Preserving South Texas Birds

Environmental leadership is a key component of Devon’s environmental, health and safety philosophy.

During 2001, twenty-four Houston employees and family members participated in two volunteer workdays on Sundown Island Bird Sanctuary near Port O’Connor, Texas, enhancing the environment and bird community. There volunteers spent the day building and sealing two new fresh water ponds, planting bird habitats around the ponds, setting water pipes to the ponds, building a tractor shed and cleaning up the shores that surround the island. Along with volunteer efforts, Devon makes contributions to the sanctuary, which helped purchase a windmill and piping to bring fresh water into the ponds.

More than 1,200 pair of brown pelicans, which are currently on the endangered species list, call Sundown Island home. Half of Texas’ entire brown pelican population lives on the island before migrating south for the winter.

Sundown Island is a critical link to the successful return of the brown pelican, which may soon be removed from the endangered species list.