Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered species found in the East Texas Piney Woods region.

Ricky Maxey, a wildlife diversity biologist for TPWD, says the red-cockaded woodpecker is unique because it’s the only woodpecker that makes its home in live pine trees.

It is a keystone representative of the upland pine savannah, so it’s a really fascinating specialized bird.

Because of demands for timber and an increasing urban landscape, there are fewer mature pine savannah forests. And it’s because the woodpeckers are so specialized that they can’t adapt to the changing habitat.

It does not adapt to loss of its habitat because it occupies a very specialized niche. That’s one of the primary reasons why this bird became rare to the point that it had to be listed under the endangered species act.

Maxey says, right now, the woodpeckers have a stable population thanks to forest conservation efforts by TPWD and the U.S. and Texas Forest Services among others. But even private landowners can do their part by creating suitable habitat for the woodpeckers.

If you’re a landowner, you can produce habitat for this species. We’ll be glad to work with any landowner to provide management recommendations to do just that.

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

Red-cockaded Woodpecker 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