Passport to Texas

Houston Toads: Surviving Wildfires Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and thousands of acres of habitat were significantly altered last month when catastrophic wildfires raged through Bastrop County, including Bastrop State Park—a stronghold of the endangered Houston Toad. Biologists are just beginning to quantify impacts on habitat from the blaze.

13—The fire will have taken most of the arthropods on the surface. In some areas it will have been ground sterilizing, removing the duff and the other community layers that the foodstuffs for juvenile toads and adults rely on.

Professor Mike Forstner, from Texas State University, studies the toads, and focuses on ecological restoration, habitat recovery, surveys, and genetics research.

The toad’s habitat is significantly changed. How much so? Researchers may not know the full impact for months. Meantime, Forstner says a break in the drought could benefit the toad and its home, and yet with rain a new problem may arise.

10—Those same beneficial rains will result in runoff of the mud, ash and silt into the breeding ponds that will negatively impact breeding success next spring.

The toads are down, but don’t count them out just yet. There’s a plan, and we tell you about it tomorrow.

Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Prescription Fire Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Given the devastation produced by wildfires this year, it may be difficult to grasp the vital role fire plays in land management. Nature’s been using it for eons with great success.

David Riskind, director of natural resources for state parks, says there’s a difference between a fire burning out of control, and the prescription burns biologists recommend to landowners.

Controlled burning is a term that people use that you start at part A, and you burn until you get to part B. Professional land managers use the term prescribed fire because you have specific objectives, you have specific outcomes, you burn under very specific conditions. And so a prescription is a planning document… you lay everything out ahead of time and you then implement it with very specific objectives in mind.

Riskind says the objectives set forth in prescribed burns vary from property to property.

There can be a whole series of objectives. From very simple things like fuel load reduction. You can have specific habitat objectives…to change the vegetation structure and composition to support waterfowl, or to support antelope, or lesser prairie chickens…or Houston toads for that matter.

Houston toad habitat took a big hit from wildfires last month. Learn more on tomorrow’s show.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Turbines and Bats Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Although a popular source of renewable energy, wind turbines are responsible for tens of thousands of bat deaths annually. Sometimes the animals fly into the structures or, because of the rapid pressure drop that occurs as air flows over the turbine blades, bats’ lungs become…let’s just say… damaged.

Ed Arnett, a conservation scientist at Bat Conservation International and coordinator of the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative, says he expects an increase in bat fatalities.

7.0—I do believe the threats to threatened and endangered species will increase as we enter into the range of those creatures.

As bats hunt for insects during low-wind periods, turning off the turbines during these times may save the animals.

11—By reducing the amount of operating hours during those low wind periods we reduce the fatalities of bats at least half and up to as high as 87 percent of the fatalities can be reduced.

Other solutions under development include white noise emitted from the turbine to possibly keep the bats away altogether.

12—Bat Conservation International certainly supports the development of renewable energy resources. But we want to do that wisely. And we don’t want to develop at the expense of today’s resources for tomorrow’s hopes.

Ultimately, Arnett says, animals need to be taken into consideration as we develop renewable energy.

That’s our show… with support from the SFWR Program, funded by your purchase of hunting and fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Southern Plains Bison Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Almost lost to extinction, a small herd of southern plains bison—the state’s official herd—roams 300 acres at Caprock Canyon State Park in the Texas Panhandle.

04—This herd was started back in the 1870s by Charles Goodnight.

Park Superintendent Donald Beard says Goodnight, a legendary Texas cattle rancher, brought bison to Palo Duro—after his wife Mary Ann expressed concern about the number of animals being slaughtered.

08—They are probably the last true example of the great Southern Plains Bison. This is how they were when the roamed freely.

Superintendent Beard says the herd has unique genetic markers not found in other bison, which is just one reason to preserve their lineage.

15—Strictly for science, it’s a very important herd. Not only that, but the history behind this herd is amazing. This is one of the five foundation herds that bought bison back from the brink of extinction in the late 1800s.

And not just in Texas.

09—Charles Goodnight made a deal with the National Park Service, and sent some bulls to Yellowstone. So this herd here helped bring the Yellowstone herd back up as well.

Soon, the official herd of Texas will be a step closer to roaming wild. That’s tomorrow.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

SFX [Houston toad call]

The Houston toad makes that sound, and it’s become a rare sound over the past two decades. Years of drought and habitat destruction have diminished the Houston toad population to only a few hundred.

Michael Forstner is a professor at Texas State University.

Through the Texas parks and Wildlife Landowner Incentive Program (LIP), he’s worked with private landowners in Bastrop County to restore habitat for the Houston toad.

10—Most of the people in Bastrop want to live in Bastrop County because it looks a certain way. And if it keeps looking like the lost pines, we keep the toad.

So what do these “lost pines” look like?

21—Imagine a cathedral forest. Most of the habitat that we find Houston toads doing the best in, whatever that means for its current levels, are gallery forests. Those are the forests that you see in the images for computer desktop wallpapers. Those are large-trunked trees with open space beneath them.

By planting the fast-growing loblolly pine trees, a habitat can be restored in about twenty years.

So if current efforts are successful, Forstner says the Houston toad population could make a comeback.

07—The best thing about the Houston toad is they make 6,000 eggs at a time. Those babies just need a place to grow up.

Find more information on endangered species, including the Houston Toad, on the Texas Parks And Wildlife website.

The sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hanging With Houston Toads Play Now | Play in Popup | Download