The Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (IRNR) recently joined with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and the East Foundation to form the Center for Private Land Stewardship (CPLS). The three entities signed a memorandum of understanding on Feb. 3.

Does a tough modern rose really need 4 inches of water a month to survive a drought? Can a plant bounce back after an entire growing season without rain? A group of Central Texas entities is hoping to find these and other answers by analyzing popular local landscape plants in a drought-survivability study.

From Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service extension assistant to associate director of the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (IRNR), Brian Hays has made a career of promoting natural resource stewardship. Today, Hays works to ensure that IRNR is fulfilling its mission to reach out to and educate landowners about natural resources. To accomplish this, he helps with project management, collaborates with the institute’s partners and seeks funding opportunities for IRNR’s programs, he said.

Constructing a water well begins with making several design decisions, including whether to drill the well horizontally or vertically. Ben Blumenthal, former Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) research assistant, investigated the use of horizontal drilling technology for groundwater production and developed mathematical models that simplify that decision-making process.

The new year has brought some changes to both the Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (IRNR) and the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI).

An invited commentary by the chairman of the Texas Water Development Board on the Texas-Mexico water treaty and an article on the Rincon Bayou Pipeline on the Lower Nueces Delta are the first two articles in the 2015 issue of the Texas Water Journal.

A quick look around Texas A&M University is all you need to see that the campus and the surrounding community are becoming more urbanized. But, this is not necessarily at odds with Texas A&M’s history as an agricultural college. A growing on-campus farming venture is linking Texas A&M’s agricultural heritage to today’s Aggieland, while adopting a forward-thinking perspective on sustainability, said Howdy Farm president Jessica Newman.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas Wildlife Association have set the dates and opened registration for QuailMasters – South Texas. Dr. Dale Rollins, San Angelo-based retired AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist and lead instructor for the workshops, said QuailMasters is a series of hands-on, intensive training sessions designed to expose participants to the best quail habitat in the state while making them “masters” of the art and science of quail management.

The second annual Bennett Land Stewardship Conference is scheduled for April 23-24 at the Inn of the Hills Resort and Conference Center in Kerrville. The conference is funded by the Ruth and Eskel Bennett Endowment and hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, said Dr. Larry Redmon, co-chair and Bennett Trust AgriLife Extension specialist.