Valgene "Val" W. Lehmann

Val Lehmann was born in Brenham and died in Kingsville. During his life, he was employed by the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at Texas A&M (1936-39) and the Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Commission (1939-44). In addition to working in academia and with the state, he served the King Ranch (1945-71), where he was one of the earlier wildlife biologists hired by a private ranch in the state.

During his career, Lehmann studied ecology and wildlife management in the Rio Grande Plain and Coastal Prairie of Texas. He is noted for his analysis of the Attwater’s prairie chicken, completing the first extensive survey of the bird in Texas in 1937, identifying threats from overhunting and habitat loss, and publishing the authoritative Attwater’s Prairie Chicken: Its Life History and Management in 1941. He is also well known for his books, Forgotten Legions: Sheep in the Rio Grande Plain of Texas (1969), and Bobwhites in the Rio Grande Plain of Texas (1984).

While Lehmann focused largely on wildlife management in Texas, it is striking to see how connected he was with researchers outside the state, including Aldo Leopold, the professor of wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin, and Herbert Stoddard, a trailblazing quail researcher with the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey.