Houston Toad Updates

- Typically the busy season for the field component of the Houston toad project is the in the spring, when toads are supposed to be breeding. 2011 has been a bad year, with only 10-15 Houston toads detected across their range (9 counties) with most of those toads in Bastrop. We only observed 1 individual Houston toad in Austin co. this year and did not detect any calling males, let alone find any egg strands for head starting.

 

- We did not perform any head starting this year, despite the fact we received a large grant from the USFWS to do so. Drought conditions across the state prevented the Houston toads from breeding in 2011 and we were unable to collect any egg strands.

 

- The summer has been the busy part of the year thus far, and it all started when Centerpoint Energy placed a line on a map through Austin co as part of a proposed transmission line. In a nut shell, Centerpoint accomplished in two weeks what we have been working on for 5 years in terms of landowner cooperation and contacts for Houston toad conservation. There seems to be a paper-rock-scissors game analogy here, with endangered species, utility right-of-ways, and private property being the substitutes in this situation.

 

- We have “visited” with over a dozen private landowners who own a combined total of over 800 acres in Houston toad country, with more on the list, and many are in great toad habitat and are willing to let us survey in the Spring. Compared to the 9 acres in Austin Co that is currently being managed for Houston toads through a “Partners for Wildlife” agreement with the USFWS, it’s a vast increase.

 

- The Exxon Conservation interns helped clear brush, specifically the forest understory species Yaupon, at a site in Cat Spring. The students used handsaws and round-up to cut and treat close to an acre’s worth of the weedy native. Fire suppression in Texas has allowed fire-sensitive species to out compete other fire-adapted species. Removing this native pest species helps improve habitat for Houston toads.

 

- Long overdue educational initiatives are also underway with a sub-group of the recovery team meeting in May at Bastrop State Park to develop some plans. Education department interpretive specialist Leigh Whitted helped come up with some key statements about Houston toads that should help connect people to this usually underappreciated creature. Stay tuned to see lots more unfold.

 

- Captive propagation of Houston toads commenced in July with some hormone trials. Four females were induced and laid well over 10,000 eggs between then. Unfortunately, only 3 eggs were viable and currently we have 3 tadpoles that are growing well. The rest of the summer and fall will be spent working on developing “assisted reproduction” techniques to get Houston toads to breed reliably and in large numbers. These procedures will then be used to keep the captive assurance colony alive and genetically healthy, and when the time comes, to produce hundreds of thousands of toads for reintroduction.