Passport to Texas

A tarantula visits Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Photo by Cecilia Nasti

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife is recruiting citizen experts to volunteer for biological inventory teams to monitor four species groups on private lands.

We’re wanting to put together teams of experts throughout the state to work within each wildlife district to monitor four groups of species: one for herps, one for plants, one for invertebrates and then, also, one for birds.

Biologist and program coordinator, Marsha May, says the data Biological Inventory Teams collect will become part of the Texas Natural Diversity Database.

That database includes information on rare species throughout the state—their locations—and that information is used by various entities. Well, that database has a lot of holes; we’re hoping to fill in a lot of those holes with information collected by these volunteers.

Anyone with expertise with the previously mentioned species groups may volunteer. Individuals will participate in an orientation, and may choose the counties they wish to work.

We would have a training to give them information on what is expected, what type of monitoring that would be required. The protocol involved each group of species.

Find complete details on volunteering for biological inventory teams on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website under Texas Nature Trackers.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.