Rich Tillman

Students help effort to save beach
I had the opportunity this weekend to visit Brazoswood High School and the School District 7 Student Council annual meeting hosted by Brazoswood High and Alice Artman.
November 17, 2009

Save your Christmas trees for our beaches
Dunes Day is Jan. 23 and we hope to collect 21,000 Christmas trees.
November 03, 2009

Oyster season on its way, but so is red tide
Nov. 1 is a special day along the Texas Gulf Coast because it is opening day of oyster season. To those of us who delight in these delectable bivalves, it is something we have been waiting for all summer.
October 20, 2009

Seafood means shrimp in Texas
In Texas, seafood means shrimp. We land more dollars for shrimp than any other state. That’s because most of it is big shrimp, and this doesn’t happen just because the shrimp are from a big state.
October 06, 2009

County beach cleanups are Saturday
It’s time to remind everyone that Saturday we are having our semi-annual beach cleanup. Groups will be gathering at Quintana beach and the Stahlman Park site in Surfside Beach.
September 22, 2009

Devices can mean survival for fishermen
Did you hear about the three fishermen from Matagorda County who spent eight days adrift in the Gulf on the capsized haul of their fishing boat?
September 08, 2009

County planning to plant grass on dunes
Our local wildlife requires water just like our livestock and a lot of their regular holes have been drying up, so if you can provide a little extra water, put it out in shallow containers.
August 25, 2009

Forecast down, but your guard shouldn’t be
One surprise that came out early this month is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made an announcement it now is expecting a near- to below-normal Atlantic hurricane season “as the calming effects of El Niño continue to develop.”
August 11, 2009

Shrimp season starts this week
The Texas offshore shrimp season starts Wednesday evening, and I can’t miss a chance like this to talk about our most valuable seafood product.
July 14, 2009

Scorching heat affects fish, too
We are in the sixth or seventh hottest June, and when you combine this with the lack of rain, we haven’t had a June so hot and dry since they started measuring such.
June 30, 2009

Water supply is major concern
As our population continues to grow, we will need more and more water.
June 16, 2009

Guide an important tool for storm season
Well, hurricane season officially started Monday, and we already have had a tropical depression in the Atlantic — but it did not develop into anything, thank goodness.
June 02, 2009

Gather for ‘Perfect Storm’ seminar
I’m sure everyone in the county is excited about what occurs the first of next month — the beginning of hurricane season — especially after Ike last year. I know how enthralled everyone is with this season.
May 19, 2009

Fish can help rid your pond of bloodsuckers
Along with recent showers and warm weather has come an abundance of mosquitoes, and I have received a few calls on how you can obtain mosquito fish, or gambusia.
May 05, 2009

Brown shrimp a big, tasty business for coast
“Brownies” makes up about 80 percent of our $250 million of shrimp landings annually in Texas. The other 20 percent is made up of white shrimp and a few pink shrimp.
April 15, 2009

It’s always time to take a child fishing
You know how I always talk about how you need to take a child fishing? Well, I had the opportunity last week during spring break in Angleton.
March 24, 2009

Managing pond isn’t very difficult
I am a big proponent of the triploid grass carp which are available in Texas, and you must obtain a permit from Texas Parks and Wildlife to stock this fish in your pond.
March 10, 2009

Check pond’s balance on regular basis
There are several people interested in getting their ponds ready for a good fishing year, so we’re going to move from pond fertilization to pond evaluation.
February 24, 2009

Fertilizing pond will bring healthy fishing
I would like to get into farm ponds and what you need to do to get them ready for a nice year of fishing.
February 10, 2009

Dunes already forming
We had more than 500 volunteers total on both beaches. I think this time Quintana outdid Surfside as far as volunteers went, and I think we staked 7,000 trees — 2,000 at Quintana and 5,000 at Surfside.
January 27, 2009