Carter Smith, a seventh-generation Texan and lifelong outdoorsman, began his career in 1992 as an intern with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Sixteen years later, he became the agency's executive director. Since then, he's dealt with a wide variety of issues, from hurricanes to nuisance wild burros in the Big Bend area. Before taking the post, he worked at the Nature Conservancy, where he became director of the Texas office.

Smith spoke to The Texas Tribune over the phone about the recent Devils River land acquisition, bighorn sheep, the threats posed by invasive species — and what the state ...

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