About Us

Conservation Leaders in Every Community.

Texas Brigades is a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate and empower adolescents with leadership skills and knowledge in wildlife, fisheries, and land stewardship to become conservation ambassadors for a sustained natural resource legacy.

Texas Brigades provides a combination of educational programs, including its popular 5-day summer camps, its advanced Wildlife Intensive Leadership Development (W.I.L.D.) program and single-day programs, Texas Brigades Experiences.

  • Texas Brigades has initiated their search for a new Executive Director!


    See job announcement here.

  • Texas Brigades hosts 9 leadership camps, founded on a variety of wildlife and natural resource principles.

    Camps offer 5 days of concentrated curriculum, ranging from the various breakdowns of wildlife habitat & land management principles, to leadership, public speaking, and team-building.

    All camps provide various participant resources and materials, all field & classroom curriculum needs, as well as lodging, meals, and safety needs. Target age range is 13-17 years.

    In 2023, Texas Brigades awarded 41 college scholarships totaling more than $54,000.

  • These single-day programs allow Texas Brigades to engage more youth across the state, while opening up the target age range from 9-17, dependent on the curriculum.

    By partnering with volunteers and like-minded organizations, Experiences provide hands-on learning environments, which place youth outdoors, working to inspire their passion for Texas’ natural resources and the outdoors.

  • W.I.L.D. was created to further develop participants’ knowledge of wildlife and natural resource conservation. W.I.L.D. is an advanced program, engaging and exposing participants to natural resource policies and procedures, hands-on field research and data, career-building, and professionalism. Target age range is 18-23.

  • Texas Brigades volunteers are the backbone of the organization. Equally as important as our mission are the conservation professionals that give their time and share their passions with each participant, making Texas Brigades programs truly unique.

  • Texas Brigades is a small nonprofit organization operating with over 75% of its functional expenses dedicated to its programs.

    Donors support Texas Brigades by generously contributing to organization vision and mission goals, camp-specific expenses, and statewide participant sponsorships.

  • Texas Brigades was built on collaboration!

    We seek to connect Texas’ youth to the outdoors, natural resources, wildlife & fisheries sciences, stewardship, leadership, team work, ambassadorship, and more.

    We collaborate with individuals, organizations, agencies, and others to curate and execute all of our programs. We aim to reach audiences between ages 9 and 23 with carefully tailored topics, content, and curriculum.

Where we are Today.

Texas has lost 2.2 million acres of native landscapes due to population growth and urbanization. Home to seven of the 15 fastest growing cities in the U.S., Texas’ population has increased over 48% in the last decade alone. With this mass urbanization, less than 1% of Texans are landowners and there’s a diminished connection to nature for urban youth. The majority of landowners are aging, and over the next 20 years, Texas will undergo the largest intergenerational transfer of land in its history.

This profound demographic shift along with the diminished nature connection requires engaging and educating a new generation of conservation leaders to ensure the natural resources and native landscapes our economy depends on are protected. With a vision to create “conservation leaders in every community,” Texas Brigades provides a solution to ensure that land stewardship and conservation are a long-term priority, for urban and rural backgrounds alike.

Texas Brigades provides educational programming and leadership development for adolescents through three conservation-driven, statewide programs: Summer Camps, Experiences, and Wildlife Intensive Leadership Development (W.I.L.D). Through these programs, Texas Brigades molds over 300 youth leaders each year, with participants coming from over 1,000 communities across Texas. Participants leave with a connection to the land, informed and ready to make conservation a life-long passion.

Impacts

  • Close to 300 adolescents graduate or attend Texas Brigades programs each year.

    Participants who attend Brigades programs leave more knowledgeable of wildlife, conservation, or natural resources, leave with professional connections to help them build their future paths, and leave confidently equipped to have conservation or Brigades conversations with others in their communities.

  • Texas Brigades aims to equip participants to share their conservation knowledge with peer and community groups across the state.

  • Whether implementing its Summer Brigade camps or an Experience, Texas Brigades is driven by its mission to create a sustainable natural resource legacy.

  • In 2022, Texas Brigades awarded 43 college scholarships, totaling $49,400.

    Adolescents qualify when they graduate from a Brigade camp, and submit a an application and record book of conservation outreach efforts.

Our Staff Team

  • Natalie Wolff

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    natalie@texasbrigades.org

  • Elizabeth Palarski

    PROGRAM MANAGER

    elizabeth@texasbrigades.org

  • Kirsty Putnam

    OPERATIONS MANAGER

    kirsty@texasbrigades.org

Our Board of Directors

  • Jeff Petter

    PRESIDENT

  • Dannielle Pope

    VICE PRESIDENT

  • Robert Zearfoss

    TREASURER, FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR

  • Clinton Faas

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • MK McNabb

    DEVELOPMENT CHAIR

  • Jen Neuhaus

    GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR

  • Cole Payne

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Archa Cassel

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Rose Cooper

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Anson Howard

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Bryan Jones

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Blaise Korzekwa

    SECRETARY, PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIR

  • Phil McKinney

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Dayna Prochaska

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • RJ Shelly

    BOARD DIRECTOR

  • Seeking New Directors

    We're Recruiting New Directors

Make a Donation

Donating to Texas Brigades is a unique opportunity to create a stable and long-lasting future for its conservation and youth-driven mission. Contributions are used to establish the financial foundation that allows us to operate. 

Even before the last cadets have left camp, we have already made contact and established a relationship that will support and encourage them – they have joined the Texas Brigades family. We want these tremendous opportunities to become a legacy for future generations. Texas Brigades allows youth to discover their “voice” and gives them a deeper confidence to share it in the world.

Please help us secure this future for Texas youth by donating to the Texas Brigades now.