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Fort Hood Project

Links:  2006 Annual Report Black-capped vireo Research and Monitoring Golden-cheeked Warbler Research and Monitoring Cowbird Management and Research Vegetation Ecology Research and Management Mapping and Remote-sensing Prescribed Fire and Habitat Management Karst Management and Survey Off-post Habitat Protection Publications

Location of Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood is a U.S. Army installation which covers  217,000 acres in Bell and Coryell counties in central Texas.  Nearby cities include Gatesville, Belton, Temple, Killeen, Copperas Cove and Harker Heights. A range of military training activities including mechanized maneuvers, weapons firing and aviation training take place at Fort Hood. Two mechanized divisions are currently assigned to the post. Fort Hood lies at the intersection of two Nature Conservancy ecoregions, the Edwards Plateau, which lies to the west and south of the post, and the Cross Timbers and Southern Tallgrass Prairie ecoregion, which lies to the north and east. The Nature Conservancy recognizes Fort Hood as a priority site in “A Biodiversity and Conservation Assessment for the Edwards Plateau Ecoregion,” which is The Nature Conservancy’s planning document for the ecoregion. 

Fort Hood supports significant breeding populations of the black-capped vireo (Vireo atricapilla) and golden-cheeked warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia), both listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. These breeding populations are the largest of both species under one management authority. A Biological Opinion (BO), first issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1993, listed Reasonable and Prudent Measures which the Army must take to promote the recovery of the two species on the installation. The latest Biological Opinion, issued in 2005, updates the requirements and recognizes the progress that has been made on the installation with both listed species since the first BO. Research and management actions are among the measures listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the latest BO. 

Fort Hood, Texas  © The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy has been working with Fort Hood’s Endangered Species Management Program since the 1993 Biological Opinion was issued. We currently work in eight areas under a five-year Cooperative Agreement with Fort Hood. 

For more information about The Nature Conservancy's Fort Hood Project, contact Thomas A. Greene, Ph.D., Project Director, The Nature Conservancy, P.O. Box 5190, Fort Hood, TX 76544, (254) 287-2885.

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