Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Amphibian Watch wants to make sure Texas always has healthy populations of frogs and toads.

Texas Amphibian Watch is one of our citizen science programs. That means that we are involving everyday Texas citizens in gathering data. And in this case we’re looking at amphibians, a group of species that are in a lot of trouble worldwide.

Lee Ann Linam coordinates the Texas Amphibian Watch program. It’s easy to get involved.

People can pick up a packet of monitoring materials that we offer for free, and they can purchase a CD of frog and toad calls. It has nearly all the frogs and toads in Texas, to learn your frog and toad calls. And then you can actually choose your own place that you want to monitor, and go out and begin recording data.

With a state as big as Texas, the program only has eighty volunteers, and needs more.

East Texas is an area that’s very rich in frog and toad species, yet, we don’t have too many volunteers from that area. South Texas is a place where Texas has some very interesting species that we share with Mexico, and we’d like to keep better track of what’s going on with them. And then, you have to be in the right place at the right time, but we certainly need more volunteers from West Texas.

We have links where you can download monitoring forms at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

According to the Chinese horoscope, 2008 is the year of the rat. However, as far as the Association of Zoos and Aquaria is concerned, it’s the year of the frog.

That doesn’t appear on any zodiac calendars that you’ll look at. But it is a leap year. And so maybe it’s a good year for us to recognize what’s going on with amphibians around the world.

Lee Ann Linam coordinates the Texas Amphibian Watch program. According to a recent study, amphibian species are declining worldwide, with 122 species considered extinct.

And so, these zoos and aquaria are asking their bodies to get involved in terms of being ready to save some of these populations in zoos. And, we’re asking Texans to be involved by keeping an eye on what’s going on with amphibians around them, so that we’ll know if there are species that are in trouble, and if there are things that we should do to help before it gets to that point.

If you want to help amphibians, go to the zoo.

In this year of the frog, people might want to look at what their zoos are doing to create more awareness about amphibians. Many of them are actually fundraising so that a zoo can take on the captive breeding of some of these species that are about to disappear in the wild.

Help monitor the health of amphibians. Find out how at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Saltwater anglers with an eye toward improving coastal fisheries should know about the upcoming Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournaments to catch spotted sea trout.

We’ve got two tournaments coming up down south, over in the Rio Grande Valley area. One of them is going to be on April the fifth over on South Padre island, and will be taking place at Sea Ranch Marina. And then we have the second one on April the twelfth in Port Mansfield and that will be off the north boat ramp.

Robert Adami coordinates the free tournaments in which sixty total anglers catch fish and vie for prizes.

The tournament is absolutely free, but all participants must be 21 and up, because it’s sponsored by Anheuser Busch. At each of the tournaments, we’ll start registration at 6 a.m. We’ll start collecting fish from that point on; we’ll stop at 12-noon, and shortly after lunchtime I’ll be handing out the prizes.

Participating anglers donate their catch to a breeding program, where fisheries biologist will “mix up” the genetics.

You don’t want to have the same parents along with the same siblings year after year. The fish are going to be going back into the bay system that they came from, but you also want to be mixing up the genetics in the bay system as you go along. And that’s just a good practice for any hatchery.

Find information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

The Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournament is looking for a few good anglers.

We are getting together with the community, and we’re collecting fish for our hatchery program. So, these guys are out there catching fish, and they are vying for prizes.

Robert Adami coordinates the tournaments, which take On April 5, at Sea ranch Marina on South Padre Island, and on April 12, at the north boat ramp at Port Mansfield.

We do this so that we can continuously be bringing in new fish for our hatchery program. One of the reasons we do that is so that we can get some genetic diversity into our spawning biomass of fish that we have on hand. And we always want to mix up the genetics within our hatchery program.

Sixty people, on a first come first serve basis, will get to participate in the tournament to reel in spotted sea trout. I asked Adami why the hatchery wants only sea trout in spring.

One of the reasons is they have peak spawning in springtime. So, we want to try and collect as many new trout as we can and hopefully put them into the spawning biomass that we currently have—and they’re ready to get going.

You must be 21 or older to participate. Find a link to more information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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For more information, call Robert Adami, Robert Adami, (361) 939-8745

South Padre Island
April 5, 2008
Sea Ranch Marina

Port Mansfield
April 12, 2008
North Boat Ramp

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Most of us only know mussels—bivalve mollusks—from the grocery store seafood counter. What you may not know is Texas hosts more than fifty species of native freshwater mussels.

They can vary in shapes and sizes. Some of them are very small to, say, an inch or two. And some of them can be very large—nine or ten inches. And they can live anywhere from ten years to a hundred years, depending on the species.

Marsha May oversees the Texas Mussel Watch Program, a citizen science project that enlists people to monitor freshwater mussels, one of the most imperiled groups of organisms in the US.

They are very sensitive to changes in their environment, and many species of freshwater mussels can’t handle that change. We’re finding shells in those situations where the animals have died off.

Mussel Watch participants play a vital role in helping researchers understand these organisms. If you want to become a citizen scientist, you must attend a workshop.

We have a few workshops scheduled for the spring. One will be in Tyler, we’ll have another one in San Antonio, and we’ll have another one in Bastrop. And if folks are interested, they can go to our website to find out when these workshops occur.

Find links to Mussel Watch Workshops at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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April 12, 2008 — Old Sabine Bottom WMA — Texas Mussel Watch Train the Trainer Workshop — This workshop is sponsored by the East Texas Master Naturalist Chapter. SBEC and TEEAC credit available for teachers. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; fee $10, includes materials; preregistration required. To register and for more information, contact Irene Hamel at Irene.hamel@tpwd.state.tx.us or (903) 566-9394. (903) 566-1626.

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