There’s new brass at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Austin headquarters.
Veteran wildlife biologist Alan Cain was recently selected as the new wildlife division director for the state agency. Cain, 53, replaces John Silovsky, who retired from the department last fall following a 10-year tenure.
Cain should be a good fit for a job that positions him to direct about 360 employees and oversee management efforts aimed at a wide variety of small and big game species ranging from cat squirrels to bighorn sheep.
The Texas native has been with the department since 2000. He worked his way up through the ranks during a 24-year career that started when he hired on as a private lands biologist in Fort Bend County. That position eventually led to a district leader slot in South Texas before Cain took over as whitetailed deer program leader in 2010. He transitioned to big game program director in 2023.
Cain called his most recent promotion an “an absolute honor” that is sure to come with a host of inherent challenges like dealing with chronic wasting disease policies, ongoing land fragmentation, population growth and water availability in addition to important issues linked to the sound management of fragile bighorn sheep and mountain lion populations.
“I’m excited and I’m up for it,” Cain said. “It’s an awesome job, but it also comes with a wealth of responsibility in providing direction and guidance aimed at dealing with all of the issues facing wildlife in the state of Texas now and down the road,” Cain added. “Those are huge responsibilities. It scares me a little bit, because I don’t want to let people down.”
An avid hunter himself, Cain’s love for the outdoors has deep roots in North Texas, where he grew up hunting and fishing in the Weatherford area.
“I’m just a small town guy who grew up hunting on a small lease in Stephens County,” he said. “I spent a lot my time as a kid running the Clear Fork of the Trinity River below Lake Weatherford, catching crawdads and perch and trapping raccoons, fox and everything else. To go from that to where I’m at now is pretty overwhelming. This is the last thing I ever thought I’d ever be doing.”
Cain says private landowners are the common denominator in his focus for the future. One of his main priorities is staying connected with the private sector and establishing good working relationships that are everlasting.
“As an agency, we have to come to the table and work with landowners, he said. “We have to try to find reasonable solutions to make things work and help them. We’ve got to keep those gates open so we can provide education, outreach or technical guidance to help them manage their land. It doesn’t matter if someone has five acres or 500,000 acres. We’ve got to build a meaningful relationships with landowners and maintain them. We’ve correspondence with the public. He can be reached by email alan. [email protected] or 512-389-8012.
