Passport to Texas

Four newly hatched Kemp’s ridley sea turtles crawl on the beaches of Padre Island National Seashore as they are released into the wild.
NPS Photo.

Hard Work Pays off for the Kemp's Ridley Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Since 1970 Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles have been on the endangered species list. The NPS, TPW and other partners developed a plan to assist their recovery, including the creation of a secondary nesting site [the primary being in Mexico] at the Padre Island National Seashore [PINS].

The numbers are moving in the right direction, but we’re not up to the milestones that are outlined in the recovery plan to even down list the species to threatened, much less to get it off the list entirely.

Dr. Donna Shaver oversees sea turtle science and recovery at Padre Island National Seashore. Dr. Shaver says this year’s annual survey identified 352 nests—from Galveston down to Mexico.

We’ve had more found at PINS and more found in the state of Texas this year than in the last two years combined. So, we’re very excited about it.

Decades of conservation are paying off, or are we just getting better at finding sea the turtle nests?

We do think that we’re seeing an actual significant increase compared to when I started and only one nest would be found every two or three years. And now, here to find more than 300 in Texas during a year, is a big accomplishment for conservation and recovery of the species.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series, and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

A loggerhead turtle escapes from a trawl net equipped with a turtle excluder device (TED). Image courtesy of NOAA.

Ways we Protect the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Nature ebbs and flows. A good example is the critically endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle. Conservation groups implemented a recovery plan that facilitated exponential growth of the animal’s population.

The population modelers had predicted that exponential increase in the recovery plan would continue – but it did not. So, the expectations written in the plan are not exactly what the population has done.

Even so, Dr. Donna Shaver says the numbers are moving in the right direction. She oversees sea turtle science and recovery at Padre Island National Seashore. One thing that’s helped them is the mandatory turtle excluder devices used by shrimpers.

Turtle excluder devices were developed to shunt sea turtles out of the next while retaining shrimp in the shrimping net. And they’ve been very effective in doing that.

Seasonal area closures have also benefited the turtles.

Texas Parks and Wildlife instituted one when they revised their shrimp fishery management plan close to 20 years ago – taking into account, of course, the responsibilities to help manage the shrimping industry as well as endangered species.

Tomorrow: hard work pays off for the Kemp’s Ridley.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series, and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Donna Shaver, chief of the Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Program at Padre Island National Seashore, releases Kemp’s ridleys hatchlings onto the beach. Photo: New York Times.

The Making of an Endangered Species Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle is the world’s most critically endangered sea turtle.

And most nesting in the US by this species occurs in Texas.

Although a native nester in Texas, their primary nesting beach is in Mexico. Dr. Donna Shaver oversees sea turtle science and recovery at Padre Island National Seashore.

The National Park Service along with Texas Parks and Wildlife and other partners had been working since the 1970s to form a secondary nesting colony of endangered Kemp’s Ridley Turtles right here at Padre national Seashore.

They developed the secondary site as a safeguard against potential extinction and other catastrophes. Their population was nearly decimated in the 1940s.

The biggest threats over time – the largescale taking of the eggs from the nesting beach in Mexico. They were sold in markets as a supposed aphrodisiac. There was also loss of nesting turtles taken for food and then also the skin to make leather products. Then, though time, the loss of juveniles and adults incidental to fisheries operations; primarily shrimp trawling, but also some hook and line captures and other types of fisheries.

How we’ve protected Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles in Texas tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series, and funds diverse conservation projects throughout Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Music, food and fun — to support bison restoration.

Small Town, Big Fun -- Texas Bison Fest Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

On Saturday September 23 part of downtown Quitaque, Texas will be shut down…for the love of bison.

This is [for] the seventh annual Texas State Bison Music Festival.

Donald Beard is superintendent of Caprock Canyons State Park, home to the official state bison herd. The festival raises awareness and funds for continued restoration of the animals and their habitat.

This year’s event will be held in downtown Quitaque; the food and arts and crafts vendors will start at around nine o’clock. So, you can come do some shopping, buy some local goods, get some great food. We’ll have some historical reenactors so you can see what life was like in this area a couple of hundred years ago. Then, the music starts about three o’clock.

With five bands on the bill attendees will have plenty of opportunity for boot scooting. While the fun seems limitless, the tickets are not.

It’s actually a small festival by festival standards. We don’t want it to get real big. The max number of tickets we’re selling is 12-hundred. And, last year we had a thousand or so people. So, we’re getting to the point where we’re almost getting ready to start selling out.

Find complete details and ticket prices for the September 23rd Texas State Bison Music Festival at bisonfest.org.

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

Bison making plans to attend Bison Fest September 23.

Texas State Bison Music Fest Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Caprock Canyon State Park is home to the official state bison herd, comprised of descendants of the original southern plains bison that wandered the Great Plains.

We think we’re at about 150 [bison], plus this year’s calf crop, which should be about 30 or so.

Superintendent Donald Beard oversees this growing, free-roaming herd. Restoration efforts of the animals and their native habitat takes time and money. That’s where the Texas State Bison Music Festival comes in.

We were just looking for a fun fundraiser, and we decided that this would be pretty fun. And by all means it is. This year we’re headlining it with the Randy Rogers Band. But we also have Mark Powell, Zach Wilkerson, Sarah Hobbs, and Kevin Deal. It’s a street dance; we close off part of the town. The festival is held in the town of Quitiquae. We have all kinds of live music. Food vendors. Arts and crafts – and all day fun on a Saturday. This year it’s going to be September 23rd.

Proceeds from The Texas State Bison Music Festival on September 23, go directly to bison research and habitat restoration at Caprock Canyons SP. Find compete details and ticket prices at bisonfest.com.

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