Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Ocelots once roamed throughout Texas, Mexico, and into Arkansas and Louisiana. Jody Mays says today, only a few survive in the thick brush and shelters of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

As far as we know, there less than 100 ocelots left in the United States. The ocelot’s range has disappeared, and now they only occur in the southern most tip of Texas, and that’s the only place in the whole United States that they occur.

Mays is a Wildlife Biologist at Laguna Atascosa Natural Wildlife Refuge. She explains reasons for the population decline.

Usually with an endangered species, you have multiple impacts that they get hit with. For the ocelot, the biggest one was the habitat loss. Some estimates say that over 95% of the native habitat in Texas has been altered. A lot of the thick habitats have been cleared for agriculture, and for development, and for other purposes. Another associated impact with that is habitat fragmentation, and that’s where, you say, have one large piece of thick habitat that gets cut up into smaller pieces that are farther and farther apart. Loss of genetic diversity is another big issue, and that’s as a result of this habitat loss and fragmentation.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping 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

Since 1981, Operation Game Thief has been protecting Texas’ natural resources with the help of a nature-loving public that calls in with tips about law-breakers.

When our game wardens respond, and they can catch the individual, and make the arrest by citation—or physically take them to jail—upon their conviction, that individual can be eligible for a reward payment of us to one thousand dollars.

Eric Howard, Operation Game Thief program administrator, says most people who call the Crime Stoppers-like hotline aren’t interested in a reward.

It’s more just pride—love of Texas’ natural resources. When a person calls in, they’re asked, do they want a reward. About 60-65% will say no, they’re just calling in because they see something that they know isn’t right and they just want it stopped.

Game Warden Howard tells us about an incident this fall in which a man captured two hawks in Laredo and transported them to North Carolina. The case was still unfolding at the time of our interview.

Someone contacted the Operation Game Thief hotline number, and a Game Warden responded through a very lengthy investigation—not only through Texas Parks and Wildlife—but the USFWS, and NC Fish and game Service. It was determined that the person did not have a license, was not permitted to have the hawks and was not any kind of falconer.

And that made the trapping and transport illegal. Learn more about Operation Game Thief, and find the hotline number on the Texas parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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From the Operation Game Thief Website:

Poachers are stealing from you! Help stop to illegal hunting and fishing in Texas. If you have information which will assist game wardens in apprehending persons who are violating the hunting and fishing regulations of this state, Operation Game Thief needs your help!

Call immediately! Dial toll-free, 1-800-792-GAME (4263), any time, day or night and provide the following information to the Texas Parks and Wildlife police communications officer:

• the nature of the violation
• the location of the violation
• the name and/or description of the violator
• a description of any vehicle or boat involved in the violation
• any other important information which will assist in apprehending the violator

If you wish to remain anonymous, a code number will be assigned to you. You do not have to give your name if you do not want to. The more information you can provide at the earliest opportunity will increase the probability of and arrest and conviction.

Report illegal hunting and fishing – call 1-800-792-GAME (4263).
“This information will not be used for any purpose other than to attempt to apprehend the offender being reported.”

“If this violation is currently in progress,
please call 800 792-4263 (GAME) immediately.”

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This is Passport to Texas

[Houston toad trill]

You’ll only hear that sound in a small area of Texas.

Like Gauss, or Bastrop, or places that a lot of people haven’t heard of, but those people that know them, that’s what they think of as home.

A home they share with the endangered Houston Toad… an amphibian that doesn’t have a voice when it comes to how humans alter their shared habitat… alteration of habitat is what put the toad in peril.

Mike Forstner is a biology professor at Texas State University, and for nearly two decades he’s worked to keep the toads from fading into oblivion…starting with habitat recovery. Today, with partners including the Houston Zoo, they’re raising toads—called head-starting—to supplement existing populations.

Head-starting is the last stand. It’s when your back’s to the wall, and you’ve got nowhere else to go. An ideal situation would have been that we recovered the habitat and that the populations became reinforced because we recovered the habitat. But we got caught—it stopped raining. And as soon as it stopped raining, we ran right out of room for natural recovery.

Unnatural recovery is better than no recovery at all. Tomorrow we attend a release of head-started toads in Bastrop County.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

When the wind blows, its leaves shimmer, and in the spring, its beautiful white flowers bloom. It was this beauty that inspired J. David Bamberger to save the endangered Texas Snowbell.

Bamberger owns 55 hundred acres in Blanco County and is an avid conservationist. But one of his greatest success stories is the Texas Snowbell. In 1987, state officials estimated there were 87 Snowbells in Texas. Since then, Bamberger’s team has planted and maintained 682 more.

I spent five years going door to door, well ranch to ranch out in Edwards County, Real County, Val Verde County. And it took me five years to gain access to a ranch to look for the plant.

Once he did, Bamberger began collecting the seeds from the plants he found and replanting them on the ranches. But even with all his success, Bamberger says the Texas Snowbell will likely always be endangered.

Now the scientists are saying that they won’t be delisted until we have 10,000 plants. That’s never going to happen, never ever going to happen. I think they need to reassess that number because before we came along the reintroductions were basically zero.

Bamberger continues to monitor Texas Snowbells and conduct research at his ranch, keeping the Texas Snowbell alive and well.

That’s our show…With research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program, or RIP, protects endangered and threatened species in the Edwards Aquifer.

Many of these species are no more than an inch long. The Comal springs riffle beetle is even smaller…only two millimeters long.

But Parks and Wildlife water resources branch chief, Cindy Loeffler, says preserving the species is crucial to the ecosystem.

These are, you know, you’ve heard the cliché canary in the coal mine. If we want to truly protect natural resources, fish and wildlife, these unique ecosystems. These species are indicators of the health of those ecosystems.

Loeffler also says if the program protects the identified species, it will most likely save many more in the process.

We have some species that there’s very little known about. And these are in a way the tip of the iceberg of the threatened and endangered species that are found associated with the Edwards Aquifer. There are many more species that are not listed that are found no where else.

Many of these species are found no where else in the world…like the San Marcos blind salamander and Texas wild rice. And pumping water from the Edwards Aquifer alters the habitat, putting these species in an unstable environment.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. Discover how you can help at passporttotexas.org. For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Endagnered Species: R.I.P. Play Now | Play in Popup | Download