With the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s updated Great Texas Wildlife Trail driving maps, traveling on the wild side of Texas just got a whole lot easier. New maps and an interactive website mean there are even more opportunities to discover the best of Texas wildlife, including birds, butterflies, bats and more.

There are nine wildlife trails that invite nature lovers to visit different regions of Texas to view native wildlife. Highway signs mark more than 960 viewing sites, and the website and updated print maps include GPS coordinates to make it easy for travelers to find some of the best spots to view wildlife. The maps also list contact information, entry fees and operating hours for certain attractions along the trails.

The Heart of Texas West and Heart of Texas East driving guides are the most recently updated trail maps in the network. Other trails are: Far West Texas, Upper Texas Coast, Central Texas Coast, Lower Texas Coast, Panhandle Plains, Prairies and Pineywoods West and Prairies and Pineywoods East. Each trail includes several smaller trail loops, making for easy driving trips throughout Texas.

TPWD is holding two public events to officially launch the new maps and interactive website. The first event is 10 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 at the Patsy Glenn Refuge in Wimberley. At the refuge, which lies along the new Wimberley Loop of the Heart of Texas East trail, TPWD and local officials will unveil the updated driving guide for the Heart of Texas East Trail.

The second event, from 1 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, is hosted by the Ozona Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, which is in the Heart of Texas West trail. At the Chamber of Commerce, guests will have the opportunity to preview different attractions they can find along the trail, including the Texas Camel Corps, Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area, Caverns of Sonora, Twistflower Ranch and Crockett County Museum. This event is free and open to the public.

To view maps of all nine Great Texas Wildlife Trails or to purchase a printed map, visit http://tpwd.texas.gov/wildlifetrails.

The new wildlife maps were made possible in part from the support of a number of sponsors, including Toyota, The Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation and the Wildlife Diversity Conservation License Plate Program.