[00:00:07]
REALLY JUST A MATTER, LET'S TALK TO THE NEIGHBOR, NEIGHBOR SOIL STUFF, UNLESS YOU OFF.
I'M TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER BRIDGET SHAY, WELCOMING YOU TO THE DECEMBER 7TH MEETING OF THE BOONE'S CANYON LANDS CONSERVATION PLAN COORDINATING COMMITTEE.
UH, AND I'M WITH MY CO-CHAIR, AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL MEMBER LESLIE POOLE.
UM, WE'LL BEGIN WITH, UH, PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.
IS THERE ANYONE SIGNED UP TO SPEAK? NO, NOT TODAY.
[1. Approve Record of Decisions for the August 5, 2022 Regular Meeting]
IS TO APPROVE THE RECORD OF DECISIONS FOR THE AUGUST 5TH, 2022 REGULAR MEETING.AND, UM, I FORGOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE SECRETARY KIMBERLY HARVEY.
AND, UM, PLEASE REMIND ME, I KNOW YOU'RE CHRISTINA WILLIAMS. THANK YOU.
CHRISTINA WILLIAMS WITH THE US FISH AND WILDLIFE.
I'LL SECOND, UH, ANY DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE,
[2. Tawny Crazy Ant Research on the BCP – Dr. Ed LeBrun and BCP Staff]
SECOND ITEM IS THE TAW CRAZY AUNT RESEARCH ON THE BCP WITH DR.ED LAB AND BCP STAFF PRESENTING.
AND, UH, WHENEVER YOU'D LIKE TO START, AND IF YOU WANNA STAND AND WALK AROUND, WHATEVER YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH IS FINE.
I'M NOT GONNA STAND AND WALK AROUND.
I DON'T KNOW IF WE'LL BE ABLE TO CATCH YOU PROPERLY ON THE MIC UNLESS WE'VE GOT, OH, WAIT, HE'S GOT A I'LL DO MY BEST.
I'M NOT REALLY A SITTING TALKER.
UM, AND WE'LL SEE IF THIS WILL WORK FROM THAT DISTANCE.
SO, UM, THANK YOU FOR THE INVITATION TO SPEAK TO YOU TODAY.
UM, I'M GOING TO SHARE A LITTLE BIT OF INFORMATION ON WORK WE'VE BEEN DOING ON TAWNY CRAZY SINCE ABOUT 2009.
UM, AND I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR, UH, THEIR ECOLOGY, UH, THEIR DISTRIBUTION, UM, THE HISTORY OF THEIR INVASION IN, UH, NORTH AMERICA, AND THE, UH, THEIR IMPACTS THAT THEY HAVE ON NATURAL SYSTEMS AND THREATENED SPECIES.
AND THEN SOME INTERVENTIONS THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPED IN THE TIME COURSE WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON THEM.
UM, AND I HAVE, UH, QUITE A FEW COLLABORATORS IN THE DATA THAT I'M GONNA BE TELLING ABOUT TODAY.
AND I'M, I'M GONNA BE COVERING SOME THINGS PRETTY QUICKLY.
UM, SO, UH, TAW CRAZY ARE AN, UH, INVASIVE, A SPECIES THAT INTRODUCED TO NORTH AMERICA, BUT THEY'RE NATIVE RANGE IS, UM, SOUTHERN BRAZIL, NORTHERN ARGENTINA, UH, PAUA AND URUGUAY.
UM, THEY WERE INTRODUCED INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES INTO SOUTHERN FLORIDA IN PROBABLY THE LATE NINETIES.
AND THEN, UH, THESE ARE JUST COUNTY RECORDS AS THEY WERE SPREAD AROUND THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES, UM, UH, ACCUMULATING OVER TIME.
UM, SINCE THEIR INTRODUCTION, THEY SPREAD WIDELY THROUGHOUT THE GULF COAST REGION.
AND THIS, THIS, UH, INFORMATION BIT OUT OF DATE, THEY SPREAD FARTHER STILL.
UM, ON THE RIGHT SIDE HERE, WHAT YOU SEE IS A, UH, DOES MY CURSOR SHOW UP UP THERE? YEAH, DOES, YEAH, WE CAN SEE IT THEN.
UH, WHAT YOU SEE IS A, UH, CLIMATE MODELING, UH, EXERCISE WHERE WE'VE TAKEN ALL THE OCCURRENCE RECORDS FROM THE NATIVE RANGE IN SOUTH AMERICA AND THE INTRODUCED RANGE AND ALL THE CLIMATE ENVELOPE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH THAT, AND PROJECTED WHERE THEY'RE, WHAT HABITAT IS LIKELY TO BE SUITABLE TO THESE ANTS IN, UH, IN NORTH AMERICA.
AND BASICALLY ANYTHING YELLOW AND RED INDICATES A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT THE ANTS CAN, CAN THRIVE, CAN THRIVE IN THOSE ENVIRONMENTS.
YOU SEE, THAT'S MOSTLY THE, THE GULF COAST REGION THAT WE ARE IN.
UM, I DIDN'T WANT THAT TO DO THAT AGAIN.
UM, WE MISSED SOMETHING, DID WE? NO, WE DIDN'T.
SO HERE'S, UH, A SORT OF SOMEWHAT MORE GRANULAR LOOK AT THE INTRODUCED POPULATIONS THAT EXIST IN TEXAS, UM,
UM, BUT THESE ARE ALL DATA THAT, THAT, UH, I'VE ACCUMULATED OVER THE YEARS OF WORKING ON THEM.
SOME OF THESE ARE EXTENT, SOME OF THESE ARE EXTINCT, AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT LATER.
UM, AND THEN IN OUR AREA IN TRAVIS COUNTY, WE HAVE QUITE A FEW INTRODUCED POPULATIONS OF THESE ANTS SCATTERED, SORT OF THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY.
UM, SO, UH, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE BIOLOGY OF THESE ANTS.
UM, THESE ANTS ARE ON NIS, WHICH MEANS THEY EAT BOTH VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL MATTER.
UH, THE VEGETABLE MATTERS PRIMARILY HONEY DEW, WHICH IS THE, UH, EXUDATES FROM APHIDS, UM, AND NEWLY BUGS.
UM, AND THEN THEY SCAVENGE AND PREY ON INSECTS.
UH, THEY'RE EXTREMELY DOMINANT IN THE SYSTEMS THEY INVADE.
THEY ESSENTIALLY ARE VERY, VERY GOOD AT MONOPOLIZING ALL THE AVAILABLE RESOURCE BASES, FOOD RESOURCES IN THE SYSTEM.
[00:05:01]
AND THEY'RE SOCIAL BIOLOGYS THAT THEY ARE, THEY HAVE MANY, MANY QUEENS PER NEST.UH, AND THEY NEST ARE INTERCONNECTED WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND THEY NEST OPPORTUNISTICALLY.
SO THEY'LL NEST IN ANY SORT OF PREEXISTING CAVITY WITH, SO THAT'S, UH, ROTTEN LOGS UNDER ROCKS OR INSIDE OF, UH, CIRCUIT BREAKERS AND, AND THINGS LIKE THAT IN YOUR, IN PEOPLE'S HOUSES.
UM, THE REPRODUCTION IS A LITTLE ODD.
THE, UH, FEMALE WING DANCE DON'T FLY, UH, AND ALL MATING OCCURS WITHIN THE NEST, AND THE NESTS SPREAD THROUGH NEST VISIONS.
SO A NEST GROWS, BECOMES LARGE, AND THEN SPLITS INTO TWO.
UM, LONG DISTANCE DISPERSAL IS MEDIATED BY PEOPLE ONLY.
SO THE WAY IT GETS, WE GET ALL THOSE DOTS ON THE MAP, IS SOMEONE TAKES THEIR POTTED PLANT FROM THEIR HOUSE WHERE IT'S, UH, INFESTED AND MOVES IT SOMEWHERE ELSE, OR, UH, RVS, THINGS LIKE THAT.
UM, AND POPULATIONS, ONCE THEY'RE ESTABLISHED, SPREAD RADIALLY.
SO YOU END UP WITH THESE, UH, CIRCULAR PLAQUES ON THE LANDSCAPE WHERE I, I CAN'T QUITE SEE THIS, BUT, UM, SO THIS PIN IS THE POINT OF INTRODUCTION AT THIS POPULATION NEAR HOUSTON.
AND THEN THIS WAS THE EDGE OF THE POPULATION IN THE FALL OF 2009.
AND THEN IN FALL OF 2010 AND FALL OF 2011, YOU CAN SEE IT'S JUST SPREADING OUT.
AND YOU CAN ESSENTIALLY WALK THE WHOLE THING AND, AND FIND OUT, UH, THE ENVIRONMENT THAT'S INVADED JUST BY LOOKING AT THE GROUND, BECAUSE IT'S SORT OF CRAZY.
AND IT'S ONE SIDE, NOTHING ON THE OTHER.
UM, SO ONE REALLY PROMINENT FEATURE OF THESE POPULATIONS IS HOW INCREDIBLY DENSE THEY CAN BECOME, PARTICULARLY IN THE FALL.
THIS IS, UH, VIDEO TAKEN BY RICHARD ZARIA AT WHIRLPOOL CAVE, WHICH IS A BCP, UH, PRESERVE, PART OF THE BCP PRESERVE SYSTEM, UH, IN THE FALL OF 2017.
AND ESSENTIALLY, ALL THE GROUND EVERYWHERE LOOKS LIKE THAT.
IT'S JUST EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, IT'S KIND OF SEEDING WITH ANTS.
AND WHEN YOU HAVE THAT LEVEL OF, UH, ANT DENSITY, THERE ARE SOME, UH, FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS, BECAUSE THERE'S ESSENTIALLY NO, OKAY, UNFORTUNATELY, HERE WE GO.
NO ROOM IN THE SYSTEM FOR ANYTHING ELSE.
UM, SO I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE MORE IN A SECOND.
BUT THE, UM, THEY'RE NOT STINGING OR BITING, ARE THEY? THEY DO NOT STING.
UM, THEY DO BITE, BUT THE BITES ARE NOT VERY, UM, PAINFUL.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO IS THEY BITE AND THEN THEY SPRAY A LITTLE FORIC ACID WHERE THEY'RE BITING YOU.
UM, BUT THAT'S STILL NOT VERY PAINFUL.
UM,
BUT, UM, SO THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THESE ANTS ARE THAT THEY ARE WHAT'S CALLED SUPER COLONIAL.
WHAT THAT MEANS IS, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE, UM, IT'S IMPORTANT FOR WHAT I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT LATER, AND IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU GET TO SUCH EXTREME DENSITIES IN THE ENVIRONMENT.
SO, UM, WHAT IT MEANS IS THESE POPULATIONS, WHICH ARE, YOU KNOW, CAN BE MANY SQUARE KILOMETERS IN EXTENT, ARE ALL, UH, SYSTEMS OF INTERCONNECTED NESTS.
ONE WAY TO DEMONSTRATE THAT IS TO PUT A VERY HIGHLY DYED, UH, SOURCE OF SUGAR WATER OUT IN THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THEN SEE WHERE THAT DYE TRAVELS TO AMONGST THE NESTS.
AND IF WE DO THAT AT THIS SITE HERE IN, UH, IN BRIAR CLIFF, AND IN EVERY DIRECTION OUT FROM THOSE STATIONS UP TO ABOUT 60 METERS OUT, THE ANTS SHOW EVIDENCE OF THIS DYE.
AND THIS DYE IS TRAVELING BECAUSE THE ANTS ARE MOVING BETWEEN NESTS, WHICH ARE ONLY ABOUT A FEW FEET APART FROM ONE ANOTHER.
AND BECAUSE THEY FEED EACH OTHER REGURGIT, SO THEY SHARE FOOD RESOURCES BY REGURGITATING ONE TO THE OTHER, AND THAT PASSES THE DYE THROUGH THE SYSTEM.
UM, THERE ARE NO, THIS JUST SOUND MORE AND MORE CHARMING
UM, THERE, THERE ARE NO, UH, COLONY BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THESE SUPER COLONIES, AND THAT ACTUALLY APPLIES AT THE SCALE OF NORTH AMERICA.
SO ALL TAWNY CRAZY WITHIN THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES ARE DESCENDED FROM THE SAME SUPER COLONY, AND THEY ALL TREAT EACH OTHER AS NEST MATES IF YOU BRING THEM INTO SECONDARY CONTACT WITH THEM.
SO IF YOU GET ANTS FROM FLORIDA AND YOU BRING THEM IN CON INTO CONTACT WITH ANTS HERE IN TEXAS, THEY WILL JUST, UH, TREAT EACH OTHER AS MATES AND START WORKING TOGETHER.
AND THAT YOU CAN SEE THAT IN THIS PLOT HERE, WHICH IS A PLOT OF AGGRESSION AND ARTIFICIAL, UH, INTERACTIONS.
AND THERE'S, THE DOTTED LINE IS FIGHTING.
UH, BELOW THAT IS SORT OF NORMAL, AN INTERACTIONS.
THESE ARE NEST MATES AND GOES ALL THE WAY ACROSS TO ANTS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US WITH NO DIFFERENCE.
UM, SO THESE EXTREMELY HIGH DENSITIES HAVE ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS.
UM, THE SPECIES RICHNESS OF OTHER ANTS THAT CO-OCCUR WITH TAN CRAZY ANTS ARE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED IN THE PRESENCE OF 20 CRAZY ANTS.
CAN THEY WIPE OUT, UH, FIRE ANTS? THAT'S
[00:10:01]
IN THE NEXT SLIDE.UM, AND, UH, THE ANSWER IS YES, BUT, UM, SO THESE, THIS REDUCTION IN, UM, IN THE DIVERSITY IN OF OTHER ANTS IS NOT, UM, IT'S NON RANDOM.
SO ANTS THAT ARE LARGER IN BODY SIZE AND TAWNY CRAZY ANTS ARE ENTIRELY ELIMINATED FROM THE SYSTEM ANTS THAT ARE SMALLER THAN TAWNY, CRAZY ANTS ARE UNIMPACTED BY THEM.
UM, AND YOU CAN SEE THAT IN THIS PLOT HERE, WHICH IS THE RESPONSE TO THE INVASION OF TONY GRAZ, WHETHER, WHETHER SPECIES, WHETHER THE RESPONSE IS NEGATIVE IN ABUNDANCE, ESSENTIALLY WHETHER THEY'RE ELIMINATED OR WHETHER IT'S NEUTRAL OR POSITIVE.
AND THIS IS THE HEAD SIZE OF THE ANT INVOLVED.
UM, AND THIS HAS A, A RATHER, THIS PROBABLY ARISES, UM, BECAUSE CRAZY ANTS, AS I SAID, ARE OPPORTUNISTIC NESTERS.
AND WHEN THEY REACH REALLY HIGH DENSITIES, THEY, THEY TAKE OVER EVERY POSSIBLE NEST SITE IN THE ENVIRONMENT THAT INCLUDES THE NEST OF OTHER ANT SPECIES, BUT THEY CAN ONLY TAKE THOSE, THE S THAT THE TUNNEL DIAMETERS ARE LARGE ENOUGH THAT THEY CAN ENTER.
AND SO THE ONLY ANTS LARGER THAN THEM.
UM, BUT IT HAS AN UNFORTUNATE CONSEQUENCE BY, FOR OUR LOCAL BIODIVERSITY, BECAUSE, UH, LOCAL ENDEMIC SPECIES TEND TO BE LARGE IN BODY SIZE HERE IN TEXAS.
I MEAN, NOT BECAUSE THINGS ARE BIGGER IN TEXAS, BUT BECAUSE THERE'S THIS PATTERN ACTUALLY GLOBALLY OF INVASIVE SPECIES TEND TO BE VERY SMALL ANTS, UM, OR INTRODUCED SPECIES.
UH, AND SO AS A RESULT, IF YOU SUBDIVIDE THE, AN ASSEMBLED BY THOSE THAT ARE NATIVE TO THOSE THAT ARE NON-NATIVE, YOU SEE THIS VERY, VERY LARGE IMPACT ON THE NATIVE SPECIES AND NO IMPACT WHATSOEVER ON THE OTHER INTRODUCED TRAMP SPECIES.
SO YOU END UP WITH THIS ANT COMMUNITY, THAT'S ALL THE, ALL THE ROGUES GALLERY OF THE WORLD ANTS, AND NONE OF THE ONES WE ACTUALLY, WELL, THAT BELONG HERE ANYWAYS.
UM, BUT TO YOUR QUESTION, THEY ALSO DO INTRODUCE IMPORT, UH, ELIMINATE IMPORTED FIRE ANTS.
SO IN THIS PLOT, UM, THIS WILL COME UP AGAIN LATER, BUT THIS IS AT THE EDGE OF ONE OF THESE INVASION FRONTS.
SO I, I TOLD, SHOWED YOU THERE ARE THESE RADIAL PLAQUES.
SO IF YOU WALK ACROSS THAT FRONT, YOU CAN SET UP A TRANSECT THAT GOES FROM VERY FAR BEHIND THE INVASION FRONT OF TORA TO WELL IN FRONT OF IT.
SO THIS NEGATIVE NUMBERS HERE IS VERY FAR BEHIND THE INVASION, FRONT OF TRANZIANS, AND POSITIVE NUMBERS ARE WELL IN FRONT OF IT.
SO YOU SEE VERY HIGH DENSITIES OF TORA, AND THIS IS A LOG SCALE.
SO THIS IS MANY THOUSANDS ANS PER PITFALL TRAP, WHICH IS A SMALL TUBE SET IN THE GROUND FOR 24 HOURS WITH NO BAIT.
UM, AND THEN NO, UH, NONE IN FRONT.
AND THEN IMPORTED FIRE ANTS ARE COMPLETELY ELIMINATED BY ABOUT 300, 200 METERS BEHIND THE INVASION FRONT, UH, AND HIGHLY ABUNDANT IN FRONT.
SO THIS IS THAT SAME STUDY LOOKING AT THE ARTHROPOD ASSEMBLAGES AND NOT AT THE FIRE ANTS.
SO HERE IS THAT INVASION FRONT.
SO FOR THE NON-SCIENTISTS, WOULD YOU SAY THAT AN ARTHROPOD IS, SORRY, ARTOS ARE INSECTS AND SPIDERS AND, UH, OTHER, UM, UH, CENTIPEDES OTHER, UM, INVERTEBRATES, BASICALLY TERRESTRIAL INVERTEBRATES? UM, SO, UH, THE, UM, SO LOOKING AT INSECTS AND SPIDERS AND SUCH, UH, THIS AGAIN, IS THE INVASION FRONT.
THIS IS BEHIND THE INVASION FRONT AREAS OCCUPIED BY TAWNY.
THE FARTHER YOU GO BACK BEHIND THE INVASION FRONT, THE LONGER TAWNY KRA HAVE BEEN PRESENT AT THAT SPOT.
SO ALL THE WAY BACK, 500 METERS BEHIND THE INVASION FRONT, THEY'VE PROBABLY BEEN THERE ABOUT THREE TO FIVE YEARS, GIVEN THEIR RATE OF SPREAD.
AND YOU SEE THIS REALLY MASSIVE REDUCTION IN THE ABUNDANCE OF OTHER INSECTS AND ARTHROPODS AS YOU HEAD BACK INTO AREAS THAT HAVE BEEN OCCUPIED BY T KRAT FOR LONGER AND LONGER PERIODS OF TIME.
SO THEY HAVE A, A VERY STRONG NEGATIVE EFFECT ON INSECT ABUNDANCE AND ALSO INSECT DIVERSITY.
THE NUMBER OF SPECIES YOU FIND IN THESE PLACES.
UM, IN ADDITION TO THESE KINDS OF ECOLOGICAL AND BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS, THEY HAVE, UH, SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC IMPACTS.
THEY COME INTO PEOPLE'S HOUSES AND REALLY IN HUGE NUMBERS SUCH THAT, UM, YOU CAN GO ON AND THE INTERNET LOOK AT YOUTUBE AT PEOPLE HAVING TO SWEEP UP DUST PANELS OF ANTS OUTTA THEIR BATHROOM EVERY MORNING.
UH, WHEN YOU APPLY THESE CONTACT BARRIER INSECTICIDES AROUND THE PROPERTY OF THE HOUSE, UM, WHICH IS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP 'EM OUTTA THE HOUSE, UH, WHAT HAPPENS IS THESE ARE VERY, VERY POTENT INSECTICIDES AND EXTREMELY HARMFUL TO BASICALLY ANY INVERTEBRATE LIFE.
BUT THE ANTS DIE WHEN THEY HIT THOSE INSECTICIDES AND THEY PILE UP AND FORMULATE THESE SNOW DRIFTS OF ANTS THAT GO ALL THE WAY AROUND THE HOUSE.
THEY'RE ABOUT FIVE INCHES WIDE BY ABOUT THREE INCHES DEEP.
UM, THEY ALSO MOVE INTO THESE, UH, ELECTORAL ELECTRICAL BOXES, AND THEY SHORT THEM OUT, UH, JUST BY THE VIRTUE OF THE NUMBERS OF ANTS IN THE BOXES, THEY ARE, UH, AGRICULTURAL PESTS.
THEY ELIMINATE HONEYBEE HDS, AND THEY TEND HUM OPTIN
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THESE HONEY, THESE APHIDS, UH, AND THEY CAUSE APHID NUMBERS TO GO WAY UP.SO THEY EAT THE DROPPINGS FROM THE APHIDS, BUT THEY DON'T EAT THE APHIDS.
AND THAT'S A, THAT'S A, UM, A WHOLE SYMBIOSIS AMONGST ANTS THAT GOES THROUGH WAY BACK IN EVOLUTIONARY TIME.
THERE'S ACTUALLY, ANTS IS A LITTLE BIT, THERE'S DEFINITELY A SIDETRACK, BUT THESE, THEY'RE ANTS THAT LITERALLY THEY FARM.
THEY'LL TAKE THE APHIDS FROM THE PLANT IN THE NIGHT INTO THEIR NEST DURING, DURING THE NIGHT INTO THEIR NEST AND TAKE CARE OF 'EM.
THEN THEY'LL BRING 'EM BACK AND PUT 'EM BACK ON THE DAY.
I'VE SEEN EVIDENCE OF THEM FARMING APHIDS.
THEY'RE JUST LIKE, THEY'RE COWS.
UM, SO
UM, IT'S SOMETHING CALLED A MICROSPORIDIA.
AND I'LL EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT A MICROS PERIAN IS IN A SECOND.
UM, BUT WE FOUND IT HAS FOUR, FOUR TYPES IN THESE ANTS.
IT HAS, IT PRIMARILY INFECTS THE WORKER, CAST THE BROOD IN THE MALES.
AND WE FOUND IT HERE IN NORTH AMERICA.
WE FOUND IT IN SCATTERED POPULATIONS IN FLORIDA AND IN TEXAS.
UM, WE DON'T KNOW WHERE IT CAME FROM.
IT'S IF IT'S FROM THE NATIVE RANGE OR FROM HERE OR ACQUIRED SOMEWHERE ELSE.
AND WE DON'T KNOW HOW IT'S MOVING BETWEEN POPULATIONS, BUT WE DO KNOW THAT IT, IT IS ABLE TO MOVE FROM INFECTED POPULATIONS TO UNINFECTED POPULATIONS AT SORT OF A LOW RATE.
SO MICROPER ARE, UM, SINGLE CELLED INTRACELLULAR PATHOGENS.
WHAT THAT MEANS IS THEY'RE SINGLE CELL ORGANISMS THAT LIVE INSIDE THE CELLS OF THEIR HOSTS AND HIJACK THEIR HOST CELLS, THE MACHINERY OF THEIR CELLS TO MAKE MORE OF THEMSELVES.
SO IT'S, UM, A VERY MUCH LIKE A VIRUS.
VIRUSES DO SOMETHING QUITE SIMILAR TO THIS.
UM, BUT THEY HAPPEN TO BE, UH, MOST CLOSELY RELATED TO FUNGI.
UM, AND THEY HAVE THIS VERY ODD, WACKY WAY OF INVADING SPO.
THEY FORM SPORES AND THEY INVADE THEIR HOST CELLS BY FIRING THIS POLAR FILAMENT, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY A HARPOON THAT SHOOTS OUT, PENETRATES THEIR HOST CELL WALL, AND THEN THEY SHOOT, THEN THEY FORCE THE WHOLE CONTENTS OF THE SPORE DOWN THIS TUBE AND INTO THEIR HOST CELL AND TAKE OVER.
UM, SO, UH, SO WE ARE REALLY INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING MORE ABOUT THE BIOLOGY OF THIS PATHOGEN, RIGHT? AND WHAT IT COULD DO.
WOULD IT, COULD IT POTENTIALLY BE A USEFUL BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT FOR TAWNY KRAK? SO WHAT FIRST STEPS IN DOING THAT, WE LOOKED AT THE, UM, BETWEEN NEST TRANSMISSION DYNAMICS OF THE DISEASE AND THEIR IMPACTS ON, UH, TAWNY CRAZY HANDS.
SO WHAT WE LEARNED IN SORT OF, IN BRIEF IS THAT, UM, AND, AND ESSENTIALLY WE DID ALL THIS WORK BY SETTING UP FRAGMENTS WITH, YOU KNOW, UNINFECTED WORKERS WITH AN INFECTED QUEEN OR UNINFECTED WORKERS WITH INFECTED BROOD OR DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF, UH, DESIGNS.
BUT WHAT WE LEARNED IS THAT QUEENS AND NATURAL POPULATIONS ARE LARGELY UNINFECTED.
WE ALMOST NEVER FIND THE DISEASE IN QUEENS IN NATURE.
UM, AND THE INFECTION APPEARS TO BE ACQUIRED PRIMARILY OR EXCLUSIVELY BY LARVAE.
UM, AND SO WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT WHEN INFECTED WORKERS FEED UNINFECTED LARVA TAKE CARE OF UNINFECTED LARVA THAT TRANSMITS THE DISEASE, UM, THE LARVAL GUT ENHANCE IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE ADULT GUT.
UM, AND THE, THE PA, WE ALSO DID WORK ON THE VIRULENCE OF THIS PATHOGEN, AND IT IMPACTS COLONIES BY, UH, SLOWING DOWN COLONY GROWTH RATE BY ESSENTIALLY LENGTHENING THE TIME IT TAKES FOR AN EGG TO BECOME AN ADULT AMP.
AND ALSO INCREASING THE FAILURE TIME OF, OF THAT PROCESS, THE, THE AMOUNT OF THE FAILURE OF THAT PROCESS.
UM, AND IT ALSO GREATLY SHORTENS THE LIFESPAN OF INFECTED ADULT WORKERS.
AND THAT TURNS OUT TO BE A VERY, UH, IMPORTANT IMPACT.
UM, AND AS A, AS AN ASIDE, IT DOES SO MORE STRONGLY UNDER CARBOHYDRATE STRESS CONDITIONS.
SO THAT'S WHAT YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS WINTERTIME TIME WHEN THERE'S NOT SUGAR AVAILABLE TO THE COLONIES, THAT'S WHEN THIS PATHOGEN HAS THE MOST STRONGEST IMPACT ON THE ANTS.
UM, SO, UH, WE WANTED TO KNOW, UM, AFTER THAT IF, UH, AND, AND I'LL, AND THERE'S ANOTHER ASPECT HERE THAT I'LL GET TO IN A MINUTE, WHICH IS THE SPECIFICITY OF THIS DISEASE.
BUT, UM, WE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE, UH, POPULATION SCALE IMPACTS OF THIS DISEASE WERE.
WERE, ARE THIS, IS THIS IMPACTING, UH, IS THIS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT OF ADVANCE? AND, UM, SO, UH, SUPER COLONIAL ANTS ARE THOUGHT GENERALLY TO BE VULNERABLE TO PATHOGENS BECAUSE THEY, THEY ARE SUCH INTERCONNECTED SOCIETIES THAT SPAN SUCH LARGE AREAS THAT PATHOGENS CAN KIND OF JUMP IN AT ANY POINT IN THERE.
AND ONCE THEY'RE INTO THE SYSTEM, THEY CAN MOVE AROUND READILY.
UM, SO TO LOOK AT THIS, WE DID TWO THINGS AT, AT POPULATION IMPACTS.
WE DID A LONGITUDINAL STUDY WHERE WE LOOKED AT CHANGE THROUGH TIME OF FOLLOWING, FOLLOWING INFESTATIONS AND DOCUMENTING
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HOW, UM, INTENSELY UH, INFECTED THEY ARE.SO ESSENTIALLY WE DID, WE DID ANNUAL FALL PITFALL TRAPPING TO ASSESS ABUNDANCE OF CRAZY ANTS.
WE THEN LOOKED AT THEIR, AND LOOKED AT THEIR INFECTION STATUS IN THE, IN THE INTENSITY OF THOSE INFECTIONS.
AND WHAT WE SAW WAS VERY DRAMATIC.
SO THAT, UM, OVER THE COURSE OF THESE ARE JUST THE INFECTED POPULATIONS WE WERE LOOKING AT.
AND OVER THE COURSE OF ABOUT SEVEN YEARS, UM, ESSENTIALLY THESE POPULATIONS WERE ALL DECLINING TO EXTINCTION.
UH, AND THE UNINFECTED POPULATIONS YOU CAN SEE HERE, JUST, YOU KNOW, BOUNCING FAIRLY VARIABLE IN THEIR ABUNDANCE.
THIS Y AXIS IS THE, THE ABUNDANCE OF CRAZINESS IN THE SYSTEM.
AND, BUT, UH, NOT, NO, NO TREND TOWARDS DECLINE OVERALL.
THE, SO TO SORT OF TRY TO DRILL, TO DIAL THIS IN A LITTLE MORE AND TO WORK TOWARDS FARTHER TOWARDS THIS QUESTION OF USING 'EM AS A BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT, WE CONDUCTED, UM, TWO INOCULATIONS, UH, IN THE SPRING OF 2017.
AND WE WERE ABLE TO JUMP TO THIS STEP BECAUSE THIS DISEASE IS ALREADY PRESENT IN TEXAS.
IT'S ALREADY IN THESE TINY, CRAZY AUNTS IN OTHER PLACES AND MOVING BETWEEN POPULATIONS.
SO ESSENTIALLY WE TOOK INFECTED, WE TOOK AN INFECTION FROM ONE PLACE IN TEXAS AND INTRODUCED IT INTO A POPULATION IN ANOTHER.
UM, THE, UH, SO IT AT ONE SITE WAS THE, UH, WAS WHIRLPOOL CAVE HERE IN AUSTIN, WHERE THERE WAS VERY DENSE INFESTATION OF FUNNY CRAZINESS AT THAT TIME.
AND THE OTHER SITE WAS, UH, STEREO GRANDE STATE PARK DOWN IN WEST LACO, TEXAS, WHERE THERE WAS A VERY DENSE INFESTATION.
UM, SO, UH, THE, AND BOTH SITES TESTED NEGATIVE FOR THE DISEASE PRIOR TO INOCULATION.
WE GOT A LITTLE BIT OF INDICATION, WELL, WE GOT SOME POSITIVES BACK AT THE TIME OF INOCULATION THAT SUGGESTED THE DISEASE WAS ACTUALLY COLONIZING A STEROID.
AS WE DID THIS IN THIS ONE SITE, AS WE DID THIS INOCULATION, THIS SITE, THAT WHIRLPOOL SITE, WE NEVER SAW THE DISEASE AT ANY POINT PRIOR TO, UH, ESTABLISHING IT.
UM, SO, UH, JUST A, A BRIEF, UM, METHODS, STATEMENTS OF WHAT, SO HOW DO WE DO THESE INOCULATIONS, ESSENTIALLY, BECAUSE THESE ANTS ARE SUPER COLONIAL, ALL THESE ANTS ARE TREAT EACH OTHER'S MEMBERS OF THE SAME COLONY.
ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS TAKE INFECTED ANTS FROM ONE POPULATION AND INTRODUCE THEM INTO ANOTHER POPULATION, HAVE THEM BE ADOPTED.
NOW, IT TURNS OUT THAT'S HARDER THAN THAT STATEMENT SOUNDS.
UM, AND I WON'T GO INTO A LOT OF DETAIL IN THAT, BUT IT DOES WORK.
UH, IT'S JUST, YOU HAVE TO DO KIND OF QUITE A FEW INOCULATIONS IN ORDER TO BE SURE YOU'RE GONNA GET IT TO TAKE.
SO YEAH, SO ESSENTIALLY WE COLLECT ANTS FROM THE FIELD.
WE DRIVE THEM OUTTA THEIR NEST MATERIAL WITH HEAT.
WE REHOUSE THEM INTO NEST BOXES, TEST THEM FOR INFECTION, AND THEN REINTRODUCE 'EM INTO THE FIELD.
UM, SO THE TWO SITES WILL RE, UH, INTRODUCE THE ANTS IN THESE, PLUS THIS IS PATHOGEN PREVALENCE ON THIS AXIS.
SO THIS IS THE FRACTION OF, UH, NESTS THAT WE SAMPLE THAT ARE INFECTED WITH THE DISEASE.
THE DOTTED LINE IS THE POINT AT WHICH WE DID THE INOCULATION, AND THIS IS THE TIME SINCE, UH, SINCE THE INOCULATION.
SO AT THE POINT OF INOCULATION, YOU GET AN INCREASE IN PREVALENCE AND IT RISES TO A VERY, VERY HIGH LEVEL OVER ABOUT TWO YEAR, ABOUT, ACTUALLY NO, ABOUT A YEAR.
UM, AND, UH, THIS IS THEN THE INTENSITY OF THE INFECTION WITHIN THOSE NESTS.
AND THAT ALSO RISES SPORES PER ALSO RISES QUITE RAPIDLY OVER THE COURSE OF ABOUT A YEAR TO AN EQUILIBRIUM.
AND THEN THIS IS THE ABUNDANCE OF TAW CRAZINESS IN THE SYSTEM IN A, UH, ON, AGAIN, ON A LOG SCALE.
SO THIS IS ABOUT, UH, CLOSE TO A THOUSAND ANTS, DEPENDING A COUPLE HUNDRED TO A THOUSAND ANTS PER TRAP WHEN WE START.
AND THEN WITHIN, UH, TWO YEARS POST INOCULATION, UH, WE CAN'T FIND THE ANTS ANYMORE, THEY'RE GONE.
I THOUGHT IT WAS A SEVEN YEAR TIMEFRAME IN THESE TWO INOCULATE.
YOU'RE RIGHT, IN THESE TWO INOCULATIONS, IT TOOK TWO YEARS.
THAT'S FASTER THAN WE SAW IT IN THE, IN THE NATURAL POPULATIONS WE WERE MONITORING.
UM, THE, UH, I DON'T KNOW WHY IT WENT FASTER IN THESE INOCULATIONS, BUT IT'S JUST, IT'S JUST TWO INOCULATIONS.
SO AS TIME GOES BY, WE'LL SEE IF THAT PATTERN HOLDS OR NOT.
UM, THE, UH, SO CIRCLING BACK TO THIS QUESTION OF SPECIFICITY.
SO WE, UM, WE KIND OF JUMPED PAST WHAT IS COMMON IN BIOLOGICAL CAUSE.
COMMONLY IN BIOLOGICAL CONTROL, YOU HAVE TO GO TO ANOTHER REGION, RIGHT? AND YOU FIND THE HOST SPECIES THERE AND YOU FIND ITS NATURAL ENEMIES.
AND THEN YOU NEED TO TEST THEM FOR SPECIFICITY TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT DOING ANY HARM WHEN YOU BRING THEM UP.
WE DIDN'T NEED TO DO THAT IN THIS CASE, OR WE DIDN'T NEED TO WAIT FOR THOSE DATA IN THIS CASE, BECAUSE THEY'RE ALREADY IN TEXAS AND THEY'RE ALREADY, IT'S ALREADY MOVING AROUND ON ITS OWN, AND WE'RE NOT REALLY FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING
[00:25:01]
ANYTHING.WE HAVE GONE AHEAD THOUGH, AND DONE THIS WORK AND LOOKED VERY, UH, INTENSIVELY A HOST SPECIFICITY WITHIN ANTS, AND WE'RE EXPANDING SOME TO OTHER ARTHROPODS.
AND THE DISEASE IS VERY SPECIFIC TO 20 CRAZY ANTS.
SO WE DON'T, UM, WE DON'T SEE IT, UH, THE IN, IN THIS CASE, IT'S, THESE ARE AREAS WHERE EITHER THERE IS AN EXISTING TAW, CRAZY ANT POPULATION THAT IS INFECTED WHERE WE ARE COLLECTING, UH, CO-OCCURRING NATIVE ANTS.
AND THAT'S USUALLY JUST AT THE EDGE CUZ THEY'VE BEEN ELIMINATED BEHIND THE EDGE, OR IT'S AN AREA WHERE THE 20 CRAZY ANTS WERE INFECTED AND THAT POPULATION HAS COLLAPSED, AND NATIVE ANTS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RE-EMERGING AND RECOLONIZING THE SYSTEM.
AND SO THEN WE'RE COLLECTING THOSE ANTS AND TESTING THEM.
AND THE IDEA IS THAT IN THOSE ENVIRONMENTS, YOU KNOW, WHERE THAT WAS SO SATURATED WITH INFECTED ANTS THAT HAVE ALL DIED, THE SPORES OF THIS MICRO SRID ARE ALSO VERY, VERY ABUNDANT IN THE SYSTEM.
UM, AND WE HAVE NOT FOUND THE DISEASE, BEEN ABLE TO FIND THE DISEASE IN ANY AN EXCEPT FOR TAWNY CRAZY ANTS.
UM, WE'VE ALSO, AND, AND ANTS ANSWER THE PLACE TO LOOK AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, CLOSELY RELATED ANSWER THE PLACE TO LOOK.
BECAUSE PATHOGENS, HIGHLY SPECIFIC PATHOGENS ARE, THEY TEND TO BE, OR PATHOGENS GENERALLY TEND TO BE SHARED BY CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES.
UM, AND IN ORANGE, HERE ARE ALL THE MORE CLOSELY RELATED ANTS.
ANYWAYS, WE NEVER ENCOUNTERED IT.
WE'VE ALSO DONE QUITE A FEW LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS WHERE WE'VE ATTEMPTED TO ARTIFICIALLY TRANSMIT THE DISEASE TO THE MOST CLOSELY RELATED NATIVE ANT.
AND, UM, WE ESSENTIALLY HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO DO IT.
WE'VE, WE'VE HAD VERY HIGH SUCCESS WITH TONY CRAZY ANTS, AND OCCASIONALLY WE'VE HAD A POSITIVE COMEBACK FROM THE, UH, THE NATIVE ANTS.
BUT IT DOESN'T SPREAD IN THE COLONIES, JUST LIKE AN INDIVIDUAL WORKER GETS IT, AND THEN THAT WHEN THAT WORKER DIES, THE INFECTION DIES OUT, SO IT DOESN'T SEEM TO PERSIST.
SO NOW I'M GONNA SHIFT GEARS A LITTLE BIT AND I'M GONNA TALK MORE ABOUT SORT OF WHAT WE'VE DONE SPECIFICALLY IN THE BCP.
UH, SO, UM, ONE THING WE'VE DONE IN THE BCP IS WE'VE TRIED TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE IMPACTS THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO, UH, THE BALCONES CANYONLANDS PRESERVE.
UM, ONE IS ON IMPACTS TO CAVE INVERTEBRATES, RIGHT? SO WE HAVE A LOT OF LISTED CAVE INVERTEBRATES IN THE BCP, AS YOU ALL KNOW.
UM, AND SO WE WON, WE DID A, YOU KNOW, A STUDY LOOKING AT WHAT THE INTENSITY AND TIMING OF CAVE USAGE BY TCA WAS, BY TONY CRAZY WAS, AND DO THEY IMPACT THE ABUNDANCE IN OF CARSTEN VERTEBRATES? WE LARGELY PIGGYBACKED THIS ON ONGOING CAVE FINAL SURVEY BY CITY AND COUNTY, UH, STAFF.
AND WE'RE SORT OF LIMITED BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE A FEW CAVES THAT ARE INVADED.
UM, BUT WHAT WE'VE SEEN IS THAT 20 CRAZY ANTS DO PENETRATE CAVES.
UH, THIS IS WHIRLPOOL CAVE WHEN THE, WHEN THE INVESTIGATION WAS THERE AND VERY DENSE, AND THEY WENT UP TO ABOUT 40 METERS, I THINK IT WAS BACK INTO THE CAVE SYSTEM.
UH, AND THEIR PENETRATION OF THE CAVE WAS REALLY SEASONAL.
SO IN THE SUMMERTIME WHEN IT'S VERY, VERY HOT AND DRY ON THE SURFACE, THEY WERE VERY ABUNDANT INSIDE THE CAVES IN THE WINTERTIME WHEN IT WAS COLD ON THE SURFACE, THEY WERE VERY ABUNDANT IN THE CAVE SYSTEMS. WHEN IT'S NICE ON THE SURFACE, THEY'RE NOT THERE.
UM, THE, WE SAW A LOT OF, WE BEING, UH, PRIMARILY TIED BAILS AND MARK SANDERS SAW A LOT OF PREDATION OF, OF CAVE ARTHROPODS GOING ON, UH, IN THESE CAVES AT THE TIME OF THE STUDY.
UM, AND THEN WE LOOKED THE CAVE WHERE WE ONLY HAD ONE CAVE AVAILABLE TO LOOK AT FOR AT THAT TIME FOR IMPACTS.
THIS IS NOW AN ONGOING STUDY BECAUSE THIS CAVE UNFORTUNATELY IS NOW REIN INVADED.
BUT, UM, AT, AND THE, THE 20 AUNTS CAME IN DURING THE PERIOD OF STUDY AND THEN LEFT, AND NOW THEY'RE BACK.
BUT, SO FOR THIS INITIAL DATA ANALYSIS, UM, WE ONLY HAD A SORT OF A LOW IMPACT SHORT WINDOW OF, OF IMPACT PERIOD AND NOT VERY HEAVILY IMPACTED, BUT WE STILL SAW REDUCTION IN ALL THE SPECIES THAT WERE ABUNDANT ENOUGH TO LOOK AT.
WE SAW A REDUCTION IN THEIR ABUNDANCE WHEN 20 KRA ANTS WERE PRESENT VERSUS WHEN THEY WERE ABSENT.
IT WAS ONLY SIGNIFICANT IN THE CASE OF ONE OF THESE SPECIES.
SINCE THE ANSWER BACK, WE'RE GONNA REBOOT THIS STUDY AND SEE IF WE CAN GET SOME MORE DATA ON IT.
UM, THE, UH, THE COUNTY HAS BEEN, UH, TAKING LEAD ON A STUDY LOOKING AT, UH, CANOPY ARTHROPODS, UM, AND THEIR AVAILABILITY TO GOLDEN SHEIK WARBLERS.
AND CAN YOU JUST, AGAIN, FOR NON-SCIENTISTS, DESCRIBE WHAT A CANOPY, OH, SORRY.
THE TREE, THE TOP OF THE TREE, THE LEAVES, THE, OF THE TREE, UM, THE BRANCHES UP, UP, UP IN THE BRANCHES.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF INSECTS THAT LIVE ONLY IN THE TOPS OF THE TREES, BUTTERFLY LARVA, AND, UH, PRIMARILY, OR A LOT OF 'EM DURING THE SPRING.
AND ANYWAYS, THAT THOSE INSECTS THAT LIVE UP IN IN TREES ARE THE PRIMARY PREY BASE FOR GOLDEN SHAKE S THAT'S WHERE THEY SPEND THEIR TIME FORGING IN ORDER TO RAISE THEIR, UH, THEY'RE NESTLINGS.
[00:30:01]
UM, SO WE, SO WE HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS.YOU KNOW, WHAT'S THE TIMING AND U OF CANOPY USAGE BY TAWNY CRAZY ANTS, UH, DO THEY IMPACT THE ABUNDANCE OF ARTOS IN THE CANOPY? SO THE PRE BASE THAT'S AVAILABLE TO GOLDEN, SHE COLU TO RAISE THEIR YOUNG, AND IS IT, ARE THESE INVASIONS ASSOCIATED WITH GOLDEN? SHE COBLER NEST FAILURE? WE'VE SEEN IN OTHER SYSTEMS, THIS IS A NEST OF WHITE TIP DOVES IN STEREO GRANDE, AND THERE'S SOME REALLY HEARTBREAKING VIDEO OF ALL THESE NESTLINGS BEING KILLED BY TAWNY KRAS.
UM, THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A HATCHLING THAT'S BEING KILLED.
UM, SO WE DO KNOW THAT WHEN THEY REACH VERY HIGH DENSITIES, THEY GO UP IN THE CANOPY IN VERY LARGE NUMBERS.
THEY DO HAVE IMPACTS ON NESTING BIRDS.
UM, SO WE SUBDIVIDED THE HABITAT INTO SORT OF THREE PARTS.
ONE IS, WAS THIS WAS IN 2017, THE HIGHLY INVADED AREA, THE EDGE OF THIS, THIS IS THE EDGE OF THE TONY CRAZ POPULATION.
THE EDGE WHERE WE WERE ANTICIPATING THE INVASION WOULD, WOULD ARRIVE AND THEN WELL, OUTSIDE OF AN AREA IMPACTED BY TINY CRAZY ANTS, WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS THE DISEASE COLONIZED THIS POPULATION.
WE WERE ACTUALLY ALSO DOING INOCULATIONS, BUT PRIMARILY THIS WAS COLONIZED AS A RESULT OF NATURAL EVENTS.
AND THIS EDGE DIDN'T MOVE THAT MUCH, AND NOW THE ANSWER GONE.
UM, SO OUR DESIGN DIDN'T, THIS WAS AFTER YOU'D INTRODUCED THE, UM, THIS ONE WAS A MIXTURE.
THIS ONE ACTUALLY, THE DISEASE CAME NATURALLY ON IT.
SO THIS DISEASE MOVES AROUND ON ITS OWN AND WE MOVE IT AROUND.
SO THERE'S SORT OF TWO PROCESSES GOING ON.
THIS ONE, UM, IT COLONIZED ON ITS OWN, BUT WE WERE ALSO DOING INOCULATION STUDIES HERE.
SO WE HAD BOTH THINGS HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME.
UM, THE, UH, SO WHAT WE DID, OKAY, WHAT WE DID LEARN WAS THAT, UM, THAT THAT THE INTENSIVE USE OF THE CANOPY BY TAWNY CRAZY IS RESTRICTED TO THE END OF THE GOLDEN SHE WARBLER SEASON.
SO THAT GOLDEN SHEIK WARBLERS, UM, START BREEDING IN, UH, MARCH TRAVIS.
AND, UH, THEY, YOU KNOW, THE LAST CLUTCH MIGHT BE ABOUT MID-JUNE FOR SOMEBODY WHO REALLY, REALLY HUNG ON, UH, THE FLEDGING OF THE LAST BIRDS.
UM, AND SO YOU SEE HIGH EXPLOITATION OF THE CANOPY STARTING IN ABOUT MAY AND GOING THROUGH JUNE.
SO THE LAST SIX WEEKS OF THE BREEDING SEASON, THOSE NESTS WOULD BE AT RISK.
UM, AND THEN, SO THIS SHOWS THIS COLLAPSE OF THE POPULATION GOING ON HERE, THAT THIS IS WHEN THE ANTS ARE DECLINING OVER TIME.
SO NOW THAT THE ANTS HAVE DECLINED, WE'RE CONTINUING THIS STUDY AND WHAT WE WANT TO SEE IS IN THESE LONG-TERM INVADED AREAS WHERE THE COUNTY HAS BEEN SAMPLING ARTHROPODS, UH, EVERY SPRING FROM THE BRA, FROM THE BRANCHES OF THE TREES, AND, AND CALCULATING, UH, DENSITY AND ABUNDANCE, WE WANNA SEE IF THOSE ARTHROPOD NUMBERS REBOUND.
IF THEY CHANGE, UH, THE ORIGINAL DESIGN OF WATCHING SCENE WATCHING FOR DECLINE DIDN'T WORK OUT, BUT WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA LOOK FOR THE REBOUND.
UM, OKAY, SO NOW I JUST WANNA MOVE ON AND SORT OF BRIEFLY COVER WHAT THE STATUS OF TAWNY KRANCE IN BALCON CANYONLAND PRESERVES.
AND I'M GONNA DO THIS PRETTY QUICKLY.
SO, UH, WHIRLPOOL CAVE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SITES WHERE, UH, TAWNY KRANCE, UH, INTERSECTED WITH THE BALCONIES PRESERVE SYSTEM.
THE FIRST INFESTATION WAS REPORTED IN JULY OF 2013.
WE INTRODUCED THIS MICRO SPRAY IN THE SPRING OF 2017.
UM, THEY REACHED THEIR MAXIMUM POPULATION EXTENT IN THE SUMMER OF 2018.
AND THESE ARE THESE RED DOTS THAT WAS, SO THIS WAS ALL TAWNY CRAZY ANTS.
UM, AND BY 2020 WE CAN'T FIND THEM ANYMORE.
UH, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF AREAS WHERE WE'VE SEEN REEMERGENCE OF TONY CRAZ WITHIN THIS, UH, POPULATION AREA.
THESE HAVE TURNED OUT, THESE HAVE BEEN VERY SMALL PATCHES OF HABITAT, AND SO FAR THEY'VE UNIVERSALLY BEEN INFECTED WITH A MICRO SCRUTINY AND HAVE DECLINED AND DISAPPEARED.
SO IT'S, UH, DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THEY'RE, IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ACTUALLY IS SOME RESISTANCE TO RE INVASION BY, FOR WHATEVER NEST PROPS, WHATEVER SURVIVES THIS INITIAL SORT OF MASSIVE POPULATION COLLAPSE.
AND IS THAT THOUGHT, BECAUSE THE MICROSPORIDIA STAYS IN THE SYSTEM THERE, SO WHEN THEY DO EVENTUALLY COME BACK, THEY JUST KEEP REINFECTING THEMSELVES WITH THE SAME, THAT'S WHAT, THAT'S WHAT WE THINK.
WE'RE STILL TRYING TO WORK ON 15 IF WE CAN ACTUALLY QUANTIFY THAT OR PROVE IT, BUT THAT'S WHAT WE THINK.
SO YOU FIRST NOTICED THE INFESTATION IN 2013.
WAS THAT NATURALLY OCCURRING AND THEN YOU INTRODUCED IT IN 2017? NO, NO.
SO THE INFESTATION OF TONY CRAZY ANTS OH, WAS JUST OF THE ANTS THEMSELVES.
AND THEN WE, WE, WE INTRODUCED THE PATHOGEN IN 2017.
SO THIS IS A QUICKER DIE OFF THAN, UM, UH, YEAH, THIS WAS, THIS WAS ACTUALLY ONE OF THOSE TWO SITES I SHOWED YOU AT THAT, IN THAT DATA SET ON THE INOCULATION, THIS WAS ONE OF THOSE TWO SITES.
UH, AND SO AND SO THERE, THEN THERE ARE SMALLER COLONIES THAT SORT OF REPOPULATE, BUT THEY DIE OFF.
IS THAT WHAT THAT LAST BULLET MEANS? YEAH.
[00:35:01]
SMALL, UM, THESE SMALL RE-EMERGENCE OF YET AREAS WITH TAWNY CRAZ THAT HAVE POPPED UP AGAIN.UM, AND WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY COME FROM.
WE DON'T KNOW IF IT'S SOMEBODY ELSE, IF IT'S A SECONDARY INTRODUCTION OR IF IT'S A NEST THAT SURVIVED THAT INITIAL POPULATION COLLAPSE.
MAYBE FOR SOME REASON, THE DISEASE NEVER MADE IT TO THIS, THESE ISOLATED NEST ACTUALLY, AT THIS POPULATION, THE HIGHEST DISEASE PREVALENCE WE EVER SAW WAS 80%.
SO IT NEVER REACHED THE SORT OF UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE WE SAW AT SOME OTHER POPULATION.
SO THAT MIGHT, MIGHT EXPLAIN IT ANYWAYS.
SOMEHOW WE THINK THEY'RE SURVIVING, WE DON'T THINK IT'S SECONDARY INTRODUCTION.
AND THEN THEY TAKE TIME AND THEY GROW.
AND BY THE TIME THEY GET BIG ENOUGH ENOUGH FOR US TO FIND THEM, YOU KNOW, YOU START WITH ONE NEST AND ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU'VE GOT AN AREA THAT'S MAYBE HALF THE SIZE OF THIS ROOM IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST THAT WE'VE FOUND OF THESE REEMERGING THINGS.
UM, AND THEY'VE ALL BEEN INFECTED BY THE TIME WE FIND THEM.
AND THEN WITHIN A YEAR OR TWO, THEY'RE GONE.
UH, AND WE THINK THAT IT'S A RESIDUAL ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT THAT ESSENTIALLY THE SPORES ARE RESIDENT IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ANTS, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY HAVE, UH, EVADED THE FIRST INFECTION, THEY ACQUIRE IT, UH, AS THEY GROW AND EXPAND.
UM, BUT WHAT'S, WHAT'S LIKE THE GESTATION IN THE CYCLE? IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY REPRODUCE AND EXPAND REALLY FAST.
SO, UH, THEY DO, SO THERE'S, THERE'S A LAG, RIGHT? SO YOU START WITH ONE NEST, IT'S AN EXPONENTIAL PROCESS, RIGHT? SO FROM COVID, WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE.
THEY, THEY START WITH ONE NEST, AND THERE'S TWO, AND THEN THERE'S FOUR, AND THEN THERE'S EIGHT.
SO THEY START VERY SMALL, BUT BY THE TIME THEY GET LARGE, YEAH, THEY'RE JUST, YOU KNOW, CRUISING.
UM, THE, UH, OKAY, SO ANOTHER, UH, BCP TRACT THAT HAS A HISTORY OF INVASION IS THE COLLINS TRACT.
UM, IT COLONIZED THE ICAL MORVA IN MEMAL MORVA.
THE MICRO EXPERIAN COLONIZED NATURALLY ON ITS OWN FROM OUTSIDE THE PRESERVE IN ABOUT 2018.
AND WE WERE ALSO CONNECTING INOCULATION EXPERIMENTS IN 2018 AND 2019, BY 2020, THE DISEASE WAS EVERYWHERE.
SO WE STOPPED TRYING TO DO INOCULATION EXPERIMENTS.
AND BY 2021, WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE PRESERVE, THE ANSWER ARE COMPLETELY GONE.
THERE'S STILL A LITTLE AREA, OR AT LEAST THERE WAS AS OF LAST FALL, A LITTLE AREA SOUTH OF THE PRESERVE WHERE THE ANTS ARE STILL PRESENT.
UM, SO GOTTA UNDERSTAND THIS BOTTOM IMAGE.
THE BLUE LINE IS THE EDGE, UH, ON THE TOP IMAGE.
AND THEN THE, AND THE BOTTOM IMAGE, ALL THOSE WHITE BOXES ARE THOSE SITES WHERE YOU EXAMINED WHERE THERE'D PREVIOUSLY BEEN NESTS AND NOW THEY'RE NONE.
AND THEN THE GREEN LINE IS WHERE THEY WERE STILL PRESENT AS OF LAST FALL, THOSE DEEPER CAVES OR SOMETHING? NO, UM, WHAT HAPPENED WAS THE DISEASE CAME FROM THE NORTH AND MOVED THROUGH THE POPULATION GOING SOUTH.
AND MEANWHILE, THE ANSWER ARE EXPANDING TO THE SOUTH.
SO IT'S KIND OF A FOOT RACE
BUT, UM, SO THE DISEASE DIDN'T, UH, HAS ONLY MORE RECENTLY SORT OF COLONIZED THESE ANTS.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE STILL THERE.
I MEAN, WE, WE FINISHED OUR SAMPLING THIS FALL, BUT WE STILL HAVE DATA PROCESSING TO DO.
I, I'M, UM, HOPEFULLY THEY MIGHT BE ENTIRELY GONE AT THIS POINT, BUT THAT'S WHERE THE STATUS WAS AS OF LAST FALL.
DID THE FREEZE AFFECT THEM AT ALL? IT DID.
UM, IT, UH, IT SEEMED LIKE THAT YEAR THERE WAS KIND OF A LOWER STARTING POINT, BUT THEY DIDN'T DISAPPEAR FROM ANYWHERE WHERE THEY WERE PRESENT PRIOR TO THE FREEZE.
UH, YOU ONLY HAVE TO GET, YOU KNOW, JUST TO WEAVE IT BELOW THE SOIL SURFACE HERE, BECAUSE THE FREEZES ARE SO BRIEF.
AND IT'S SO WARM OTHERWISE TO BE PROTECTED.
SO, UM, IT HAD SOME IMPACT, BUT IT WAS FAIRLY TRANSITORY, I GUESS I'D SAY.
UM, ANOTHER SITE, WE HAVE AN INFESTATION THAT'S PART OF THE BCP IS M LONG METROPOLITAN PARK.
UH, AND WE FOUND THIS INFESTATION IN 2020, UM, AND THEY WERE ALREADY INFECTED WHEN WE FOUND IT.
THE, THE MICROPER WAS SO, UM, WE DIDN'T DO INOCULATIONS THERE.
UM, THIS, UH, TCA POPULATION IS STILL EXPANDING, AND THE MICROPER INFECTION IS STILL INCREASING IN THE POPULATION.
IT HAD BREACHED ALMOST UNIVERSALITY BY 2021.
WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS EVERYWHERE WE LOOKED AT THE ANTS, WE SAW THE DISEASE.
UM, BUT THERE'S STILL, UH, WE'RE STILL A GOOD NUMBER OF ANTS.
I'M ANTICIPATING A PRETTY STEEP DECLINE THIS YEAR.
IS IT AN AREA WHERE, UM, UH, THE PUBLIC WOULD BE, UM, PICNICKING OR, YOU KNOW, GOING TO THE, THE YEAH.
THE RIVER AND PROBABLY PICKING STUFF UP ON THEIR BLANKETS AND BRINGING 'EM HOME AND YEAH.
THIS, THIS IS THE BIG, THIS RIGHT HERE IS THE CAMPING AREA.
SO THAT'S WHERE THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY'S COMING AND PITCHING THEIR TENTS AND, UM, DOES, DOES THE, UM, DOES THE INOCULATION WANE WITH TIME, UH, WHEN THE ANTS DIE OUT? SO THAT'S IT.
SO IF THEY TRANS, SO THEY'RE TRANSMITTING THE, UM, VACCINE, UH, INFECTION.
IS IT GOING TO OTHER, IT'S SHARED RIGHT IN THE NEST MM-HMM.
[00:40:01]
SO THE SHARING OF IT JUST UNTIL THEY DIE, IT JUST KEEPS ON YEAH, IT KEEPS, WE HAVEN'T, YEAH, EXACTLY.WE HAVEN'T SEEN THE DISEASE, THE PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE GO DOWN, EVER.
WE'VE JUST SEEN IT GO UP UNTIL THE ANTS ESSENTIALLY DISAPPEAR.
UM, THE, UH, UH, AND THE OTHER, I THINK THIS MAY BE THE FINAL SITE IS, UH, MCNEIL, UM, HIGH SCHOOL WHERE WE HAVE, THERE'S A, THERE'S A PRESERVE UP THERE THAT HAS SEVERAL CAVES WITH ENDANGERED SPECIES.
THIS IS A SITE WHERE, UH, THIS IS AN ODD SITE THEY ORIGINALLY REPORTED IN, IN 2013.
AND WE ACTUALLY INCORPORATED THEM INTO THAT STUDY OF CARED IMPACTS THAT THOSE CAVES WE DIDN'T BECAUSE THEY HADN'T REACHED THE CAVES YET, BUT WE WERE ANTICIPATING THEY WERE GONNA REACH THE CAVES, AND THEY DID REACH THE CAVES, AND THEN THEY DISAPPEARED.
I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY WERE NEVER TESTED AS INFECTED, BUT NOW THEY'RE BACK.
SO APPARENTLY THEY DIDN'T GO FAR.
UM, I, I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THERE.
THERE'S SOMETHING WE DON'T UNDERSTAND.
MAYBE ANOTHER PATHOGEN IN THE SYSTEM OR SOMETHING WE REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND.
UM, BUT NOW THEY HAVE REIN INVADED IN THE PRESERVES OF THE SPRING OF 2022.
WE'RE GONNA REBOOT THAT CAR STUDY JUST FOR IMPACTS.
AND WE'VE CONDUCTED INOCULATIONS THIS PAST AUGUST.
WE HAVEN'T YET GOTTEN A POSITIVE DETECTION YET.
UM, BUT THAT WE'VE ONLY DONE ONE VERY EARLY SAMPLE IN THE SAMPLE THAT WE'VE DONE MORE RECENTLY, WHERE THERE'S A DECENT CHANCE OF SEEING IT IF WE SUCCEEDED, IS STILL IN THE FORM OF ANTS IN VIALS.
UM, AND THAT'S, THAT'S ALL I, I SORT OF HAD PREPARED.
SO HOW MUCH HAS IT, UH, AFFECTED THE, UM, THE ENDANGERED SPECIES POPULATION ACROSS THE, THE AREA WHERE YOU'RE FINDING THESE ANTS? UH, WE DON'T KNOW.
UM, SO THE GOLDEN SHEIK WARBLERS, UH, AT THAT SITE IN, UH, IN THE COLLINS TRACK SITE, THE ANTS NEVER GOT INTO THE REAL CORE OF THEIR NESTING HABITAT.
UM, IT WAS LARGELY RESTRICTED TO, UM, THIS VERY DISTURBED ENVIRONMENT THAT THE, THEY WERE SPREADING INTO THE, THE, THE GOOD HABITAT FOR GOLDEN CHEEKS, BUT THEY DIDN'T REALLY GET THERE.
SO PROBABLY THERE WAS VERY LITTLE IMPACT ON GOLDEN CHEEKS.
UH, AND, UH, THIS IS THE FIRST, THESE ARE THE FIRST ENDANGERED SPECIES CAVES WHERE WE'VE GOT TONY CRAZY, UH, INVADING.
SO, UM, AND TRAVIS WAS IN THOSE CAVES RECENTLY.
YOU WANNA, YOU WANNA COME TO THE MICROPHONE AND GIVE US A QUICK UPDATE ON IT? YEAH.
I MEAN THAT'S WHY, THAT'S WHY THIS MATTERS AT THE BCP YEAH.
ON WANTING TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES THAT WE'VE SET ASIDE THESE PRESERVES TO TRY AND PROTECT.
SO, UM, WHAT HE DISCUSSED WITH NORAN CAVE IS WHEN WE FOUND THEM AGAIN.
AND WOULD YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF? SORRY.
I'M TRAVIS CLARK, THE NATURAL RESOURCES SPECIALIST FOR TRAVIS COUNTY BCP.
I MANAGE OUR CARS PROGRAM, BUT I'M ALSO COLLABORATE WITH ED ON ALL OF THE ARTHROPOD SAMPLING AND RESEARCH THAT HE'S DOING.
THE, YOU KNOW, THEY, LIKE, AS HE, AS HE DISCUSSED, THEY WINKED OUT AND WE HADN'T SEEN THEM FOR QUITE SOME TIME, AT LEAST A NUMBER OF YEARS.
AND THEN IN SPRING, I STARTED TO NOTICE THEM, ACTUALLY IN THE LAST WINTER, I STARTED TO NOTICE THEM COMING BACK IN.
AND THIS, IT'S BEEN A FULL CYCLE NOW.
AND DURING THE SUMMER THEY WERE, THEY HAD KIND OF, THE DEN HAD AT LEAST FALLEN DOWN SOME, BUT THIS WINTER THEY WERE IN TENS OF THOUSANDS IN NORAN CAVE.
AND NORAN CAVE IS NOT A VERY LARGE CAVE ITSELF.
IT'S VERY SHALLOW, BUT, UM, NOT MUCH DIVERSITY FROM WHAT I WOULD NORMALLY SEE FROM OUR QUARTERLY SURVEYS ACCESSING THERE.
BUT, UM, WELDING CAVE IS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THAT TRACT, AND THEY'D NEVER IMPACTED THAT CAVE.
AND WE'RE NOW SEEING THEM AS FAR IN AS ABOUT, OH, I'D SAY 30, 40 METERS IN.
SO WE'RE, YOU KNOW, DEFINITELY SEEING AN INCREASED IMPACT OF THOSE TWO CAVES.
BUT WE'RE NOT ABLE TO SAY DEFINITIVELY SORT OF WHAT THE, WHAT THE PERCENTAGE DECLINE IS OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES, OR DO WE HAVE SOME INDICATION OF THAT? YEAH, WE, AS OF RIGHT NOW, WE DON'T HAVE THAT.
THAT'S WHY WE'RE KIND OF REBOOTING.
AND SO I'VE GOT PAST DATA THAT WE CO IN AND, YOU KNOW, WE ESSENTIALLY DO COUNTS FOR THOSE SPEC FOR THOSE SPECIES.
AND WE'LL SEE HOW THAT ESSENTIALLY HAS CHANGED OVER TIME.
SO THAT'S PART OF WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE STUDYING NEXT.
DID YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? UH, NOPE.
I DON'T KNOW IF, UH, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? NO, THANK YOU.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK.
AND, UM, FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE, UM, FINDING, UH, UH, TAWNY CRAZY ANTS IN THEIR HOMES, IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THEY CAN DO? UM, THERE ARE, OTHERWISE YOU'RE NOT PEST EXTERMINATORS.
I'M JUST WONDERING IF THERE'S ANY PRACTICAL ADVICE PEOPLE
AND THAT IS AN EASY THING TO SAY AND A HARD THING TO DO BECAUSE IT SEEMS YOU CARE ABOUT, UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, FIREWOOD PILES, UH, MULCH, UH, LANDSCAPING ROCKS, YOU KNOW, UH, BUT THAT HELPS, CAN HELP.
AND THEN ASIDE FROM THAT, UH, IT'S UNFORTUNATELY
[00:45:01]
THESE BARRIER PESTICIDE TREATMENTS, WHICH ARE REALLY DAMAGING ENVIRONMENTALLY, FRANKLY.UM, BUT THEY WILL KEEP THEM OUT OF YOUR HOUSE, UM, FOR SOME PERIOD OF TIME.
WELL, THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESEARCH AND YOUR WORK.
IT'S REALLY FASCINATING TO SEE HOW THESE, UM, UM, UH, INFECTED ANTS BEING INTRODUCED INTO NEW COLONIES ARE HELPING TO SPREAD IT.
AND HONESTLY, IT'S FASCINATING TO SEE HOW THESE, THESE COLONIES GROW.
I MEAN, THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE MULTIPLE, WHAT WAS IT, HUNDREDS OF QUEENS IN EACH NEST, SO I'M ASSUMING THE GESTATION PERIOD IS PRETTY BRIEF AND THEY'RE JUST MULTIPLYING LIKE CRAZY CUZ THEY'RE CRAZY
IT'S HARD NOT TO USE THAT WORD, ISN'T IT? YEAH, EXACTLY.
YEAH, NO, THEY, THEY GROW VERY FAST AND IT, IT'S, THESE POPULATIONS NEED TO BE REALLY IMPRESSIVE.
UM, SO OUR NEXT, UH, PRESENTATION.
[3. BCCP Coordinating Committee End-of-Year Letter – BCP Staff]
ON THE AGENDA IS THE, UH, B CCP COORDINATING COMMITTEE END OF YEAR LETTER FROM THE VCP STAFF.AND EACH OF YOU HAVE A DRAFT IN YOUR LITTLE PACKET HERE.
UM, AND AS LONG AS WE DON'T HAVE ANY EDITS TO THIS TODAY, I'LL HAVE YOU SIGN IT AND THEN WE'LL SEND IT OUT TO NEIGHBORS.
BUT JEREMY'S HERE TODAY TO TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT WE INCLUDED IN THE LETTER THIS YEAR.
YEAH, I'LL KEEP THIS VERY BRIEF.
SO MY NAME IS JEREMY HU, UH, COMMUNITY LIAISON FOR TRAVIS COUNTY NATURAL RESOURCES.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE BCP B C C P P B C CCP END OF YOUR LETTER, AS YOU BOTH KNOW, IS A WAY FOR US TO TELL THE PUBLIC KIND OF THE BIG PICTURE, BIG HOT BUTTON ITEMS THAT WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH OVER THE LAST YEAR.
UH, 2022 WAS PRETTY, UH, YOU KNOW, WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY OF THOSE CRAZY BIG HOT BUTTON ISSUES LIKE WILD HER THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN 2021 AND OR COVID AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO BASICALLY WHAT WE HIGHLIGHTED WAS, YOU KNOW, THE CONTINUING BOOST OF OUR OUTREACH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM.
WE HIGHLIGHTED THE MICRO RZA BLITZ PROJECT THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY DID TOGETHER THAT BROUGHT IN, YOU KNOW, DOZENS OF VOLUNTEERS TO PUT IN HUNDREDS OF HOURS TO SAMPLE FOR THAT.
IT WAS A SUPER SUCCESSFUL PROJECT.
UM, AND THEN WE HIGHLIGHTED THE, ALL THE ACQUISITIONS THAT HAPPENED IN 2022, WHICH WAS ABOUT, UH, TWO TRACKS ON THE TRAVIS COUNTY SIDE, UM, TOTALING, YOU KNOW, 691 ACRES FOR CAR, WELL, WELL, FOR THE FLYING K ACQUISITION.
THAT EXPANDED OUR KOALA UNIT UP IN THE NORTH PART OF THE COUNTY NEAR THE, NEAR THE REFUGE AS WELL, WELL AS THE 70 ACRE MER TRACT, WHICH IS RIGHT BY RIKER RANCH, WHICH IS THE CITY OF AUSTIN TRACT.
AND A, UM, AND NEAR THE DOUBLE J AND T TRACK, WHICH IS ALSO THE CITY.
AND THEN MEDWAY, WHICH IS A COUNTY TRACT, IT WAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE.
AND BOTH OF THOSE HAVE, UM, GREAT GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLE HABITAT, WHICH IS WHY WE BROUGHT, BRING THEM IN.
AS WELL AS, UM, SOME CARS, UH, FEATURE ON THE NORTHERN UNIT, WHICH IS PRETTY COOL.
AND THEN, UM, A LITTLE BLURB AT THE END ABOUT HOW PEOPLE CAN GET INVOLVED, HOW THEY COULD VISIT THE BCP, HOW THEY COULD JOIN OUR OUTREACH PROGRAMS AND, AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO OVERALL THIS YEAR IT'S A SHORT AND SWEET LETTER.
VERY HAPPY, VERY, YOU KNOW, THAT KIND OF STUFF.
SO WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS, THERE WAS AN EXCLAMATION POINT
I'M A, I'M A FORMER JOURNALIST, SO I, I ALWAYS LOOK AT THINGS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MAKING SURE THAT PEOPLE HAVE SOME SENSE OF WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.
IS IT MUSHROOMS? IT, IT, IT'S A, YEAH, IT'S A TYPE OF FUNGI.
IT'S A, THAT'S IN THE ROOT SYSTEM OF PLANTS AND TREES.
IT MAKES, IT FORCES THEM TO GO LOOK IT UP.
UM, YEAH, BUT I, I ALSO KNOW THAT WHEN YOU DO STUFF LIKE THAT, YOU LOSE PEOPLE.
UM, THE, UH, BUT IS THERE LIKE A GOOD EXAMPLE IF YOU'RE TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO YOUR FIVE YEAR OLD NEPHEW WHAT THIS IS, WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, WHERE YOU'D FIND IT? YEAH.
UM, BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT'S NOT CLEAR WHAT THIS IS AND WHY WE'RE DOING THIS.
AND WE HAD A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THIS, BUT WE TRIED, WE CUT SOME THINGS TO KEEP IT AS A PAGE CUZ THEN IT GOT TO LIKE A PAGE IN A SENTENCE AND IT KINDA LOOKED KIND OF FUNKY.
BUT WHAT WE CAN DO IS WE CAN MAYBE LINK TO AN OUTSIDE SOURCE THAT WOULD HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THAT TELL PEOPLE WHERE THIS, THIS IS ALL GOING OUT ELECTRONICALLY.
SO LINKS LIKE THAT WOULD BE GREAT.
AND THEN, UM, I ALWAYS THINK IT'S VALUABLE TO, UM, LET PEOPLE, UH, TRY AND UNDERSTAND WHERE THEY ARE IN RELATION TO THE PRESERVE MM-HMM.
SO I MIGHT EVEN JUST TRY AND ADD A LITTLE NOTE ON HERE THAT'S SORT OF HIGHLIGHTED BY ITS OWN, UM, WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE IN RELATION TO THE PRESERVE LINK HERE.
I'M ASSUMING A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD KNOW, BUT I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW IN THE AREA WHO HAVE NO IDEA.
WE TYPICALLY INCLUDE THOSE IN A LOT OF OUR STUFF.
SO THAT WILL BE, WE COULD ADD THAT TO THAT LAST PARAGRAPH.
AND WE'RE NOT SENDING THIS OUT WITH A, OR ARE WE SENDING THIS WITH NO, NOW IT'S ELECTRONIC, SO NOT THAT'S JUST FREE METHOD.
YEAH, THAT'S A NEW BROCHURE THAT TRAVIS COUNTY PUT TOGETHER.
SO I WANTED TO BRING A COPY AND SHARE WITH YOU IF YOU'D LIKE ANY MORE, LET US KNOW AND WE CAN SEND THOSE TO YOUR OFFICE.
WE HAVE A SECOND ONE AS WELL THAT'S ACTUALLY FOUR
[00:50:01]
NEIGHBORS OF THE PRESERVE.UM, IT'S SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO THEM.
SO, UM, IT HAS MORE WILDFIRE ISSUES AND THINGS LIKE THAT ON IT TOO.
WE CAN GET YOU A COPY OF THAT.
BUT FOR ANYBODY WHO'S JUST GENERALLY WANTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT, I ALWAYS FIGURE SOME KIND OF WAY FINDING WHERE PEOPLE CAN HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHERE THESE PLACES ARE IS A USEFUL LINK.
I'M HOPEFUL THAT THE, WHERE CAN I HIKE MAP THAT'S LINKED HERE WILL HELP THEM TO GET TO THAT.
AND DID I MISS THAT WHERE IN, IN THE LAST BLURB WE HAVE FOR IF THEY WANNA JOIN A GUIDED HIKE VOLUNTEER EVENT, THEY COULD CHECK OUT OUR WEBPAGES OH.
WHICH ARE LINKING DIRECTLY TO OUR, YOU KNOW, WHERE THEY CAN GET INVOLVED.
SO I DIDN'T SEE THAT PHRASE, WHERE CAN I HIKE? BUT THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT THE, WHAT THIS LINK IS.
BUT WE CAN EXPAND ON THAT TO INCLUDE LIKE, YOU KNOW, FIND OUT WHERE YOU ARE JOAN, I GOTTA IT.
YEAH, I THINK ANYTHING USER FRIENDLY TO, TO MAKE IT A LITTLE BIT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO FOLKS, THOSE ARE EXCELLENT EDITS.
AND WE CAN TALK ABOUT, WELL THE MUSHROOM IS THE FRUITING BODY, YOU KNOW, THE MICRO RISE OR THE ROOTS THAT WE DON'T SEE THAT CONNECTED ALL WELL AND AREN'T THEY SORT OF HOW THE TREES TALK TO EACH OTHER? THEY DO PLAY A PART ISN'T, THAT'S SORT OF HOW TREES TALK TO EACH OTHER.
I MEAN I'VE, I'VE THERE'S, THERE'S WHOLE, THERE'S WHOLE LIKE WHOLE NEW SCIENCE THAT'S, THAT'S BEING DISCOVERED ABOUT THIS.
SO TO ME IT'S LIKE THIS IS A SPECTACULAR THING, BUT IF YOU DON'T KNOW THAT, IT JUST LOOKS LIKE A COMPLICATED WORD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.
WELL AND A GREAT THING THAT WE COULD LINK TO IS, IS, AND WE TALK ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT, BUT OUR, OUR WILD NEIGHBORS WEBINAR SERIES, OUR MONTHLY WEBINAR SERIES THAT I, I BELIEVE YOU'VE, YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT IN THE PAST THAT WE DO.
OUR LAST ONE THIS MONTH WAS ABOUT MICRO RISE 1 0 1, UH, WITH THE PROFESSOR FROM, UH, NORTHERN ARIZONA US UNIVERSITY THAT WE DID THE STUDY WITH.
AND SHE DID BASICALLY A MICRO RISI 1 0 1 LECTURE, UH, ON IT.
AND SO IT'S, WE, WE CAN LINK TO THAT DIRECTLY AND PEOPLE CAN GO, WE, THE VIDEOS ARE UP ON THE CITY AND COUNTY WEBSITES.
THAT'S, BUT I'D EVEN ADD A PHRASE LIKE THIS IS A, THESE ARE UH, SCIENCE IS NOW, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTANDING MORE WHAT A CRITICAL ROLE THESE PLAY AND IT'S HOW TREES TALK TO EACH OTHER SURE.
OR COMMUNICATOR, WHATEVER, WHATEVER'S THE RIGHT WAY TO DESCRIBE IT.
IT MERITS AN EXCLAMATION MARK IN A LITTLE WORDS PERSPECTIVE.
THERE IS ONE THERE ALREADY, BUT ABSOLUTELY.
IT'S ONLY FOR INSIDERS TO UNDERSTAND AT NO, PERFECT.
I, I THINK UH, THE MORE WE CAN TELL OUR STORY, UM, THE BETTER CUZ IT CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF OUR BEST KEPT SECRETS.
AND DID YOU NEED US TO JUST GIVE OUR HAND OUR SIGNATURE SO YOU CAN PUT 'EM IN THE LETTERS ONCE I, WHEN IT'S ONCE I HAVE BEEN UPDATED, I'LL GET THOSE FROM YOU.
I BELIEVE I HAVE THEM ALREADY.
I'LL JUST MAKE SURE YOU'RE FINE WITH IT BEFORE WE GET THOSE ON THERE AND SEND THEM OFF.
[4. National Habitat Conservation Plan Coalition Annual Meeting in Austin – BCCP Secretary]
THE NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS THE NATIONAL HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN COALITION ANNUAL MEETING.AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT TODAY.
UH, SO THE NATIONAL HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN COALITION IS A REALLY GREAT GROUP FULL OF PASSIONATE VOLUNTEERS OF HCP PRACTITIONERS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.
AND THE CITY AND THE COUNTY ARE BOTH MEMBERS OF THIS ORGANIZATION AND STAFF FROM BOTH ENTITIES HAVE BEEN VERY INVOLVED WITH THEM FROM THE BEGINNING.
THEY HAD THEIR ANNUAL CONFERENCE HERE LAST MONTH AND IT WAS A GREAT THREE DAYS SPENT.
UM, YOU KNOW, LISTENING HOW OTHER PEOPLE'S HCPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WORK AND BEING ABLE TO INTRODUCE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO THE HCPS HERE IN CENTRAL TEXAS.
TWO OF THOSE DAYS WERE SPENT IN A CONFERENCE ROOM LISTENING TO, YOU KNOW, WONDERFUL PRESENTATIONS.
BUT WHAT'S REALLY GREAT ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE IS THEY TRY TO FIT ONE DAY IN FOR FIELD TRIPS SO THAT THEY CAN ACTUALLY TAKE PARTICIPANTS TO HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN LANDS, UM, WHERE THE CONFERENCE IS HAPPENING.
SO ONE OF THE OPTIONS FOR FIELD TRIP THIS YEAR WAS, UH, THE SPRINGS AND SONGBIRDS TOUR AND, UH, THE BCP WAS HIGHLIGHTED AS ONE OF THE SPOTS IN THIS TOUR.
SO THE PARTICIPANTS WHO CHOSE THIS TOUR SPENT SOME TIME IN THE AFTERNOON AT THE RIKER RANCH BCP PROPERTY, HAVING LUNCH, HIKING WITH STAFF.
UM, THEY HAD SOME INFORMATIONAL BOOTHS SET UP, WAS VERY INTERACTIVE.
UM, IT WAS REALLY JUST A, A BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL DAY.
AND THEN ALL OF THE THREE FIELD TRIP PARTICIPANTS MET TOGETHER LATER THAT NIGHT AT THE OASIS ON THE LAKE FOR DINNER.
AND THE VIDEO THAT YOU'RE SEEING RIGHT NOW IS JUST AN AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL, UH, VIDEO THAT WAS CAPTURED BY DRONE THAT TRAVIS COUNTY, UM, HAD MADE FOR US.
AND ALL OF THE GREEN SPACE YOU SEE HERE IS THE PRESERVE THAT SURROUNDS THE OASIS AT THE LAKE.
SO WE SHOWED THIS AT THAT EVENT TOO, TO REALLY DRIVE HOME THE FACT THAT REALLY HERE IN, IN THE PERMIT AREA, WHEN YOU SEE BIG BLOCKS OF GREEN WILDLANDS, THAT'S PROBABLY BCP AND IT'S BECAUSE WE'RE HERE WITH THIS PROGRAM CONSERVING THOSE LANDS.
SO IT'S GOING TO ZOOM IN HERE.
BUT ALL THAT GREEN SPACE RIGHT AROUND IS BCP.
[00:55:01]
TO, UM, ORIENT THE GROUP WITH WHAT THEY WERE SEEING WHEN THEY LOOKED OUT OF THE PATIO AND UM, AS, YOU KNOW, YOU SENT A VIDEO ALONG, WAS ABLE TO ADDRESS THE GROUP AND COUNCIL MEMBER POOL WAS THERE AND WAS ABLE TO TALK TO EVERYBODY.SO THEY GOT A LITTLE BIT OF INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT THAT IS, HOW SPECIAL THAT IS, UM, THE COLLABORATIVE, UM, EFFORTS THAT IT TOOK TO CREATE THIS PRESERVE WITH ALL OF OUR PARTNERS AND WHAT WE'RE DOING WITH OUR PERMIT LOOKING FORWARD.
SO IT WAS, IT WAS A GREAT EVENT.
UM, AND I REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT WE SET THE BAR HERE IN TEXAS FOR THE N HCPC WHEN THEY VISIT ANYWHERE ELSE.
THEY'RE REALLY GOING TO BE COMPARING THEMSELVES TO HOW WELL WE DID WHEN THEY CAME HERE.
SO WE'RE ALL VERY PROUD OF, WAS PROUD OF THE WAY ALL THE STAFF CAME TOGETHER TO MAKE EVERYTHING WORK.
AND WE MADE THEM FEEL WELCOME AND, YOU KNOW, LET THEM KNOW THAT THERE ARE ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS HERE IN TEXAS.
UM, THIS IS REALLY FABULOUS VIDEO.
HAVE WE, UM, UM, REACHED OUT TO THE OASIS TO SEE IF THEY'D LIKE TO HAVE A LINK TO IT ON THEIR WEBSITE? BECAUSE IT WOULD CERTAINLY HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND, UH, WHAT BEAUTIFUL VISTAS THERE ARE THERE.
WHEN WE, WHEN WE FILM THIS, WE, WE TALKED WITH THEM DIRECTLY AND WE SENT THEM A COPY OF IT AT, AT THE, YOU KNOW, TO THE MANAGER OF THE, OF THE OASIS.
AND WAS IT CLEAR THEY COULD USE IT IF THEY WANTED TO LINK IT ON THEIR SITE? YEAH.
UM, YOU KNOW, SINCE THEY ALLOWED US TO FILM, WE ACTUALLY LAUNCHED THE DRONE FROM, FROM THE, THEIR BALCONY AND FLEW AROUND.
ANY OTHER, UH, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE, FROM THE GATHERING? WELL, I WAS SORRY TO TO MISS IT.
I THINK I, I THINK I JUST COME DOWN WITH COVID.
I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER, BUT THERE WAS SOME REASON WHY I COULDN'T BE THERE.
SO THIS, THIS PROMPTS A QUESTION.
I, I DON'T KNOW IF I KNOW THE ANSWER TO, DO WE, HAVE WE EVER CAPTURED KIND OF AS AN ORAL HISTORY, UM, HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY WITH BCC, WITH THE BCP TALKED WITH PEOPLE LIKE VALERIE BRISTOL AND, UH, THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS WHO WERE ON THE, BARBARA, BARBARA, BARBARA, BARBARA CARLSON WAS PART OF IT.
UM, HAVE WE, YEAH, THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO WERE INVOLVED WHEN I WORKED AT TRAVIS COUNTY, UM, I WAS ON A HISTORY DAY COMMITTEE AND WE WERE, UM, GATHERING SOME INFORMATION.
AT THAT POINT, THEY WERE THINKING THAT IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE AN ARCH TO HAVE ARCHIVAL COPIES OF ORAL HISTORIES.
AND SO WE WENT OUT TO VALERIE BRISTOL'S HOUSE, UH, AND, UM, I INTERVIEWED HER FOR, I DON'T KNOW, TWO HOURS OR MORE.
AND IT WAS A WONDERFUL CONVERSATION AND UNFORTUNATELY THAT SOMETHING HAPPENED WITH THE, UM, AUDIO AND IT WAS VIDEOED, BUT I GUESS THERE WASN'T ANY AUDIO ON IT, WHICH WAS JUST HEARTBREAKING.
AND WAS IT ABOUT THIS PROJECT? IT WAS ABOUT THE VCP, THE CREATION OF IT AND, AND HER ROLE, THE ROLE SHE PLAYED AND OH, WOW.
THE CONVERSATIONS THAT WERE HAD AND WOW.
UM, YOU KNOW, UH, JUST, UM, TELLING THE, TELLING THE STORY OF HOW WE GOT FROM THERE TO THEN.
AND NOW I'M THINKING, HERE WE ARE HERE.
AND I'VE ALWAYS REGRETTED THAT THAT ORAL HISTORY SORT OF, IT JUST, YOU KNOW, IT WAS A GREAT IDEA, BUT IT JUST NEVER HAPPENED DESPITE US THINKING THAT IT HAD.
WE SHOULD, I WOULD LOVE TO DEFINITELY HAVE IT FOR OUR VISITORS CENTER.
WELL, MELINDA, LET ME, LET ME SAY, AND WOULD YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OUR, HAVE VALERIE BRISTOL.
WOULD YOU PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF FOR OUR MANY VIEWERS?
AND YES, UM, SHE'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT'S FEATURED THE MOST IN, UM, CONFERENCES, EVENTS, UH, VIDEOS.
WE, SHE'S, SHE'S A REGULAR AND, UM, YEAH, EVERYBODY LOVES HER AND EVERYBODY REALLY APPRECIATES THE WORK SHE'S DONE.
AND COULD WE DO MORE? ALWAYS, ALWAYS
UH, WE, WE HAVE, UH, AN INTERPRETIVE EXHIBIT DESIGNER ON THE TEAM, UH, AT THE VISITOR CENTER WHO HAS, UH, A FAIRLY HEFTY LIST OF TOPICS THAT WE'LL BE FEATURING THERE.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, PART OF THAT INCLUDES, UH, HISTORY AND OF, OF DEVELOPING THE PLAN AND THE BCP.
SO, SO YES, WE WILL, WE'LL HAVE QUITE A BIT TO OFFER THERE.
IT WOULD BE GREAT TO GET A BRIEFING ON THAT AND SORT OF WHAT THE BIGGER VISION IS AND, AND WHAT YOU'RE PULLING TOGETHER.
MAYBE NOT TODAY, BUT AT ONE OF OUR FUTURE, UH, COMMITTEE MEETINGS, WHAT I, UH, MY BEST GUESS TODAY, UH, RIGHT NOW, THE, THE DESIGN TEAM IS, IS, UH, WORKING ON THE SCHEMATIC DESIGN.
WHEN THAT'S DONE, THE, THEN WE WILL GO BACK AND FORTH WITH STAFF AND REVIEW AND GET THINGS CLARIFIED.
AS SOON AS WE GET THAT DONE, I
[01:00:01]
EXPECT SOME, HOPEFULLY IN FEBRUARY, UH, WE'LL BE BRINGING THAT TO YOU AT THE COMMISSIONER'S COURT TO PRESENT THE, THE DESIGN, ALL OF THAT TO YOU.AND, UM, AFTER YOU GUYS CLEAR IT, UH, THE NEXT MEETING, WE'LL CERTAINLY BRIEF YOU ON IT.
WE, WE BRIEF YOU EVERY TIME WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT.
BUT HONESTLY, THIS PROJECT, WELL, IT'S A HUGE PROJECT AND, UM, LIKE MANY THINGS WITH COVID, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LOT OF DELAYS, BUT WE'RE, UH, THE DESIGN IS, IS GREAT.
THE DESIGN TEAMS ARE FOR THOSE WHO DUNNO, IT'S AT THE OLD SAS, UH, OFFICE BUILDING OFF OF SIX 20.
AND, UM, WHAT'S THE CROSS STREET THERE? WHAT'S, WHAT'S THE NAME OF THAT STREET THAT GOES UP TO THE FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE? WILSON PARK.
UH, AND IT'S IN THE MIDST OF 95, UM, ACRES, UM, THAT WERE PRESERVED BY SAS AND THAT OUR STAFF WORKED WITH THEM TO BUILD TRAILS ON.
SO IT'S, UH, AND IT'S GOT A HUGE ATRIUM THAT LOOKS OUT OVER THE LAND.
IT'S JUST A BEAUTIFUL, UH, SETTING AND IT'S GONNA BE A WONDERFUL PLACE TO HELP HAVE LET VISITORS COME AND LEARN THE STORY ABOUT BCP B CCP.
[5. BCP Partner Report Highlights – BCP Staff]
YOU UP HERE, MELINDA, ARE YOU HERE FOR THE, UH, BCP PARTNER REPORT? HIGHLIGHTAND IF YOU'LL JUST INTRODUCE YOURSELVES SURE.
HI, I'M LINDA LOCKE, A PRESERVE MANAGER FOR TRA WITH TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A BRIEF UPDATE ON OUR DEAR MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
SO, AS YOU'RE PROBABLY AWARE, WE MANAGE THE DEER POPULATION ON THE BCP PRIMARILY TO REDUCE THE OVER BROWSING OF YOUNG DES DECIDUOUS TREES.
AND IN THE, FOR THE PAST DECADE OR SO, WE HAVE CONTRACTED, WE, OR WE'VE HAD A, HIRED A WILDLIFE RESEARCH CONTRACTOR TO DO OUR DEER HARVEST FOR US.
UH, THIS CONTRACTOR HAD A SCIENTIFIC PERMIT THROUGH THE TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT, AND IT ALLOWED THEM TO, UM, HARVEST DEER AND THEN COLLECT BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES FROM THEM.
AND THEN THEY COULD USE THOSE SAMPLES IN VARIOUS RESEARCH PROJECTS.
HOWEVER, THE, UH, PARKS AND WILDLIFE HAS NOW IS RELUCTANT TO REISSUE THE PERMIT.
AND SO OUR CONTRACTOR HAS DECIDED TO RETIRE SINCE, UH, GETTING A PERMIT IS NO LONGER AN OPTION.
AND SO ANOTHER ISSUE WE HAVE IS THAT IT, IT WON'T BE EASY TO JUST HIRE ANOTHER CONTRACTOR BECAUSE PARKS AND WILDLIFE ALSO HAS A, A CODE WHICH PROHIBITS, UH, WHAT THEY REFER TO AS HUNTING FOR HIRE.
AND SO WE'RE ACTUALLY, UM, WORKING ON LEGISLATION TO TRY AND MODIFY THAT CODE SO THAT IT WOULD ALLOW GOVERNMENT ENTITIES TO HIRE CONTRACTORS TO HARVEST IN DEER IN AREAS WHERE PUBLIC HUNTING JUST ISN'T FEASIBLE.
UH, SO IN THE, IN THE MEANTIME THOUGH, WE ARE, WE'VE HAD TO SWITCH TO A, A KIND OF A LIMITED STAFF RUN HARVEST, AND WE DON'T SEE THAT AS A, AS A PERMANENT SOLUTION.
BUT IT, UM, YOU KNOW, WE ARE, WE'RE GONNA SEE, WE'RE GOING TO, UM, KIND OF MONITOR THE SUCCESS AND THE COST EFFECTIVENESS THIS YEAR AND SEE H HOW WELL IT WORKS FOR US.
AND THEN I SHOULD ALSO MENTION THAT ALL OF THE DEER WE DO HARVEST ARE DONATED THROUGH THE HUNTERS FOR THE HUNGRY PROGRAM, AND ALL OF THE MEAT GOES TO CARITAS OF AUSTIN.
AND ARE, IS THERE, ARE THERE LARGE NUMBER OF DEER THAT ARE HARVESTED? UH, TYPIC? YOU KNOW, I WOULD THINK WE'RE HOPING WE CAN MAYBE HARVEST 50 DEER THIS YEAR, WHICH IS NOT AS MANY.
WE NEED TO HARVEST MORE THAN THAT TO REALLY GET THE DEER DOWN TO, YOU KNOW, CARRYING CAPACITY.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE OF STAFF LIMITATIONS, I THINK THAT'S PROBABLY THE, THE BEST WE CAN DO THIS YEAR.
UH, AND ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO TRAP AND ERADICATE HOGS? WE DO.
WE HAVE A TRAPPING, OUR STAFF, UH, HAS A TRAPPING PROGRAM AND, UM, YEAH, WE HAVE, UH, THESE TRAPS WHICH, UH, HAVE CAMERAS ON THEM AND, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY REMOTELY TRI TRIGGER THE DOORS SO YOU CAN WATCH THE HOGS GO IN, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU HAVE THEM, UH, AND YOU CAN CLOSE THE DOOR ON 'EM.
AND SO IT'S A VERY EFFICIENT WAY TO DO IT NOWADAYS.
AND ARE, ARE, I KNOW THE POPULATION WAS A PROBLEM IN THE PAST AND THAT THEY ALSO GROW EXPONENTIALLY.
ARE WE KEEPING UP OR IS IT JUST A LOSING BATTLE?
[01:05:01]
WE'RE GETTING PRETTY, YOU KNOW, KIND OF FEW HOGS NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE PUT A DENT IN IT, SO WE'RE JUST KIND OF MAINTAINING IT AT THIS POINT.UM, SO UN UNLESS YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, I'M GONNA PASS IT ON TO TRAVIS FOR OUR CAR UPDATE.
SO TRAVIS CLARK, TRAVIS COUNTY NATURAL RESOURCES SPECIALIST.
UM, I'LL JUST GIVE YOU A BRIEF, UM, PART OF THIS QUARTERLY UPDATE HERE.
WE'VE, WE'VE HAD OUR CONTRACTOR, ZARA ENVIRONMENTAL CONDUCT A, UM, A DESKTOP LIDAR ANALYSIS OF THE SAS PROPERTY.
IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH WHAT LIDAR IS, IT'S AN ACRONYM FOR LIGHT, UM, DETECTION AND RANGING.
SO, UM, THE WAY THAT IT'S ACQUIRED, ESSENTIALLY A PLANE FLYING OVER THE SURFACE, IT'S KIND OF LIKE SONAR.
AND SO THE RETURN RATES OF LIGHT GIVE YOU CERTAIN, UM, HEIGHTS OF TREES AND KEY TO WHAT IS, WHAT'S KEY HERE FOR THE CAR ITSELF IS THAT IT ACTUALLY CAN DETECT THE SURFACE EXPRESSIONS.
SO WE CAN FINE TUNE THOSE INSTEAD OF WALKING THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE.
WE CAN KIND OF PINPOINT WHERE THOSE ARE.
SO WE HAD THEM DO THAT TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY UNKNOWN CARS FEATURES ON THE PROPERTY TO KIND OF HELP AID WITH ANY OF THE, THE TRAIL CREATION OR ANY OF THE GROUNDS WORK.
UM, AT THIS POINT, WE HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT WITHOUT A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF DIGGING.
THERE ARE SOME DEPRESSIONS, BUT I HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE A, UM, YOU KNOW, A SHOWPIECE OR SOMETHING FOR THE PUBLIC TO COME WALK UP AND SEE.
SO WE STILL, WE'LL LOOK AT THAT AND SEE IF WE GET ANYTHING, UM, IN THE FUTURE.
BUT, UH, SARS CON ALSO CONTINUING THEIR, UM, EVALUATION AND EXCAVATION OF CARS FEATURES UP ON THE COLY UNIT.
SO THAT'S, WE'VE HAD, YOU KNOW, ESSENTIALLY BOUGHT ANOTHER CHUNK THAT'S NOT ON THE MAP UP THERE YET.
UM, THAT'S THE FLYING K RANCH.
SO THAT CONTIGUOUS BODY UP THERE IS NOW ALMOST 1600 ACRES.
SO WE'VE HAD THEM ON AND OFF FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS TO BE DOING, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT SOME OF THE FEATURES.
BUT THIS LATEST ROUND OF WORK, THEY IDENTIFIED, UH, NINE, UM, UNKNOWN CARS FEATURES, THREE OF WHICH ARE NEW CAVES.
AND SO IT, THEY KIND OF PROMPTED ME THAT'S ON THE COLY OR THE, THE FLYING CAVE THAT'S ON THE SCOTT AND WHITE PROPERTY, BUT IT'S PART OF THE COLY UNIT.
UM, SO YEAH, IF YOU CAN, SO MOST OF THE ONES, WOW, THAT'S MOST OF THE ONES WE'RE FINDING ARE UP ON THIS, THIS AREA UP HERE.
AND SO WE'VE JUST RECENTLY PURCHASED.
WE'VE JUST RECENTLY PURCHASED ALL OF THIS DOWN HERE ALONG THE INTERFACE WITH TREVISO.
UM, SO WE'VE, THAT'S, THERE'S A NUMBER OF THINGS ON HERE TO BE DONE THIS COMING UP SEASON, BUT THIS LAST ONE, THIS, THEY WERE MAINLY WORKING ON THE COLIN SCOTT AND WHITE TRACK, AND THEY FOUND NINE UNKNOWN FEATURES, THREE ARE NEW CAVES.
AND THEN I CONDUCTED A SEPARATE LIDAR ANALYSIS AND FOUND AN ADDITIONAL SEVEN UNKNOWN, UH, FEATURES.
UH, TWO OF THOSE WILL
AND SO ONE NOTABLE POINT IS THAT ONE OF THOSE CAVES, I, I MEAN OTHER, ANOTHER WAY TO DESCRIBE THIS IS BASICALLY IT'S EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT AND IT'S THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ONE THAT WE'VE FOUND ON THE PROPERTY SO FAR.
AND SO AS THAT'S THE OLA PROPERTY, THAT'S, YEAH.
AND SO IT'S, IT'S HAS A NUMBER OF TRIG LITIC SPECIES.
THEY COLLECTED, UH, PSEUDO SCORPION SPECIMENS THERE YESTERDAY.
THERE'S TRICOLORED BATS AND I, I THINK THE CAVE ISN'T COMPLETELY MAPPED AS OF YET, BUT AS OF YESTERDAY, UM, THEY HAD MAPPED 127 METERS.
SO MOST OF THE ONES UP THERE ARE PRETTY DEEP, BUT THEY'RE KIND OF CONTAINED AND SMALL.
BUT THIS IS THE, THE BIGGEST FINE THAT WE'VE HAD SO FAR.
UM, IT'S PRELIMINARY, BUT IT'S A VERY VIABLE SUBSTITUTION FOR ONE OF THE TWO CAVES AT EITHER CEILING SLAUGHTER OR MOSS PIT THAT WERE DESTROYED OR CANNOT BE ACQUIRED, UM, NEAR CRYSTAL FALLS.
SO WE'RE HAVING A LOT OF PROGRESS UP THERE.
AND THERE'S SOME OTHER CANDIDATES AND WE'RE JUST TRYING TO KIND OF BOLSTER UP THAT WORK THERE.
AS FAR AS THE TAXONOMY, WE'VE, WE DID GET SOME RESULTS BACK FROM SOME OF THE BLIND SICK ARENA SPIDERS THAT WE SENT OFF FOR MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION.
THOSE RESULTS CAME BACK, AND MOST NOTABLY OF THOSE, THE SPECIMEN THAT WAS ACQUIRED AT HAMMETT'S CAVE, WHICH IS THE, THE CAVE AT WEST CAVE PRESERVE, UM, CAME BACK AS A NEW SPECIES.
AND SO WE'RE GONNA DO SOME MORE WORK, UH, MAYBE WITH SOME ADDITIONAL LANDOWNERS IN THAT AREA TO GET SOME, SOME MORE SAMPLING.
UM, WE ALSO COLLECTED TEELA THERE THAT CAME BACK AS IDENTIFIED AS RIDI, BUT THAT WAS BASED OFF OF MORPHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE SPECIMEN AND NOT MOLECULAR ANALYSIS.
SO MY ASSUMPTION IS IT'S PROBABLY ALSO GOING TO BE A NEW SPECIES ONCE WE KIND OF DELVE INTO THAT.
SO THOSE ARE THE TWO MOST EXCITING THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN GOING ON IN THE PROGRAM THIS LAST QUARTER.
AND, AND I DON'T KNOW, HAS THIS, UH, COMMITTEE HEARD THE BRIEF HISTORY OF
[01:10:01]
THE KALA TRACK? CUZ MELINDA, HOW MANY YEARS DID YOU WORK ON TRYING TO ACQUIRE THATIT, IT, IT'S A REALLY SPECIAL TRACK.
THE FIRST TIME I, UH, WENT OUT THERE, UM, AND GOT ON IT, I WAS WITH ONE OF OUR BIOLOGISTS AND, AND YOU KNOW, I JUST WATCHED HIS JAW DROP AND HE WAS IN AWE AND MADE THE COMMENT, I'VE NEVER SEEN ANY PART OF OUR PRESERVES.
THAT WAS SUCH A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A NATIVE LOCAL ECOSYSTEM.
AND SO, UM, YOU KNOW, THE FACT THAT WE WERE WORKING WITH DR.
KOALA, WHO LOVES CONSERVATION, VERY CONSERVATION MINDED, AND HAS WORKED WITH US, UH, TO ACQUIRE THIS IN STAGES.
UM, WE'VE BOUGHT, I LIKE, I THINK YOU SAID, AT 1600 ACRES THAT WE'VE PURCHASED, BUT SHE'S ALSO DONATED AN EASEMENT OF ANOTHER 250 ACRES.
UH, AND SO THAT'S IN FOUR SECTIONS OVER 10 YEARS, I'M GONNA GUESS.
BUT YOU'D BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
I MEAN, ALL OF THESE LAND ACQUISITION DEALS TAKE QUITE A WHILE, BUT, UM, I THINK THE SCOTT AND WHITE, WE FIRST STARTED WORKING ON THAT, YOU KNOW, IT WAS PROBABLY EIGHT YEARS AGO.
YEAH, 2012, MAYBE 10 YEARS AGO.
THIS WAS ALL PART OF THE KUCHER RANCH.
AND, UM, SO AT THIS POINT, THE ONLY, THE ONLY LAND LEFT, UM, IS THE LAND THAT SHE'S RESERVED FOR HERSELF AND HER, HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
AND, YOU KNOW, WE'VE, WE'VE COMPLETED, WE THINK WE'VE COMPLETED THE ACQUISITIONS AND CONSERVATION EASEMENT PROTECTIONS THAT WE, WELL, THAT'S SUCH A GREAT PART OF THE STORY TOO, IS THE VISION THAT PEOPLE HAD AND UNDERSTANDING WHICH ATTRACTS OF LAND WERE INCREDIBLY SENSITIVE.
AND THEN BUILDING THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LANDOWNERS OVER TIME SO THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD THE VALUE OF CONSERVING IT AND PRESERVING IT.
AND I, SHE GETS A LOT OF CREDIT FOR CHOOSING THAT BECAUSE YEAH, THERE WAS A LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE IN SALE, SALE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAND.
WELL, WHICH WE'VE LOST AT ALL.
SHE, SHE HAS CHOSEN CONSERVATION OVER PROFIT
SHE'S, SHE'S SHOWN SHE'S WILLING TO TAKE A LITTLE LESS.
WELL, THANK YOU ALL, UH, ANY QUESTIONS? AND WE HAVE THE, UH, AUSTIN YEAH.
SO WHO'S GONNA BE PRESENTING FROM AUSTIN? WE IN AUSTIN? MM-HMM.
AND THEN AFTER THAT WE HAVE, UH, OUTREACH OR QUARTERLY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS.
I DON'T SEE THAT ON HERE, JUST INCLUDED.
IT'S ALL PART OF THE QUARTERLY REPORTS.
I'M NICO HOWARD, PROGRAM MANAGER FOR THE AUSTIN WATER BALCONES CANYONLAND PRESERVE.
AND I HAVE LISA O'DONNELL WITH ME.
AND I JUST WANTED TO BRIEFLY, UM, MENTION, UM, THAT IN ADDITION TO, UM, MANAGING OUR EXISTING PRESERVES, YOU KNOW, WE ARE LIKE THE COUNTY LOOKING REALLY HARD AT THE SENSITIVITY OF OUR EXISTING TRACKS AND FINDING NEAT STUFF ALL THE TIME.
YOU KNOW, IN ADDITION TO THE FILL CAVES OR WE HAVE CONTRACTORS LOOKING AT THE SPRINGS.
UM, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS YEAR IF WE FOUND A DISCOVERY OF THE BARTON SPRINGS SALAMANDER IN OUR BIG CREEK PRESERVE, WHICH WE'VE HAD FOR 20 YEARS, DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE THERE.
AND SOME OF OUR SPECIFIC CONCERN ON OUR PERMIT.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, SOME OF THE PRESERVES, LIKE OUR LITTLE BEE CREEK PRESERVE, YOU KNOW, THE ONLY, POSSIBLY THE ONLY CAVE WITH OUR, THE ENDANGERED, UH, BEE CREEK HARVESTMEN, UM, ONE OF THE RARE SITES WHERE YOU FIND THE INCREASINGLY RARE RACK TWIST FLOWER ON THE, OUR LITTLE BEE CREEK PRESERVE.
UM, AND SO WE, YOU KNOW, ARE MAKING AN EFFORT TO TRY TO GO BEYOND OUR 18 ACRES AND, AND, UH, WE'RE GETTING A LOT OF HELP FROM THE NEIGHBORS, UM, AT JASON, OUR PRESERVE THAT ARE SHOWING US, OH, HERE'S A VERY LARGE CAVE THAT WAS FILLED IN THE SEVENTIES.
UM, SO WE'RE HAVE HOPES THAT WE CAN ENLARGE OUR PRESERVES IN THE, THE, UH, SENSITIVITY OF THEM.
UM, RIGHT NOW WE'RE WORKING ON, WE, WE DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE ANY, HAVEN'T HAD ANY BONDS OR ANY FUNDING TO TARGET PRESERVES THAT WE IDENTIFY AS SENSITIVE RIGHT NOW.
SO WE'VE BEEN PRIMARILY, UM, WORKING TOWARD DONATIONS, WHICH ARE FAIRLY RANDOM.
UM, BUT IN ONE CASE, UM, WE ARE WORKING, WE'VE BEEN WORKING FOR SEVERAL YEARS ON ACQUIRING, UH, A ROUGHLY 200 ACRE PRESERVE FOUR POINTS AREA WITH FOUR OF OUR FEDERAL PERMIT CAVES, JOLLYVILLE SALAMANDERS, UM, YOU KNOW, UH, GOLDEN CHEEK, WARBLER HABITAT, AND BULL CREEK WATERSHED, WHICH IS, WHICH IS REALLY RARE.
SO, SO WE HAVE SOME, WE HAVE SOME SUCCESS, UM, EVERY YEAR WE'RE ESSENTIALLY, EVERY YEAR WE'RE GETTING NEW DONATION ACQUISITIONS.
[01:15:01]
TURN IT OVER TO LISA WHO'S GONNA GIVE US, UM, AN UPDATE ON SOME OF THE GOLDEN SHESO I'M LISA DONALD, UM, SENIOR BIOLOGIST.
SENIOR BIOLOGIST FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S BALK COUNTY'S CANYONLANDS PRESERVE.
AND I WAS GONNA FOLLOW UP ON SOME UPDATES THAT I GAVE, UM, AT OUR AUGUST COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING AND A PRESENTATION THAT JIM O'DONNELL GAVE.
AND I WAS GONNA START WITH THE GOLDEN DUKE WARBLER, SOME UPDATES ON THAT.
SO WE HAVE A MANUSCRIPT THAT'S IN REVIEW.
UH, WE'VE, UM, ADDRESSED, UH, PEER REVIEWED COMMENTS.
AND SO NOW WE'RE JUST WAITING TO HEAR WHETHER OR NOT IT'S GONNA BE ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION.
THE TITLE OF THE PAPER IS URBAN LAND COVER AND EL NINO EVENTS NEGATIVELY IMPACT POPULATION VIABILITY OF AN ENDANGERED NORTH AMERICAN SONGBIRD.
AND OF COURSE THAT SONGBIRD IS THE GOLDEN TICK WARBLER.
AND JUST A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND, UM, UM, HISTORY ON, ON THE PAPER, WHAT LED TO THE PAPER.
UM, SO THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY, BCP STAFF AND PARTNERS AND VOLUNTEERS, UM, HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING INTENSIVE MONITORING OF THE GOLDEN TICK WARBLER ON A SERIES OF, UH, PLOTS, UM, ACROSS THE BALCONIES CANYONLANDS PRESERVED SINCE 2011.
AND WE NOTICED A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT DECLINE IN THE NUMBER OF TERRITORIES, UH, BETWEEN THE 2015 FIELD SEASON AND 2016.
AND THEN THE NUMBERS REMAINED PRETTY LOW THROUGH 20 19, 20 20.
WE WEREN'T ABLE TO SURVEY ACCORDING TO OUR PROTOCOL, SO BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC.
UM, AND IT SEEMED LIKE THE NUMBERS WERE GOING BACK UP IN 2021, BUT THEY'RE BACK DOWN NOW IN 2022.
AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT IN A FEW MINUTES.
SO JUST TO KIND OF JUST A BRIEF OVERVIEW.
SO FROM 2011 TO 2015, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT KIND OF A NATURAL, UM, UM, ANNUAL VARIATION IN THE NUMBER OF TERRITORIES.
SO IT'S KIND OF GOING UP AND DOWN LIKE THIS.
UP TO 20 15, 20 15 TO 2016, YOU'VE GOT A DROP.
AND ACROSS ALL OF OUR PLOTS, IT WAS ABOUT A 30% DECLINE.
UH, SOME OF THE PLOTS HAD A 50% DECLINE, AND THEN IT'S CYCLING AT THIS LOWER LEVEL.
UM, WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN 2020 CUZ WE WEREN'T ABLE TO SURVEY 2021.
IT WENT UP AND THEN BACKED DOWN IN 2022.
SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH JENNIFER REEDY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AND DR.
FRANK THOMPSON WITH US FOREST SERVICE SINCE THE BEGINNING, SINCE 2011.
UM, LOOKING LIKE HELPING US TO SET UP THIS LONG TERM MONITORING AND THEN, UM, HELPING US TO ANALYZE THIS, UH, THE, THE LONG TERM DATA SET.
AND SO WE ASKED THEM WHEN WE SAW THIS DECLINE AND WE REALIZED, OH, IT'S NOT JUST, YOU KNOW, 2015 TO 2016, IT'S ACTUALLY KIND OF CYCLING LOW.
WE ASKED THEM TO TAKE A LOOK AT THAT UP THROUGH 2019 AND SEE IF THEY COULD FIGURE OUT, UM, WHAT WAS GOING ON AND WHAT MIGHT BE SOME OF THE, UH, CONTRIBUTING, FACT CONTRIBUTING FACTORS FOR THAT DECLINE.
AND IT WAS JENNIFER REEDY THAT, UM, NOTICED THAT THERE WAS A REALLY STRONG EL NINO EVENT, UM, THAT YEAR, THAT WINTER OF 2015 TO 2016.
UM, SO ON THE WINTERING GROUNDS, IT WAS A LOT DRIER, PROBABLY AFFECTED THE PRE BASE.
UM, SO WE'RE ATTRIBUTING LOW ADULT SURVIVAL TO THAT EL NINO EVENT.
UM, AND THEN THEY ALSO FOUND WHAT THEIR ANALYSES, THAT URBAN DEVELOPMENT, UM, ON THE BREEDING GROUNDS IS, UM, REDUCING REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AND NOT A HUGE SURPRISE, BUT ADULT SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR POPULATION GROWTH AND POPULATION VIABILITY.
SO OUR FINDINGS HIGHLIGHT NOT ONLY THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING LIKE A REALLY ROBUST, UM, LONG-TERM DATA SET, LIKE WHAT WE HAVE FOR THE BALCONIES, CANYONLAND PRESERVE, UH, BUT THE NEED FOR CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT TO TRY TO GET THAT PRODUCTIVITY, THAT REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AS HIGH AS WE CAN ON OUR PRESERVES AND IDEALLY ACROSS, UM, THE BREEDING RANGE AND THEN ADULT SURVIVAL RANGE WIDE.
UM, SO TALKING ABOUT THE 2022 DATA, UM, SO WE'RE WORKING ON OUR, UM, WE'VE DRAFTED A REPORT OF THAT.
WE'VE ANALYZED MOST OF THE DATA.
WE'RE KIND OF GOING THROUGH IT WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS CORRECT.
BUT IT DOES APPEAR THAT THE NUMBER OF TERRITORIES, REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AND SURVIVAL RATES ARE DOWN QUITE A BIT, UM, FROM THE 2021 AND, AND EVEN PREVIOUS YEARS.
SO SURVIVAL IS BASED ON, UM, RETURN RATES OF COLOR BANDED BIRDS.
SO IT'S PRIMARILY THE MALE, SO IT'S VERY MALE DOMINATED.
UM, SO WE GIVE, UH, EACH INDIVIDUAL BIRD A UNIQUE COLOR COMBINATION.
SO WE, WE BAND AS MANY AS WE CAN ON OUR STUDY PLOTS, AND THEN THEY LEAVE TO GO TO THE WINTER AND GROUNDS, AND IT'S THE PERCENT THAT COME BACK.
THAT'S THE RETURN, UH, THE RETURN RATE.
AND SO NORMALLY WHAT WE SEE IS ABOUT A 40 TO 50% OF THE BIRDS ON OUR STEADY
[01:20:01]
PLOTS THAT COME BACK ARE, ARE BANDED.THIS LAST YEAR YEAR IT WAS 30%, WHICH IS THE LOWEST THAT WE'VE SEEN.
AND JUST TO COMPARE WITH 20 21, 20 21, THE RETURN RATE WAS 50% AND AGAIN, 2022 WAS 30% RETURN.
SO SINCE THAT GOES INTO THE CALCULATION OF ADULT SURVIVAL, THAT MEANS THAT SURVIVAL'S LOW AGAIN.
UM, SO, AND, AND AS I SAID, THE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS UNFORTUNATELY WAS DOWN AS WELL AND THE NUMBER OF TERRITORIES.
UH, THE OTHER THING I WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT IS, UH, THE POPULATION GENETIC STUDY.
SO THIS IS A PROJECT THAT WE'VE BEEN COLLABORATING WITH DR.
GARY ARI FROM TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY, AND A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND ON THAT PROJECT.
SO IN OCTOBER, 2018, FISH AND WILDLIFE AND DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, UM, IDENTIFIED ACTIONS NEEDED TO INFORM A FUTURE SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT.
AND AS WE KNOW THAT SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT IS FOR THE GOLDEN CHIEF BORDER IS ONGOING.
UM, ONE OF THE IDENTIFIED ACTIONS, I WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THIS TODAY, ACTUALLY INCLUDED LOOKING AT CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS LIKE EL NINO EVENTS, UM, AND EFFECTS OF DEVELOPMENT ON THE GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLERS.
SO THAT'S OUR MANUSCRIPT ADDRESSES THAT.
BUT THEN ONE OF THE OTHER IDENTIFIED ACTIONS INCLUDED FUNDING, AND I'M JUST GONNA QUOTE THIS, UM, QUOTE, A POPULATION GENETICS AND GENOMIC STUDY ON THE GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLER TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE, GENETIC VARIATION AND POPULATION STRUCTURE.
SO FISH AND WILDLIFE AND DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CAME OUT WITH THAT IN 2018.
ARI TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL AND THAT WAS FUNDED IN MAY OF 2018.
LAUREL MOLTEN ON OUR STAFF IS HEADING UP THE EFFORT, UM, FOR US.
UM, SO SHE STARTED IN, UH, THE SPRING OF 2019 COLLECTING, UH, DNA SAMPLES FROM GOLDEN CHICKS ACROSS THE ENTIRE BREEDING RANGE.
AND COLLECTING THOSE SAMPLES MEANS YOU'VE GOTTA CAPTURE THE BIRD, YOU GET A TINY AMOUNT OF BLOOD, AND THEN YOU'RE GETTING THE DNA OUT OF THAT BLOOD SAMPLE.
AND 2020 AGAIN WAS KIND OF A REDUCED EFFORT, EFFORT.
SHE STILL WENT OUT, UM, IN THE FIELD, BUT SHE HAD TO WRAP EVERYTHING UP.
SO WE GOT AN EXTENSION THAT WAS A DELAY THROUGH 2021.
UM, BUT YEAH, SHE ENDED UP GETTING 280 SAMPLES FROM INDIVIDUALS ACROSS, UM, THE BREEDING RANGE.
UM, THE DNA HAS, YOU HAVE TO SEND IT OFF TO A LAB, THEY ANALYZE IT, UM, SEQUENCING.
I'M CAN'T GO INTO A WHOLE LOT OF DETAIL ON THAT, BUT THE SEQUENCING DATA, THERE WAS SOME DELAYS ON THAT AS WELL.
UM, THEY ARE FINALLY BACK FROM THE LAB, AND SO DR.
ARI IS NOW LOOKING AT THOSE DATA.
UM, HE'LL BE INCLUDING LAUREL IN THAT AS WELL.
AND SO AGAIN, WITH 280 SAMPLES ACROSS THE ENTIRE RANGE, IT'S GONNA BE LIKE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, THAT'S FINE DATABASE WE HAVE ON GENETICS FOR THIS SPECIES.
UM, THE SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT.
SO WE'RE HOPING THAT, UM, SINCE WE, THE, THE FUNDING ACTUALLY WENT TO DR.
ARI AND WE'RE JUST A COLLABORATOR, BUT WE'RE HOPING THAT, UM, WITH THE FEDERAL FUNDING AND ALL THE INVESTMENT, EVEN THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN DELAYS, WE'RE HOPING THE FISH WILDLIFE WILL INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION IN THE SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT AS WELL AS OUR MANUSCRIPT.
UH, I DO KNOW THAT THEY'RE ON A TIMEFRAME AND THEY'RE HOPING TO COMPLETE THE DRAFT LIKE WITHIN, I THINK AT THE END OF JANUARY.
SO, DO YOU KNOW, CHRISTINA, I HATE TO PUT YOU ON THE SPOT, BUT I I THINK IT'S PRETTY SOON.
I THINK, I THINK THAT'S RIGHT.
UM, WE DID TALK ABOUT TRYING TO PUSH IT BACK A BIT SO THAT WE COULD WAIT CUZ WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR HIS DATA, CUZ WE HAVE WANTED TO INCORPORATE THAT.
UM, BUT WE ARE ON OUR OWN INTERNAL TIMEFRAME AND SO AT SOME POINT WE GET TO A POINT WHERE WE HAVE TO STOP TAKING IN INFORMATION AND ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, LIKE WRITE THE DOCUMENT AND, AND THEN START THE PROCESS OF, OF REVIEWING UP THE CHAIN IS INCREDIBLY LENGTHY.
AND SO FOR US TO MEET THAT FINAL DEADLINE, WE HAVE TO BACK OFF FROM THAT DO TO DO ALL OF THE BRIEFINGS OF OUR CHAIN ALL THE WAY TO HEADQUARTERS.
SO, UM, BUT I, I DO WANNA SAY THAT THE SSA IS MEANT TO BE JUST A LIVING DOCUMENT THAT GETS ADDED TO, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE JUST THE CLEARINGHOUSE OF EVERYTHING.
AND THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT WE WOULD UPDATE FUTURE SCENARIOS.
I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE PLAN.
I THINK, UM, I THINK THE PLAN IS TO THEN DO THOSE KIND OF UPDATES THROUGH THE FIVE YEAR REVIEW PROCESS ONCE AN SSA IS DONE, IS THAT THE FIVE YEAR REVIEW DOCUMENT IS WHERE WE UPDATE AT LEAST EVERY FIVE YEARS, WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SPECIES AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
SO I I THINK IT, IT'S, IT'S MEANT TO BE A LIVING DOCUMENT.
SO EVEN IF UNFORTUNATELY IF HE CONTINUES TO HAVE DELAYS AND WE GET TO A POINT WHERE WE HAVE TO, WE HAVE TO STOP, WE CAN'T KEEP WRITING.
SO I, YOU KNOW, I THINK THERE'S, THERE'S OPPORTUNITIES FOR US FOR SURE TO CONTINUE TO INCORPORATE THAT INFORMATION AND ANY NEW INFORMATION THAT COMES ALONG AS TIME GOES BY.
[01:25:01]
EVEN BEFORE THE FINAL MAYBE.SO IF I THINK HE SAID HE THINKS HE'LL HAVE THE DATA ANALYZED BY FEBRUARY.
SO IF, IF THE DRAFT WERE TO COME OUT AT THE END OF JANUARY, THEN MAYBE BEFORE IT'S FINALIZED IT COULD BE INCORPORATED.
YEAH, THE JANUARY MAY BE AN INTERNAL MM-HMM.
DONE DRAFTING AND THEN WE START REVIEWING INTERNALLY, UM, NOT LIKE THE FINAL DRAFT THAT WOULD GO OUT.
SO I THINK THERE IS POTENTIALLY SOME OPPORTUNITY, PARTICULARLY IF IT, IF FOR SOME REASON IT WAS GONNA HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE, IT, I, YOU KNOW, IT SEEMS LOGICAL THAT WE WOULD SEE HOW WE COULD INCORPORATE THAT, EVEN IF IT'S SIMPLY, WELL, WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO GO BACK NOW, BUT THIS IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WOULD INFLUENCE IT POTENTIALLY IN THIS WAY AND THAT THAT WOULD JUST BE PART OF THE BRIEFING.
SO, AND JUST SO I UNDERSTAND, UM, THE, THE IMPACT OF THIS, THAT'S THE SSA IS THE SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT, CORRECT? CORRECT.
AND IS THAT HAPPENING IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CHALLENGE THAT GREW OUT OF THIS, I'M GONNA JUST CALL IT A QUESTIONABLE STUDY THAT CONCLUDED THAT THE, THE, UM, THE BIRD WAS FLOURISHING AND WE DIDN'T REALLY NEED TO KEEP IT ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST ANYMORE.
UM, AND I THINK IS THAT, THAT'S ALSO THE BASIS OF THE LAND OFFICE LAWSUIT.
SO THERE'S LIKE MISCHIEF THAT'S BEEN MADE THAT THE SSA CAME THAT DATA YEAH, SSA REALLY CAME OUT OF THE LAWSUITS.
AND, AND SO IF, IF IT'S INTENDED TO GET THE BEST UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATUS FOR THE ENDANGERED SPECIES, I MEAN, I GET IT IF YOU'VE GOT INTERNAL DEADLINES, BUT IT JUST SEEMS TO ME THIS IS REALLY CRITICALLY IMPORTANT DATA AND I'D HAVE TO GO BACK AND LOOK, BUT THE SSA IT MAY HAVE BEEN TIED TO THE LAWSUIT SOMEHOW, AND SO THERE MAY BE SOME DEADLINES THAT ARE REQUIRED.
THEN INITIALLY WHAT WE TRIED TO DO WAS JUST USE THE FIVE YEAR REVIEW DOCUMENT, KIND OF LIKE AN SSA AND THAT WAS OUR BASIS FOR RESPONDING TO THE LAWSUITS AND SAYING THAT WE DIDN'T NEED TO CHANGE.
SO IT WAS THAT INITIAL RESPONSE WHERE, AND THEN I THINK THEN OVER THE TIME THE YEARS OF THE, THIS LAWSUIT AND, AND THEN I THINK A SECOND LAWSUIT, UM, THE SSA PROCESS BECAME MUCH BIGGER IN THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.
AND SO HEADQUARTERS JUST SAID, LOOK, LET'S JUST START THE SSA ON THE WAR BLUR, FOLLOW THE PROTOCOLS FOR WHAT GOES INTO SSAS, PULL EVERYTHING IN TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE.
AND, AND THEN THAT'S BECAUSE THE SSA THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT AND THE FIVE YEAR REVIEW, THE FIVE YEAR REVIEW IS SIMPLY JUST THE BASELINE OF INFORMATION THAT WE KNOW AT THIS TIME.
BUT THE SSA ACTUALLY DOES FUTURE SCENARIOS TO TRY AND GET OUT WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE UNDER DIFFERENT SCENARIOS.
AND SO THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE WITH THE SSA.
AND IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS SCIENTIST'S RESEARCH IS PRETTY IMPORTANT IN HAVING A MORE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING.
IT COULD, WE, WE DON'T KNOW THE FINDINGS, BUT IT'S LIKE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, UH, DNA ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIES, CORRECT? MM-HMM.
UM, AND IS THERE SOME WAY THAT ASSISTANCE COULD BE PROVIDED SO HE COULD COMPLETE HIS ANALYSIS IN A, IN A MORE TIMELY FASHION? I'D JUST HATE FOR IT TO BE LEFT OUT BECAUSE YOU HAD INTERNAL DEADLINES THAT JUST DIDN'T ALLOW FOR HIM TO FINISH.
YEAH, THAT'S A REALLY GOOD QUESTION.
I MEAN, WE'RE OFFERING, UM, LAURA MOTON DR.
MOULTON'S EXPERTISE, YOU KNOW, TO HELP HIM.
UM, I MEAN, THAT'S WHAT WE CAN OFFER.
I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S YEAH, I CAN ALWAYS CHECK WITH THEM AND SEE.
I THINK IT'S PRETTY IMPORTANT THAT IT BE INCLUDED.
SO IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT WE CAN DO TO, UH, REINFORCE THAT OR SUPPORT IT, I'D LOVE TO SEE US DO IT.
AND THE OTHER THING THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT ON THE SSA TEAM IS THAT IF AT A MINIMUM HE COULD GET THROUGH RUNNING THE DATA AND AT LEAST CONVEY SOME KIND OF, I MEAN, WE WOULD, WE WOULD HATE TO TAKE A PURSE COM AND SIT IT IN AN SSA, BUT IF THAT'S ALL HE CAN GIVE US IS, HEY, THIS IS WHAT THE DATA IS LOOKING LIKE, UM, AND WHERE IT'S TRENDING, AND WE CAN INCORPORATE THAT.
WE CAN, OR IF HE'S GOT AT LEAST STARTED DRAFTING A MANUSCRIPT, IF HE WOULD SHARE THAT, LIKE, SO WE HAVE YEAH.
SOMETHING SO THAT YOU, WE'VE LET HIM KNOW, YOU KNOW, WHEREVER YOU ARE WHEN WE HIT KIND OF OUR DEADLINE, IF YOU CAN PROVIDE US, EVEN IF IT'S A PRESENTATION THAT YOU COULD GIVE US, YOU KNOW, WE, WE REALLY WANT TO INCORPORATE IT.
BUT AT THIS POINT, I DON'T THINK HE HAS ANY SENSE OF THE FINDINGS BECAUSE HE ONLY JUST GOT THE, THE STUFF BACK WAS A PULLED UP ON LIKE 30 OF, OF THE, THE, THE SAMPLES AND HE HAD TO SEND THEM BACK TO THE LAB.
AND I THINK WITH COVID AND EVERYTHING, THERE'S JUST, I MEAN, EVERYTHING'S SLOW.
EVERYBODY'S, EVERYTHING IS SLOW.
AND SO IT JUST TOOK A REALLY LONG TIME YEAH.
TO GET, AND I THINK THE THOUGHT WAS WITH THE FUNDING OF IT AND IT BEING A PRIORITY FOR D O D AND, AND FISH AND WILDLIFE, WAS THAT IT WAS GONNA BE A TWO YEAR PROJECT AND THEN COVID HIT, AND THEN THE LAB ISSUES HIT.
AND SO NOW HERE WE ARE, WE THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE DONE PRIOR TO US EVEN STARTING THE SSA.
AND UNFORTUNATELY IT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, KIND OF CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE
[01:30:01]
KIND OF PUT US AT A RACE.SO WELL, IF THERE'S ANY WAY THAT WE CAN SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE THE COMPLETION OF IT.
YEAH, I'LL, I'LL, I'LL CHECK IN WITH HIM AGAIN.
I CHECK IN WITH HIM PRETTY FREQUENTLY AND I THINK, I THINK JADE AT THE SERVICE DOES ALSO JUST LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHERE OUR FEET NO, WE, WE LOVE IT.
HE'S GETTING IT FROM ALL SIDES.
ANYTHING ELSE? I HAD TWO, LIKE, PRETTY QUICK THINGS.
I WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT THE, THE MICO BLITZ, UM, THAT, THAT JEREMY, UM, MENTIONED.
SO YEAH, I TALKED ABOUT IT REALLY BRIEFLY AT THE LAST MEETING TOO, THAT WE HAVE THIS FIVE YEAR, UH, CONTRACT WITH NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY TO LOOK AT THE ROLE OF MICRORISAL FUNGI AND OUR JUNIPER OAK ECOSYSTEMS, AND THEN HOW WE CAN USE THOSE IN HABITAT RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT ON THE BCP.
SO WE DID HOST THAT MICHAEL BLITZ AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER.
AND AGAIN, WITH TRAVIS COUNTY BCP AND VOLUNTEERS, WE COLLECTED OVER 500 SAMPLES AND 250 OFF OF JUNIPERS AND 250 OFF OF, OF OAKS.
SO OUR COLLEAGUES AT AU ARE NOW, UH, PROCESSING AND TAKING A LOOK AT THAT.
LISA, MARK KK, WHO'S LEADING THAT EFFORT, SHOULD BE GIVING A, A VIRTUAL PRESENTATION ON THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS HOPEFULLY IN FEBRUARY.
UM, AND THEN MY LAST THING IS, UM, SO JIM O'DONNELL GAVE A PRESENTATION LAST TIME, UH, ON REGENERATIVE RESTORATION TECHNIQUES THAT WE'RE IMPLEMENTING ON A COUPLE OF OUR TRACKS, AND WE HAVE WRITTEN THAT UP.
SO THAT'S ALL SUMMARIZED NOW INTO A REGENERATIVE RESTORATION PLAN THAT, UH, WE'RE HOPING TO PUT INTO THE ANNUAL REPORT THIS YEAR.
AND SO IT'LL BE UP ONLINE, UH, IN JANUARY OF, OF, UH, NEXT MONTH.
SO I THINK THOSES ARE MY UPDATES IF, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AT BARTON SPRINGS, WHERE WE AT WELL, HAS A ART EXHIBIT WITH, UM, GOCHI, GOBLER BLACK CAP, VERIOS CAVE LIFE SALAMANDERS AT, IS THAT, IS THAT A NEW EXHIBIT AT BARTON SPRINGS? YEAH, THE BEVERLY SHEFFIELD EXHIBIT CENTER.
I HAVEN'T BEEN DOWN THERE RECENTLY SINCE THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT WE GOT.
UM, I DO HAVE A QUESTION WITH REGARD TO, UM, UM, CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND, AND, UM, AND SOIL, UH, MENT.
BUT, UM, DO WE HAVE ANOTHER, UM, PART OF THE QUARTERLY OUTREACH UPDATE? YES.
SO WHY DON'T WE GET TO THAT AND THEN I CAN ASK THE QUESTION AFTERWARDS.
SO, UM, WERE THEY PROVIDED WITH THE, OR THE FOURTH QUARTER REPORT OR, YES.
SO I'M JUST GONNA FIRST PART OF THE POSTING.
SO I'M JUST GONNA COVER A COUPLE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS THAT I THOUGHT FROM EACH OF OUR PARTNERS FROM THE FOURTH QUARTER REPORT FOR, UM, EDUCATION OUTREACH REPORT.
UM, ONE THING THAT WE DO IN THE FOURTH QUARTER REPORT IS, IS HAVE A TABLE THAT SUMMARIZES OUR YEARLY ACTIVITIES BY ALL OF OUR PARTNERS.
AND SO WHAT WAS COOL AND WHAT WAS GOOD TO SEE ON THIS IS WE HAD OVER 4,600 VOLUNTEER HOURS ACROSS OUR PARTNERS LAST YEAR THAT IF YOU TAKE THE, THE INDEPENDENT SECTOR HAS A MONETARY VALUE FOR HOUR OF VOLUNTEER USE, ESSENTIALLY, UM, THAT'S ALMOST $130,000 WORTH OF, OF LABOR THAT WE GOT THROUGH OUR PARTNERS LAST YEAR, WHICH IS PRETTY COOL.
UM, AND SINCE 2022 SAW A, UH, DRAMATIC INCREASE IN OUR NUMBER OF GUIDED HIKES ACROSS OF ALL, ALL OF OUR PARTNERS, THE NUMBER OF YOUTH AND ADULTS THAT, THAT EXPERIENCED, THE OBSERVED THROUGH GUIDED HIKES JUMPED TREMENDOUSLY FROM 2021 TO 2022, BECAUSE WE WERE RETURNING TO KIND OF OUR PAST NUMBERS.
UM, A COUPLE, JUST ONE HIGHLIGHT FROM, FROM EACH OF OUR PARTNERS, UM, WON'T TAKE LONG HERE, BUT THE, THE CITY OF AUSTIN HIGHLIGHTED THEIR DOUBLE J AND T, UM, DOUBLE J AND T BERMAN SWELL PROJECT, SIMILAR TO WHAT JIM WAS TALKING ABOUT LAST TIME.
UM, YOU KNOW, THEIR GOAL IS TO PLANT HUNDREDS OF NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS ON THIS TO REBUILD THE HEALTHY SOIL AND FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION LIKE YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT.
UM, AND SO THEY STARTED THAT IN EARNEST THIS YEAR AND IN THE LAST QUARTER AND HAVE REALLY STARTED PUTTING A BUNCH OF TREES ON THE GROUND WITH VOLUNTEERS.
UM, AND, AND WHERE IS THAT LOCATION? I MISSED WHERE YOU SAID THAT ONE'S DOUBLE J AND T, WHICH IS OFF OF MER ROAD IN, UM, IN, IN THE LAKEWAY AREA.
SO RIGHT IN THAT GREEN BLOB RIGHT THERE WHERE HE'S AT.
UM, A NOTE ON THAT IS THAT THE, UM, THE MEDWAY TRACK, WHICH IS THAT PURPLE ONE RIGHT THERE NEXT TO IT, THE COUNTY HAS, UH, PLANS TO START A BERMAN SWELL PROJECT SIMILAR TO THAT CONNECTING TO THEIR DOUBLE J AND T PROJECT.
WE'LL ESSENTIALLY JUST BE EXPANDING THAT PROJECT ONTO THE COUNTY'S LANDS THERE.
AND, AND IS THERE, UH, ANY, UM, EFFORT, I, I DON'T KNOW THAT THE METHODOLOGY IS, IS, UH, UNIVERSALLY AGREED ON AT THIS POINT, BUT TO DO A BASELINE BEFORE YOU DO THE SOIL ENRICHMENT AND, AND, UM, INCREASE THE POTENTIAL FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION? AND THE REASON I ASK IS THERE ARE MORE AND MORE, UM, ESSENTIALLY CARBON, UM, TRADING ENTITIES THAT ARE INTERESTED IN THIS SPACE.
[01:35:01]
AND AGAIN, IT'S, I THINK BECAUSE IT'S NEW AND THERE ISN'T AN AGREEMENT ABOUT EXACTLY WHAT THE, THE METHODOLOGY IS, UH, IT'S PROBABLY HARD TO DO, BUT I DON'T KNOW IF WE ARE ABLE TO EVEN GET SOME KIND OF BASELINE CAPTURE.I KNOW THERE ARE METHODS FOR DOING IT, I JUST DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S SCIENTIFIC AGREEMENT ABOUT THE BEST WAY TO DO IT.
I'LL LEAN ON LISA FOR THAT, IF SHE HAS ANY INPUT.
I DON'T WANNA HIJACK YOUR PRESENTATION.
BUT, UH, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE THAT IS UNDERWAY NOW, UM, THE BASELINE PART OF IT IS IMPORTANT TO FIGURE OUT WHERE WE CAN BEFORE WE BEGIN THE ENHANCEMENT.
UM, I WOULD RECOMMEND LOOKING AT SOIL ORGANIC MATTER BECAUSE THERE'S A PERCENTAGE OF THAT THAT IS SOIL, ORGANIC CARBON.
SO THAT CAN GIVE YOU AN IDEA HOW MUCH CARBON IS IN YOUR SOILS.
AND WE'VE BEEN COLLECTING, UH, SOIL ORGANIC MATTER OR SAMPLES TO ANALYZE FOR SOIL ORGANIC MATTER, LIKE ACROSS THE BCP AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF HABITATS, UH, INCLUDING AREAS LIKE THIS THAT ARE DEGRADED WHERE WE'VE ESSENTIALLY LOST OUR TOP SOIL AND WE'RE JUST RIGHT TRYING TO REBUILD IT FROM SCRATCH.
BUT YEAH, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE INCLUDED IN OUR RESTORATION PLAN WAS TO, TO TAKE A LOOK AT THAT AND MONITOR THAT OVER TIME, SO YOU'RE BEGINNING TO GATHER THAT WITH A SOIL ORGANIC MATTER AND JUST ESTABLISH SOME KIND OF BEGINNING POINT.
AND I THINK THAT THE CONTRACT, I THINK THAT YOUR CONTRACTOR'S ACTUALLY LOOKING AT SOME OTHER THINGS ON SOILS, BUT I NEED TO LOOK INTO THAT.
UM, BUT I THINK IT HAS TO DO WITH SOIL MICROBES.
BUT YEAH, YOU CAN DEFINITELY LOOK AT ORGANIC CARBON AND, AND WE'RE DOING THESE PROJECTS IN LIKE COLLABORATION WITH ONE ANOTHER.
AND SINCE THIS PROJECT IS BRAND NEW, GETTING OFF THE START, IT'LL BE A GREAT SPOT FOR US TO KIND OF MAYBE GET THAT DATA IF IT BUILDS IT IN.
I THINK THAT WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD THING FOR US TO, TO GATHER AND KNOW AND THEN LOOK AT WHATEVER OPPORTUNITIES THERE ARE FOR.
UM, I MEAN, I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW WHAT AT WHAT POINT CARBON TRADING OR CARBON CREDITS WILL, UM, COME INTO PLAY AND BE LEGITIMATE IN THIS ARENA, BUT I DO KNOW THAT ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO ENHANCE THE ABILITY OF THE SOIL TO SEQUESTER CARBON IS, UH, AN ENORMOUS BENEFIT FOR, FOR THE PLANET, AND WE NEED TO BE DOING IT.
AND WE HAVE LOTS OF, LOTS OF LAND AND LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR DOING IT.
UM, SO MOVING FROM CITY OF AUSTIN'S REPORT TO, UH, ONE OF OUR OTHER PARTNERS, THE BAKER SANCTUARY WITH TRAVIS AUDUBON, THEY HAD A WHOLE SLEW OF BOY SCOUT PROJECTS THIS LAST YEAR.
THEY PUT IN SOME CHIMNEY SWIFT KIOSKS NEXT TO SOME TOWERS TO KIND OF EDUCATE THE PEOPLE WHO COME TO THE BAKER SANCTUARY ABOUT WHAT CHIMNEY SWIFT TOWERS ARE AND THE BENEFITS THEY PROVIDE.
UM, SO THEY HAD SEVERAL, UM, BOY SCOUT EAGLE SCOUT PROJECTS THAT, UH, THAT TOOK PLACE THERE.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF CHIMNEY SWIFT TOWER TOWERS? SORRY? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF CHIMNEY SWIFT TOWER? IS THERE, IS THERE A BRIEF HEADLINE ON IT?
UM, THEY'RE KIND OF UNIQUE IN HOW THEY ROOST AND HOW THEY NEST.
THEY, THEY USE VERTICAL STRUCTURES.
THEY DON'T PERCH LIKE NORMAL BIRDS.
THEY HANG ON THE SIDE OF OBJECTS.
AND SO THEY REQUIRE VERY SPECIFIC STRUCTURES TO NEST AND TO ROOST IN.
AND SO TYPICALLY IN THE PAST, THEY WOULD USE CAVES OR OLD DEAD TREES TO DO THAT WITH.
AND WE TOOK ALL THOSE DOWN, AND SO THEY MOVED INTO PEOPLE'S CHIMNEYS.
THEY STARTED USING CHIMNEYS ON HOUSES AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO THESE ARTIFICIAL STRUCTURES SERVE AS A WAY TO KEEP THEM OUT OF OUR CHIMNEYS, BUT ALLOW THEM TO HAVE PLACES TO, TO NEST AND TO THRIVE.
SO IT'S A, THEY'RE A GOOD TOOL FOR, FOR BRINGING THEM IN.
SO, UH, ON THE TRAVIS COUNTY SIDE, THAT WHAT WE CHOSE TO, TO HIGHLIGHT OF COURSE, WAS THE MICHAEL BLITZ, WHICH IS ALSO IN THE, IN THE, IN THE CITY OF AUSTIN ONE.
SO ANOTHER THING THAT OUR VOLUNTEERS COMPLETED A CAMERA TRAP PROJECT THAT WE WERE HELPING A RESEARCHER WITH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY COLLECT, UM, COYOTE AND FOX DATA IN HEAVILY WOODED AREAS OF URBAN PRESERVES.
AND THEY COLLECTED A TON OF DATA FOR HER.
BUT WHAT WAS REALLY UNIQUE AND AWESOME RIGHT AT THE END IS WE GOT SEVERAL PICTURES OF A PAIR OF RIVER ROBBERS, UM, FROM OUR RIVER, LUCAS OTTER RIVER RIVERS.
UM, FROM OUR LUCAS TRACT, WHICH IS RIGHT UP THERE NEAR THE OASIS THAT WE WERE SHOWING THE VIDEO ON, UH, EARLIER.
UM, SO IT'S A, IT'S A SPECIES THAT WE SEE OCCASIONALLY IN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A PAIR BELOW THE DAM FOR A COUPLE YEARS, MANSFIELD DAM.
AND UH, I THINK THEY'VE SEEN THEM AT CONCORDIA A LITTLE BIT, BUT IT'S NOT SOMETHING WE SEE VERY OFTEN.
SO IT'S REALLY COOL TO CATCH THOSE ON, ON PHOTOGRAPHS TO GET SOME PRETTY COOL STUFF.
UM, AND THEN WILD BASIN, THIS WAS GREAT.
UM, THEY, UM, AFTER A TWO YEAR HIATUS DUE TO COVID, THEY BROUGHT BACK THEIR GUIDED HIKE PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS.
AND SO THEY SAW A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN BRINGING SCHOOLS OUT AND GETTING THEM ON THE PRESERVE AND STARTING THEIR EDUCATIONAL, UH, PROCESS AS WELL AS THEIR, UM, VOLUNTEER GUIDED HIKE PROGRAM.
THEY REBOOTED THAT AND DID A TRAINING AND GOT, YOU KNOW, GETTING VOLUNTEERS OUT THERE DOSING HIKES MORE ON WILD BASIN.
UM, AND THE LAST HIGHLIGHT THAT I HAVE FOR YOU COMES FROM OUR WEST CAVE PARTNER.
THEY GOT, UM, VIDEO EV UM, VIDEO CAPTURE OF A WHAT'S CALLED A TEXAS REDHEADED CENTIPEDE.
IT'S A VERY LARGE CENTIPEDE SPECIES, UM, THAT WE, THAT ARE FOUND HERE.
AND THEY FOUND IT IN A CAVE CEILING OF A CAVE EATING A BAT.
UM, AND THEY GOT VIDEO OF THE WHOLE THING.
THEY POSTED IT ON THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA AND USE IT.
[01:40:01]
IT'S THE FIRST TIME THAT SOMEONE IS DOCUMENTING THIS SPECIES IN TEXAS CONSUMING BATS.THEY'RE KNOWN TO EAT THINGS LIKE SNAKES AND LIZARDS AND TOADS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT ANYBODY'S EVER DOCUMENTED 'EM EATING A BAT.
AND SO THAT WAS PRETTY, PRETTY COOL.
BUT, AND WITH THAT, THAT'S THE END OF THE EDUCATION OUTREACH.
SO IS THAT IT FOR, FOR WHAT'S ON THE SCHEDULED AGENDA? WELL, THE REASON I WAS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THE, UM, THE CARBON SOIL SEQUESTRATION IS I, I HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO HEAD, UH, A LOCAL DELEGATION TO COP 27 IN CHARMEL SHEIK, UH, EGYPT.
I'M THE US BOARD CHAIR FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY.
AND WE, PART OF OUR MISSION THERE WAS TO, UM, REALLY MAKE THE CASE TO THE UN THAT THEY NEED TO ELEVATE THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, UM, AND TO HAVE VERY CLEAR EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS CAN AND SHOULD BE DOING, UM, TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND BETTER PREPARE OUR POPULATIONS FOR THE IMPACT OF IT.
AND, UM, THE ORGANIZATION THAT I'M, UM, US BOARD CHAIR OF IS CALLED, UH, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES.
AND THEY WORKED WITH A NATURE CONSERVANCY TO CREATE THE FIRST OF ITS KIND, UM, WEBSITE FOR A COMPILING INFORMATION AROUND CITIES WITH NATURE.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THEY ARE, UM, MAKING PROGRESS ON IS THIS METHODOLOGY AROUND SOIL, UH, CARBON SOIL, SEQUESTRATION, SEQUESTRATION.
AND BECAUSE IT HAS SUCH A POWERFUL POTENTIAL FOR LITERALLY ACTING AS A SPONGE AND ABSORBING A MORE CARBON FROM THE AIR.
AND SINCE EVERY LOCAL GOVERNMENT HAS PARKS AND GREEN SPACE AND OPEN SPACE, AND WE HAVE, UM, UM, SUCH A BOUNTY OF, OF LAND IN OUR PRESERVES, UM, I WOULD LOVE FOR US TO BE A KIND OF A PILOT, UM, SITE FOR DEMONSTRATING THE BEST TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING THE SOIL SO IT CAN ABSORB MORE, MORE CARBON.
UM, CUZ THERE'S JUST SO MANY BENEFITS FROM IT.
UM, BUT THAT WAS JUST ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE LITTLE KIND OF TAKEAWAY PIECES THERE.
UM, THE OTHER BIG TAKEAWAY WAS, IT'S WORSE THAN WE THINK AND WE REALLY ALL NEED TO, TO, TO GET IN THE GAME TO, UH, TO TRY AND REVERSE THE IMPACTS OF, UH, OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
ANYWAY, ON THAT CHEERFUL NOTE, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? ANYONE, ANYONE WANNA ADD ANYTHING ELSE? IF NOT, I THINK WE'RE, WE'RE DONE WITH, UH, THE MEETING TODAY.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK AND, UH, UM, AND FOR YOUR DEDICATION TO, TO ALL OF WHAT WE'RE PROTECTING AND PRESERVING.