Thomas Tomkinson "Tom" Waddell

Mr. Waddell grew up in the Eagle Lake area, and served as a state warden from 1925 through 1957, enforcing game laws, educating the public, and promoting habitat stewardship across Colorado, Lavaca, Austin, and Wharton Counties. In 1965, with aid from Waddell’s negotiations, the Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund acquired roughly 3500 acres in Colorado County from the Duncan and Wintermann families to help preserve a coastal prairie remnant and home of the fast-dwindling Attwater’s prairie chicken. In roughly 1966, Waddell was hired as a caretaker to manage and develop these lands relying on his records and censuses, and his collaboration with researchers such as Val Lehmann. By 1972, the sanctuary had become the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, eventually growing to over 10,000 acres and becoming the site of extensive prairie restoration and prairie chicken reintroduction efforts.