(Meal provided by Traditions)

Stephen Lange is a 22 year employee with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department currently serving as the Regional Director for the Wildlife Division in Tyler.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and a Texas Teachers Certificate in 1992, and a Master of Science degree in Earth & Environmental Sciences in 1997; both from Texas A&M University-Commerce. He began his career with the state at the Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area in Lindale and has served up through various field operations and research positions including the South Texas Ecosystem Project Leader for the Chaparral and James E. Daughtrey WMA’s in Cotulla, Texas managing over 40,000 acres of terrestrial and aquatic habitats in the south Texas brush country.  Stephen is also a graduate of the Senior Leadership Development Program sponsored by the Governor’s Center for Management Development through the University of Texas in Austin in 2016. In 2017 he promoted back to East Texas into the Regional Director’s position.

Stephen’s other interests include birding and kayaking with conservation work centering on rivers and streams.  In 2009, he co-authored the Neches River User Guide, a paddlers guide and natural history of the Neches River in Texas.  The guide contains over 40 detailed maps and insets for access, navigation, and recreation along the Neches River from the Lake Palestine Dam in Smith County to the Downtown Dock and Lawn in Beaumont, Texas. It is a companion book to Richard Donovan’s Paddling the Wild Neches.  The project was edited by Andrew Sansom, former executive director of TPWD, and funded by Texas A&M Press.  All proceeds from the book go to support the Texas Conservation Alliance, a group dedicated to preserving and protecting natural places in Texas, especially rivers, through education and personal engagement. 

Stephen lives in Flint with his wife Terry where they also attend church and Stephen is currently an ordained deacon. Parents, siblings, two children, and four grandchildren live nearby in Tyler, Jacksonville, and Forney. Terry is also an avid outdoor enthusiast and loves to hunt, fish, and kayak.  Their family now owns property in Cherokee and Houston counties; and you could say Stephen’s part time job is being his family’s full time hunting and fishing guide.