Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Crawfish, crayfish, or crawdad to you…Procambarus clarki is actually just one of its kind.

If I say, “How many crawfish species from Texas can you name?” Most of the people only know one; and that’s the eating kind.

Despite its popularity at the boil, very little research on crawfish has existed…until now…Nathan Johnson is the enthusiast, activist, and coauthor behind a new field guide to Texas crawdads.

There’s about 40 species of crayfish in our state. Prairie Crawfish have never been described in literature outside of Collin County, TX. and wasn’t even discovered until, uh, the 90s when it was trapped in snake traps. They were doing a study of reptiles out in the prairie and these crawfish showed up, and they were like, “amazing!”

Raising awareness about the various species living in Texas, such as the Prairie Crawfish, and the unique niche they fill in our ecosystems; Johnson hopes that people will take more care to conserve them.

If you don’t know it exists, how do you know to be concerned? This book is a resource towards understanding crayfish, what habitats we might want to be concerned about, and which species we need to pay attention to because they’re so specialized or restricted in their range.

Learn more about Texas crawdads at passporttotexas.org

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas Crawdads
http://www.texascrawdads.com

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

Witness efforts to understand and protect the endangered Houston Toad this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. Producer, Abe Moore.

They used to be all the way from Houston to Bastrop, but now they’re just in little pockets. So, we went out with some biologists to try and find some Houston toads in some ponds.

[Frog calls] So, it’s the unicorn in the woods. I mean, this is the thing that no one can find, and yet, at the same time, this is an animal that makes three thousand eggs at a time.

What we found while we were doing the story was that the Houston Zoo is working with biologists by raising baby toads—little Houston toadlets.

Our role in the Houston Toad recovery plan is one of kind of last resort. We’re starting to form a captive assurance colony, basically, and that is a, uh, like a failsafe against the extinction of the Houston Toad in the wild.

While we were out there, I was amazed at how big these toads were. They were fat and happy.

Some are kind of larger than what you’d expect.[shakes container of crickets] We’ve probably got about three or four thousand crickets in this container right here. We go through in the moment about six thousand a week.

So that’s on Texas Parks and Wildlife television the first or second week of December.

Thanks, Abe. Better check your local listings.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You don’t have to be a birder to appreciate Resaca de la Palma State Park, north of Brownsville. Pablo De Yturbe is park superintendent.

We are part of the World Birding Center, so birds are important to us. But, not only that, when you get birds, you have butterflies, you have dragonflies, and five hundred and so different plant species, which some of them are very rare.

You also get a variety of mammals, reptiles and amphibians. The 12-hundred acre park is the largest tract of native habitat in the World Birding Center network.

It also offers viewing decks overlooking the resaca, thus affording visitors a bird’s eye view of wildlife that uses the wetland.

Experience it for yourself on Saturday, December 6, when Resaca de la Palma State Park celebrates its grand opening with Family Day.

Our aim is to have not only bird watchers and nature lovers, but the whole family come and spend the day at the park. We’re going to have different activities. We’re going to have vendors, food, interpretive tours, hawk shows, and the buffalo soldiers.

Entrance is free for the grand opening. Resaca de la Palma State Park is possible thanks to increased park funding provided last session by the Texas Legislature.

Find information about the park at passporttotexas.org. That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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

Dense Tamaulipan thorn scrub and other habitats make up Resaca de la Palma State Park, near Brownsville.

We have four different observation decks where they [visitors] can view the wildlife that uses the resaca. And each deck is a little bit different both in terms of the amount of sunlight that it gets during different times of the day, and also—to a degree—the vegetation that’s in that area where the resaca curves through it.

Katherine Miller is a natural resource specialist at the site. Once a dry riverbed, park staff flooded the resaca this summer, and control water levels to support a wide variety of wildlife, including more than 277 bird species.

It just amazes me how I can go outside in the park and walk around and find a new butterfly species that I’ve never seen here, or a bird species that’s just migrating in. Being able to get into all these different habitats and seeing the variety of birds, and knowing that we’re providing a place for them. I think that’s the most important thing—we’re doing something for the environment and protecting those species.

The 12-hundred acre park, part of the World Birding Center, is open for day use only. It has eight miles of trails in addition to the observation decks.

It’s mostly a park for people to get out and experience nature by walking or biking. We also will have a tram, and the tram will allow visitors into the park.

The Grand Opening celebration for Resaca de la Palma—details tomorrow.

That’s our show… with support form the Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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

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

We get about 20-dollars per plate. And, on average, we sell about ten thousand plates, and that generates around 200-thousand dollars a year.

Matt Wagner, program director for wildlife diversity, is talking about the horned lizard conservation license plate. The money it generates supports the projects of the wildlife action plan.

The wildlife action plan is a strategy for conserving non-game wildlife and fish.

Most wildlife in Texas is non-game and the wildlife action plan will help us to understand them better.

We’ve discovered that there’s quite a demand for our freshwater turtles in terms of their value as meat, being sold to other countries. And so we have a statewide study to look at our freshwater turtle populations. We also are putting money into the conservation of the horned lizard. We’re about the decline of the horned lizard in parts of our state. And, we have some genetic work going on, and some other population analysis going on in the state that will hopefully reveal some answers to some of those questions.

Funds also support work with landowners to restore native habitat. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife restoration program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program … For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife Action Plan, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download