Here's an article from a paper in Seattle about a local Central
Texas scout issue.
TOAD'S FATE IN LANDOWNERS' HANDS
AMPHIBIAN'S NUMBERS SHRINK ALONG WITH HABITAT
by LISA STIFFLER P-I reporter
Copyright 2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
May 3, 2005
BASTROP, Texas After bouncing around in an SUV for a couple of
hours under the blazing summer sun, making pit stops at grassy
fields and experimental ponds, Mike Forstner reached ground zero at
the Griffith League Ranch Boy Scout camp.
Ringed by loblolly pines with needles so long that you could knit
scarves with them was a coffee-colored pond with gently sloping
shores.
"This is it," the biologist in cowboy boots announced. "Little
Big Horn for the Houston toad."
One of the first animals to win Endangered Species Act
protections in 1970, the toads live in the "Lost Pines" - an oasis
of forestland in central Texas. But the oasis is shrinking, and so
is the toad population.
They vanished from their namesake city in the 1960s. They have
been wiped out in at least three Texas counties. The last
significant population in all the world is in Bastrop County, which
- thanks to its proximity to the ballooning city of Austin - is
having its own development boom.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's solution has largely been to
churn out carbon-copy miniature habitat conservation plans. They
have issued dozens of construction permits for subdivisions around
the county, covering nearly 1,300 acres.
But the plans are plagued by shortcomings.
Basic biological information about the toads is lacking, yet the
plans sacrifice significant amounts of land to development. There
are no clear triggers for increasing protection if new evidence
shows that the toads need it. There is little government oversight
to make sure the agreements are adhered to.
And so the region is being cross-stitched with roads. Houses are
popping up all over, and with them come toad-hostile lawns, pets and
pesticides. The toad's survival - its population has shrunk to about
250 in Bastrop County - rests with the private landowners, experts
say.
The plans instruct landowners to limit development. They are told
not to cut down trees or disturb wetlands and to try to control
pesticide use. In most cases, each landowner pays $2,000 to
compensate for land lost to homes, driveways and patios.
But there aren't any requirements for setting up preserves - a
key feature of nearly all habitat plans - and a countywide permit
coming up for approval also lacks this provision.
Instead, the new plan requires clusters of construction, or
low-density housing that leaves more land untouched. It includes
restoration projects and less-damaging logging and agricultural
practices, Fish and Wildlife officials said. And it requires for the
first time that the county monitor the toad population.
Local residents trying to save the toad say this is the best they
can do.
"The problem is that Bastrop County, even though it's bustling,
there isn't that much money here," said Tom Dureka, executive
director of the Pines and Prairies Land Trust, a conservation group.
Steps have been taken to aid the amphibian. While not required by
the plan, more than 1,800 acres have been set aside as preserves
using habitat plan fees, federal grants, state funds and donations.
Landowners are improving their property for toads under other
programs as well. And residents are becoming more tolerant of the
toads, said Bob Pine of Fish and Wildlife's Austin office.
"Ten years ago, if you talked about the toad, people would have
probably told you they didn't care about it or were actively against
it," he said. Now, "they are maybe seeing that's a good thing to
have a species that's unique to their area they can have pride in."
But Forstner, a scientist at Texas State University in San
Marcos, said it is going to be a challenge to prevent the toad from
getting snuffed out.
And it may fall to the Boy Scouts and their 4,848-acre ranch to
save the day.
Forstner is working with the Scouts to try to boost the toad's
numbers by planting trees that provide shade and cover from
predators. He and teams of students have slogged there night and day
to learn more about the amphibians - how much treeless grassland
they will tolerate, what kinds of ponds they prefer, where the heck
they disappear to when the summer heat cranks up.
"It's a practical and possible recovery," Forstner said. "It's
going to take immense attention and effort."
GRAPHIC: Color Photos and Map GILBERT W. ARIAS/P-I PHOTOS: (1)
Biologist Mike Forstner and graduate student Adam Ferguson of Texas
State University search for Houston toads at the Griffith League
Ranch Boy Scout camp near Bastrop.(2) A Texas longhorn shares the
Scout camp with some of the remaining endangered toads. The forests
are islands of trees called the Lost Pines.(3) PROJECT SITE
