Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science program whereby Texans monitor species that biologists don’t commonly scrutinize.

05—So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species and we need to know what’s going on.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program, which includes monitoring amphibians and freshwater mussels.

13—Many of these species are indicators of the health of our environment. And if we have a healthy frog population [for example] in a body of water within our community, then that’s a clean body of water.

Sound interesting? Consider attending the training on May 19 & 20 at Lake Livingston State Park, in Livingston in East Texas.

17—We’re actually doing a combination. Where, on one evening, we will do amphibian watch, because the best time to hear frog calls are at night. And then the following day—during the daytime—we’ll do mussel watch. So, people can either do both workshops, or they can do one or the other.

Complete this training and earn a scientific permit to handle either amphibians or mussels.

15—After that, they pick a site where they want to monitor, and they monitor on a regular basis, and then send us the data. If they need information, or if they need support, we are always there for them.

Find workshop details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Some non-game animal species are rare, and require monitoring—which Parks and Wildlife accomplishes via the Texas Nature Trackers program.

08—Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science monitoring program getting Texans involved in monitoring rare species throughout the state.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program. She says for some species, volunteers just download forms and information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and get started.

22—But the others….we hold workshops. And so, with amphibian watch, we’ll hold a workshop and teach citizens how to identify frogs and toads by their calls. It’s a lot of fun. And then we also hold workshops for mussel watch, to get out there and learn about all the various mussel species that we have throughout the state, and how to monitor them and identify them.

Without the data collected by Nature Trackers volunteers, parks and Wildlife would know only a fraction of what it does about some of these creatures.

17—These are species that aren’t normally monitored by our biologists throughout the state. So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species. And so, citizens can help us so we’ll know whether or not their populations are decreasing or declining, or what’s going on with them.

Find information on Nature Trackers, and upcoming workshops on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

So, there’s the beetles…and there’s some egg sacks in there.

That’s Mike Janis, a natural resource specialist at the Matador WMA in the Texas Panhandle, opening a container of salt cedar leaf beetles from the USDA, hoping they will multiply and devour troublesome salt cedar trees—a water-thirsty non-native that’s overtaken about half of a million acres in Texas.

The salt cedar was introduced to the U.S. in 19th century to control riverbank erosion. But, Chip Ruthven, leader of the project, says the cedars became a problem in themselves.

It forms dense thickets and out-competes native plants, which are generally highly beneficial to wildlife from a food and a cover standpoint. Then they’re also heavy water users as well.

Jerry Michels is a research professor at the Texas AgriLife Extension. His team has been trying to establish a beetle population in the panhandle near Meredith Lake.

We’re hoping, we’re optimistic that this summer might be the year that they really explode up here.

Researchers don’t expect problems with beetles destroying other plant communities because they’re picky eaters. They only eat salt cedars. The beetles seem to be a cheap, effective tool to keep salt cedars in check, but Michels says beetles alone won’t terminate the trees.

I think that salt cedar control if it is going to be effective is going to have to be a combination of different techniques.

Such as herbicides and bulldozing. That’s our show…we receive support from the WR Program…funding habitat restoration in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

An ecological concern along the Rio Grande doesn’t stop midway across the river. It may impact both sides of the border equally. Enter Salt Cedar, an invasive exotic tree that overwhelms native plant species on both sides of the river; and both countries want it gone.

18—This is obviously a bi-national effort, with the conservation organizations in Mexico, as well as the Department of the Interior, TPWD, Sul Ross State University, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Rio Grande Institute. In addition to being bi-national there are many partners involved.

Mark Lockwood, natural resources coordinator for state parks in far West Texas, says the biggest challenge is pulling together the manpower needed to accomplish their objectives. Mexico has a head start dealing with the issue, and has trained personnel to assist as needed.

20—These projects have been going on in Mexico for the last couple of years in the protected areas. So these people are also trained in the types of actions that are needed in the control of these plants. Some it involves herbicide use and some of it just is simply removing the trees. So they are quite familiar with the types of strategies we’re going to be using in these projects.

In addition the plan involves re-vegetating the area with native species such as cottonwoods and desert willows.

Tomorrow—salt cedar eradication in the Panhandle.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

How far would you travel to ensure the future of your favorite exotic aquarium fish?

06—We had some folks telling us that they would go as far as 50 miles to find an appropriate body of water.

You may think releasing your pet fish into Texas waters, when you can no longer care for it, is humane. Yet these exotic aquarium species disrupt natural ecosystems and out-compete native fish for resources.

Priscilla Weeks is a senior research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center. Her team is using a TPWD grant to research why people release their fish into Texas waters.

14—I think there might be a stereotype where folks think that it is easy, emotionally, just to release a fish. But actually what we’re finding is folks are very attached to their pets.

Weeks says research shows whether a person gets rid of their fish depends on personal preference.

17—What we’re finding so far, but this is very preliminary, is that different individuals prefer different attributes of a fish. So it’s not necessarily that it grows too big in my tank because I may like a big fish.

…but if you don’t like big fish, you could have a problem. So what do you do?

Weeks says some people think releasing a fish is the only option, but, among the alternatives would be to euthanize the animal, and the less drastic—taking it back to the pet store.

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

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