Tx Parks And Wildlife
Texas Parks & Wildlife seeks public input as it revises wildlife action plan
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for online public input as it revises its six-year-old Texas Wildlife Action Plan, now called the Texas Conservation Action Plan.
According to a press release, the new plan was developed by TPWD to encourage land owners, natural resource professionals and the public to preserve the state’s natural heritage.
TPWD put together a survey to get the public’s input “to help hone state priorities for primarily non-game wildlife conservation,” the release stated, as they drafted the new plan.
The idea for an online survey came from Wendy Connally, the department’s TCAP Coordinator. The survey is just five questions long and allows state residents to tell TPWD which regions they feel conservation is needed and what issues affect conservation in their selected area.
“The plan is only as good as the people who read it, care about it, and do something with it,” said Connally. “The survey will help us find better ways to communicate with Texans to make a difference for species and habitats in need.”
According to the release, the TCAP provides a road map for management and recovery projects, as well as restoration and research addressing wildlife species of greatest conservation need.
The plan seeks to proactively improve the status of these species across the state to keep them from becoming endangered.
“The survey is an opportunity for us to focus in on how the public feels about resources in their area,” Connally said, “and it’s a good opportunity for us to get a better gauge about how the public feels.”
The survey will be available until July 8 and can be found online through a link on the TCAP page located at tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/land/tcap.
After this time, according to the TPWD website, final draft edits will be made and the plan will be sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for review.
The revised plan should be complete and ready for implementation before the end of 2011.
“It seemed to be a really good way to distribute information, having somewhere to put all information in one place,” Connally said. “We have several handbooks and maps that would be very difficult to distribute anywhere but online.”
Audrey Spencer’s email address is aspencer@lufkindailynews.com .
Tx Parks And Wildlife - News
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for online public input as it revises its six-year-old Texas Wildlife Action Plan, now called the Texas Conservation Action Plan. According to a press release, the new plan was developed by TPWD to
Neal Bieler with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. People in the area immediately attempted to rescue him, Bieler said. Authorities on the other side of the lake arrived at the scene within 30 minutes and began a search-and-rescue operation.
"It's starting to get recognized that boating while intoxicated is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated," says Lt. Cody Jones, a game warden for the marine enforcement section of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "You're in a 1-ton vehicle
(Bertram, TX) -- A 22-year-old Bertram man is dead after going under in Lake Marble Falls late Saturday afternoon. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say a strong current pulled Colby Dewayne Hiatt under, and he never resurfaced.
One segment that looks unlikely to go unscathed in the process is Texas state parks. Both the initial House and Senate budget proposals call for the agency to cease operating seven state parks throughout the state. Those closures are expected to save
Long-term, Wildfires have Positive Impacts for Wildlife
Media Contact: Steve Lightfoot, 512-389-4701, steve.lightfoot@tpwd.state.tx.us
May 17, 2011
Long-term, Wildfires have Positive Impacts for WildlifeAUSTIN—Despite the hardship endured by those closest to the recent wildfires, time will eventually illustrate the positive ecological role that fire plays. The scarring left by wildfires that consumed more than a million and a half acres in Texas so far this year will continue to fade, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists; replaced eventually by a landscape in much healthier condition for wildlife.
How long the recovery will take depends on a lot of things, most importantly rain.
“Following sufficient rainfall, recovery of burned vegetation will be fairly rapid,” said Glen Gillman, one of TPWD’s Wildland Fire Program Leaders. “Wildlife species such as white-tailed deer will move back into burned areas. This may take longer in areas where brush species were hit hardest.”
Initial field assessments by TPWD biologists indicate minimal losses to wildlife populations from recent wildfires, although some mortality is to be expected during large scale fires, and plant communities are expected to recover over time. Individual ranches may see fewer animals until habitat conditions improve.
“Once rains come, forbs and grasses will respond quickly on most wildfire sites,” said Chip Ruthven, TPWD wildlife management area project leader in the Panhandle. “Typically with spring fires warm-season grasses will respond better than forbs. Regrowth normally has a higher nutritive content and woody resprouts are more available for species such as white-tailed deer.
Big game animals, such as white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope, are capable of evading fire, burrowing animals can seek refuge underground and birds fly out of harm’s way.
Even on ranches having high fences, deer usually can find an escape route. During a major fire that burned 95 percent of the high-fenced Chaparral Wildlife Management Area southwest of San Antonio in 2008, relatively few deer perished, according to David Synatzske, area manager on the Chap,
Three years later, Synatzske said deer densities on the Chaparral WMA are at record highs and other animals, such as javelina, have also rebounded.
“We have an overabundance of grass and we put cattle back on in February with the highest bid we have ever gotten for grazing rights,” he said. “The woody vegetation is coming back and the brush is back to a 6-7 foot level. Wildlife recovery has been extremely good, except for quail and we can’t blame that on the fire.
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