Brune interviews Port of Corpus Christi Authority's Kent Britton. The discussion revolves around the largest planned seawater desalination plant in the U.S. They also talk about the amounts of oil and natural gas that are shipped out of Corpus Christi daily. One ship going to the Netherlands can power 1million homes in Europe for one month. Approximately one such ship leaves Corpus every day. The conversation also leans towards the future of desalination in South Texas. While frack water and desal discharge has historically been discarded down reinjection wells, there is the strong likelihood that it will soon be treated and re-used as freshwater - and that this is congruent with the way major municipality's water is treated and recycled in the practice commonly known as "toilet to tap".

In this insightful episode of The Lost Rider Podcast (and its broadcast version, News from the Camp House), host Herman Brune visits Texas A&M University to sit down with Dr. Ty Wardell, assistant professor in the Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Department.

Wardell shares his fascinating journey from growing up in a ranching and rodeo family on the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota to earning his Ph.D. at Kansas State University and ultimately joining the faculty at A&M. His path includes years on the professional rodeo circuit, studying bighorn sheep in the Black Hills, and researching carnivore dynamics on the Great Plains.

The discussion explores the concept of Indigenous Knowledge — the accumulated wisdom of native peoples passed down through generations — and how it contributes to modern conservation and wildlife management. Wardell explains how traditional ecological perspectives can inform contemporary research, comparing a farmer’s lifelong understanding of his land to ancestral stewardship of native territories.

In the second half, the conversation shifts to Wardell’s award-winning teaching methods, including his hands-on fox squirrel tracking project on the A&M campus. Students capture and collar squirrels to study their behavior and habitat use, gaining real-world wildlife research experience. Wardell also discusses his lab’s broader research across Texas — from studying axis and white-tailed deer interactions to the impact of the border wall on wildlife migration.

The episode closes with reflections on mentorship, the importance of fieldwork, and the shared goal of cultivating a new generation of wildlife stewards and scientists.

🎙️ Key Themes:

• Indigenous ecological wisdom and modern science

• Wildlife field research and student engagement

• Conservation education at Texas A&M

• Bighorn sheep restoration and carnivore ecology

• The intersection of culture, land, and stewardship