Despite being a subspecies of the Common Garter Snake, the Texas Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis annectens) is uncommon throughout its limited range (in central Texas) and was recently listed as imperiled. To understand the subspecies better and help conservation efforts, Texas Parks and Wildlife has awarded a $25,000 grant to John Placyk, assistant professor of biology at the University of Texas at Tyler, who will spend two years providing Texas Parks and Wildlife with “baseline data on its distribution, taxonomy and population biology.”