Passport to Texas

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

The majority of species in Texas are non-game, and the recently completed Wildlife Action Plan is for them.

Well, the wildlife action plan is really a strategy for conserving non-game wildlife—wildlife and fish.

Matt Wagner, program director for wildlife diversity, says the action plan will help prioritize the needs among non-game species.

It took experts over about two years to compile those needs and priorities within each species group so that we can manage those species through the long term.

We have dedicated funding for game animals, but funding for the management and conservation of non-game species, and their habitat, has been scant, at best. The Wildlife Action Plan changes that.

Now that the plan has been complete, there are grants that are associated with the grant that come from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. And so, Texas Parks and Wildlife gets about 3-million dollars a year. We want to take that money and it has to be matched with non-federal dollars. So, we offer it to our private partners in terms of universities and others that want to apply for grants to help address those priorities in that plan.

Find a link to a summary of the plan at our website, 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, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

When a coyote visits your neighborhood, don’t put out the welcome mat.

If the coyotes are coming into a residential area, and you see one, first off – try to scare it.

Brett Johnson is an urban wildlife biologist in Dallas County.

They’re not these frightening animals that are out to hurt you. So, if you see one, yell at it and either hit it with water from a water hose, or the other option is to throw something in its general direction. Be it a small stick, in some cases if you have to, even a small rock. Not something that’s going to hurt the animal…but just something where that animal feels a physical contact in addition to your yelling.

After creating this negative association with humans, try and figure out why they’re attracted to the neighborhood.

If they’re coming through a neighborhood and they’ve decided to stay there, usually that means they’ve found an abundant food source of some variety. And in an urban area, that usually means they’re going after pet food. So, there, the simple thing is, we have to change some of our human behavior and not leave a constant source of pet food outside all the time.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Urban Coyotes, 2 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

You know the story: rural land inhabited by wildlife, developed for suburban life, receives unwelcome visitation by the previous tenants.

We can coexist with the wildlife in the urban areas, but to do so – in many cases – we need a change of attitude.

Brett Johnson is an urban wildlife biologist in Dallas County; he educates communities about wildlife — especially coyotes – that occasionally visit the hood.

People tend to have one of two reactions when they see a coyote. And those two reactions are, either they are afraid and back away from it, and basically allow the coyote to continue doing whatever it’s doing at that time. Or, they get all excited and want to see how close they can get to it.

Neither reaction is suitable when developing an appropriate human / coyote relationship, says Johnson.

Either one of those two reactions are going to cause the coyote to become more and more comfortable around humans.

Once these animals lose their fear of humans, they can become a nuisance. Tomorrow: dealing with coyotes.

If the coyotes are coming into a residential area, and you see one, first off – try to scare it.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Urban Coyotes, 1 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Wildlife needs habitat to survive, but developments have encroached on their turf. Homeowners can assist wildlife by creating oases of habitat around their homes called wildscapes.

A wildscape is simply a backyard landscape that takes into consideration the needs of wildlife. So it will provide food, shelter and water for various forms of wildlife, with a minimum of fifty percent native plants.

Marks Klym coordinates the Texas Wildscapes program. He says using native plants in a wildscape serves a two-fold purpose.

Native plants are the plants that the wildlife are accustomed to using in the wild. So, that’s going to be what they’re looking for when they’re moving through the area, as well as the fact that a lot of our native plants are becoming rarer and rarer in the wild. And we don’t want to encourage their loss by using the exotics.

Many commonly used landscape plants are exotic and invasive.

An invasive plant for a biologist is something that will escape your garden, survive for a minimum of one year, and when it gets out in the wild, it has a tendency to reproduce in a way that discourages everything else. It may have a chemical that it puts into the soil to discourage other plants, or it may simply be that it grows in such a tight formation that it chokes out everything else under it.

Find Wildscaping information at passporttotexas.org.

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

What is a Wildscape? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Until recently, I did not know hummingbirds ate insects.

Well, if you think about it, an animal that’s swinging it’s arms at 72 times a second, needs something to rebuild those muscles that it’s exercising in there. And, without protein, they’re not going to build muscle.

So, if you find insects, such as bees, snacking at your hummingbird feeder, Mark Klym says, don’t panic.

People get all excited when bees get around their hummingbird feeder. And, bees are a great food for hummingbirds. I’ve watched them take bees out of the air.

Klym coordinates the Texas Hummingbird Roundup, a citizen science project where folks like you help biologists take stock of hummers.

We ask people to have a look out in the backyard once a week, about fifteen, twenty minutes a week, and give us a count of what birds [hummingbirds] you’re seeing out there. How many? What Species? What are they using? And then, if you see anything unusual—you find a nest, you see mating behavior—we ask you to record it and let us know about it. Once a year we have these forms sent back in and right now we’re reviewing the data from the 2007 season.

Download an information packet about the roundup, and find out where you can purchase a hummingbird identification wheel at passporttotexas.org.

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

Hummingbird Roundup Play Now | Play in Popup | Download