Introduction and Purpose
Additional Monitoring Efforts in Texas
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- Critical Components to Monitoring
- Current Priority Habitats
- Citizen Science in Monitoring (Defenders of Wildlife/Illahee)
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Additional Monitoring Efforts in Texas Coastal bays and estuaries are monitored monthly (depending on need) and trend data is used to determine whether there are any critical needs within these areas. The methods that are currently employed have been successful and do not need to be amended at this time. State reservoirs are also being monitored, with much of the effort focused on sportfish. However, additional data are collected that provide information on aquatic plant life, nongame species, and exotic species that may affect native flora or fauna. Additional monitoring data are also collected on selected streams and rivers. It is important that aquatic nongame species receive and utilize additional monitoring efforts and that TPWD put an emphasis on particular waterways and species that are of immediate interest. The major nongame bird monitoring in Texas occurs as part of Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center), Christmas Bird Counts (CBC, National Audubon Society) and the Colonial Waterbird Surveys (Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Texas General Land Office and Texas Colonial Waterbird Society). There are several other species-specific monitoring efforts underway in the state as well as several game surveys. While bird species are well represented in monitoring efforts, upgrades to the current monitoring systems should be adopted to increase the usefulness of the data. The first alteration would be that all bird monitoring data be stored in a centralized database hosted by the United States Geological Survey in Patuxent, Maryland. TPWD currently collects data through the above mentioned surveys as well as point counts conducted on TPWD-owned Wildlife Management Areas. All of this information must be used at the national level to determine trends in bird populations. Two additional needs must also be met for bird monitoring: additional points need to be added to the current breeding bird surveys and those points need to be staffed by trained personnel or volunteers. The Texas nongame avian biologists should decide on how many additional points are needed and appropriate locations of those points. Mammal and herptile populations are currently under-represented in Texas monitoring efforts. Once the Texas biological survey is underway, wildlife biologists will begin to understand these populations better. Using the biological survey points, both mammals and herptiles can be monitored to determine population health. Current invertebrate monitoring efforts in Texas generally focus on cave-dwelling species. TPWD needs to create opportunities for better understanding of all invertebrates in Texas and should start with those high priority species listed in this strategy. It is impossible to gain knowledge quickly in terms of terrestrial invertebrates because of the sheer volume of species that exist. TPWD must use the biological survey as an opportunity to establish a base of knowledge of invertebrate taxonomy, populations and life history. Critical Components to Monitoring Texas has not had a complete biological inventory since 1905, when Vernon Bailey and his fellow surveyors scoured the state collecting data on animals and plants for the United State Bureau of Biological Survey. The resulting publication is the Biological Survey of Texas and was published 100 years ago this year. It is important to establish this document as the precursor to an updated monitoring program. Without a continuation of the inventory it will be impossible to monitor temporal fluctuations of populations and attempt to correlate those fluctuations with variables. Continuation of a Texas biological survey will allow for better adaptive management efforts of Texas’ wildlife and habitats. We have made tremendous biological and technological strides since the completion of the 1905 Texas Biological Survey and many more tools are at the disposal of Texas biological agencies and organizations. Each of these groups is using this new technology for the betterment of Texas conservation and it is imperative that we work together to avoid duplication of efforts. Surveying and monitoring species of plants and animals is a way that TPWD can partner with other organizations to ensure quality data, cover more of the landscape, and spread already limited resources over a greater part of the state. Prior to conducting survey efforts, it is important that available technology, in the form of database and spatial analyses and mapping software, are used to generate vegetative cover maps of the state. This priority was also analyzed in the priority conservation actions with a high priority being put on the ground truthing of those data and maps that are developed. Once map data from habitats and ecoregions have been ground-truthed, the new biological inventory can begin. The inventory will be imperative to determining the priorities for Texas’ future species conservation efforts. Currently, we are limited in our ability to prioritize. The survey methodology we are employing is useful based on our current level of knowledge but will be less adequate once new inventory and survey data are available. TPWD must take this into consideration and update established survey methods once the inventory results are analyzed. Current Priority Habitats The 2005 Land and Water Resources Conservation and Recreation Plan (Land and Water Conservation Plan) established priority ecoregions within Texas as the scale at which would be most appropriate for the making future decisions. In order to begin looking at a finer scale for on-the-ground management it is imperative that TPWD create priorities within these Tiered ecoregions. High priority ecoregions or Tier 1 ecoregions consist of the Blackland Prairies, Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes, and South Texas Plains. Within the Blackland Prairies the most important issue is the rate of conversion of native grasslands into crops or urban development. There are approximately 5,000 acres of remnant prairies left in this ecoregion. All other habitats in this region are also in decline, making the entire ecoregion a high priority for management and monitoring. Restoration is critical for the survival of this ecoregion. The Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes ecoregion has many conservation efforts underway with the coastal marshes and barrier islands being relatively well conserved. However, it is the inland prairies and coastal woodlands that are of greater concern. As in the Blackland Prairies, the coastal prairies are heavily converted for use as agricultural land and development to commercial or residential building. Population growth along the coast is high creating greatly fragmented lands and causing increased pressure on the coastal prairies. Both the High Plains (Tier II) and the Rolling Plains (Tier III) have lost and are losing native grasslands to cropland conversion and other agricultural use. Much of the land has been converted for use as cropland with some of that land now being enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Of all of the habitat types associated with the ecoregions of Texas, native prairie and grassland habitats were listed as one of two high priority habitats within the Land and Water Conservation Plan. Relatively little native habitat still remains here. However, there is still some potential for recovering a percentage of these areas and monitoring these areas for success in the future. The terrestrial inventory process that TPWD employs will be based on priorities that have been laid out in the Land and Water Conservation Plan. The broad, ecoregion-based variables used to derive these priorities are useful and will assist in decision making until such time as new data are available. Based on habitat information found within the Conservation Status, Threats, Rare Plants and Communities, and Rare Animals sections (under the Priority Ecoregions for Conservation Efforts section of the Land and Water Conservation Plan), priority habitats were extracted and will be used for making decisions on future inventory and monitoring programs. Citizen Science in Monitoring (Defenders of Wildlife/Illahee) The role of citizen science in habitat monitoring is evolving. Properly trained citizens not only reduce the cost of data collection and ground-truthing, but they can also become engaged supporters of fish and wildlife conservation. As the eminent ecologist Gordon Orians has observed, many citizen scientists may have more detailed and intimate knowledge of a particular landscape than professional biologists who may not spend as much time in the field. On the other hand, citizen scientists can present a challenging variable for the resource manager because they fall outside of the usual within-organization structure, may not be well-versed in established survey techniques, and must be trained and potentially tested to ensure that they provide reliable information (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/LabPrograms/CitSci/). Despite these challenges, some of the most successful monitoring programs, such as the Christmas Bird Counts, are carried out by citizen scientists. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department must use citizen science in order to meet the goals of this strategy. Currently, the Education and Outreach branch of the Science, Research and Diversity Program in the Wildlife Division are utilizing Texans’ observations to collect data on many different species. A major source of volunteers is the Master Naturalist program. Developed originally by Urban Biologists in San Antonio, the program has now expanded to every corner of Texas and is continuing to grow as a national organization. The Texas Master Naturalists™ offers interested citizens intense training on a variety of wildlife and habitat topics and asks for volunteer service in return. Through specialized training courses, the Master Naturalists take data on certain animal or plant species and provide those data to TPWD for analysis, distribution, and storage. TPWD must take advantage of this resource and continue to incorporate these Texans into our monitoring programs. They are valuable and trainable and can provide a large volume of data that could then be incorporated into the Natural Diversity Database. It will be at the discretion of the wildlife biologist in the state to decide which projects are most in need of this support and the onus is then on those biologists to sufficiently train and introduce quality control measures to ensure the validity of those data. For more information on the Texas Master Naturalist program, see http://masternaturalist.tamu.edu/. Working closely with the Texas Master Naturalists, the Texas Nature Tracker program (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) is a citizen science monitoring effort designed to involve volunteers of all ages and interest levels in gathering scientific data on species of concern in Texas through experiential learning. The goal of the program is to enable long-term conservation of these species and appreciation among Texas citizens. The Texas Nature Tracker program enables citizens to participate in gathering data on a variety of species and habitats, including box turtles, monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, prairie birds, monarch butterfly habitat, freshwater mussels, amphibians, horned lizards, and Swallow-tailed Kites. For more information on the Texas Nature Tracker program, see http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/education/tracker/. Directory: business -> grants -> wildlife -> cwcs -> media -> docs business -> Before the ofice of the secretary u. S. Department of transportation washington, dc business -> Stanley d. Smith contact information business -> Lowe’s Company History from Marketline Advantage business -> Basics: Management Skills for Marketers business -> Going global oddities of globalism business -> Commuter rail operating agreement business -> Prime mover drain cleaning equipment vehicle docs -> Cross Timbers and Prairies Ecoregion Associated Maps docs -> Introduction and Purpose docs -> - Download 3.65 Mb. Share with your friends:
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