Passport to Texas

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

Anglers the world over know they can reel in really big bass in Texas.

We have more big bass caught in Texas than anywhere I know of. I’m talking about anywhere in the United States or anywhere in the world.

David Campbell coordinates a bass spawning program at Parks and Wildlife, called the Toyota Sharelunker program.

I know there’s been some bigger fish caught in California, Florida—but it’s the numbers of big fish. And the anglers can go to almost any reservoir in the state of Texas and have the potential of catching a thirteen pound plus large-mouth bass. I don’t think that Anyone else can come close to that.

Now through April, anglers that reel in largemouth bass weighing 13-pounds or more are encouraged to donate them to the Toyota ShareLunker program. The donated bass enter into a spawning program, with the hope of creating bigger bass—maybe even a world record.

We had somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarter of a million fry from the sharelunkers through the years. We’ve had some years we didn’t have any spawn. Then some years we might have five, six or seven spawn.

That’s a whole lot of potential. Find information about the Toyota Sharelunker program when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

That’s our show for today…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…providing funding for the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Toyota Sharelunker Program Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The lesser prairie chicken isn’t endangered, but its getting close. Heather Whitlaw is a wildlife diversity specialist for Texas Parks and Wildlife in the Texas panhandle.

She says, last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services increased the priority of the lesser prairie chicken as a candidate for becoming an endangered species. Since 1998, the lesser prairie chicken has been a number 8 priority.

Then in December, 2008, the Fish and Wildlife Service looked at all the new things going on in prairie chicken range and made the decision that they needed to move that number up to a 2, which indicates to all of us in prairie chicken conservation that we’re very close to a listing.

Whitlaw says some of the new threats in lesser prairie chicken habitat include wind turbines and oil and gas developments.

A nesting lesser prairie chicken, female specifically, perceives a tall structure or a big group of tall structures like wind turbines on the landscape as a threat, maybe something they perceive as where they’re predators might perch.

But as they are slowly pushed off the prairies, the chickens have nowhere else to go.

And because all lesser prairie chickens currently live on private land, researchers are continuing to work with land owners to keep this species from becoming endangered.

That’s our show, made possible with a grant from the Wildlife Program…working to restore wildlife habitat in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Lesser Prairie Chicken Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

After water sampling turned up high levels of E. coli bacteria in streams south of Austin, the Plum Creek Watershed Partnership was created to restore water quality.

Soon after, they developed a Web site to track feral hogs, which are one of the main sources of the E. coli.

Depending on environmental conditions, times of the year, and where you are, what we have preliminarily in some of the feedback is that they might be to upper third or half of the bacteria problem in some areas.

Matt Berg is the Plum Creek Watershed coordinator. He says drought makes the situation even worse.

Especially in these dry times, those hogs are going to be hanging right next to the stream and having a lot easier time of depositing their fecal matter right into that stream and increasing the bacteria count.

The newly developed Web site allows landowners or the general public to report the date and type of damage from the feral hogs. It even has an interactive map where residents can identify the location of the hogs. This way, officials know where to direct hog management efforts.

Berg says the Web site is one of many tools that will be necessary to successfully manage feral hogs.

This is just one piece of that puzzle and I think as we go through time, as more of those pieces will fall into place, we might be able to make a dent in those populations.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Technology Tracks Feral Hogs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

In January and February and March there were nightly reports of homes that were being affected by the hogs with severe damage.

Willy Conrad, manager for Austin Water’s Wildland Conservation division, says in dry months, feral hogs come into neighborhoods to search for food. This is a growing trend around the state, and feral hogs now cause about fifty-two million dollars in damage annually.

In response, Austin has implemented a feral hog management system. By dialing 311, residents can contact city officials. Texas Wildlife Services will then investigate the damages and locate and trap the hogs in nearby wildlands. Conrad says when it comes to removing wild animals, that’s best left to the professionals.

If you’ve got a hog in a trap, you’ve got a caged wild animal. And we’re afraid that even if that animal is just there for a couple of hours in that cage that it poses a threat to curious people that want to come see the hog and see what happens.

Conrad says cities that don’t have hog problems still need to prepare.

Biologists with Texas Parks and Wildlife and A&M will tell you there’s only two kinds of places in Texas right now: those that have hogs and those that are going to have hogs. I think that other cities need to understand the scope of the problem they’re dealing with and come up with a solution because it’s only going to get worse.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing & hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hog Calling: Reporting Feral Hogs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish adn Wildlife Restoration Program

Babe: Pig in the City is a cute movie, but when real feral pigs move into town, it is anything but charming.

Richard Heilbrun, a TPWD urban wildlife biologist, says San Antonio is one of many cities facing this problem.

San Antonio has two series of loops. And they’ll go inside Loop 1604 probably up to about Loop 410. So you could say about half way in. They’re not going to go into the heavily urban areas, but they will follow those creeks and rivers as far as they can go while finding food.

Feral hogs cost the state about fifty-three million dollars each year in damage. But a San Antonio city ordinance prohibits the trapping or killing of feral hogs on public property.

Now the hogs can be trapped on private property. But, once trapped, they cannot be killed within city limits because of the law prohibiting the discharge of firearms. And there’s currently no city wildlife service that can take care of the hogs.

But Mike Bodenchuk, state director of USDA Wildlife Services, says his department has been working with San Antonio officials to develop a plan.

I suspect that there will be an institutionalized program with Wildlife Services within a year or so. The demand for that program is growing. I think the city leaders have heard it and it’s just a matter of getting it done at the right levels.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…supports our program, and is funded by your purchase of fishing & hunting equipment and motorboat fuel…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Pigs in the City: Feral Hogs in Urban Settings Play Now | Play in Popup | Download