What we're losing Texas shows up in a recent NYT article on a Wildlife Conservation Society report on the global extent of human impact on the environment. The article closes with a look at four still-pretty-wild areas around the country, including:

Texas Grasslands

Coastal prairie along the Gulf of Mexico.

CONDITIONS About 1 percent of the wild grassland remains, in patches as small as 10 square miles.

OUTLOOK These areas are being rapidly degraded. Three percent of Texas land is under public control; conservation efforts rely mostly on private landowners.

Private landowners can do great things, but the fragmented ownership along the Gulf Coast is unlikely to lead to ecosytem-scale protection.

Here's the WCS map of the human footprint in Texas.  ¶ 9:35 PM