Passport to Texas

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Houston Toad Tadpoles, Image by Earl Nottingham, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Recent drought and wildfires could have spelled the end for the endangered Houston Toad, which exists in and around Bastrop State Park. 05—A few months after the wildfire in Bastrop County, our surveys documented very few toads during that first breeding season. This had wildlife biologists like Greg Creacy worried about the status of the remaining population. But a recent survey found more breeding toads than they had a right to expect after such devastation. 11— It’s puzzling, and we’re continuing to do research with collaborators like Texas State University. And we’re learning more about the species with every passing year, and we hope to have answers to those questions soon. Using a “head start” program Creacy harvested egg strands from breeding areas – post fire – raised them to tadpole stage, then released them where they were found. While it gives them a higher survival rate… 27—We have noticed that the toads that we have found since the wildfire, typically do not weigh as much as they usually do. The eggs that they’re laying are smaller. So it appears that physiologically they’re not as in good health as they normally are. But you have hope that over time this will change? Yes. They’ve gone through a very difficult time with the drought and the subsequent wildfire, but we are optimistic things will be improving soon. That’s our show. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program 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.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Houston Toad Tadpoles, Image by Earl Nottingham, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Drought and wildfires were the latest crises faced by the endangered Houston Toad, populations of which exist in only a few counties east of Austin; most are found in and around Bastrop State Park. 16— The wildfire came through in September, at a time of year where the Houston Toad was actually buried underground. So the Houston Toad did not suffer direct impacts from the wildfire. The biggest challenge was the habitat change that occurred due to the wildfire. Greg Creacy, a wildlife biologist for TPW, says the habitat is markedly different now than it was pre-fire; it remains to be seen how the Houston Toad will adapt to those changes. 20— We had a few thousand – estimates range from three to five thousand – just five years ago. The drought negatively impacted that species in a big way. And so, the numbers had been declining, and we are significantly lower than that now but we are continuing to do surveys to refine our estimates. A recent survey turned up findings that have Creacy feeling cautiously optimistic. 12— This past breeding season, which just ended in March 2013, we documented many more individuals than we had documented the previous year, which really gives us some hope for the future of that species. Tomorrow: toad health and recovery strategies. The Wildlife and Sport Fish 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.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"]Image from June issue Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Summer officially arrives later this month. And if fishing is on your to-do list, Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series Producer Don Cash says, a segment on this week’s show highlights angling opportunities along the Texas coast. 58 –I’m pretty sure that the fishing along the Texas coast is pretty good all year round, but summertime is when people seem to really think about going fishing. And this story focuses on a couple of different ways to do it. One of those ways is to take a charter boat out. The great thing about that is you’re surrounded by water -- no land anywhere in sight – and you don’t really know what you’re going to catch sometimes. You never know what’s going to come up on the end of your hook; you can specifically fish for a certain type of fish, but Lord, there might be a hundred pound grouper, when you’re fishing for that two pound snapper. So, there’s a lot of excitement there. One thing you see in this story is the people fishing are having a really good time. Whoa! That’s a red snapper [laughs]. What I hope happens with this story is people will watch it and they’ll say ‘Wow. That looks like fun.’ If you can’t do a charter boat, you can always do wade fishing; you can go fish on the pier. There are all kinds of ways to go fishing on the coast, and all of them are a lot of fun. Thanks, Don. Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Free Fishing in State Parks[/caption] This is Passport to Texas June 3rd through 9th is National Fishing and Boating week. The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation -- or RBFF –promotes this week as a way to increase participation in recreational angling and boating. The non-profit hopes that by improving public awareness citizens will protect, conserve, and restore this nation's aquatic natural resources. Research indicates people who engage the out of doors safeguard it. One way RBFF does this is by promoting Free Fishing Day on the first Saturday of June. Most states allow people with or without a license to fish for free in their state’s waters on that one day. In Texas, we fish free every day when casting a line in a water body inside a Texas state park. That’s why we didn’t make a fuss about Free Fishing Day this year. The ability to fish free 365 days a year in state parks, without needing a fishing license, is yet another benefit of living in Texas. Having said that, you must follow size and bag limits, and when it’s trout stocking time, you will need a trout stamp to reel in the rainbows. Some parks even offer tackle loaner programs, so if you don’t have gear, no problem. Whether you catch and release, or bring fish home for dinner, make plans to go to an inland or coastal state park and cast a line during National Fishing and Boating week or any week…because you fish free in state parks. That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase boating and fishing opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Red Drum[/caption] This is Passport to Texas After years of monitoring, data collection and analysis, the TPW Commission upheld a Legislative directive, and in 1981 banned commercial fishing of red drum/redfish in Texas waters; something known today as The Redfish Wars. 15- You think of the term ‘wars.’ This was really a conflict between what we were finding in our bays regarding the red drum populations, and what the commercial fishermen traditionally did. It was their livelihood. Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, says commercial fishermen criticized the agency’s method of random sampling, saying it set nets where redfish were sparse. 19-If we sampled in areas where there always were found fish, it would take us a longer time to detect a change – either positive or negative -- when you’re always able to catch fish. When you do it randomly around a bay system, you have a much better way of detecting a change. Although Texas Parks and Wildlife was sued over redfish regulations, the strength of the science won the case. In the thirty years since the ban, redfish populations have rebounded, and are more robust than ever. The ban, stocking programs, size and bag limits placed on sport anglers, have helped. Since then, the relationship with commercial anglers has also improved. 04- We do have a much better relationship than during the wartime. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series…and funds the operations and management of fish hatcheries in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Red Drum[/caption] This is Passport to Texas It’s illegal to commercially fish red drum, or redfish, in Texas. In the 1970s, during routine monitoring of bays, biologists discovered a serious decline in the number of the species caught by commercial fishermen. 06- So, we started looking into it very carefully, and started implementing bag and size limits on these animals. Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, says the new restrictions were just the beginning of a lengthy and involved process to help increase populations of the species. 12-The legislature actually required us to establish quotas on commercial fishing. And we were allowed to modify those quotas depending on the amount of fish that were being caught on a day-by-day basis. Most commercial anglers cooperated with Texas Parks and Wildlife by reporting the redfish caught in their nets…. 26-Annecdotally, we had heard that red drum being landed and sold to fish wholesalers were actually reported as another species. What that did, is that showed fewer and fewer redfish were being caught in a particular bay. And that impacted the formula that we used to establish the quotas. So, the fewer and fewer fish that they got, the next year the fewer and fewer fish they were allowed to catch. This marked the beginning of what would become known as The Redfish Wars; we’ll have more tomorrow. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series…and funds the operations and management of fish hatcheries in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Bolivar Peninsula after Ike 2008, Image from http://www.srh.noaa.gov[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Texas lost 8-thousand acres of submerged oyster habitat when Hurricane Ike blew into the gulf in 2008. Some reefs will restore naturally; other will receive some help. 24- We are trying to accelerate that that recovery effort by putting some the materials down to allow new oysters to settle on. We also worked closely with the commercial industry and got them involved in pulling their dredges up with bags off of them across some of these reefs that were marginally covered up, and to pull the shell back to the surface to provide that substrate for young oysters to attach to and start growing. Lance Robinson from coastal fisheries wrote the story. Ike pushed saltwater and debris 15-20 miles inland, which decimated saltmarsh habitat – habitat that’s a marine nursery for sport and commercial species. Restoration work is ongoing. 12—And it took several weeks just for heavy equipment to get into the marshes to remove the mountains of debris before we could get in and assess what the other impacts were. And at that point it was just gut-wrenching. As bad as the damage after Ike, Robinsons says it could have been worse. 13—…both from a human impact and a natural resource impact had the storm tracked a little bit farther to the north. It would have brought the eye farther into the bay, and we would have seen a much more devastating impact. Lance Robinson’s story about the “Hidden Damage of Ike” appears in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Image from National Weather Service[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Few will forget the images from 2008 of the devastation to Galveston Island by Hurricane Ike. An article in the June 20-13 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine details the damage from Ike we did not see. 06- The article focuses on the losses of some of the invaluable habitat associated with Galveston Bay. Including submerged oyster habitat. Lance Robinson from coastal fisheries wrote the piece. The hurricane deposited sediment on top of 8-thousand acres of oyster reefs in Galveston Bay. That’s nearly half of the consolidated oyster habitat within the system. 24—That is a huge loss of a valuable resource. Not only from the commercial fishing aspect to it, but for the ecosystem services that they provide that a lot of people don’t really recognize or really see. Such as: water filtration, providing habitat for other fish and crabs and other organisms that are associated with structures. Sort of like an oasis in a desert. A single adult oyster filters water at a rate of about 50 gallons a day, improving ecosystem water quality. 10—The wastewater treatment plants within Houston filter the same amount of water as a hundred and thirty acres of oyster reef; we lost 8-thousand acres of those reefs. Restoring the reefs; that’s tomorrow. Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]National Trails Day in Texas State Parks © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Clear your schedule on Saturday, June 1, because it’s National Trails Day, and our state park guide, Bryan Frazier, says guided hikes await you at your state parks. 51 – We’ll have dozens of parks that are offering a hike on national Trails Day – it’s a Saturday. And you can get a hike that’s led by a park ranger, or a trained volunteer, or a Master Naturalist. And you can find out the story that that park has to tell. The history, the wildlife, the wildflowers and other plants and all the things that make that park unique and interesting. You’ll get the whole story. And you can take a leisurely hike: there will be hikes on boardwalks, hikes into the mountains, hikes on Hill Country trails and near rives; there will be all kinds of places to go in Texas on National Trails Day. So, check our website: texasstateparks.org; there’s a Trails Day link right there. You can find out all about it. So we want to encourage people….we always want to encourage people…to get outside and see that. And this is an even better reason. Thanks, Bryan. Find outdoor adventures at texasstateparks.org. That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Black Bear image by Alan Vernon[/caption] This is Passport to Texas The Louisiana Black bear is long gone from East Texas, although, small populations exist in its home state. Black bears we might see in NE Texas likely come from Oklahoma and Arkansas. 10- And they are not Louisiana bears. Bears in Oklahoma and Arkansas are probably the sub species Americana or just the plain American Black Bear. But they’re welcome in Texas just the same, says Dave Holdermann, a wildlife diversity biologist in Tyler. TPW’s management goal is to manage natural re-colonization of the species in NE Texas. 15— And one of the things that we’re doing to support that approach is we monitor black bear sightings – mostly coming in from the public. And we monitor those very closely, and scour them very well, to be sure they are legitimate sightings. Holdermann encourages the public to contact the wildlife division with black bear sightings at any of its regional offices. 27 — We look for and ask early in the interview [with the person], whether or not they have physical or photographic evidence. Beyond that, we look at details of the observation; how close was the person? What exactly did they see? How many bears were there? Give us the locality as close as you can. By the way, it wouldn’t necessarily have to be a photo of the bear. We might use hair as evidence, or a track. Find more information about reporting your black bear sighting at passporttotexas.org: Call Dave Holderman with your black bear sighting at 903-566-1626 (ext. 209) For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Louisiana black bear cub, image courtesy www.edf.org[/caption] This is Passport to Texas By 1900, Louisiana black bear were as good as gone from East Texas. 15- About that time, or in the late 1800s, as East Texas became more and more settled, black bears were essentially killed out by unregulated hunting and the expansion of farms, towns, cities, roads, etc. Dave Holdermann is a wildlife diversity biologist working out of Tyler, who keeps track of this federally threatened species. 11— Today we see a few bears venturing out of neighboring states back into Texas, but we have no indication that there’s a breeding population of black bears in East Texas. The bears entering Texas from neighboring states are likely the sub species Americana or American Black Bear. Parks and Wildlife will carefully monitor and manage natural colonization of the species in East Texas. 22— If bears come into this region – most likely from Arkansas or Oklahoma – we’re going to monitor that process and attempt to deal with any problems that might arise between bears and people. But, we would not intercede, necessarily, to eliminate those bears. So, we would allow that natural colonization process. How you can help biologists keep track of black bears in Texas – that’s tomorrow. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Image courtesy of http://blue.utb.edu/jasonproject/photos.html[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Cut off from gulf waters, Bahia Grande, a unit of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, changed from productive tidal wetland to nuisance dust bowl. The tide started to turn for this basin with the new millennium. 13 - It was not until 2000 when the Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the land surrounding the Bahia Grande Basin that you could start doing something—because the Fish and Wildlife Service was very supportive of restoring the area. John Wallace Deputy Project Leader South Texas Refuge Complex says the process of re-hydrating Bahia Grande continues. 13 - Restoring ten thousand acres takes quite awhile. We have had to go through an environmental assessment—public hearings—to just make sure what we were planning to do in restoring it was not going to cause some kind of impact. Wallace says when fully restored, humans and wildlife will benefit. 21 - Besides just reducing the blowing dust, it’s going to increase the number of marine organisms in the area: anything from larval fin fish, to shrimp, to blue crabs that are already in the area. And when we have it fully restored it’s going to do nothing more than become a nice estuarine area to benefit wildlife. The Wildlife and Sport fish Restoration Program supports our series and provides funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Bahia grande Map, Texas A&M Corpus Christi[/caption] This is Passport to Texas Bahia Grande, the largest tidal wetland restoration project in the state of Texas, is getting closer to completion. 10 - A tidal wetland is normally a coastal wetland that is influenced by the daily tide cycle that would basically push or pull water into that system on a daily basis. John Wallace, Deputy Project Leader South Texas Refuge Complex, says construction of the Brownsville Ship Channel in the 1930s effectively cut off Bahia Grande from the gulf. 09 - The spoil from that ship channel was piled on the north side, and it blocked off those natural channels that allowed water to flow into the Bahia Grande. Without water, the basin dried up, and eventually became a nuisance to local residents and businesses whenever prevailing winds came from the southeast. 26 - Normally on a coastal area with prevailing winds, you would get winds ten to twenty miles an hour every day. And these winds would pick up that real fine clay dust, and blow it to the north and northwest. And the local communities north of there were suffering from this blowing dust. It was impacting people that had breathing problems. The local schools, their air-conditioning systems, it was getting into the classrooms. So, it was a major concern for the local communities. Solving the problem…that’s tomorrow. The Wildlife & Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and provides funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="440"]Outdoor family fun[/caption] This is Passport to Texas How will kids occupy themselves now that school’s out? Our state park guide, Bryan Frazier has a few ideas. 57 –Kids have had the calendar for a long time; school is out for summer vacation. And to your point: what do you do? Where do you take them? Where are safe places that are family oriented? Where are places that are reasonably priced? Where can they go frequently? What can we do so that they’re just not watching TV and playing video games? Think about a state park. I would recommend getting a state park pass, and you’ve got the summer covered, whether that’s swimming, hiking, biking, or fishing. It’s an unlimited amount of outdoor recreation, education, something just as simple as a leisurely hike near a creek in a state park, or something that’s planned as a family get together or a weekend. We have the spectrum of outdoor recreation experiences. This summer can be action packed with lots of different things in a state park. Thanks, Bryan. Find outdoor adventures at texasstateparks.org. That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Image courtesy TPWD[/caption] This is Passport to Texas If you plan on operating a boat this summer—or any time—get to know items important to keep on board for safety while underway. 13—You should have a sound producing device, and you should have a life jacket for person that’s on board. If you’re boating at night, you should have the proper lights—that are working—and we suggest a first aid kit. Tim Spice, manager of boater education for Parks and Wildlife, says anyone born on or after September 1, 1993 is required to take boater education. 21—We cover lots of different things, including safety aspects of boating; the different types of vessel you may have; the rules of the road; the required equipment. Again, everyone on board a vessel needs to have a lifejacket that’s accessible. We define what accessible means by law so that you don’t get in trouble when you’re on the water and a game warden stops to give you a boating safety check. In addition, filing a float plan that tells folks on shore where you’ll be and when you plan to return will be vital if an emergency occurs while you’re on the water. Operating a boat has a different set of rules than driving a vehicle. 10—There’s no lines on the road; there’s no speed limits, per se. There are different signs and things you have to look out for that are very different than you would in your car. By taking a boating safety course—which you can do online or in a classroom setting—you’ll learn what those rules. The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and works to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.