Nueces County/Salty Ags

Muster Speaker:

LARRY MCKINNEY, PH.D. - Fighting Aggie Class of '71

Executive Director of Harte Research Institute (HRI) for Gulf of Mexico Studies

Dr. Larry McKinney came to HRI from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) where he retired after 23 years of service. Larry played a leading role in the formation of the Resource Protection Division at TPWD, a program mandated by the Texas legislature as part of the sunset review of the mid-1980s. The division quickly grew in capabilities and reputation for taking on difficult and controversial environmental issues like endangered species conservation, water resource development and habitat loss throughout the state of Texas. McKinney finished his career at TPWD as Director of Coastal Fisheries and helped further that program's national reputation as the best of its kind anywhere. McKinney is a native of west Texas and was born and raised outside of the small town of Coahoma on a farm which has been in in the family for more than 113 years.