Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science program whereby Texans monitor species that biologists don’t commonly scrutinize.

05—So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species and we need to know what’s going on.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program, which includes monitoring amphibians and freshwater mussels.

13—Many of these species are indicators of the health of our environment. And if we have a healthy frog population [for example] in a body of water within our community, then that’s a clean body of water.

Sound interesting? Consider attending the training on May 19 & 20 at Lake Livingston State Park, in Livingston in East Texas.

17—We’re actually doing a combination. Where, on one evening, we will do amphibian watch, because the best time to hear frog calls are at night. And then the following day—during the daytime—we’ll do mussel watch. So, people can either do both workshops, or they can do one or the other.

Complete this training and earn a scientific permit to handle either amphibians or mussels.

15—After that, they pick a site where they want to monitor, and they monitor on a regular basis, and then send us the data. If they need information, or if they need support, we are always there for them.

Find workshop details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Some non-game animal species are rare, and require monitoring—which Parks and Wildlife accomplishes via the Texas Nature Trackers program.

08—Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science monitoring program getting Texans involved in monitoring rare species throughout the state.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program. She says for some species, volunteers just download forms and information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and get started.

22—But the others….we hold workshops. And so, with amphibian watch, we’ll hold a workshop and teach citizens how to identify frogs and toads by their calls. It’s a lot of fun. And then we also hold workshops for mussel watch, to get out there and learn about all the various mussel species that we have throughout the state, and how to monitor them and identify them.

Without the data collected by Nature Trackers volunteers, parks and Wildlife would know only a fraction of what it does about some of these creatures.

17—These are species that aren’t normally monitored by our biologists throughout the state. So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species. And so, citizens can help us so we’ll know whether or not their populations are decreasing or declining, or what’s going on with them.

Find information on Nature Trackers, and upcoming workshops on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Texas Parks and Wildlife is lucky to have a large group of active, enthusiastic volunteers.

15—Our volunteers tell us that they volunteer because they support Texas Parks and Wildlife’s mission, which is to manage and conserve our natural and cultural resources. There are lots of things to do all over the state, because we are a state agency…and being outdoors is fun!

Former Education and Outreach director for Texas Parks and Wildlife, Ernie Gammage says if you ever thought about volunteering for the agency, now is the time.

10—Volunteers have always been an integral part of the programming of Texas parks and Wildlife. And, with what’s going on right now with the state, they’re becoming even more important.

To find volunteer opportunities, go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and at the top, you’ll see a link that says “get involved.” Click that, and you’re on your way.

And if you need a little encouragement to get you started, take it from Ernie Gammage:

06—You know, the outdoors is just about the greatest place in the world to be, and it’s the cure for what ails you.

Again, you can find volunteer opportunities on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. Just click on the get involved link.

That’s our show for today… we produce our series at Block House studios in Austin, Texas, and Joel Block engineers our program….for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

April was National Volunteer Month; it was an occasion to recognize those who donate their time for the betterment of, well, everything—including Texas Parks and Wildlife.

12—Some of the programs at Texas Parks and Wildlife wouldn’t exist without volunteers. In fact, in 2010, the benefit of volunteers to Texas Parks and Wildlife was estimated at a value of almost $17 million dollars.

At the time we spoke, Ernie Gammage was Education and Outreach director for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He has since retired.

33—Because the opportunities are so varied, people can find something that is rewarding regardless of what it is, whether it’s a one day event helping to teach a kid how to fish, or the angler education program where you sign on as a volunteer for as long as you’re willing to do it, and may teach hundreds of people how to fish. Or, maybe it’s a program that last something months like a Nature Tracker program—counting horny toads or something. Or, perhaps it’s a commitment to be a hunter education volunteer, or a Master Naturalist that is a lifelong commitment—can be. So there’s something for everybody.

To find volunteer opportunities, go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and at the top, you’ll see a link that says “get involved.” Click that, and you’re on your way.

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

Texas Amphibian Watch wants to make sure Texas always has healthy populations of frogs and toads.

Texas Amphibian Watch is one of our citizen science programs. That means that we are involving everyday Texas citizens in gathering data. And in this case we’re looking at amphibians, a group of species that are in a lot of trouble worldwide.

Lee Ann Linam coordinates the Texas Amphibian Watch program. It’s easy to get involved.

People can pick up a packet of monitoring materials that we offer for free, and they can purchase a CD of frog and toad calls. It has nearly all the frogs and toads in Texas, to learn your frog and toad calls. And then you can actually choose your own place that you want to monitor, and go out and begin recording data.

With a state as big as Texas, the program only has eighty volunteers, and needs more.

East Texas is an area that’s very rich in frog and toad species, yet, we don’t have too many volunteers from that area. South Texas is a place where Texas has some very interesting species that we share with Mexico, and we’d like to keep better track of what’s going on with them. And then, you have to be in the right place at the right time, but we certainly need more volunteers from West Texas.

We have links where you can download monitoring forms at passporttotexas.org.

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

Most of us only know mussels—bivalve mollusks—from the grocery store seafood counter. What you may not know is Texas hosts more than fifty species of native freshwater mussels.

They can vary in shapes and sizes. Some of them are very small to, say, an inch or two. And some of them can be very large—nine or ten inches. And they can live anywhere from ten years to a hundred years, depending on the species.

Marsha May oversees the Texas Mussel Watch Program, a citizen science project that enlists people to monitor freshwater mussels, one of the most imperiled groups of organisms in the US.

They are very sensitive to changes in their environment, and many species of freshwater mussels can’t handle that change. We’re finding shells in those situations where the animals have died off.

Mussel Watch participants play a vital role in helping researchers understand these organisms. If you want to become a citizen scientist, you must attend a workshop.

We have a few workshops scheduled for the spring. One will be in Tyler, we’ll have another one in San Antonio, and we’ll have another one in Bastrop. And if folks are interested, they can go to our website to find out when these workshops occur.

Find links to Mussel Watch Workshops at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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April 12, 2008 — Old Sabine Bottom WMA — Texas Mussel Watch Train the Trainer Workshop — This workshop is sponsored by the East Texas Master Naturalist Chapter. SBEC and TEEAC credit available for teachers. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; fee $10, includes materials; preregistration required. To register and for more information, contact Irene Hamel at Irene.hamel@tpwd.state.tx.us or (903) 566-9394. (903) 566-1626.

It may interest you to learn that…

Freshwater musselsare the most imperiled group of organism in North America.

Marsha May oversees the Texas Mussel Watch Program for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

We have fifty-two, fifty-three species of freshwater mussels in Texas, and they live in our freshwater streams and lakes and ponds, and even in stock ponds and tanks. And they have
been in Texas for thousands and thousands of years. And they’re just amazing creatures. They clean the systems. They’re nature’s bio-filters, and a very important part of the ecosystem.

Texas Mussels Watch is an ongoing citizen science project that needs your help.

We want to get citizens involved in monitoring their populations throughout the state, because there’s been very little monitoring being done. And, they are a very important organism. To get involved a citizen would have to have to go through training, because you have to have a permit in order to even handle a shell of a freshwater mussel. So, we supply workshops where we train individuals on how to monitor them and how to be very careful with them. And, we really just want to know where they are, and how many there are out there.

Find links to Mussel Watch Workshops at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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April 12, 2008 — Old Sabine Bottom WMA — Texas Mussel Watch Train the Trainer Workshop — This workshop is sponsored by the East Texas Master Naturalist Chapter. SBEC and TEEAC credit available for teachers. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; fee $10, includes materials; preregistration required. To register and for more information, contact Irene Hamel at Irene.hamel@tpwd.state.tx.us or (903) 566-9394. (903) 566-1626.

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.

Amphibians are good indicator species because they live on land and in water during their lifecycle.

Amphibians, because of their very lifestyle, you can imagine are sensitive to a lot of changes in our environment. They’re kind of canaries in the coal mine.

Lee Ann Linam coordinates the Texas Amphibian Watch program. Because of their land/water lifestyle and semi permeable skin, amphibians experience the best and worst of both worlds.

They’re affected by habitat loss, by broader changes in the world around them. Things like climate change that may shift rainfall patterns. Or, they’re sensitive to UV radiation, so those kinds of changes can affect them. They’re sensitive to environmental contaminants that can be absorbed through their skin. So, you can see that they’re kind of a good picture of the overall ecosystem health.

If that’s the case, humans better pay attention.

A recent assessment by an international group of scientists showed that somewhere between one-third and one-half of all the six thousand amphibian species in the world are in trouble. One hundred and twenty-two of them are already extinct as far as we know. And so this is a rate of extinction that perhaps is unprecedented in this period of time.

Help monitor the health of amphibians. Find out how at passporttotexas.org.

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

Looking to catch some waves this winter?

The rule of thumb in Texas is, the farther South you go, the nicer the water is and the bigger the waves are.

Rick Thomsen is the chapter chair of the Central Texas Chapter of Surfrider, an environmental organization that raises awareness about ocean related issues through its members’ passion for surfing. We caught up with him in October at Texas Parks and Wildlife EXPO.

We’re always concerned about clean water, so we’re interested in our watersheds. But one of the bigger issues in Texas is access to our beaches because we have some of the highest erosion rates in the United States. So what happens, if there’s irresponsible development and houses are too close to the beach and then the beaches erode – a lot of house s end up actually on the beach and then we have an access issue.

Access is a major concern for Surfrider’s surfer and non-surfer members alike. Luckily…

Texas has one of the strongest beach access laws on the books. It’s the Texas Open Beaches Act. Everybody has access from the low tide line to the mean high tide line and then we actually have an easement up into the grass line.

For more information on beach access and on the SurfRider organization, visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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SurfRider, http://www.surfrider.org/default.aspx