant, Dept of Wildlife & Range Sciences, University of Florida, 1989-1991
• Extension Assistant, Dept of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries, University of Tennessee, 1987-1989
• Research Assistant, Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences Dept., TAMU, 1984-1987
• Assistant Field Station Director, School of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1981-1983
• Firefighter, Angeles National Forest, USDA Forest Service, California, 1981

Service - Professional Organizations, Boards & Councils

The Wildlife Society.  Certified Wildlife Biologist, since 1999,  Texas Chapter President (2004), Texas Chapter President-Elect (2003),  Texas Chapter Nominations Committee Chair (2005), National Nominations Committee (2003), Texas Chapter Vice–President (2002), Texas Chapter Program Chair (1999), Member since 1981.

Boone & Crockett Club.  Professional Member (2009-Present).

American Farmland Trust. Research Advisory Council (2012-present).

Council on Sustainable Biomass Production. Board of Directors (2010-Present), Chair Land Use Working Group (2007-2009).

Universities Council on Water Resources. (2011-Present).

National Institutes of Water Resources. (2011-Present).

Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. Board of Trustees (1995-Present).

Texas Wildlife Association.  Director (2003-Present), Executive Committee (2003-Present). Vice-President (2004-Present).

Texas Wildlife Association Foundation. Vice-President (2004-2008), Board of Trustees (2004-2011), 2^nd Vice-President (2011 to Present).

Texas Farm & Ranch Lands Conservation Council. Governor Appointee in 2006, reappointed in 2010 – academic representative, (2006-Present).

Houston Wilderness.  Board of Trustees (2009-Present).

Taking Care of Texas. (Foundation formed by former First Lady Laura Bush), Board of Directors (2011-Present).

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.  Outreach and Education Advisory Committee (2003-2005), Landowner Incentive Program Advisory Committee (2001-2006), Upland Gamebird Program Advisory Committee (2007-2010),  Wildlife Diversity Program Advisory Committee (2011-Present).

Texas Agricultural Land Trust.  Advisory Committee (2009 to Present).

US Fish & Wildlife Service. Recovery Team, Golden-Cheeked Warbler (2009-Present).

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Texas State Technical Advisory Committee (2001-present).

Publications

Peer Refereed

McFarland T.M., H.A. Mathewson, J.E. Groce, M.L. Morrison, J. Newman, R.T. Snelgrove, K.L. Skow, B.A. Collier, and R.N. Wilkins. 2012. Utilization of a species occupancy model for management and conservation. Wildlife Society Bulletin. In Press.

Klassen, J. A., M. L. Morrison, H. A. Mathewson, G. G. Rosenthal, and R. N. Wilkins. 2012. Canopy Characteristics Affect Reproductive Success of Golden-Cheeked Warblers.  Wildlife Society Bulletin 36: on line.  DOI: 10.1002/wsb.100

Sorice, M.G. J.R. Conner, U.P. Kreuter, and R.N. Wilkins. 2012. Centrality of ranching lifestyle and attitudes toward a voluntary incentive program to protect endangered species. Rangeland Ecology & Management. In Press.

Matheweson, H.A., J.E. Groce, T.M. McFarland, M.L. Morrison, J. Newman, R.T. Snelgrove, B.A. Collier, and R.N. Wilkins. 2012. Estimating breeding season abundance of golden-cheeked warblers in Texas, USA. Journal of Wildlife Management.  In Press.

Campomizzi, A.J., M.L. Morrison, J.A. DeWoody, S.L. Farrell, and R.N. Wilkins. 2012. Win-stay, lose-switch and public information strategies for patch fidelity of songbirds with rare extra-pair paternity. Scientific Reports. 2(294).

Smith, K.N., J.W. Cain III, M.L. Morrison, and R.N. Wilkins. 2012. A novel songbird nest predator: the greater arid-land katydid. The American Midland Naturalist. 167(1):210-212.

Collier, B. A., Groce, J. E., Morrison, M. L., Newnam, J. C., Campomizzi, A. J., Farrell, S. L., Mathewson, H. A., Snelgrove, R. T., Carroll, R. J. and Wilkins, R. N. 2012.  Predicting patch occupancy in fragmented landscapes at the rangewide scale for an endangered species: an example of an American warbler. Diversity and Distributions. 18(158-167).

Laake, J.L., B.A. Collier, M.L. Morrison, and R.N. Wilkins. 2011. Point-based mark-recapture distance sampling. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics. 1-20.

Lackey, M.A., M.L. Morrison1, Z.G. Loman, N. Fisher, S.L. Farrell, B.A. Collier, R.N. Wilkins. 2011. Effects of road construction noise on the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. Wildlife Society Bulletin. Volume 35, Issue 1, pages 15–19, March 2011

Shannon L. Farrell, S.A., M.L. Morrison1, R.N. Wilkins, R.D. Slack, and A.J. Campomizzi. 2011. Brown-Headed Cowbird Parasitism on Endangered Species: Relationships with Neighboring Avian Species. Western North American Naturalist. 70(4):474-482.

Collier, B.A., M.L. Morrison, S.L. Farrell, A.J. Campomizzi, J.A. Butcher, K.B. Hays, D.I. MacKenzie, and R.N. Wilkins.  2010.  Monitoring endangered species occupying private lands: Case study using the golden-cheeked warbler in Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management. 74(1):140-147.

Butcher, J.A.* M.L. Morrison, D. Ransom Jr., R.D. Slack, and R.N. Wilkins. 2010. Evidence of a Minimum Patch Size Threshold of Reproductive Success in an Endangered Songbird. Journal of Wildlife Management. 74(1):133-139.

Campomizzi, A.J.*, M.L. Morrison, S.L. Farrell,‌ R.N. Wilkins, B.M. Drees and J.M. Packard. 2009. Red Imported Fire Ants Can Decrease Songbird Nest Survival. The Condor. 111(3):534–537

Bonneau, L.*, R. Darville, M. Legg, M. Haggerty, and R.N. Wilkins. 2009. Changes in Volunteer Knowledge and Attitudes as a Result of Texas Master Naturalist Training. Human Dimensions of Wildlife. 14(3):157-172.

R.N. Wilkins, D. Wolfe, L.S. Campbell and S.B.Baggett. 2009. Development of Recovery Credit Systems as a Policy Innovation for Threatened and Endangered Species. Transactions of the 73rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference.

Campomizzi*, A.J., J.A. Butcher, S.L. Farrell, A.G. Snelgrove, B.A. Collier, K.J. Gutzwiller, M.L. Morrison, and R.N. Wilkins.  2008. Conspecific attraction is a missing component in wildlife modeling. Journal of Wildlife Management. 72:331-336.

Birnbaum, J. S.*, K. O. Winemiller, L. Shen, C. L. Munster, B. P. Wilcox, and R. N. Wilkins.  2007. Associations of watershed vegetation and environmental variables with fish and crayfish assemblages in headwater streams of the Pedernales River, Texas. River Research Applications. 23:979-996.

Wagner, M.W.*, R. Kaiser, U. Kreuter, and R.N. Wilkins.  2007.  Managing the Commons Texas Style: Wildlife Management and Groundwater Associations on Private Lands. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 43(3):698-711.

Kjelland, M.E.*, U.P. Kreuter, G.A. Clendenin, R.N. Wilkins, X.B. Wu, E,G. Afanador, and W.E. Grant. 2007.  Factors related to spatial patterns of rural land fragmentation in Texas. Environmental Management. 40:231-244.

Wagner, M.W.*, U.P. Kreuter, R.A. Kaiser, and R.N. Wilkins. 2007.  Collective action and social capital of wildlife management associations. Journal of Wildlife Management. 71(5):1729-1738.

Rollins, D., B.J. Higginbotham, K.A. Cearley, R.N. Wilkins. 2007.  Appreciating feral hogs: extension education for diverse stakeholders in Texas. Human—Wildlife Conflicts. 1(2):192-198.

Magness, D.R.*, R.N. Wilkins, and Sallie J. Hejl. 2006.  Quantitative relationships among golden-cheeked warbler occurrence and landscape size, composition, and structure. Wildlife Society Bulletin.  34(2):473-479.

Goldstein, M.I., R.N. Wilkins, and T.E. Lacher.  2005. Spatio-temporal responses of reptiles and amphibians to timber harvest treatments. Journal of Wildlife Management. 69(2):525-539.

Lopez, R. R.*, A. Lopez, R. N. Wilkins, C. Torres, R. Valdez, J. G. Teer, and G. Bowser.  2005.  Changing Hispanic demographics: challenges in natural resource management. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 33(2):553-564.

Olenick, K.L.^*, J. R. Conner, R. N. Wilkins, U.P. Kreuter, and W.T. Hamilton. 2004. Economic Implications of Brush Treatments to Improve Water Yield in Two Texas Watersheds. Journal of Range Management. 57:337-345.

Lopez, R. R.*, N. J. Silvy, R. N. Wilkins, P. P. Frank, M. J. Peterson, and M. N. Peterson.  2004. Habitat use patterns of Florida Key deer: implications of vegetation change. Journal of Wildlife Management. 68(4):900-908.

Olenick, K.L.*, R.N. Wilkins, and J.R. Conner.  2004.  Increasing off-site water yield and grassland bird habitat through brush management and ecological restoration practices:  Prioritizing sub-basins within the Edwards and Twin Buttes watersheds (TX,USA). Ecological Economics. 49:469-484.

Van Tassell, L., J.R. Conner, A. Seidl and N. Wilkins. 2002. Grassland Dynamics. Choices(a Journal of the American Agricultural Economics Association) 17,2 (Spring 2002): 24-25.

Wilkins, R.N.,and N.P. Peterson. 2000. Factors related to amphibian occurrence and abundance in headwater streams draining second-growth Douglas-fir forests in southwestern Washington. Forest Ecology and Management.139: 79-91.

Grialou, J.A.*, S.D. West, and R.N. Wilkins. 2000.  The effects of forest clearcut harvesting and thinning on terrestrial salamanders. Journal of Wildlife Management. 64(1) 105-113.

Adams, C.E., R.N. Wilkins, and J.L. Cook. 2000.  A Place to Hunt: Organizational changes in recreational hunting, using Texas as a Case Study. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 28(4):788-796.

Brockway, D.G., K.W. Outcalt, and R.N. Wilkins. 1998.  Restoring longleaf pine wiregrass ecosystems: plant cover, diversity and biomass following low-rate hexazinone application on Florida sandhills. Forest Ecology and Management. 103:159-175.

Wilkins, R.N.,G.T. Tanner, R. Mulholland, and D.G. Neary. 1993.  Use of hexazinone for understory restoration of a successionally-advanced xeric sandhill in Florida. Ecological Engineering. 2:31-48.

Wilkins, R.N., W.R. Marion, D.G. Neary, and G.T. Tanner. 1993.  Vascular plant community dynamics following hexizinone site preparation in the lower coastal plain. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 23(10) 2216-2229.

Wilkins, R.N., W.G. Swank. 1992. Bobwhite habitat use under short duration and deferred-rotation grazing. Journal for Range Management. 45(6):549-553.

Book Chapters

Wilkins, R.N. 2011. Improving the ESA’s Performance on Private Lands. In J. Adler, editor. Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on ESA Reform. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 260p.

Wilkins, R.N. 2000. Wildlife Conservation on Private Lands: Habitat Planning and Regulatory Certainty. In: Salazar D. and  D. Alper, editors. Sustaining the Forests of the Pacific Coast:  Forging truces in the war in the woods. University of British Columbia Press. 256p.

* Denotes graduate students as lead author.