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WELCOME TO THE OCTOBER 27TH MEETING OF THE ALCON'S CANYON LANDS CONSERVATION PLAN COORDINATING COMMITTEE.
UM, I'M TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER BRIDGET SHEA, AND I'M CO-CHAIRING WITH MY COLLEAGUE, CITY COUNCIL MEMBER LESLIE POOLE.
UM, WE'RE GONNA START THE MEETING TODAY
[Public Communication ]
WITH, UH, PUBLIC COMMUNICATION AND WE HAVE CHRIS FIELDS SIGNED UP TO SPEAK.I'M A CITY OF AUSTIN RESIDENT AND ONE OF THE TRAIL STEWARDS INVOLVED WITH THE MAINTENANCE AND GENERAL OVERSIGHT OF THE PROPER USE OF THE MOTORCYCLE TRAILS AT MONG PARK.
THOSE TRAILS HAVE BEEN IN EXISTENCE SINCE THE EARLY SEVENTIES.
WE HAVE A GOOD TEAM OF STAKEHOLDERS THAT WORK HARD TO MAINTAIN THE TRAILS TO ENSURE THEIR SUSTAINABILITY AND EDUCATE NEW VISITORS TO THAT PARK ON THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT DISTURBING AREAS BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THOSE EXISTING TRAILS.
I BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE BEEN QUITE SUCCESSFUL OVER THE YEARS ACHIEVING THOSE OBJECTIVES.
AT, IN MILAN ONG MANY STAKEHOLDERS THAT ENJOY THE USE OF THOSE TRAILS, AS WELL AS THE MANY HIKING AND BICYCLING TRAILS THAT EXIST ON AUSTIN.
GREENBELTS ARE AWARE THAT THE BCC PERMIT IS COMING UP FOR RENEWAL AND THERE'S A LITTLE CONCERN THAT THERE MAY BE POSSIBLE CHANGES THAT MAY BE MADE THAT POSSIBLY COULD IMPACT PUBLIC ACCESS AND CONTINUED USE OF MANY OF THESE RECREATIONAL AREAS.
I RECALL WHEN THE PERMIT RENEWAL TOPIC FIRST CAME UP A FEW YEARS BACK, THERE WAS A GENERAL DESIRE TO POSSIBLY PROCEED WITH SOME MAJOR AMENDMENTS TO THE PERMIT AND REVISIT AND POSSIBLY REVISE MANY OF THE CHAPTERS.
IT IS NOW MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CURRENT DESIRE MAY BE TO SIMPLY EXTEND THE PERMIT AS IS GIVEN ITS SUCCESS IN ITS CURRENT FORM.
A FEW YEARS AGO, SOME HERE MAY RECALL THAT I WAS PART OF A TEAM THAT WAS TASKED WITH A REVIEW OF CHAPTER 12 LAND MANAGEMENT PLAN.
THAT'S THE CHAPTER PERTAINING TO PUBLIC ACCESS TO THESE AREAS.
WE WERE ASKED TO REVIEW THE CHAPTER AND MAKE REVISIONS AS NEEDED TO CLEAN UP SOME OF THE LANGUAGE.
I BELIEVE ALL THAT WERE INVOLVED IN THAT PROJECT WE'RE VERY PLEASED WITH THE FINISHED PRODUCT THAT WAS ACCEPTED BY THIS COMMITTEE.
I'M HERE TODAY TO LET THE COMMITTEE KNOW THAT THE STAKEHOLDERS ARE HOPEFUL THAT NO CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO THE PERMIT THAT MIGHT LIMIT ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE TRAILS ON AUSTIN GREENBELTS OR THE MOTORCYCLE TRAILS AT ONG.
THE STAKEHOLDERS ARE ALSO HOPEFUL THAT WE CAN CONTINUE THE STRONG RELATIONSHIP WE FEEL WE HAVE DEVELOPED WITH THE CITY AND BCCP AND CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE MUTUAL GOALS.
I WILL HAPPILY MAKE MYSELF AVAILABLE IF I CAN BE OF SERVICE IN THE FUTURE.
I'VE ASKED, UH, AND I'M SORRY I DIDN'T, UM, UH, INTRODUCE THE OTHER FOLKS WHO ARE SITTING UP HERE WITH US.
UM, OUR BCCP OFFICER, KIMBERLY HARVEY, AND, UM, I, I KNEW YOU WERE FISH AND WILDLIFE.
CHRISTINA WILLIAMS. THANK YOU.
CHRISTINA WILLIAMS WITH FISH AND WILDLIFE.
UM, AND I'VE ASKED KIMBERLY IF SHE CAN ADDRESS THAT.
UM, 'CAUSE I'VE NOT HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT CHANGING, UH, THE ACCESS 'CAUSE WE DID WORK A LOT WITH THE COMMUNITY.
UM, SO I'VE ASKED HER TO ADDRESS THE CONCERN THAT YOU YEAH.
THERE THERE HASN'T BEEN ANYBODY THAT, THAT, THAT KNOWS MUCH OF ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON.
WE'RE, WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CONVERSATION.
I JUST ASKED IF SHE COULD PROVIDE A FACTUAL, UM, COMMENT ABOUT, OKAY, WELL, I'LL GO SIT DOWN THE STATUS AND MAYBE WE CAN DO THAT, UH, WHEN WE ARE, ARE DISCUSSING, UH, THE, UH, EITHER THE REPORT OR THE, UH, RECORD OF DECISIONS ITEM NUMBER TWO.
UM, WE'LL START ON THE REGULAR, UM, POSTED AGENDA.
UM, THANKS FOR THE PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.
[1. Approve Record of Decisions for the May 12, 2023 Regular Meeting ]
APPROVED RECORD OF DECISIONS FOR THE MAY 12TH, UH, 2023 REGULAR MEETING.UM, IS THERE A MOTION? MM-HMM.
UM, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
OR RAISE YOUR HAND BY AFFIRMATION.
[2. Update on BCCP ILAs between the City of Austin and Travis County and 15-Year BCCP Permit Extension Application– BCCP Officer ]
ITEM IS THE UPDATE ON THE BCCP ILAS BETWEEN THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY AND 15 YEAR BCCP PERMIT EXTENSION APPLICATION.AND KIMBERLY HARVEY WILL GIVE THAT UPDATE.
SO AT MEETINGS LAST MONTH, TRAVIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER'S COURT AND THE AUSTIN
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CITY COUNCIL APPROVED, FINALIZING AND EXECUTING THE AMENDED AND RESTATED INTER-LOCAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY FOR SHARED VISION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BALCONES CANYONLANDS CONSERVATION PLAN.UM, WE HAVE FINALIZED THOSE DOCUMENTS AND THEY ARE CURRENTLY, UH, WE'RE CURRENTLY WORKING ON SIGNATURES, SO WE, UH, NEED TO HAVE THE INTERIM CITY MANAGER'S SIGNATURE AND THE COUNTY JUDGE SIGNATURE.
AND WE HAVE ONE AND WE WERE HOPING THE SECOND ONE WOULD BE HOT OFF THE PRESS TODAY, BUT IT WILL BE COMING ANY MOMENT.
AND IS HE IN TODAY? WE CAN WALK UP TO HIS OFFICE AFTER THE MEETING.
GOING, WE CAN JUST BARGE RIGHT IN THERE AND GET A SIGNATURE
UM, BUT WOULD YOU, UH, IF IT'S APPROPRIATE UNDER THIS ITEM, WOULD YOU PLEASE ADDRESS THE ISSUE THAT MR. FIELDS'S RAISED? YES.
UM, BECAUSE, UH, BOTH TRAVIS COUNTY AND THE CITY ALSO AUTHORIZED THE BCCP OFFICERS TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE FOR A 15 YEAR BCCP PERMIT EXTENSION.
AND WHAT THAT WILL CHANGE IS SIMPLY THE EXPIRATION DATE.
NOTHING ELSE IN OUR PERMIT WILL BE CHANGED, UH, JUST SIMPLY THE EXPIRATION DATE.
AND SO, UH, WE PLAN TO SIT DOWN WITH OUR LOCAL, UH, SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES AND GO THROUGH THAT APPLICATION PACKAGE, WHICH IS COMPLETE.
AND, UM, THEN ONCE WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE AND EVERYTHING'S UM, FINALIZED, THAT WILL BE SENT TO THE REGIONAL OFFICE FOR APPROVAL.
AND, UM, WE ANTICIPATE THAT APPROVAL TAKING ANYWHERE FROM ONE TO THREE MONTHS ONCE WE FINALLY GET IT THERE.
UM, BUT WE HOPE IT WILL GO SMOOTHLY.
WE DON'T ANTICIPATE ANY PROBLEMS AT THIS TIME.
AND, UH, JUST TO RECAP, THE EXTENSION OF THE PERMIT FOR ANOTHER 15 YEARS ALLOWS US TO CONTINUE TO, UH, GIVE, TAKE PERMITS.
IT ALLOWS THAT MITIGATION PROGRAM TO CONTINUE.
ONE DAY OUR PERMIT WILL EXPIRE.
AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS THE MITIGATION PROGRAM WILL NO LONGER BE ACTIVE, BUT THE COMMITMENTS WE'VE MADE FOR LAND MANAGEMENT OF THE PRESERVES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE SPECIES AND THE HABITAT CONTINUE FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER.
THAT PART OF THIS WILL NEVER BE COMPLETED EVEN IF THE PERMIT DOES EXPIRE.
SO THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO MAKE, UH, JUST SIMPLY EXTENDING THE PERMIT FOR ANOTHER 15 YEARS BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE ABOUT A THIRD OF OUR TAKE AUTHORITY LEFT AFTER THE FIRST 30 YEARS OR SO.
SO THAT GIVES US WHAT WE THINK IS ANOTHER 15 YEARS IS A SAFE BET FOR THAT EXTENSION AND TO FINISH OUT THE EDGES ON THE PRESERVE AND TO HAVE IT BE MORE COMPLETE AND ALL OF THAT.
UM, COULD YOU ADDRESS ANY KIND OF PUBLIC, UH, STAKEHOLDER PROCESS OR, UM, MEETINGS WITH GROUPS, PARTICULARLY THE TRAIL USERS, TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE ISN'T SOME CONFUSION OR MISINFORMATION? UM, 'CAUSE IT'S, IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD.
WE'RE SIMPLY EXTENDING IT FOR 15 YEARS.
WE'RE NOT CHANGING ANY OF THE AGREEMENTS OR ANY OF THE LANGUAGE, BUT IS THERE ANY KIND OF A PUBLIC COMMUNICATION OR OUTREACH PROCESS THAT WILL BE IN ADDITION TO THIS, TO ALLAY ANY FEARS? PART OF THAT WAS ALSO TO MODERNIZE AND UPDATE THE HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN.
THAT IS A DOCUMENT FROM THE NINETIES THAT WAS INTERTWINED WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.
SO WE ARE WORKING TO MAKE CLARIFICATIONS THERE AND WE HAVE COMMITTED TO WORKING ON OUR, UH, LAND MANAGEMENT PLANS AS WELL.
SO DURING THAT PROCESS, THERE WILL BE OPPORTUNITY FOR, UH, PUBLIC INPUT AND WORKING WITH OUR, UH, STAKEHOLDERS.
UH, BUT IN TERMS OF THE CONCERN THAT WAS JUST RAISED, IS THERE SOME COMMUNICATION THAT WE CAN PUT OUT OR JUST ASK MR. FIELDS TO RELAY BACK TO THE GROUP? THIS IS REALLY AN EXTENSION BY 15 YEARS.
WE'RE NOT MODIFYING ANYTHING ELSE IN THE PERMIT.
IS THAT SUFFICIENT, YOU THINK? NO, SIR.
KIMBERLY ACTUALLY PROVIDED, UH, SOME LINKS AND ALSO THE REPORT FROM A CONSULTANT TO ME THAT WAS VERY T YEAH, IT'S GOT A IT.
ALTHOUGH WE CAN I THINK, ALLOW COMMENT ON THE AGENDA.
YOU START TAKING COMMENTS, HAVE CONVERSATION.
WELL, WE CAN, UH, WE CAN CERTAINLY ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS AS WELL.
AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO ME AT ANY TIME.
WHAT I, WHAT I MIGHT SUGGEST, UH, TO FILL IN THE GAP OF NOTIFICATIONS, WE CAN PUT OUT A, A PRESS RELEASE OR PRESS ADVISORY TO INDICATE THAT THIS ACTIVITY HAS COME TO A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION WITH THE SUBMISSION OF THE EXTENSION REQUEST.
THIS WAS A BIG PRIORITY TARGET
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FOR THE COMMISSIONER AND ME, UH, AS WE WERE GIVEN THE ASSIGNMENT TO LEAD THIS, THIS, UM, COMMITTEE AND WORKING WITH STAFF WHO DID A REALLY GOOD JOB, UM, IN HELPING US, UH, WORK THROUGH ALL OF THE VARIOUS ALTERNATIVES AND OPTIONS.AND THAT WAS YEARS WORTH OF, UH, CONCERTED LABOR AND EFFORT.
AND WE ARE NOW AT THE CONCLUDING POINT OF IT WHERE, UM, WE'VE GOT THAT SUBMISSION COMPLETED AND HOW MANY YEARS DID WE WORK ON THAT? WE HIRED THAT CONSULTANT TO HELP US WITH THE END OF PERMIT OPTIONS REPORT IN 2018.
SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE AND I KNOW STAFF HAS BEEN INTIMATELY INVOLVED WITH ALL ELEMENTS AND PHASES OF THAT.
AND I JUST REALLY WANT TO THANK YOU GUYS.
AND I'M, I'M SURE COMMISSIONER SHEA JOINS ME IN, IN THAT APPRECIATION.
SO LET'S SEE IF WE CAN GET SOME, UH, SOME PRESS ON ON THIS WONDERFUL OUTCOME.
AND, AND ONCE THAT PERMIT EXTENSION HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND APPROVED, WE DEFINITELY WILL HAVE SOME OUTREACH, UH, CELEBRATIONS AND IT WOULD BE REALLY LOVELY TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT AT THE NEXT MEETING.
WE'LL SEE HOW THAT GOES SO WE'RE NOT CLEAR ON THE, THE FINAL, FINAL TIMEFRAME FOR BUTTONING EVERYTHING UP.
AND IT'LL, IT'LL DEPEND ON THE SERVICE PROCESS TO APPROVE THAT EXTENSION REQUEST.
SO WE'VE DONE EVERYTHING ON OUR END.
NOW WE'RE SUBMITTING IT TO THE YES.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND WE'LL AWAIT THEIR, THEIR BLESSINGS YES.
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OR ANY COMMENTS YOU WANNA MAKE ON THAT END OF THE PROCESS? UM, WE, I HAVE SENT AN EMAIL UP TO OUR REGIONAL OFFICE TO FIND OUT IF THAT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE WHERE YOU JUST EXTEND A, A PERMIT.
UM, IT MAY HAVE TO GO OUT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT JUST BECAUSE THEY, IF THEY HAVE, THEY MAY HAVE TO ISSUE A NEW PERMIT.
SO I'M NOT SURE IF THAT KICKS IN LIKE A 30 DAY PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD OR NOT.
SO, UM, I'LL HAVE TO, I'LL HAVE TO GET ONCE I HEAR BACK FROM THEM AND GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESS.
UM, 'CAUSE WE TYPICALLY HAVE PEOPLE WHO COME IN, BUT THEY ARE AMENDING AND SO THAT'S A MUCH LONGER PROCESS.
SO WE'VE NEVER HAD ANYBODY JUST COME IN AND JUST ASK FOR AN EXTENDED DATE.
SO I'LL HAVE TO LOOK INTO THAT AND WHAT I'D ASK, AND MAYBE THIS COULD BE ON THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT MEETING.
AND ARE WE APPROVING OUR SCHEDULE FOR MEETINGS FOR 2024 AT, AT THIS MEETING? UH, NO.
WE'LL WAIT UNTIL JANUARY WHEN THERE'S THE OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT.
SO I WAIT TO HEAR FROM CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSIONER.
SO LET'S PUT THIS ON THE ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDAS AT THIS POINT, SINCE IT'S COME UP TO GET A REPORT BACK FROM FISH ON WHAT THAT PROCESS LOOKS LIKE.
AND SINCE WE'RE A BIT OF A UNICORN, UM, WITH REGARD TO HOW WE'RE SUBMITTING SOMETHING WITH NO CHANGES.
AND IS THIS THE FIRST PERMIT, UM, UH, EXTENSION REQUEST THAT THE FISH IS FISH MULLET HAS TAKEN OR NO, WITHOUT ANY CHANGES TO THE HCP? YES.
BUT OTHER, EVERYBODY ELSE ASKED CHANGES, OTHER PERMITS HAVE BEEN EXTENDED CHANGES FOR ADDITIONS OF NEW SPECIES, THAT KIND OF THING.
SO WELL, AND IT'S ALSO A REFLECTION OF WHAT A GREAT JOB THE STAFF DID IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT WE'RE NOT HAVING TO, TO MAKE CHANGES.
UM, SO, UM, DOUBLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND APPRECIATION FOR HOW HARD OUR STAFF HAS WORKED ON THIS.
'CAUSE IT'S, IT'S A VERY DETAILED PROCESS AND, UM, AND THERE'S AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF LABOR AND IT OFTEN GOES UNSEEN.
SO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR TERRIFIC WORK.
UM, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE NEED TO DO ON THIS ITEM? NO, THAT'S IT.
[3. Golden-cheeked Warbler Research Updates– BCP Staff ]
ITEM IS THE GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLER RESEARCH UPDATES FROM THE BCP STAFF.AND IF YOU'LL INTRODUCE YOURSELVES.
CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME WITH THAT? WHAT? DO I NEED TO BRING IT DOWN? YOU MIGHT WANNA BRING IT A LITTLE CLOSER.
JUST A LITTLE CLOSER, BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO LEAN TOO CLOSE INTO IT.
MY NAME IS LISA O'DONNELL AND I AM THE SENIOR BIOLOGIST FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S PORTION OF THE BALCON CANYON LANDS PRESERVE.
AND I WAS GONNA POINT OUT THAT, UM, WE HIGHLIGHTED A PUBLICATION AND A REPORT ON GOLDEN TWO ER MONITORING AND RESEARCH IN OUR CITY OF, NOW IT'S LIKE REALLY LOUD THEN OUR, UM, CITY OF AUSTIN'S STAFF REPORT.
UH, AND WE FELT LIKE THESE PARTICULAR REPORTS AND THE THE PUBLICATION REPORT WERE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT LIKE ITS OWN AGENDA ITEM.
SO WE'LL TALK ABOUT, UH, THE TWO.
UM, THE FIRST WAS A PUBLICATION, UM, IT WAS A PAPER THAT WE PUBLISHED IN THE ECOSPHERE JOURNAL IN JULY OF 2023.
SO I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT.
LAURA MOULTON WILL BE TALKING ABOUT, UM, A REPORT THAT WE COLLABORATED WITH DR.
GARY ARIE AT TEXAS A AND M ON, ON THE, UM, UH, CURRENT POPULATION GENETIC STATUS OF THE GOLDEN SEA WARBLER.
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AND SO THAT REPORT WAS SUBMITTED TO FISH AND WILDLIFE IN, I THINK ON MAY OR MARCH 31ST OF THIS LAST YEAR.SO LAUREL WILL BE COVERING THAT.
UM, SO JUMPING INTO THE ECOSPHERE PUBLICATION.
SO THE TITLE OF IT IS URBAN LAND COVER, AND EL NINO EVENTS NEGATIVELY IMPACT POPULATION VIABILITY OF AN ENDANGERED NORTH AMERICAN SONGBIRD.
AND THAT NORTH AMERICAN SONGBIRD IS THE GOLDEN TICK WARBLER.
SO AS WE SHOW ON THE SLIDES, WE'VE BEEN, UM, INTENSIVELY MONITORING THE GOLDEN TOOTH WARBLER ON STUDY PLOTS ACROSS THE BALCONES CANYONLANDS PRESERVE SINCE 2011.
UH, IN 2011, WE STARTED WHAT WE REFER TO AS A FIVE YEAR STUDY.
WE CONTRACTED WITH, UH, JENNIFER REY AND DR. FRANK THOMPSON, UM, OF THE US FOREST SERVICE AND UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI TO HELP US KIND OF GET THIS MONITORING PROGRAM UNDERWAY AND THEN ALSO TO ANALYZE THE DATA.
SO THAT WAS A FIVE YEAR PROJECT.
UM, SO BETWEEN 2011 AND 2015, UH, I WILL SAY INTENSIVE MONITORING INVOLVES COLOR BANDING AND NEST MONITORING.
SO IF YOU SEE IN THE SLIDE, THAT'S AMAZING PHOTO TAKEN BY ONE OF OUR VOLUNTEERS OF A MALE GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLE THAT IS BANDED.
AND EACH BIRD, EACH MALE ON THESE PLOTS GETS ITS OWN UNIQUE COLOR COMBINATION.
SO IF I COULD SEE WHAT ALL THOSE BANDS WERE, WE COULD LOOK IN OUR DATABASE AND SAY, OKAY, THIS IS A YEAR HE WAS BANDED.
UM, THIS IS HOW OLD HE WAS WHEN HE WAS BANDED.
HOW MANY YEARS DID WE SEE HIM EACH YEAR? WAS HE M IT, HOW MANY YOUNG DID HE HAVE? SO WE, IT'S, THAT'S THE INTENSITY OF IT.
I'LL ALSO SAY THAT, UM, THIS IS DEFINITELY A TEAM EFFORT.
SO EVEN THOUGH CITY OF AUSTIN IS PRESENTING, UM, THIS IS A TEAM EFFORT WITH TRAVIS COUNTY AND OTHER PARTNERS.
SO AGAIN, WE COULDN'T DO THIS WITHOUT A COLLECTIVE EFFORT, UM, TO PRODUCE THIS VERY ROBUST, UH, LONG-TERM DEMOGRAPHIC DATA SET.
SO, UM, SO AGAIN, THE FIVE YEAR STUDY, 2011 TO 2015, UM, WE SAW KIND OF A NORMAL FLUCTUATION, A LITTLE BIT OF UP AND DOWN, BUT OVERALL STABLE DURING THAT TIME PERIOD.
AND THEN BETWEEN 2016 AND 2019, WE SAW A DECLINE OF ROUGHLY 30%.
SOME OF THE PLOTS, UH, HAD A LITTLE BIT MORE, UH, LIKE OVER 50% DECLINES.
UM, AND SO WE WERE CONCERNED ABOUT IT
SO THIS IS JUST KIND OF A VISUAL OVERVIEW OF, OF THE ABUNDANCE, UM, THAT THE DATA THAT WE'VE GATHERED OVER THIS PERIOD FROM 2011 TO 2022.
SO THOSE ARE THE FIRST FIVE DOTS.
AND SO AGAIN, YOU'RE SEEING A LITTLE BIT OF CYCLING, WHICH IS NORMAL, BUT OVERALL STABLE.
AND THEN 2017 TO 2019, YOU SEE THAT DROP.
THE GOOD NEWS IS IN 2021 AND 2022, IT SEEMS LIKE THEY'VE REBOUNDED.
WE'RE STILL LOOKING AT THE DATA FOR 2023 TO SEE IF THAT'S STILL HOLDING.
UM, AND SO WE'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THESE DATA ARE FROM 10 STUDY PLOTS.
SO WE DID THIS FIVE YEAR STUDY, AND THEN IN 2016, WE COULDN'T CONTINUE THAT LEVEL OF MONITORING.
WE DROPPED, UNFORTUNATELY, THREE OF THOSE 10 PLOTS THAT YEAR.
UM, THE OTHER SEVEN PLOTS THOUGH, WE WERE DEFINITELY SEEING, OKAY, SOMETHING'S GOING ON HERE.
SO WE PICKED THEM BACK UP, ADDED THOSE INTO OUR LONG-TERM MONITORING PLAN.
BUT THAT'S WHY YOU SEE A LITTLE GAP IN 2016.
AND THEN IN 2020, THAT WAS THE COVID YEAR, SO WE WEREN'T ABLE TO MONITOR SUFFICIENTLY.
UM, AND SO IT WAS JENNIFER REEDY THAT, UH, FIGURED OUT THERE WAS A VERY STRONG EL NINO EVENT THAT, UM, COINCIDED WITH THIS DECLINE.
SO THE EL NINO EVENT, UM, WAS DURING THE WINTER OF 20 15, 20 16.
SO YOU'RE GETTING VERY WARM DRY CONDITIONS ON THE WINTERING GROUND.
THE BIRDS, THE GOLDEN WARBLES FEED ON, I MEAN, THEY'RE IN PINE OAK FORESTS.
UM, AND THEY FEED ON, UM, INSECTS PRIMARILY.
SO WHAT WE SUSPECT HAPPENED IS THAT THEY JUST WEREN'T ABLE TO GET ENOUGH FOOD, ENOUGH FAT RESERVES TO MAKE THAT MIGRATION BACK UP NORTH.
SO ESSENTIALLY IT JUST AFFECTED ADULT SURVIVAL.
SO, AND WE DID SEE ADULT SURVIVAL WAS VERY LOW FOR THOSE YEARS.
THE OTHER PART OF THE EQUATION IS JUST WE'RE AN URBANIZING PRESERVE, AND SO THAT'S IMPACTING REPRODUCTION, UM, PRODUCTIVITY.
UM, THINGS LIKE BLUE JAYS AND FOX, SQUIRRELS AND RATS, SNAKES, I MEAN, THERE ARE A LOT OF ANIMALS, PREDATORS, NEST PREDATORS THAT
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DO QUITE WELL WITH HUMAN HABITATION.THEY EITHER DO OKAY OR THEY BENEFIT FROM IT.
UM, AND SO THE GOLDEN CHIEF WICK DOES NOT IN THAT CASE.
SO THOSE TWO FACTORS TOGETHER, UM, BOTH THE EL NINO EVENT, SO CLIMATE RELATED INCIDENTS AND, UM, ISSUES GOING ON ON THE BREEDING GROUND, BOTH OF THOSE WERE, UH, IDENTIFIED IN THIS PAPER AS PROBLEMATIC.
AND THEN GOING TO FEEL TO LIKE THE LAST SLIDE.
SO THIS IS JUST A SUMMARY SLIDE.
SO AGAIN, THE DECLINE IN ABUNDANCE APPEAR TO BE AT LEAST IN PART, THE RESULT OF THIS STRONG, UM, EL NINO EVENT THAT OCCURRED DURING THE WINTER OF 2015 AND 2016.
AND THEN THE SECOND BULLET THERE IS JUST EMPHASIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTIVITY, REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS.
BECAUSE IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S LIKE, YEAH, YOU'VE GOT ALL THESE THREATS, BUT IF YOU CAN CRANK OUT AS MANY BABIES AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, YOU KNOW, THAT HELPS YOU OVERCOME THOSE THREATS, WHETHER IT'S FROM EL NINO OR SOMETHING ELSE.
SO THE UPSHOT OF IT IS THAT JUST NEEDING TO PROTECT, MAINTAIN, CREATE REALLY GOOD HABITAT AND MAKE, MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE CONNECTED AS WELL AS WE CAN, UH, ACROSS THE RANGE, NOT JUST ON THE BCP.
AND THEN THAT LAST, UM, THE, THE PART THAT'S HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE IS A LINK TO THE PAPER, AND THERE'S ALSO A LINK TO THAT IN, UM, THE CITY OF BOSTON, UM, STAFF UPDATE REPORT.
AND THEN THE ONLY OTHER THING I WAS GONNA CLOSE OUT WITH IS THAT, UM, I'VE BEEN ASKED OVER THE YEARS SINCE MY DAYS WITH FISH AND WILDLIFE, UM, WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT IN THE WINTERING RANGE OR THE BREEDING RANGE, LIKE, ESPECIALLY IN THE BREEDING RANGE.
LIKE, CAN'T WE JUST FOCUS ON THE WINTERING RANGE? AND I THINK THIS PAPER REALLY HIGHLIGHTS NICELY THE IMPORTANCE OF, OF BOTH.
SO YOU, YOU HAVE TO HAVE FOR POPULATION GROWTH, UM, YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR BIRTH SURVIVE.
SO BOTH YOUR JUVENILES AND YOUR ADULTS, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO HAVE REALLY GOOD REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S IT FOR ME AND I WILL TURN IT OVER TO LAUREL.
AS LISA MENTIONED, I'M LAUREL MOLTON AND I'M ALSO A BIOLOGIST WITH THE CITY'S SIDE OF THE BCP.
AND I'M GONNA TALK JUST ABOUT THE MAIN FINDINGS OF OUR RANGE-WIDE POPULATION GENETICS STUDY THAT WE BEGAN IN 2018, UM, IN COLLABORATION WITH DR.
SO WE SAMPLED, UM, GOLDEN CHIEF WARBLERS FROM ACROSS THE ENTIRE BREEDING RANGE.
WE SAMPLED IN 14 TEXAS COUNTIES, WHICH WE CONSIDER TO BE 11 DIFFERENT POPULATION CLUSTERS.
SO YOU CAN SEE ON THE MAP, THEY'RE THE FURTHEST NORTH CLUSTER IS PALO PINTO STATE PARK.
AND THEN JUST A MINUTE, CAN EVERYONE HERE IN THE BACK OKAY.
IF YOU PULL, YEAH, IF YOU PULL THE MIC A LITTLE CLOSER, IT'S EASIER.
AND THEN IN THE FURTHEST SOUTHWEST CLUSTER IS, UM, KICKAPOO CAVERN STATE PARK, AS WELL AS A PRIVATE RANCH.
UM, SO WE SAMPLED 239 GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLERS.
AND THAT PICTURE'S JUST SHOWING THE PROCESS.
WE JUST TAKE A COUPLE OF DROPS OF BLOOD FROM EACH BIRD, AND THEN WE USED OPEN SOURCE, UM, IT'S CALLED ANALYSIS.
NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING DATA FOR THE MAJORITY OF OUR ANALYSIS CAN SWITCH.
SO I'M JUST GONNA TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE MOST CRITICAL MEASURES OF GENETIC DIVERSITY THAT ARE USED IN POP POPULATION GENETICS.
SO WE LOOKED AT HETEROZYGOSITY, WHICH IS HO, THIS IS GENE DIVERSITY, UH, VALUE, BASICALLY.
AND ITS INFORMATIVE ABOUT THE FREQUENCY OF HETEROZYGOTES IN A POPULATION.
SO A HIGH HETEROZYGOSITY EQUALS HIGH GENETIC VARIABILITY.
WE ALSO LOOKED AT THE INBREEDING COEFFICIENT, OR FIS, THIS ESTIMATES NON-RANDOM MATING AMONG RELATIVES WITHIN POPULATIONS.
AND A POSITIVE FIS VALUE WILL INDICATE AN EXCESS OF HOMOZYGOUS, UM, WHICH MEANS REDUCED GENETIC DIVERSITY.
AND THIS CAN BE DUE TO INBREEDING GENETIC DRIFT OR FOUNDER EFFECTS.
SO WE FOUND THAT OVERALL GENETIC DIVERSITY WAS LOW WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER, UM, MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS.
SO OVERALL HETEROZYGOSITY WAS 0.031 ACROSS THE SPECIES.
JUST FOR COMPARISON, SEASIDE SPARROWS HAVE HETEROZYGOSITY GREATER THAN 0.05 AND A WIDESPREAD BIRD IN AUSTRALIA CALLED A SILVER EYE HAS IT GREATER THAN 0.1.
THE INBREEDING COEFFICIENT WAS HIGH ACROSS THE SPECIES OVERALL.
IT'S ABOUT, UM, 0.099, AND ACTUALLY THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF INBREEDING WERE FOUND TO OCCUR IN TRAVIS COUNTY WITH LEVELS AT 0.124.
SO AGAIN, THIS IS HIGHER THAN WHAT WE SEE, UM, IN OTHER BIRD SPECIES WITH A SIMILAR SIZED RANGE.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE ISLAND SCRUB J IS AT 0.066.
SO THE INTERPRETATION OF ALL THIS IS THAT WE, UM, WE HAVE HAD HISTORICALLY RECENT MEANING WITHIN A HUNDRED TO 150 YEAR, UM, SEVERE GENETIC BOTTLENECKS.
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BOTTLENECK IS JUST WHEN A POPULATION QUICKLY DECLINES, UM, AND THAT THERE STILL HAVE NOT FULLY RECOVERED FROM THESE PROLONGED PERIODS OF SMALL POPULATION SIZE.AND YOU CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
ANOTHER WIDELY USED STATISTICS IN POPULATION GENETICS IS THE FIXATION INDEX OR FST.
AND THIS QUANTIFIES GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION AMONG POPULATIONS.
SO ESSENTIALLY THE AMOUNT OF GENE FLOW THAT'S OCCURRING BETWEEN POPULATIONS, IT RANGES FROM ZERO TO ONE WITH ZERO INDICATING NO DIFFERENTIATION, AND ONE INDICATING COMPLETE DIFFERENTIATION, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS COMPLETELY SEPARATE SPECIES.
UM, AND OUR PAIRWISE FST VALUES SHOWED, AGAIN, RELATIVELY HIGH LEVELS ACROSS ALL PAIRS OF THE SAMPLED POPULATIONS, RANGING FROM 0.8% TO JUST OVER 2%.
UM, AND WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT THE ENTIRE RANGE OF THE GOLDEN CHEEK IS LESS THAN 300 KILOMETERS, THESE ARE PRETTY HIGH VALUES AND INDICATE THAT THERE'S REDUCED GENE FLOW AMONG THE POPULATIONS.
PLO PINTO, UM, IF YOU REMEMBER, THAT WAS THE HIGHEST NORTH LOCATION.
IT, IT WAS NOTABLE IN SHOWING THE GREATEST POPULATION DIFFERENTIATION, BUT ALSO SOMERVILLE, WHICH IS THE ONE IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF P PINTO AND BAYER COUNTY, WHICH INCLUDES SAN ANTONIO, WE'RE ALSO MORE THE MOST GENETICALLY DISTINCT.
SO IF YOU SEE THE GRAM OVER THERE, THAT SHOWS KIND OF HOW THAT FALLS OUT.
AND THEN THE FINAL ESTIMATOR I WANNA MENTION IS THE EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE, OR NE.
THIS CALCULATES THE LONG-TERM AVERAGE SIZE OF THE BREEDING POPULATION OVER THE LAST FEW GENERATIONS.
SO WE FOUND THAT BASED ON THREE DIFFERENT ESTIMATORS, THAT EACH POPULATION IS SHOWING LOW EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZES.
UM, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF BEXAR COUNTY, WHICH HAS ABOUT 250 ESTIMATE, ALL THE OTHER LOCATIONS HAVE, UM, EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE ESTIMATES OF 150 OR LESS.
SO TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE LOW HETEROZYGOSITY, HIGH END BREEDING AND LOW EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZES ARE SUGGESTING PROLONGED PERIODS OF SMALL EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE.
AND THERE'S REALLY NO EVIDENCE OF ANY POPULATION EXPANSION OR RECOVERY FROM THE HISTORIC POPULATION LOWS.
SO WHILE THESE AREN'T THE RESULTS THAT WE HOPE TO SEE, THEY'RE NOT THAT SURPRISING CONSIDERING HOW LONG RECOVERY FROM GENETIC BOTTLENECKS TAKES.
ONCE YOU LOSE GENETIC VARIATION, IT'LL TAKE TENS OF HUNDREDS OF GENERATION, TENS TO HUNDREDS OF GENERATIONS, UM, FOR NEW GENETIC VARIATION TO EMERGE.
AND THIS IS IF YOU'RE NOT, IF YOU DON'T HAVE ADDITIONAL FACTORS COMING INTO PLACE, SUCH AS HABITAT LOSS AND HABITAT FRAGMENTATION, UM, WHICH ACT TO REDUCE THE POPULATION SIZE AND GENE AND REDUCED GENE FLOW.
SO IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THE CONTINUED RECOVERY IS GOING TO ASSUME THE MAINTENANCE AND EXPANSION OF THE CURRENT EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZES.
UM, SO IT'S VERY ESSENTIAL TO MAIN, AT LEAST MAINTAIN THE MINIMUM OR AT MINIMUM TO MAINTAIN THE CURRENT AMOUNTS OF AVAILABLE HABITAT THAT WE HAVE IF WE WANT TO BEGIN TO SEE GENETIC RECOVERY.
WHAT KIND OF, UM, UH, TIMEFRAME ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE GENERATIONAL, UH, DURATION IS.
SO WE ACTUALLY, FOR BIRDS, SO IF WE'RE LOOKING AT TENS TO HUNDREDS OF GENERATIONS, ROUGHLY WHAT KIND OF TIMEFRAME ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? SO WE DID AN ADDITIONAL CALCULATION ACTUALLY THAT LOOKS AT HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE THEM TO RECOVER FROM THE AMOUNT OF INBREEDING WE'RE SEEING.
AND IT'S JUST OVER A HUNDRED GENERATIONS.
SO FOR A BIRD, THEY LIVE ABOUT THREE YEARS, THREE TO FIVE YEARS.
SO 30 OR 300, IT'S TENS TO HUNDREDS IS THE RANGE, RIGHT? YEAH.
AND THE CALCULATION THAT WE DID WAS ABOUT 105 GENERATIONS.
IF WE WANT TO GET FROM 9% IN BREEDING DOWN TO 2%.
HOW MANY ACTUAL YEARS ARE YOU TALKING? SO IT WOULD BE 300.
THREE TO 500 IF THE RANGE OF THEIR GESTATION OR LIFETIME IS THREE TO FIVE YEARS.
SO ARE WE, ARE WE REALLY SEEING THE POPULATION IN A PRETTY SERIOUS DECLINE? I MEAN, I DON'T WANT TO BE A DOOMS. SO THE DECLINE SAME YEAR, BUT SO THE DECLINE ALREADY HAPPENED.
THE, THE, THE MAJOR DECLINE HAPPENED ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
AND WHAT WE, WHAT WE'RE SEEING NOW IS THAT THERE REALLY HASN'T BEEN MUCH RECOVERY FROM THAT INITIAL DECLINE.
AND THAT WAS SORT OF, UH, HUMAN, HUMAN POPULATION, UM, OF CLEARING OF CEDAR.
DID YOU SEE THAT POP UP DURING THE PANDEMIC MARCH? THE BREAK IN 2020, AND IT LOOKED LIKE THERE WERE MORE BIRDS IDENTIFIED IN 21 AND, AND THEN A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE 2020, BUT IT WAS HIGHER THAN THE LOW POINT, WHICH WAS 1516 TO 18 ISH.
SO WE DID SEE A LITTLE REBOUND.
I'M ALWAYS, I'M ALWAYS CAUTIOUS ABOUT THAT BECAUSE, BECAUSE WE'RE SET ASIDE AND PROTECTED.
RIGHT? THERE ARE BIRDS THAT CAN COME IN FROM OTHER AREAS.
[00:30:01]
SO IF YOU'RE CLEARING HABITAT NEARBY, SO YOU DON'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT IS THAT BECAUSE WE DON'T EXIST IN ISOLATION, SO YOU DON'T KNOW IF IT'S BECAUSE OUR POPULATION IS JUST, WE'RE REPRODUCING SO WELL AND ADULT SURVIVAL IS REALLY HIGH AND IT'S RECOVERING ON ITS OWN.OR ARE WE, IS IT A RESULT OF JUST GETTING MORE BIRDS COMING IN FROM SURE.
SURROUNDING AREAS UNDERSTAND, OR BOTH.
IT LOOKS KIND OF LIKE A ONE-OFF, BUT YOU KNOW, IN THE NEXT THREE TO FOUR YEARS, WE'LL HAVE A LITTLE MORE OF A TREND TO BE ABLE TO MEASURE TO SEE IF THOSE NUMBERS STAY UP.
I WAS JUST SURPRISED TO SEE THE DROP AT ALL BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD, YOU KNOW, WE'VE, WE HAVE SUSPECTED THAT WE HAVE IMMIGRANTS COMING IN FROM OTHER AREAS.
SO JUST TO SEE IT DROP AND SEE IT STAY DOWN FOR FOUR YEARS WAS CONCERNING.
BUT YEAH, SO I'M, I AM CURIOUS TO ADD THE 2023, BUT THAT'S PART OF THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING THAT LONG-TERM DATA SET, IS TO BE ABLE TO LOOK AT, WE CAN ACTUALLY DRAW SOME CONCLUSIONS.
UM, WE ARE DOING A GREAT DEAL ALREADY AND I THINK HAVE A VERY SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM UNDERWAY, BUT ARE THERE OTHER KINDS OF THINGS THAT WE COULD BE CONSIDERING DOING TO TRY AND IMPROVE THEIR CHANCES OF LONG-TERM SURVIVAL? YEAH.
UM, I THINK AS MUCH, YEAH, AS MUCH AS WE, AS MUCH HABITAT AS WE CAN PROTECT, I THINK EDUCATION OUTREACH IS GONNA BE CRITICAL FOR, FOR NEIGHBORS.
UM, JUST DEALING WITH ALL OF THE, ALL OF THE ISSUES THAT COME ALONG WITH URBANIZATION, WHETHER IT'S INVASIVE PLANTS, INVASIVE SPECIES, PREDATORS, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS.
BUT THEN I THINK THE BIGGEST, THE BIGGEST ISSUE REALLY IS PROTECTING THE HABITAT.
AND IDEALLY, WE WOULD NOT BE IN ISOLATION.
WE NEED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE REFUGE AND FORT HOOD.
WHILE, WHILE WE CAN DO THAT, ONE OF THE THINGS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT IN A, IN A PREVIOUS MEETING WAS, UM, OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOIL ENRICHMENT, BOTH FOR CARBON, ADDITIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION.
BUT I WOULD ASSUME THAT THAT WOULD ALSO, UM, ENHANCE THE GROWTH OR VIABILITY OF INSECT POPULATION AND ALL, EVERYTHING THAT GOES WITH THAT, RIGHT? YEAH.
WE ACTUALLY HAVE A STUDENT WHO, FROM ST.
ED'S, WHO'S LOOKING AT SOME OF THE RESTORATION PROJECTS AND COMPARING IT TO, UH, AREAS NEARBY THAT ARE NOT BEING RESTORED.
AND, UH, IT'S STILL TOO EARLY TO SAY, BUT PRELIMINARILY, SHE'S DEFINITELY SEEING AN, AN INCREASE IN DIVERSITY IN THE PLACES WHERE WE'RE PLANTING.
UM, SO YEAH, DEFINITELY WITH WORKING WITH WHAT WE HAVE WITHIN THE BCP, UM, TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE THE BEST HABITAT THAT WE CAN HAVE, UM, IN, IN PLACES WHERE WE DON'T HAVE HABITAT FOR THE GOLDEN CHIEF ER OR THE VERIO, UM, OR THE CAVE INVERTEBRATES, THEN YEAH.
HAVE LIKE REFORESTATION EFFORTS THAT ALSO HELPS TO, UH, MINIMIZE EDGE EFFECTS LIKE THE HABITAT FRAGMENTATION.
SO THAT'S ONE OF THE GOALS IS NOT ONLY TO EXPAND THE HABITAT, BUT TO, UH, REDUCE THAT FRAGMENTATION.
BECAUSE THAT'S ONE OF THE BIG ISSUES WITH THE PREDATORS IS THEY PREFER EDGES.
SO IF WE CAN MINIMIZE THOSE EDGES AND INCREASE DIVERSITY, ALL THOSE AROUND.
WELL, I'M WONDERING, UM, KIMBERLY, WE'VE GOT ANOTHER, HOW MANY ACRES THAT WE NEED TO PURCHASE YET TO MAX OUT OUR PERMIT? WE HAVE, UM, WE HAVE REACHED OUR ACREAGE GOAL, BUT WE ARE STILL WORKING ON CONFIGURATION.
SO THERE ARE STILL SOME MACRO SITES WHERE WE HAVEN'T REACHED OUR ACREAGE GOAL AND WE STILL ARE WORKING TO FILL IN SOME OF THOSE HOLES TO HELP WITH THAT EDGE EFFECT AND CONFIGURATION.
ARE ANY OF THEM IN THE, IN THE, UM, AREAS THAT LISA'S TALKING ABOUT, LIKE TOWARD FORT HOOD AND SO FORTH? THOSE, SO THOSE AREAS WOULD BE BEYOND, IT'S JUST, YEAH, I THINK IT'S JUST WORKING WITH OUR PARTNERS IN AREAS BEYOND TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE SURE WE MAINTAIN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN 'EM.
SO LIKE HOW DO WE MAINTAIN CONNECTION WITH THE REFUGE? AND, YOU KNOW, THE COUNTY'S ACQUIRED SOME LAND THAT'S KIND OF IN BETWEEN, WHICH I THINK IS PROBABLY REALLY HELPFUL, BUT THAT TYPE OF THING.
AND IT NOT JUST CENTERED AROUND THE BCP, BUT, BUT LOOKING RANGE WIDE.
SO I'M, I'LL PASS IT BACK TO CHRISTINA TO, WE CAN FIGURE ALL THAT OUT.
DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANTED TO SAY, CHRISTINA? NO, I THINK THAT ALL GOES INTO THE RECOVERY KIND OF PLANNING FOR THE SPECIES RANGE-WIDE.
AND WE HAVE A, AN EXCELLENT RELATIONSHIP WITH FORT CSOS AND, AND WITH WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR WORK POPULATION THERE.
AND IS THAT WHAT FORT HOOD'S CALLED NOW? YEAH.
UM, AND MELINDA MALIA FROM THE CLARK
[00:35:01]
COUNTY STAFF WANTED TO MAKE A COMMENT.THING THAT ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION ABOUT WHAT I THINK WE COULD DO.
UM, YOU'VE ANSWERED SOME OF IT, BUT, UM, AND I DON'T KNOW IF IT WOULD HELP, BUT I RECOMMEND THAT THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE, UM, ASK THE, THE SERVICE TO MAKE SURE THAT THE WORK THAT THESE TWO ARE TALKING ABOUT IS, IS CAREFULLY CONSIDERED IN THIS SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT THAT, THAT THEY'RE GOING THROUGH RIGHT NOW FOR THE GOLDEN CHEEK LER.
I, I, I DON'T THINK IT WOULD HURT FOR THIS COMMITTEE TO SEND AN OFFICIAL REQUEST.
DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD HELP? WELL, THE DRAFT JUST WENT OUT FOR PEER AND PARTNER REVIEW, SO, UM, BUT I DO BELIEVE THAT, I THINK YOU SENT US THE EL NINO PAPER.
YOU SHOULD HAVE, UH, YEAH, YOU HAVE THE, THE GENETICS REPORT WAS, I KNOW FOR SURE THE GENETICS ONE GOT INCORPORATED.
I THINK IF YOU SENT US THE ONE ON THE EL NINO, IT SHOULD BE COMMENTARY.
IT SHOULD BE INCLUDED AND CITED.
WELL, AND IF IT'S, IF IT'S OUT FOR COMMENT AS PART OF OUR OFFICIAL COMMENT, I THINK WE SHOULD PREPARE A VERY SPECIFIC, UM, REQUEST FOR THE MAINTENANCE AND PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES.
'CAUSE THERE'S, THERE ARE CONTINUED EFFORTS TO TRY AND GET THEM DELISTED, CORRECT? CORRECT.
SO THAT'S THE CONTEXT FOR THIS.
THERE'S STILL, THERE'S STILL A BOTH A THREAT FROM WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THEIR, UH, IN THEIR OWN ENVIRONMENTS, BUT THERE'S ALSO A, A POLITICAL THREAT TO TRY AND DELIST THESE SPECIES AND DISCONTINUING, UM, ONGOING PROTECTION EFFORTS.
WE'RE, WE'RE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THAT.
THAT IT COULD BE THE SPECIES COULD BE DELISTED PREMATURELY BASED ON FLAW INFORMATION.
SO, WE'LL, WE'LL DEFINITELY SUBMIT A ROBUST RESPONSE, I THINK, UM, THROUGH LISA I THINK IS OUR LEAD ON THIS.
AND I THINK JENNIFER WAS ON THE LIST ALSO.
SO, BUT WE'D LIKE TO PARTICIPATE AS THE ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE GOVERNING BODY OF THIS, UH, EFFORT.
SO KIMBERLY, COULD YOU EVER SEE GETTING THE LETTER DRAFTED UP FOR THE COMMISSIONERS AND MY SIGNATURE? THAT'D BE GREAT.
ANY OTHER FINAL COMMENTS? THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WORK.
THIS IS REALLY, UM, SAD BUT IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
WELL, AND THAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE PART OF THE LETTER THAT WE SEND SO THAT IT FURTHER EXPLAINS THE NECESSITY TO CONTINUE TO HAVE THE WARBLER LISTED.
AND YOU'VE ALREADY SUBMITTED IT TO FISH AND WILDLIFE.
BUT STILL WOULDN'T HURT TO HAVE IT AS AN ATTACHMENT AS PART OF WHAT WE'RE RIGHT.
AND, AND POINTING TO, I WAS ASKED TO REVIEW, I JUST GOT THE EMAIL A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO AND I WAS OUTTA TOWN, SO I HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO LOOK AT IT, BUT I WAS ASKED TO REVIEW THE DRAFT SPECIES STATUS ASSESSMENT, SO I WILL DEFINITELY BE TAKING A LOOK AND MAKE SURE THAT'S IN THERE TOO.
[4. BCP Community Engagement Highlights – BCP Staff ]
THE AGENDA IS BCP COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR BCP STAFF.SO COME ON UP, WHOEVER'S GONNA BE SPEAKING AND THEN INTRODUCE YOURSELF PLEASE.
I'M THE COMMUNITY LIAISON FOR TRAVIS COUNTY NATURAL RESOURCES THAT MANAGES THE EDUCATION OUT EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND VOLUNTEERING FOR THE TRAVIS COUNTY SIDE OF THE BCP.
UM, WE'RE JUST GONNA PUT A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS TO Y'ALL TODAY.
I WORK ON THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S, UH, ALCON CANYONLANDS PRESERVE.
AND WE'RE GONNA PRESENT A COUPLE OF JUST HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME OF THE EDUCATION OUTREACH AND VOLUNTEERING THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED OVER FY 2023.
I HESITATE TO CALL IT A TOP 10 BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT WE DO IS AWESOME AND IMPORTANT, BUT THESE ARE JUST SOME THINGS THAT WE PUT TOGETHER AND THERE'S SO MUCH MORE THAT I WANTED TO INCLUDE, BUT, UH, KIMBERLY LIMITED ME.
SO, UH, YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAVE, WELL, WE'LL ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS.
GIVE, YOU KNOW, GIVE US SOME LEADS.
UM, THIS PICTURE HERE IS REALLY COOL.
THIS IS FOLKS FROM TRAVIS COUNTY, CITY OF AUSTIN WILD BASIN AND WEST CAVE.
WE, UM, SOME OF OUR EDUCATION PARTNERS MEETING FOR QUARTERLY MEETINGS WHERE WE COLLABORATE TOGETHER AND TALK ABOUT EVENTS THAT WE HAVE GOING ON.
SO, FIRST THINGS FIRST, WE WANNA TALK ABOUT THE GOLDEN SHE WARBLER RECITING PROGRAM.
UM, THIS LAST YEAR WE HAD 70 VOLUNTEERS DEDICATE MORE THAN 1200 HOURS, UH, MONITORING FOR ENDANGERED GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLERS ON BOTH CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY BCP TRACKS.
UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S NO SMALL FEAT TO DO THIS.
AND THIS WORK SUPPLEMENTS THE WORK OF THE BIOLOGISTS.
THEY DO MORE PRESENCE ABSENCE OUTSIDE OF THESE INTENSIVE STUDY PLOTS THAT THE BIOLOGISTS ARE WORKING ON.
AND IT, IT GOES TO STRENGTHEN THE HUGE ROBUST DATA SET THAT ARE, WHAT IS THE TERM? REC RECYCLING RECITING.
SO THEY'RE GOING OUT TO LOOKING FOR BIRDS THAT THESE BANDED BIRDS IN, UH, NEAR THE INTENSIVE STUDY PLOT AREAS.
THEY'RE GOING OUT AND LOOKING FOR THESE BANDED BIRDS TO SEE IF THEY'VE MOVED OR CAME BACK IN YEARS, UH, PRIOR.
SO OFTENTIMES, YOU KNOW, THE BIRD DOESN'T KNOW WHERE THAT INTENSIVE STUDY PLOT IS, NOR DO THEY CARE.
SO THE BIOLOGISTS ARE LOOKING IN ONE AREA AND ARE REALLY FOCUSED THERE.
[00:40:01]
US TO SEARCH JUST OUTSIDE THAT AREA TO SEE, OH, IS THIS BIRD THAT WE BANDED LAST YEAR, TWO YEARS AGO, ET CETERA.COMING BACK TO JUST OUTSIDE OF THE TERRITORY WHERE WE'RE LOOKING, VOLUNTEERS ARE ESSENTIALLY EXTRA SETS OF EYES.
AND THAT PROCESS OF LOOKING AT A BIRD TO SEE, DOES IT HAVE BANDS ON ITS LEGS? AND IF SO, CAN I READ THEM? UM, THAT IS CALLED RECITING.
AND THIS IS WHERE WE'RE THE NESTING AREA, CORRECT, YES.
AND DO, DO THE WARBLERS GENERALLY COME BACK TO A SIMILAR AREA WHERE THEY'VE DONE THEIR NESTS, THAT THEY'RE ALL, THEY'RE ALL SHAKING YOUR HEADS? YES,
UM, SO IT'S LOGICAL TO LOOK IN THE SAME AREAS OR SIMILAR AREAS.
THEY WILL MOVE, BUT THEY OFTEN COME BACK TO THE SAME AREAS.
THEY BUILD NEW NESTS EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
BUT SOME MALES WILL COME TO ALMOST THE SAME TREE YEAR AFTER YEAR SOMETIMES.
BUT IT ALSO HELPS US TO FIND DISPERSALS, AND I'LL LOOK TOWARDS THE BIOLOGISTS, BUT SOMETIMES WE EXPECT TO FIND SOMEONE WITH A RED AND BLUE AND SILVER AND WHITE BAND IN ONE AREA, AND WE FIND HIM IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AREA.
AND SO IT'S, UH, JUST MORE DATA, MORE FODDER FOR OUR BIOLOGISTS TO INTERPRET.
AND AREN'T THESE, UH, BIRDS NOTORIOUSLY SHY AND SORT OF HARD TO SEE AND FIND.
SO THIS IS REALLY A CHALLENGE FOR THE TEAM THAT'S GOING OUT AND TRYING TO RECITE THEM.
AND THEY'RE OFTEN LOOKING FOR THOSE LITTLE BITTY BANDS HIGH UP IN THE TREES.
UH, YOU KNOW, DARK LIGHTING FAR AWAY, MOVING QUICKLY.
SEEMS LIKE YOUR NECK WOULD BE SORE AT THE END OF THAT
IT'S A GREAT VOLUNTEER FORCE FOR SURE.
NEXT UP WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT A COUPLE OF OTHER CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, BOTH THESE ARE HABITAT RESTORATION PROJECTS AND REFORESTATION PROJECTS THAT CONTINUED ON BOTH RIO PRESERVE AND DOUBLE J AND T TRACKS OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN BCP AREAS.
UM, UNDER DIRECTION OF BCP BIOLOGIST, JIM O'DONNELL, UM, ANOTHER HUGE DEDICATED STAFF OF VOLUNTEERS, MORE THAN 200 VOLUNTEERS CONTRIBUTED OVER 1600 HOURS TO THESE TWO PROJECTS ALONE LAST YEAR.
AND THEY PLANTED HUNDREDS OF NATIVE TREES.
THEY MAINTAINED A NURSERY OF OVER THOUSANDS OF NATIVE PLANTS TO BE USED IN THESE PROJECTS.
AND THEN WATERING IN THROUGHOUT THESE HARSH, HARSH SUMMER MONTHS.
UM, THEY BROKE A THOUSAND TREES.
SO THEY, SO SAY WHAT THAT MEANS.
THEY, THEY ACTUALLY BROKE THEM OR THEY BROKE THE COUNT? I MEAN, OUR RECORD, OUR COUNT EVERY WEEK, I'D GET AN UPDATE FROM THE FIELD OF, OKAY, WE'RE AT 761 TREES.
UM, AND SOME OF THEM ARE VERY SMALL, BUT WHEN WE'RE THINKING THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT, BECAUSE AS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE, WE HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF ACRES TO SERVE AS HABITAT.
AND SO WE NEED THAT HABITAT TO PRODUCE THE GREATEST NUMBER OF HEALTHY GOLDEN SHAKE WARBLERS POSSIBLE.
AND SO TRYING TO RESTORE HABITAT THAT, UM, IS LESS THAN IDEAL.
AND THIS IS A BIG PART OF THAT IS, UM, BUT YOU SAID BROKE.
BROOKLYN RECORD FOR I KNOW, THAT WAS MY QUESTION TOO.
A WEEKLY RUNNING, UH, RECORD OF HOW MANY TREES HAVE WE REACHED NOW ON THE DOUBLE J AND T TRACT AND IT'S A THOUSAND AND ON ONE TRACK.
AND THESE ARE ALL ASH JUNIPER TREES, OR WHAT ARE WE PLANTING? IT'S VERY HARD TO GROW ASH JUNIPER TREES FROM SEEDS.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, JIM AND MANY OTHERS HAVE WORKED TO, UM, PLANT NATIVE SPECIES THAT CAN HELP TO BUILD HEALTHIER SOIL.
CAN WE, CAN WE PUT IN NATIVE TREES, SHRUBS, GRASSES, WILD FLOWERS THAT CAN HELP TO TURN AN AREA THAT WAS CALICHE, YOU KNOW, BARE GROUND, THAT THE RAIN WILL SPLASH UP AT YOU BECAUSE THE GROUND IS SO COMPACTED.
CAN WE USE THESE NATIVE SPECIES AND ALL OF THESE HANDS, UM, TO PLANT MORE, UM, PLANTS THAT WILL HELP TO OPEN UP THAT SOIL AND HELP TO ALLOW EVENTUALLY, UM, ASH JUNIPER WOULD BE ABLE TO COLONIZE THAT AREA TOO.
BUT WE START WITH MOSTLY OTHER NATIVE TREES.
AND, UM, DO YOU DO SOIL AMENDMENTS AS WELL, OR IS IT, UM, WELL THAT'S GREAT.
AND I KNOW IN A PREVIOUS PRESENTATION, UM, Y'ALL WERE TALKING ABOUT A, A PROJECT WHERE YOU WERE BUILDING BERMS TO CATCH RAINWATER, AND THAT'S, IS THAT PART OF THIS ONE AS WELL? GREAT.
TALKING NOW ABOUT A COUPLE OF VOLUNTEER WORK DAYS OVER ON THE TRAVIS COUNTY, UM, SIDE OF THINGS.
UM, IN 2023, WE CAN, WE GREW OUR OUTREACH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM AGAIN, AND WE BROUGHT ON NEW VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, REBECCA WOODWARD, AND SHE'S CONTINUED TO GROW THE OFFERINGS FROM TRAVIS COUNTY, FROM SEED COLLECTING WORK DAYS TO SUPPLEMENT OUR RESTORATION PROJECTS TO NON-NATIVE, UH, PLANT REMOVAL PROJECTS, FUEL MOISTURE MONITORING.
WE'VE JUST CONTINUED TO EXPAND THIS, UM, SOME COOL THINGS THAT SHE DID THIS YEAR.
[00:45:01]
THE BOTTOM RIGHT, THAT'S A GROUP, UM, THAT'S THEIR ACRONYM IS A-S-E-Z-W-A-O.AND IT'S AN INTERNATIONAL YOUNG ADULT VOLUNTEER GROUP.
THEY BROUGHT OUT OVER 55 PEOPLE IN ONE DAY TO DO NON-NATIVE PLANT REMOVAL ON SOME TRACKS.
UM, THAT WAS REALLY BIG, REALLY COOL PROJECT.
UM, SHE ALSO ORGANIZED PRIDE ON THE PRESERVE WORKDAY, UM, YOU CAN SEE ON THE TOP RIGHT.
AS WELL AS, UH, A WORKDAY FOR LATINO CONSERVATION WEEK.
AND THE BOTTOM RIGHT, UH, BOTTOM LEFT THERE.
BOTH HAD AMAZING IN-PERSON TURNOUT AND REALLY GOOD OUTREACH, UM, FOR THOSE PROJECTS.
UM, THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF GUIDED HIKES ON THE BCP OVER THE LAST YEAR FROM ALL OF OUR PARTNERS, BE IT TRAVIS COUNTY, CITY OF AUSTIN, WEST CAVE WHILE BASIN, TRAVIS AUDUBON AT BAKER SANCTUARY.
EVERYONE HAD, UM, JUST HUNDREDS OF THESE.
UM, THE TOPICS RANGE FROM BIRDING BATS, UH, GEOLOGY THROUGH EVERYTHING THEY RAN THE GAMUT.
UH, CAVE ECOLOGY IS EVERYTHING.
THESE ARE AN AWESOME, UH, OUTREACH COMPONENT.
OFTEN OUR HIKES FILL UP WITHIN HOURS OF, YOU KNOW, RELEASING THEM ONLINE TO THE PUBLIC AND THEY'RE JUST A, A GREAT RESOURCE.
WHICH CAVE IS THIS? ON THE BOTTOM? THAT IS, OH, GO, I'LL HAVE TO LOOK.
THAT'S ACTUALLY A SHELTER CAVE ON THESE.
UM, I BELIEVE THAT MIGHT BE THE TRAVIS COUNTY GRANDVIEW HILLS TRACT, BUT THAT'S JUST A SHELTER.
THE TRAVIS COUNTY, WHICH DIRECT, I BELIEVE THE GRANDVIEW HILLS AREA.
AND THEN NOW COMING TO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS, UM, ALL OF OUR PARTNERS, UM, HAVE VERY ROBUST AND VERY ACTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. UM, BIG CAMPAIGNS LIKE, LIKE SOUTH TEXAS, THAT'S A CAMPAIGN TO BRING, UH, EDUCATION AND AWARENESS TO LIGHT POLLUTION.
AND THE EFFECTS ON MIGRATING BIRDS IS ALWAYS A BIG HIT ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA.
HUNDREDS OF LIKES AND SHARES AND, AND ABOUT THAT.
AND THEN ALSO, UM, THIS POST ON THE RIGHT HERE FROM AUSTIN WATER WILDLANDS, THE, WE CALL THEM JUST BASIC ECOLOGICAL POSTS.
UM, THIS ONE JUST HAPPENED TO BE ABOUT CHUCK WILLS WIDOW.
UM, I THINK IT WAS THEIR MOST LIKED AND SHARED POST THIS YEAR WITH HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE COMMENTING AND, AND SHARING AND, AND, AND LIKING THE POST.
UM, AND IT'S JUST TO INFORM AND TEACH PEOPLE ABOUT THESE, YOU KNOW, RARE SPECIES AND OTHER SPECIES THAT WE HAVE ON THE PRESERVE.
SO IS THE LIGHT POLLUTION MAP, IT LOOKS LIKE WE FAILED AT TRYING TO, UH, SO THIS MAP FLIGHTS, SO WHAT THIS MAP IS, IS NIGHTLY OR IS THAT NOT ONCE WE'VE DONE THE ALL, THAT'S ACTUALLY A FORECAST MAP THAT THEY PUT OUT.
UM, I BELIEVE THESE ARE MADE BY CORNELL.
AND IT'S BASICALLY A NIGHTLY FORECAST TO THE INTENSITY OF MIGRATION IN OUR AREA, PROPOSED MIGRATION.
IT'S NOT, IT'S INTENSITY MIGRATION.
SO THAT'S NOT, WE'RE HAVING EXTREME MIGRATION.
ALL THAT WHITE AND YELLOW, THERE'S A TON OF BIRDS COMING DOWN.
UM, YOU KNOW, IN FALL THEY'D BE MOVING NORTH TO SOUTH.
SO THAT'S JUST A FORECAST THAT, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO PROACTIVELY POST THAT, HEY, WE HAVE A REALLY HIGH MIGRATION GOING ON RIGHT NOW.
PLEASE DO YOUR PART TO TURN OFF LIGHTS AT NIGHT, UM, TO HELP, UM, NOT DISTRACTING THESE BIRDS.
AND I THINK WE DID, UH, AS PART OF OUR, UH, COUNTY SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH, UM, ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT LIGHTS OUT AND, UM, I DON'T KNOW ALL THE EXTENT OF THAT, BUT I, I RECALL HEARING LOTS OF, UH, URGING TO HAVE PEOPLE TURN THEIR PORCH LIGHTS OUT.
AND THE COUNTY ACTUALLY HAS A PROCLAMATION TO TURN OFF THE LIGHTS AT ALL THE, ALL OF THE COUNTY BUILDINGS.
AND I BELIEVE THE CITY HAS ONE AS WELL.
I, YOU KNOW, THIS YEAR WE BECAME A, A BIRD CITY, USA AND PART OF THAT INVOLVES FOCUSING ON MIGRATION AND WHAT WE CAN DO IN OUR HUMAN COMMUNITIES TO, UM, MAKE SPACE, ESPECIALLY DURING MIGRATION FOR BIRDS.
AND I THINK THIS FORECAST, YOU KNOW, IT'S, THAT'S A HARD THING TO ASK, UM, AND TO GET COMPLIANCE ON.
SO THE, THE FORECAST OF WHEN PEAK MIGRATION IS HAPPENING AND THE WORK OF TRAVIS AUDUBON AND THE WORK OF OTHER COMMUNITY GROUPS, UM, EVEN THE DARK SKY COMMUNITY, YOU KNOW, THERE'S THIS, UM, OVERLAP BETWEEN DARK SKY ADVOCATES AND, UM, ADVOCATES FOR BIRDS ON THIS ISSUE.
SO IT HELPS US TO TARGET, OKAY.
WE REALLY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT, UM, TURNING OFF LIGHTS AT NIGHT DURING PEAK MIGRATION.
WELL, IT MIGHT HAVE COINCIDED WITH THE STRAIN ON THE ELECTRIC GRID, SO THAT MIGHT HAVE
IS THAT GENERALLY THE, THE PATTERN? IT LOOKS LIKE THE, THE INTENSITY OF THE LIGHT STARTS WHERE I ONLY KNOW ABOUT WARBLERS.
IT DEPENDS ON TIME, IT DEPENDS ON TIME OF YEAR.
IT DEPENDS ON WHETHER IT'S SPRING OR FALL MIGRATION.
THERE'S MULTIPLE FLYWAYS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
UM, YOU KNOW, I ALWAYS LOOK AT THE BIOLOGISTS TO CONFIRM, BUT, UM, YEAH, IT IT HAS A LOT OF VARIABLES.
AND, AND WHAT, WHAT ARE THE CHUCK WILLS WIDOWS? CHUCK WILLS WIDOW IS A SMALL, UM, IS IT A GIRL? YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO LOOK UP THAT SOCIAL MEDIA POST AND FOLLOW.
WELL, BUT ALL OF OUR LISTENERS, THEY MAY WANNA KNOW A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT IT.
IT'S THE TOP OF THE BIRD IN THE NIGHTJAR FAMILY, WHICH DOESN'T ACTUALLY HELP YOU OUT AT ALL.
WHAT'S A NIGHT JAR FAMILY? THEY'RE A GROUND NESTING BIRD THAT WE FIND IN OUR AREA.
THAT'S THE, THE ONE OF THE BIOLOGISTS I BELIEVE FOUND THIS WHEN THEY WERE OUT AND ABOUT.
UM, UNFORTUNATELY IT'S A BIRD THAT I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT.
[00:50:01]
'EM IS THEY'RE IN THE UK.THAT'S WHERE I'VE HEARD ABOUT THEM.
CHUCK WILLS WIDOW, WHICH THEY PROBABLY NAMED THE BIRD THAT, RIGHT? YEAH, IT'S CALLED, IT'S WHAT YOU HEAR AT NIGHT.
AND THAT'S ANOTHER SPECIES IN THIS SAME GROUP THAT WHIPPER WHAT'S INTERESTING, INTERESTING.
THESE BIRDS ACTUALLY JUST LAY THEIR EGGS STRAIGHT ON THE GROUND, JUST COMPLETELY EXPOSED.
AND SO WHEN WE'RE GOING THROUGH THE WOODS CHASING BIRDS AND LOOKING UP, THESE COME TEARING OUT FROM BELOW, AND THEY'RE, THEY'RE VERY MUCH THE SAME COLORATION AS THE VEGETATION.
SO IT STARTLES YOU, BUT THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, LARGER THAN A ROBINS KIND OF SMALLER THAN A CROW.
THIS IS THE POINT OF THESE KINDS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS IS THAT SO OFTEN WE'RE SO FOCUSED ON THE SPECIES THAT WE MANAGE FOR AND HOW WE MANAGE LAND.
AND SO SOMETIMES YOU HIT RIGHT ON SOMEBODY'S FAVORITE OR, YOU KNOW, NEW CURIOSITY, UM, LIKE THIS, YOU KNOW, CRYPTIC GROUND NESTING, FASCINATING NATIVE SPECIES.
AND SO, UM, THAT'S THE IDEA HERE IS TO PULL MORE PEOPLE IN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BALCONES CANYONLANDS PRESERVE BY SHARING OTHER, UM, FUN NATURE FACTS WITH THEM.
WELL, I CAN SEE WHETHER THEY'RE IN STEEP DECLINE, I MEAN, IT'S KIND OF EASIER FOR, EASY FOR PREDATORS TO GET THEM.
NEXT ON OUR LIST HERE, UM, ALSO WATER WILDLANDS MADE A FANTASTIC FOUR-PART JUNIPER VIDEO SERIES THIS YEAR.
UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S A TREE THAT WE TALK OFTEN ABOUT, 'CAUSE IT'S REQUIRED BY OUR GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLERS, AND IT GETS A LOT OF HATE.
AND SO THIS SERIES COVERED LIKE THE COMMON MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH ASH JUNIPER, UM, ITS ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS, ITS ROLE IN THE WA UH, WATER CYCLE AND EVEN ITS ROLE IN ONE'S WELLBEING WITH THE VIDEO ABOUT FOREST BATHING.
UM, AND ALL OF THESE VIDEOS WERE EXTREMELY WELL DONE AND REALLY WELL RECEIVED.
AND THEY BROUGHT IN PARTNERS FROM LIKE NRCS AND HILL COUNTRY CONSERVANCY TO, TO NARRATE AND TO MAKE THESE VIDEOS.
AND SO IT WAS JUST AN AWESOME COLLABORATION, UM, AND A GREAT, YOU KNOW, UM, SET OF VIDEOS THAT WE COULD CONTINUOUSLY USE AND SHARE TO EDUCATE ABOUT S CHAMBERS.
AND I, I'VE, IT'S CONSTANTLY MALIGNED AS THE CAUSE OF EVERYONE'S ALLERGIES AND IT'S, UH, IS IT, THE, THE MYTH I HEAR IS THAT IT'S SUPER THIRSTY AND IT'S SUCKING UP ALL THE GROUNDWATER AND SO WE HAVE TO CUT 'EM ALL DOWN.
IT'S WHAT THE RESEARCH GOES THE OTHER WAY.
SO IT'S NOT A SUPER THIRSTY GROUND.
IT'S NOT A SUPER THIRSTY, YOU KNOW, IT DOESN'T USE ANYMORE WATER THAT MOST OF OUR OTHER TREES, OAK TREES.
AND I WONDER WHERE ALL THAT CAME FROM.
WHEN THEY DID THE FIRST STUDY, IF I'M GETTING, YOU'LL HAVE TO HELP ME REMEMBER IF I'M REMEMBERING THIS RIGHT, LISA, WHEN THEY DID THE FIRST STUDY, UH, TO TRY AND SEE HOW MUCH WATER CAME THROUGH THE CEDAR, THEY DIDN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE FACT THAT IT'S GOT THE PEELING BARK AND ALL THE WATER RUNS THROUGH THE PEELING BARK AND THEN DOWN.
AND SO THEY THOUGHT THAT, SO THEY THOUGHT SINCE THE GROUND AROUND IT WAS DRY, RIGHT? THEY WEREN'T COLLECTING AS MUCH THROUGH THE NEEDLES.
THEY THOUGHT THAT THE TREE ITSELF WAS TAKING IT ALL UP.
IS THAT GENERALLY, GENERALLY HOW THAT STARTED? UM, YEAH, THAT'S MY VERSION FROM 20 YEARS AGO.
YEAH, BECAUSE THERE, THERE WERE SOME STUDIES THAT CAME OUT IN THE NINETIES OF HOW MANY GALLONS THEY SUCK UP AND THEY WERE COMPARING IT TO A LIVE OAK.
AND, UM, BUT I THINK THOSE STUDIES HAVE BEEN PRETTY WELL DEBUNKED AT THIS POINT, BUT ONCE IT GETS ENTRENCHED, IT'S REALLY HARD TO GO BACK.
AND SO I THINK A LOT OF TIMES IT'S JUST PEOPLE KIND OF WANNA BELIEVE THAT.
BUT, UH, YEAH, THAT, THAT HAS BEEN PRETTY MUCH DEBUNKED.
UM, AS CHRISTINA WAS SAYING, THE THE FOLIAGE SLOWS IT DOWN, WHICH IS WHAT YOU WANT BECAUSE WE'RE THE FLASH FLOOD CAPITAL, RIGHT? I MEAN, WE WE'RE VERY PRONE TO FLASH FLOODING.
SO YOU DON'T WANT THINGS LIKE JUST HITTING THE GROUND AND RUNNING STRAIGHT OFF.
YOU WANT IT TO BASICALLY SOFTLY GO THROUGH AND DRIP AND, AND THE PEELING BARK ACTUALLY HELPS TO DISPERSE THAT, UM, DISPERSE AS OPPOSED TO JUST KIND OF LIKE HITTING THE GROUND STRAIGHT ON.
SO, SO THE WORK ON THIS VIDEO SERIES, AND REALLY SO MANY, UM, STAFF AND COMMUNITY EXPERTS HAVE SHARED THEIR KNOWLEDGE, UM, THROUGH THIS ASH JUNIPER VIDEO SERIES AND ALSO THROUGH THE WILD NEIGHBORS VIDEO SERIES, THERE ARE ABOUT, UM, THREE YEARS NOW WORTH OF, OF VIDEO LIBRARY, UM, THAT'S ACCESSIBLE THROUGH BOTH CITY AND COUNTY WEBSITES.
UM, AND SO RATHER THAN A SHORT SOCIAL MEDIA POST, ONLY WHEN FOLKS ARE INTERESTED IN, UM, YOU KNOW, FACTS ABOUT THE ASH JUNIPER OR MAYBE HAVE A, A MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE TREE'S ROLE IN OUR ECOSYSTEM, WE HAVE, UH, IN DEPTH, UM, MORE DETAILED, REALLY VISUALLY APPEALING WAY TO CONNECT THEM TO THIS LIBRARY OF RESOURCES.
DO YOU HAVE VIDEOS ON, UH, THE DISPELLING THE MYTH THAT THEY SOAK UP A LOT OF WATER? SO THAT'S IN THE SERIES
[00:55:01]
AS WELL.AND THEN HOW ABOUT, IN FACT, ONE OF THESE VIDEOS IS ABOUT ITS ROLE IN THE WATER CYCLE.
IT TALKS ALL ABOUT THAT, AND THEN ONE OF 'EM IS JUST ABOUT MYTHS.
SO YEAH, IS THE FOREST BATHING THE ONE ABOUT ITS ROLE IN THE WATER CYCLE? THAT'S THE ONE ABOUT, UM, MORE YOUR WELLBEING.
SO FOREST BATHING IS THE ACT OF GOING OUT AND JUST BEING ONE WITH NATURE AND BEING IMMERSED IN IT AND KIND OF DOING YOUR OWN MENTAL WELLBEING.
AND IT'S A TREE'S ROLE IN THAT.
THERE'S A LOT OF RESEARCH GOING ON RIGHT NOW THAT TREES AND GREEN SPACES HAVE SO MUCH EFFECT ON OUR MENTAL HEALTH.
AND THAT'S WHAT THAT VIDEO IS, IS TALKING ABOUT.
AND THEN, UH, ALLERGIES, IS THERE ONE THAT'S CONNECTED? SO THAT ACTUALLY WAS THE FORCED BATHING.
THE FORCED BATHING WAS TO HELP COUNTER THAT BECAUSE DURING, YEAH, THIS TIME OF THE YEAR, LIKE IT'LL START UP IN ANOTHER MONTH OR SO, BUT YOU HEAR SO MUCH ABOUT CEDAR FEVER, SO IT'S LIKE, WELL, HERE'S AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE.
THERE'S ALSO BENEFITS AS WELL.
I MEAN, THEY EMIT AROMATIC COMPOUNDS THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, ARE HEALTHY AND JUST BEING OUT IN NATURE IS HEALTHY.
SO THAT'S WHAT THE FOREST BATHING VIDEO'S ABOUT.
IT'S JUST TO KIND OF HELP DISPEL, IT'S NOT DISPELLING, BUT JUST PROVIDING A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.
I HAD A DIFFERENT IMAGE IN MIND.
AND DO EACH OF THESE LINKS GO TO THE SERIES? YES.
SO IF YOU, IF YOU CLICK ON ONE OF THESE, YOU'LL HAVE ACCESS TO THE, THE SERIES OF VIDEOS.
THEY'RE ALL STILL ON BOTH THE, UH, COUNTY AND CITY FACEBOOK PAGES AS WELL AS OUR WEBSITES UNDER THE VIDEO CATEGORIES.
AND DO Y'ALL COORDINATE, AT LEAST WITH THE COUNTY, WITH OUR PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE SO THEY CAN, UH, PROMOTE THESE AND, AND PUT THEM OUT.
THEY OFTEN SHARE OUR, OUR CONTENT, UM, AND YEAH.
NEXT UP WE HAVE TRAVIS AONS BAKER NATURE DAY.
THIS IS ALWAYS A REALLY FUN DAY OUT ON THE VCP.
IT HAD NATURE-BASED CRAFTS, GUIDED HIKES IN SEARCH OF THE EVER ELUSIVE GOLDEN CHIC WARBLER, THE WILDLY POPULAR AND SLIGHTLY MENACING RAPTOR SHOW THAT WAS PUT ON WITH, UH, BIRDS OF PREY.
UM, SO IT'S ALWAYS A REALLY FUN EVENT.
THE SNAKES ARE ALWAYS A HUGE HIT WITH THE KIDS.
AND THEN THE PICTURE ON THE RIGHT THERE, FOLKS HERE MAY RECOGNIZE VALERIE BRISTOL IN THAT PICTURE RIGHT THERE.
YOU KNOW, VERY WELL KNOWN IN THE B-C-P-B-C-C-P WORLD, THERE WAS JUST A STORY ON KUT ABOUT BIRD WATCHING IN CEMETERIES.
JENNIFER BRISTOL HOOD, A NEW BOOK WE JUST PUT A BOOK OUT ON.
WHAT WAS THE, UH, MENACING RAPTOR? SLIGHTLY MENACING.
SO THEY HAD A RAPTOR SHOW WITH LIKE BIRDS OF PREY FLYING AROUND, AND THOSE WERE ALWAYS, UH, A LITTLE BIT TOO, OKAY.
THEY DIDN'T PICK UP ANYBODY'S DOGIES.
THE KIDS, IT WOULD BE MENACING.
SO, UM, AND THEN OUR PARTNERS OVER AT WILD BASIN STARTED A SPEAKER IN SOCIAL SERIES THIS YEAR THAT WAS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL.
UM, IT WAS LIKE AN HOUR SOCIAL CIRCLE WHERE PEOPLE CAN CHAT AND TALK TO THE SPEAKER, UH, BEFORE THE TALK, AND THEN THEY GO FOR A, A LECTURE WITH AN EXPERT.
THE MOST RECENT ONE WAS DON HOUSTON TALKING ABOUT CERT, UH, SONG MIGRATION.
AND, UM, THESE HAVE BEEN WILDLY SUCCESSFUL FOR WILD BASIN.
THIS MARKS A REALLY GOOD TRANSITION.
YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAD TO LEARN NEW SKILLS DURING THE PANDEMIC AND CREATED, LIKE I SAID, THIS INCREDIBLE LIBRARY OF RESOURCES, UM, ON SO MANY TOPICS RELATED TO THE PRESERVED NATIVE PLANTS YOU CAN PLANT IN YOUR YARD, HOW TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR TO THE BCP.
UM, AND WE HAD A LOT OF PARTICIPATION IN THESE REGULAR WEBINAR SERIES, AND NOW IT'S TIME TO BEGIN AGAIN WITH MORE, UM, EVENTS IN PERSON, SPEAKER, SERIES, IN PERSON.
SO WE HAVE THIS TROVE OF RESOURCES ONLINE, AND WE'RE ALSO TRYING, UM, AS A GROUP TO SPEND MORE TIME, UM, TOGETHER, OUT ACTUALLY IN THESE PLACES THAT MAKE UP THE BCP.
AND ON THAT NOTE, THE LAST ONE THAT WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT TODAY IS THE WILD NEIGHBOR SPEAKER SERIES.
YOU KNOW, IN 2023, WE CONTINUED WITH OUR ONLINE ONLY WEBINAR SERIES, AND WE HAD TALKS SUCH AS POSSUMS, MICRO RISE OF FUNGI, AND EVEN, UH, FIREFLIES THERE ON THE RIGHT.
HUGELY SUCCESSFUL WEBINAR SERIES THAT'S BROUGHT IN HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE TO VIEW THESE VIDEOS.
UM, TO START OFF 2024, WE'RE GOING BACK INTO MORE OF A IN-PERSON HIKE AND LECTURE.
WE'LL STILL HAVE WEBINARS, BUT WE'RE GONNA START BRINGING BACK PEOPLE IN PUBLIC, UH, ON, IN THE STUFF.
SO OUR NEXT ONE, OR THE VERY FIRST IN-PERSON, WILD NEIGHBORS, BACK AFTER THE COVID ERA, WE LIKE TO CALL IT, IT WILL BE IN NOVEMBER, UM, WITH THE CITY'S, UH, JIM O'DONNELL TALKING ON, UH, VERIO PRESERVE AND BEING OUT AND ABOUT.
AND YEAH, WITH THAT WE GO TO THE LAST ONE.
AND AGAIN, THIS IS, I, THERE'S JUST SO MUCH MORE AND THERE'S MORE THAT WE WANNA TALK ABOUT, BUT WE'RE ALWAYS LIMITED ON TIME.
THIS CODE HERE IN YOUR BACKUP MATERIAL WILL TAKE YOU TO THE BCP EVENTS PAGE THAT TALKS ABOUT ALL OF THESE EVENTS FROM OUR PARTNERS, WHETHER IT'S GOING ON, UM, WHILE BASED IN WEST CAVE CITY OF AUSTIN, TRAVIS COUNTY, UM, BAKER SANCTUARY.
EVERYONE'S EVENTS ARE ON THERE, UH, THAT ARE, WE'D LOVE TO HAVE PEOPLE COME OUT EITHER FOR A GUIDED HI OR VOLUNTEER OR YEAH, JUST FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND CAN YOU GET FROM THE EVENTS PAGE TO ALL THE OTHER, UM, PAGES.
[01:00:01]
ABSOLUTELY.THIS IS REALLY, UM, IT'S GREAT WORK AND, UM, APPRECIATE EVERYTHING THAT YOU ALL DO TO GET THE WORD OUT AND TRY AND EDUCATE PEOPLE.
THANKS JEREMY, FOR PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER.
[5. BCP Partner Report Highlights – BCP Staff ]
GOT THE, UH, AGENDA ITEM FOUR, UH, FIVE VCP PARTNER REPORT, HIGHLIGHTS, VCP STAFF.AND, UM, TRAVIS CLARK IS WITH ME TODAY.
YOU GUYS HAVE, UM, JUST REINTRODUCE YOURSELF.
WE ALL KNOW MELINDA MAIER NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM MANAGER AT TRAVIS COUNTY.
YOU GUYS HAVE MET TRAVIS CLARK BEFORE WHEN HE WAS OUR CAR LEAD AND A BIOLOGIST TRACK MANAGER.
HE'S BEEN PROMOTED AND NOW IS HERE IN LINDA LOCKE'S PLACE, UH, BECAUSE SHE'S ON VACATION.
BUT HE ASSIST HER IN ALL THINGS MANAGING OUR FIELD OFFICE, AND, UM, A LOT OF OUR WORK ACROSS, UM, ALL OF THE UNITS.
SO, YEAH, SO I'LL GIVE YOU GUYS SOME, UH, SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF WHAT WE'VE DONE BETWEEN APRIL AND SEPTEMBER.
UH, WE'VE HAD A COUPLE OF STAFFING CHANGES WHERE WE PROMOTED TWO PEOPLE FROM WITHIN.
AND AS OF LAST WEEK, WE'VE JUST BACKFILLED THEIR POSITIONS.
AND SO I GUESS THE NEXT BIG POSITION WE'LL BE LOOKING AT IS A NEW, UH, BIOLOGIST AND TRACK MANAGER THAT WILL BE POSTING OUT SOON.
UM, WE OBVIOUSLY WRAPPED UP OUR AVIAN MONITORING DURING THIS TIME, AS WELL AS OUR SPRING AND SUMMER CARS, UM, MONITORING.
MOST NOTABLE OF THAT IS OUR CONTINUED WORK AT THE CAULEY UNIT, UM, TO FIND CAVE, EXCAVATE 'EM, UM, GET DOWN TO KARS, UH, INVERTEBRATE HABITAT AND CONTINUE BIOLOGICAL MONITORING.
THROUGH THOSE EFFORTS, WE ARE CONTINUING TO GROW OUR CAVE ADAPTED SPECIES LIST, AND MOST NOTABLY ON THIS ROUND, WE COLLECTED TWO PSEUDO SCORPION SPECIES THAT ARE UNDESCRIBED.
SO I HAVE TWO NEW SPECIES THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN FOUND BEFORE UP THERE.
CAN YOU JUST GIVE A BRIEF CONTEXT FOR THE OLE UNIT? I THINK PEOPLE, THE COLU UNIT DON'T ONLY KNOW WHAT THESE ARE, AND THIS IS A REALLY FABULOUS STORY.
SO IT'S UP IN NORTHWESTERN TRAVIS COUNTY.
IT'S IN WHAT'S CALLED THE CEDAR PARK CARON REGION, AND IT'S IN AN AREA WHERE WE'VE HAD TWO PERMIT CAVES THAT ARE VERY HARD TO ACQUIRE.
AND SO WE, WELL, ONE WAS ON OUR LIST, THAT'S SPANISH WELLS.
SO THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF THE SCOTT AND WHITE TRACK, UM, IT'S MADE UP OF FOUR TRACKS NOW, SCOTT AND WHITE TRACK OLA ATTRACT RE AND FLYING K.
AND SO THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF SCOTT AND WHITE AND OLA, WE'VE ESSENTIALLY BOUGHT ALL OF THIS CAR'S HABITAT THAT NOBODY REALLY WHAT YOU WOULD ASSUME WAS THERE.
BUT THROUGH THE ACQUISITION AND, AND GETTING BOOTS ON THE GROUND AND VARIOUS ANALYSES, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO FIND, I THINK AROUND 23 TO 24 NEW CAVES UP THERE.
AND SO I'M JUST CHERRY PICKING THE, THE BEST ONES
SO, UM, IT'S BEEN A FUN PROJECT, IT'S ONGOING, AND WE STILL GOT A LOT TO DO UP THERE.
SO IT'S PRETTY EXCITING, UM, FOR ONE ISSUE THAT'S, YOU KNOW, ONGOING.
WELL, I'LL, I'LL, I'LL SKIP THAT FOR NOW.
SO, DURING THE SUMMER, STAFF PARTICIPATED IN WHAT'S CALLED A MAP SITE, AND THIS IS A BIRD BANDING SITE.
THE MAPS IS AN ACRONYM FOR MONITORING AVIAN PRODUCTIVITY AND SURVIVABILITY.
UM, THIS IS ESSENTIALLY JUST GETTING THE BIRD IN HAND.
WE DEPLOYED MULTIPLE MIST NET AROUND, COLLECT THE BIRD, AND WE COLLECT CERTAIN DATA ON IT, LIKE MASS, TAKE MEASUREMENTS OF WING, LOOK AT PLUMAGE FAT CONTENT, PHOTOGRAPH IT, ET CETERA.
THIS KIND OF IS A, A CONTINENT WIDE EFFORT.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, IT'S MULTIPLE AGENCIES THAT CONDUCT THIS, YOU KNOW, THIS LEVEL OF, UM, ANALYSIS ON THIS.
BUT IT GIVES US SOMETHING MEASURABLE FOR RESTORATION PROJECTS IN THE FUTURE.
AND SO IF WE HAVE COLLECTED DATA IN AREAS WHERE WE HAVE GOOD DECENT HABITAT, AND THEN WE CONDUCT SOME, YOU KNOW, START LOOKING AT BIRDS AND MIS NETTING THEM IN AREAS WHERE ONGOING RESTORATION, IT'LL GIVE US SOME SORT OF INDICATION ON HOW THE HABITAT IS DOING.
SO THIS SEASON WE WERE ABLE TO COLLECT 110 INDIVIDUAL BIRDS OVER 16 DIFFERENT SPECIES.
UM, TAWNY CRAZY ANTS CONTINUE TO BE AN ONGOING PROBLEM.
UH, ONE IS THAT THEY'RE NOW IMPACTING TWO ENDANGERED SPECIES CAVES THAT ARE IN THE MCNEIL HIGH SCHOOL AREA.
UM, BEFORE THEY WERE IMPACTING NO RENT IN 2017, THE POPULATION WINKED OUT FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, AND THEN HAS SINCE RESURGED VIOLENTLY, UM, THEY HAD NOT IMPACTED WELDON, BUT NOW THERE'S FAR AS 40 METERS INTO WELDON.
SO WE'RE CONDUCTING QUARTERLY MONITORING OF THOSE CAVES, AS WELL AS WORKING WITH DR.
ED LABRUN AT BRACKENRIDGE FIELD LAB TO INOCULATE THAT POPULATION WITH THE, THE, THE PATHOGEN, THE MICRO, THE MICRO
[01:05:01]
SRID PATHOGEN.HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THAT TO EFFECTIVELY IT DEPENDS OFF, HE'S ACTUALLY WORKED OUT THE PATHWAY, UM, AND YOU GOT A, A TASTE OF THAT IN ONE OF HIS PRESENTATIONS.
BUT IF THE POPULATION IS RESILIENT TO THE DISEASE, THEN IT MIGHT NOT ESTABLISH AT ALL.
IF IT, IF IT ISN'T AND HASN'T SEEN IT BEFORE, THEN IT COULD ESTABLISH PRETTY QUICKLY AND WE COULD SEE IT WINK OUT FAST.
SO IT'S, WE'RE STILL IN THE, THE LEGWORK, IT'S ONLY BEEN A COUPLE OF SEASONS.
UM, HE DID SOME WORK UP AT THE COLLINS TRACK, WHICH IS THE NEXT PART OF THIS, WAS WHERE WE WRAPPED UP OUR CANOPY ARTHROPOD, UH, SAMPLING, WHICH WAS ESSENTIALLY TO ANALYZE OR SEE WHAT EFFECTS THAT FORAGING TAWNY CRAZY HANDS HAVE ON GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLER PREY BASE.
SO THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT WE'VE ACTUALLY HAD THEM IMPACTING A FORESTED AREA AND OF, OF A, OF CONSEQUENCE AND ENDANGERED BIRDS HABITATS.
SO MOST OF THE WORK HAD BEEN DONE IN HOUSTON WHERE IT'S LIKE RURAL GRASSLAND, SO THEY CAN SPREAD REALLY QUICKLY, BUT THERE WAS A LOT OF UNKNOWNS IN THERE, BUT THE MICRO SPREADING PATHOGEN TOOK THERE AND THE POPULATION BASICALLY DIMINISHED COMPLETELY.
SO WE'LL LOOK AT THE, THE DATA FOR THAT.
THE SAMPLES ARE CURRENTLY OUT, UM, IN THE SAME VEIN WITH THE HABITAT RESTORATION THAT JEREMY AND KATE JUST PRESENTED ON, WE CONTINUE, WE'VE CONTINUED THAT TERRORIST CONSERVATION TERRORIST PROJECT ON MEDWAY, WHICH IS ADJACENT TO THE JU DOUBLE J AND T.
UH, LOOKS LIKE WE PLANTED OVER 50 NATIVE TREES THIS YEAR.
WE'VE HAD CONTRACTORS COME IN AND CONDUCT THE BERM AND SWELL BRINGING IN MULCH AND SOIL AMENDMENTS TO THAT.
IT'LL BE A NICE LONG, UM, RESTORATION PROJECT BETWEEN PARTNERS THERE.
AND WE'VE GOT, WE'RE STAFF IS CONTINUING TO COLLECT SEEDS AND HAVING OVER 300 PLUS NATIVE PLANTS FOR FUTURE RESTORATION PROJECTS OR NATIVE PLANT HANDOUTS AND STUFF LIKE THAT FOR CERTAIN, UH, FUNCTIONS THAT WE HAVE.
UM, LASTLY, AT LEAST FOR THE JUMP TO THE BIG ONE WITH FUEL MITIGATION, MELINDA'S GOT A FEW THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THIS, BUT DURING THE TIME OF, UH, BREEDING SEASON WHERE WE ARE LIMITED WITH THE HEAVY MACHINERY WE CAN USE BECAUSE OF BREEDING BIRDS, UM, WE HAD A LOT OF STAFF GO OUT TO OUR FUEL MITIGATIONS THAT WERE HIT HARD BY WINTER STORM MARA, AND AT LEAST PULLING LIMBS OFF OF PEOPLE'S FENCES, BUT ALSO DOING THE PREP WORK AND GETTING READY FOR THIS UPCOMING TREATMENT SEASON.
SO WE DID A LOT OF ASSESSMENT OF THOSE AND COMPLETED ALL OF THAT.
AND WE'VE NOW GOT CREWS ON THE GROUND, WE'VE GOT STAFF ON THE GROUND, WE ARE HIRING THREE ADDITIONAL, UH, SEASONAL STAFF MEMBERS TO COME IN AND WORK THAT ARE GONNA BE SIX MONTHS.
THAT'S ALL THEY'RE GONNA BE DOING IS FUEL MITIGATION WORK AND CLEANING UP ALL OF THAT.
AND, AND THEN AFTER THE STORMS, WE WERE HEARING FROM SO MANY PEOPLE WHO WERE REALLY PANICKING ABOUT THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DEAD WOOD AND FUEL THAT WAS ACCUMULATING AROUND THEIR HOMES.
AND BEING A TRACK MANAGER, I HEAR IT TOO.
SO
UH, DID YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT, YEAH, UM, LET'S SEE.
THERE WAS A, UH, SOME GRANT MONEY THAT WAS OFFERED THAT I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE FAMILIAR WITH FROM THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, OR TO TEXAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
I, I WANTED TO PUT IN CONTEXT HOW THAT PROGRAM WORKS.
UM, THAT'D BE GREAT TO HELP EXPLAIN THAT A LITTLE BIT.
SO, SO EVERY TIME THERE IS A DISASTER DECLARED BY THE, THE PRESIDENT, WHICH, UM, WHICH IS, IT'S PREDATED BY A DISASTER DECLARED BY THE GOVERNOR, STARTS WITH THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT, THEN THE GOVERNOR, THEN THE PRESIDENT, WHEN IT GETS TO PRESIDENTIAL, THERE IS A POT OF MONEY THAT'S AUTOMATICALLY APPROVED FOR MITIGATION THAT'S TIED TO THAT DISASTER DEC DECLARATION.
IT'S, IT'S JUST HOW THAT PROGRAM IS FUNDED.
IT'S CALLED THE HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT PROGRAM.
AND, UM, IT IS QUITE OFTEN THE CASE WHEN, UM, SO WHEN FUNDS FLOW FROM FEMA, THEY WORK WITH THE STATES, IN OUR CASE, THROUGH TEXAS TEEM.
UM, WHEN, WHEN THERE'S MONEY LEFT IN A POT THAT'S UNUSED, THEY REACH OUT TO, UM, PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING, OR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WHO ARE DOING GOOD WORK, WHO ARE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THEIR PROGRAMS, WHO HAVE HAZARD MITIGATION PLANS, CURRENT AND OR, YOU KNOW, THE PROJECTS THEY KNOW THEY CAN CARRY OUT.
AND SO IN THIS CASE, TEEM REACHED OUT TO BOTH THE CITY OF AUSTIN AND TRAVIS COUNTY AND, UM, ADVISED US THAT THERE WERE FUNDS REMAINING IN THE DISASTER DECLARATION FOR C OVID 19, WHICH IS WHAT, UM, WE, WE, WE HAVE SUBMITTED A GRANT AND, UM,
WE'RE, WE'RE BOTH SUBMITTING GRANTS SEPARATELY FOR THIS POT OF MONEY THAT'S AVAILABLE.
THERE'S A, A SHORT FUSE ON THESE KIND OF PROJECTS.
[01:10:01]
WHEN STAFF IS, YOU CAN'T JUST GRAB THE MONEY AND THEN HANG ONTO IT AND HOPE TO FIGURE IT OUT.YOU HAVE TO HAVE STUFF READY TO GO WITHIN A SPECIFIC TIME RANGE, TIME RANGE THAT MEETS VERY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.
SO WITH OUR, UM, IMAGINE WE'LL BOTH BE DOING VERY SIMILAR THINGS, BUT IN OUR CASE, WE LOOKED AT ALL OF THE, UH, FUELS REDUCTION TREATMENT, UH, THAT WE COULD DO ON OUR, ON OUR BCP PRESERVES IN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND OUR PARKS DEPARTMENT ALSO WORKED WITH THE GRANT, OUR GRANT LEAD, UM, ON WHAT COULD BE DONE, UM, IN, ON COUNTY PARKLAND.
AND SO BOTH OF, UH, FUEL REDUCTION PROJECTS ARE, OR IN THAT GRANT APPLICATION FROM BOTH OF US.
AND WHEN DO, WHEN WILL THEY BE STARTING? WELL, THEY HAVEN'T RECEIVED AN AWARD YET.
SO THE APPLICATION, WELL, WE THOUGHT WE HAD, THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN SUBMITTED, BUT, BUT THE NEXT STEP IS WAITING FOR, UH, TEEM TO APPROVE IT, FEMA TO APPROVE IT IN AN AWARD TO BE ISSUED.
I THOUGHT I READ THAT WE HAD BEEN AWARDED, BUT IT MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING ELSE.
YOU, YOU MIGHT REMEMBER THE APPLICATION APPROVAL, BUT NO, THEY'RE, DO THEY HAVE TO APPROVE THE APPLICATION? DID TEEM HAVE TO APPROVE IT? TEEM HAS NOT YET APPROVED THE APPLICATION AN AWARD GIVEN US AN A GRANT AWARD, WHICH IS FINE BECAUSE IT'S NOT SLOWING DOWN THE WORK WE'RE DOING.
WE LOOKED AHEAD AT WHAT WE COULD DO WITHIN THE EXPECTED TIMEFRAME OF THE GRANT, AND IT'S NOT PREVENTING US FROM RIGHT NOW BEING IN THE MIDDLE OF VERY ACTIVE FIELD MITIGATION WORK.
WHEN DO WE, DO WE HAVE ANY IDEA WHEN WE'LL HEAR? I I DO NOT.
I I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE AN ANSWER FOR YOU.
IN MY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH THESE GRANTS, I'VE SEEN THEM, I, I SAW ONE TAKE TWO YEARS, SO, AND IT WAS A HURRY UP AND GET A DONE GRANT, AND IT TOOK TWO YEARS TO AWARD.
WELL, UM, SO HOPEFULLY THEY WILL HURRY UP AND GET US AN AWARD, UM, WITHIN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, BUT GREAT.
THAT REALLY SUMS UP ALL THE STUFF.
DO YOU, CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHAT I, THERE'S A NOTE HERE ABOUT WHAT LCRA IS DOING.
THERE'S BEEN SO MANY FIRES, UM, OUT WEST THAT WERE SPARKED BY, NOT PROPERLY MAINTAINED, UM, UTILITY LINES.
SO IT WOULD BE GOOD TO JUST TALK THROUGH A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT'S IN THIS SECTION FROM EL, WHAT LCRA IS DOING.
I, I MEAN, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT, THAT I'VE, WE'VE BEEN REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THERE.
UH, THERE'S BEEN WORK DONE WITH LCRA AND PEC OVER THE LAST YEAR.
UH, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE ENERGY PROVIDERS ARE, ARE DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB OF LOOKING AT THE LINES, HOW THEY, IN THE RA'S CASE, THERE WAS A LOT OF DISCUSSION WITH THEM ABOUT, UH, THE NEED TO, TO WIDEN THE AIR, UH, AIR EASEMENTS.
SO THERE'S, UH, RE THEY CAN REDUCE THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN PRE CANOPY AND LINES REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK.
UM, SO THERE WAS, UM, WORK ON THAT LOOKING AT THEIR TRANSMISSION LINES IN P'S CASE.
UM, SOMETHING WE'VE BEEN REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IS THAT WE, THEY'RE LOOKING AT THE, THE LINES THAT CUT RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF SOME OF OUR PRESERVED UNITS JUST BECAUSE WE ACQUIRED LAND, THAT'S WHERE THE, THE UTILITIES IT WAS.
BUT THEY, THEY'RE STARTING TO, UH, WORK WITH US ON LINE RELOCATION, SO THEY'RE, WE MOVE THEM FROM THE INTERIOR OF THE PRESERVE TO THE EDGE NEXT TO A ROAD.
SO, SO THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF A TRADE OFF OF, BUT IT'S, IT'S IN THE LONG RUN.
WE'RE GETTING THOSE LINES OUT OF THE MIDDLE OF OUR TREE CAN OH, THAT'S GREAT.
I DIDN'T REALIZE THEY WERE ACTUALLY DOING THAT RELOCATION.
NO, WE'RE, WE'RE REAL HAPPY ABOUT THIS WORK.
IT'S PROBABLY BETTER FOR THEM AS WELL, JUST LESS FUEL AROUND THE LINES.
COUNCIL MEMBER, DID YOU HAVE ANY, ANY QUESTIONS COME? YEAH.
ANY QUESTIONS? AND WE STILL HAVE CITY OF AUSTIN TO COME UP AND MOVE THEIR RECORD.
PHOTOS OF BIRDS ARE PAINTED BUNTINGS UNUSUAL TO BE SEEN HERE.
I THOUGHT THAT, I THOUGHT THEY WERE, THAT WAS ACTUALLY, I THINK THE MOST BIRDS THAT THE MOST THE SPECIES WITH THE MOST THAT WE HAD CAUGHT WAS PAINTED BUNS, MOSTLY THE FEMALES.
I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THEY FREQUENTED HERE.
YOU CAN SEE REALLY
SO THEY ARE, THEY ARE COMMON FOR OUR AREA BECAUSE WE'VE NOT SEEN THEM HERE.
FORD PARK IS, AND WHERE YOU'LL SEE THEM, THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL BIRDS.
WELL, WELCOME AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES.
AND WE ARE, WE'RE GONNA HEAR ON THE CITY'S, UH, PARTNER REPORT HIGHLIGHTS.
AND I'M SHERRY KOOL AND I'M THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE OFFICER FOR AUSTIN WATER WITH THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND THE, UM, ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE OFFICE HAS THE BCCP, UH, COORDINATING COMMITTEE
[01:15:01]
RESPONSIBILITY WITH KIMBERLY ON OUR TEAM, AND THEN ALSO THE WILDLAND CONSERVATION DIVISION.AND I WANTED TO INTRODUCE JUSTIN BATES, WHO'S OUR NEW DIVISION MANAGER FOR THE WILDLAND CONSERVATION DIVISION AT THE CITY, WHICH INCLUDES THE BA, CANYONLANDS PRESERVED LANDS, AND ALSO ALL THE WATER QUALITY PROTECTION LANDS.
SO HE JUST STARTED IN JUNE, CAME WHO RETIRED? OR IS THIS A NEW POSITION? IT, THIS WOULDN'T BE A NEW POSITION.
OH, I WAS IN THE POSITION BEFORE
SO, SO JUSTIN COMES WITH A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE FROM THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, A LOT OF SIMILAR ISSUES, UM, THAT WE HAVE WITH MANAGING ALL OF OUR LANDS.
HE WORKED FOR THE LBJ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, UM, OUT IN JOHNSON CITY, AND THEN ALSO THE WACO, UH, MAMMOTH NATIONAL MONUMENT IN WACO.
I ALWAYS HAVE A HARD TIME REMEMBERING EXACTLY WHAT THAT CALLED.
THAT'S ON MY HUSBAND'S LIST OF PLACES TO GO.
AND THEN BE BEFORE THAT, HE WORKED WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RIVERS TRAILS AND CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM THAT WE'VE ALSO WORKED WITH OVER THE YEARS, SO WE'RE VERY HAPPY TO HAVE HIM.
HE JUST STARTED IN JUNE AND IT'S BEEN A WHIRLWIND, NOT EVEN SIX MONTHS.
UM, YEAH, I, I THINK THAT WAS WHERE I WANTED TO START, UH, JUST TO DIVE IN AND, UH, WITH OUR REPORT THAT WE'VE GOT SOME PERSONNEL CHANGES.
SO WE, WE ALSO, LIKE THE COUNTY HAD TWO PROMOTIONS.
UH, UH, GWEN MCDADE IS OUR REGULATORY AND GIS SPECIALIST NOW.
UM, AND, UH, KATE MCCANN HAS, UH, WHO YOU ALSO, UH, UH, SAW TODAY HAS BEEN PROMOTED TO KIND OF THE SUPPORT SERVICES SUPERVISOR TO OVERSEE OUR RANGER GROUP, UH, OUR GIS FOLKS, UM, AND, UH, YOU KNOW, OUR OUTREACH TEAM.
AND THEN WE ALSO ADDED A NEW RANGER, ERIC RUBIN, WHO'S BEEN A GREAT ADDITION TO THE TEAM.
I'M STILL GETTING MY FEET WET FIVE MONTHS IN.
UM, SO SOME GREAT NEW HIRES AND, UH, JUST A GREAT GROUP OF STAFF THAT'S DOING THIS WORK, AS YOU CAN TELL.
SO, YOU KNOW, I THINK I WANTED TO START KIND OF TALK JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT WE'VE SEEN OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS.
SOME OF THE SUCCESSES AND, AND SOME OF THE OPPORTUNITIES, UH, YOU KNOW, REFERENCING THE, THE REPORT THAT YOU HAVE HERE.
YOU KNOW, CHALLENGES WISE, CERTAINLY WE, UH, AS YOU'VE HEARD HERE, WE'RE AN URBAN PRESERVE AND WE CONTINUE TO FACE THE CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
UH, LOTS OF TRESPASSING ISSUES.
UH, WE'VE GOT ONE AREA WHERE WE ACTUALLY HAVE PEOPLE MINING FROM A, A, A BLUFF, UH, IN THE BULL CREEK AREA.
WHAT ARE THEY MINING? UH, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE EGG CELESTE TYPE.
UH, AND, AND SO, YOU KNOW, REALLY TRYING TO, YOU KNOW, DO OUR RANGER PATROLS, UH, WORK ON FENCING, UH, AND KEEPING OUR FENCING IN GOOD SHAPE, UH, OUTREACH AND EDUCATION, ALL OF THOSE SORTS OF THINGS TO, TO ADDRESS THOSE ISSUES.
OBVIOUSLY THE BIG ONE, AS OUR TRAVIS COUNTY COLLEAGUES MENTIONED, WAS WINTER STORM MARA AND THE DAMAGE FROM THAT, AND THEN THIS EXTREMELY HOT AND DRY SUMMER THAT WE HAD.
SO THE COMBINATION OF THOSE TWO LED TO LOTS OF CONCERN CITIZEN, UH, INQUIRIES ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING TO ADDRESS ALL OF THAT DAMAGE.
AND WE, LIKE THE COUNTY, HAVE REALLY TRIED TO TAKE A, YOU KNOW, METHODICAL APPROACH TO WHAT IS A HUGE AND MULTI-YEAR EFFORT TO CLEAN UP OUR SHADED FUEL BREAKS AND OTHER FUEL, UH, MITIGATION TREATMENTS, UH, OUR BOUNDARY LINES, ALL OF THAT SORT OF THING.
SO THAT, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE ARE WORKING ON TOO.
AND, AND IN THE OPPORTUNITY REALM ALSO WORKING, UH, THE CITY IS FINALIZING ITS APPLICATION.
WE HAVE NOT YET FORMALLY SUBMITTED, BUT FINALIZING OUR APPLICATION FOR THAT, UH, TEEM GRANT OPPORTUNITY AS WELL, DOING VERY SIMILAR WORK, CLEANING UP, UH, YOU KNOW, AND WE'RE DOING FUEL TREATMENT, UH, IN SOME OF THOSE SHADED FUEL BREAK AREAS AND FUEL TREATMENTS ALONG OUR BOUNDARY LINES AS WELL.
UM, YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF SUCCESSES, UH, THE, ONE OF THE THINGS I WANTED TO MENTION THAT'S ON THE ACQUISITION PIECE HERE, THE BRODY OAKS PUD THAT WAS, UH, JUST ADOPTED, INCLUDED AN ACCESS EASEMENT FOR AIRMAN'S CAVE, ONE OF OUR PERMIT CAVES THAT RUNS UNDERNEATH THE BRODY OAKS SHOPPING CENTER.
SO IN ADDITION TO THE GREAT OPEN SPACE AND OTHER THINGS THAT'S COMING FROM THAT, WE ALSO NOW HAVE, UM, YOU KNOW, FORMAL ACCESS EASEMENT TO THAT IMPORTANT CAVE.
UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S BEEN A, A
[01:20:01]
GREAT AMOUNT OF, UH, RESTORATION WORK.YOU HEARD SOME OF THE VOLUNTEER WORK HERE, THE D WILDLAND CONSERVATION DIVISION.
WE HAD OVER 5,000 VOLUNTEER HOURS, UM, OVER THE LAST YEAR.
THAT'S OVER $150,000 WORTH OF VALUE FOR THE CITY.
AND MUCH OF THAT WORK WAS FOR RESTORATION EFFORTS, PEOPLE PUTTING PLANTS IN THE GROUND AND TRYING TO DIVERSIFY AND, AND MAKE MORE RESILIENT THE HABITAT THAT WE HAVE.
UM, YOU KNOW, ALSO DONE, UH, AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, SOME CAVE EXCAVATION AND RESTORATION, UH, IN, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A, UH, SOME CONTRACTORS AND OUR STAFF.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, REALLY JUST A, A STRONG EFFORT TO SPREAD THE IMPORTANCE.
UH, YOU KNOW, THE, THE PICTURES OF GOLDEN CHEEK WARBLERS ARE SO COMPELLING.
THE CAVE IN VERTEBRATES, UH, YOU KNOW, DON'T, DON'T ALWAYS APPEAL TO EVERYONE.
SO, SO TRYING TO SHARE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE, UH, KARST RESOURCES THAT WE ALSO MANAGE, UH, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES, UH, AT THE CITY, THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT JUST GOT ITS, UH, LAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, UH, FOR ITS NATURAL AREAS ADOPTED.
AND THAT WAS A PROCESS THAT WE PARTICIPATED IN AND, UH, THAT, THAT DIRECTLY RELATES TO SOME OF THE DUAL MANAGED PROPERTIES THAT, THAT ARE PART OF THE BCP.
WE ARE, UH, LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE, WORKING WITH HARD TO, UH, EXECUTE AN, UH, INTERDEPARTMENTAL AGREEMENT ON HOW WE MANAGE THOSE DUAL PROPERTIES AND, AND CONTINUE TO STEWARD THE RESOURCES THAT THE CITY HOLDS.
SO, LOTS OF GREAT OPPORTUNITIES.
UH, I, I'LL SAY LASTLY, YOU KNOW, UH, JUST A, A SHOUT OUT TO ALL OF OUR BIOLOGISTS HERE, THIS PERIOD THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IS, IS THE BUSY SEASON OUT IN THE FIELD.
AND THERE'S JUST SOME INCREDIBLE WORK SPENDING A LOT OF TIME IN, UH, YOU KNOW, UNPLEASANT CONDITIONS, ESPECIALLY WITH THE, THIS HOT SUMMER THAT WE HAD UNBEARABLE, WHERE FOLKS WERE OUT THERE DAY AFTER DAY KEEPING TRACK OF THESE INCREDIBLE RESOURCES, UNDERSTANDING WHERE, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT'S GOING ON IN THESE LANDSCAPES AND HELPING US TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF THEM.
HOW WERE THEY ABLE TO BE OUT THERE DURING THE DAY? I MEAN, THE HEAT WAS LITERALLY UNBEARABLE.
A LOT OF EARLY START AND
DO Y'ALL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? UM, PERHAPS CAN YOU SAY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE FOUR POINTS PRESERVE? WHEN I FIRST MOVED HERE IN 19 88, 4 POINTS WAS LIKE A BATTLEGROUND AND THERE WAS SO MUCH DEVELOPMENT, UH, PLANNED OUT THERE, AND I'VE COMPLETELY LOST TRACK.
I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS A FOUR POINTS PRESERVE.
YEAH, I CAN ANSWER THAT IF YOU WANT.
UM, THERE, THERE'S A DEVELOPMENT THAT'S BEEN GOING IN OVER SLOWLY, KIND OF OVER TIME, RIGHT THERE AT FOUR POINTS.
THERE ARE LOTS OF DEVELOPMENT, BUT THERE'S A PARTICULAR DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS AN AREA SIX 20 AND 2222, BASICALLY.
I THOUGHT THAT WAS PRETTY MUCH DEVELOPED.
IT'S PRETTY MUCH DEVELOPED, BUT THEY HAVE AN AREA, A NATURAL AREA THAT HAS THREE OF THE BCP CAVES, UM, ON IT.
AND THEY HAD AGREED THAT THEY WOULD DEDICATE THAT LAND TO THE CITY, UM, AT THE POINT AT WHICH THEY COMPLETE THEIR DEVELOPMENT.
SO WE'VE BEEN TALKING TO 'EM RECENTLY AND JUST TRYING TO NEGOTIATE ON EXACTLY WHEN THAT'S GONNA HAPPEN AND WHAT THAT'LL LOOK LIKE.
BUT THEY'RE STILL ON BOARD TO, TO GIVE US THAT LAND WITH THOSE CAVES ON IT.
THEY JUST WANNA KEEP IT TILL THEY WERE COMPLETELY BUILT OUT.
AND CAN YOU SAY A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE BRODY OAKS MALL? I KNOW IT'S A REDEVELOPMENT OF A KIND OF A, I DON'T KNOW WHAT, 50, 60 STYLE STRIP MALL WITH A WHOLE LOT OF, UH, SURFACE PARKING AREA AND UM, UH, IMPERVIOUS COVER.
AND I, I HAVE A VAGUE RECOLLECTION THAT THEIR PLAN IS TO TAKE UP SOME OF THAT IMPERVIOUS COVER AND RETURN IT TO PARK THEN.
SO CAN YOU JUST SAY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IT? YEAH, I, I'M NOT AN EXPERT ON THE WHOLE DEVELOPMENT PLAN, BUT THEY, YOU KNOW, THAT WHOLE BIG PARKING AREA WHERE TOYS R US USED TO BE, THEY'RE GONNA TAKE OUT A LOT OF THAT.
THEY WERE GONNA PUT IN SOME ADDITIONAL PARK SPACE.
THEY'RE GONNA PUT IN AN ADDITIONAL TRAILHEAD INTO THE BARTON CREEK GREENBELT, WHICH THEY'LL WORK WITH, UH, KIMBERLY ON OUR TRAIL MASTER PLAN PROCESS FOR THAT, WHICH WOULD HOPEFULLY BE AN IMPROVEMENT.
YOU KNOW, BARTON CREEK HAS SO MANY LITTLE SPIDER TRAILS, THE IDEA WITH THE TRAIL MASTER PLAN AS YOU PUT IN SOME BETTER, MORE SUSTAINABLE TRAILS AND TAKE OUT SOME OF THE OTHER ONES.
BUT YEAH, OVERALL, I THINK IT WAS A DECREASE IN THE IMPERVIOUS COVER BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING UP, I MEAN, MOST OF IT THERE NOW IS, IS THIS ONE LEVEL DEVELOPMENT OR ONE AND A HALF, AND THEY'LL GO UP AND THEY, AND THAT'S HOW THEY CAN TAKE BACK SOME OF THE IMPERVIOUS COVER.
WELL, I'LL TAKE, I'LL TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO, TO, UM, OFFER SOME INFORMATION.
[01:25:01]
UM, MISCHARACTERIZATION AND INACCURATE INFORMATION BEING CIRCULATED IN OPPOSITION.UM, AND ONE OF THE THINGS I REALLY WANT TO MAKE CLEAR IS, UH, WITH ALL OF THE CONCRETE THAT IS BEING LIFTED UP AND REMOVED, WE ARE GAINING 13, ALMOST 14 ACRES OF OUTDOOR GREEN SPACE.
THE MAJORITY OF WHICH IS, UM, OPEN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS AT ALL TIMES.
THERE IS SOME OF IT THAT'S INTERNAL TO THE, UM, TO THE POD THAT WILL BE PROGRAMMED BY, UH, THE FOLKS THAT ARE DOING THE DEVELOPMENT.
UM, BUT THE MAJORITY OF THAT NEARLY 14 ACRES OF OUTDOOR GREEN SPACE IS OPEN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS.
AND ANOTHER BIG POINT ABOUT THIS IS THERE WERE NO PUBLIC FUNDS NEEDED OR REQUESTED FOR THIS PARTICULAR DEVELOPMENT.
AND I CREDIT, UM, DAVID ABRS FOR A REALLY GOOD LEADERSHIP AND, UM, SHEPHERDING OF THIS PROJECT THROUGH I WAS SUPPORTIVE AND VOTED FOR.
I WAS EXCITED WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT IT.
'CAUSE IT'S RARE TO HAVE, UH, REDEVELOPMENTS, UM, SHRINK AND PREVIOUS COVER BY THAT MUCH.
IT ALSO INCLUDED ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE PRESERVE THAT IS DOWN THE, THE HILL FROM AND DOWN AT THE CREEK AND CLEARING OUT THE, UM, HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS THAT ARE THERE, FINDING OTHER PLACES FOR THOSE FOLKS TO GO.
AND THEN A, A REMOVAL OF THE SOCIAL TRAILS THAT ARE IN, UH, THAT FOUND THEIR WAY IN THROUGH THE, THE WOODED AREA SO THAT WE CAN REMOVE THOSE AND GET BACK TO THE TRAIL ITSELF AND KEEP PEOPLE FROM.
AND THAT'S THAT MASTER PLAN YOU TALKED ABOUT? YEAH.
THERE'S SIGNIFICANT WORK THAT'S GONNA BE DONE, AND THAT IS BENEFITING THE PRESERVE AND THE, UM, THE HIKE AND BIKE TRAIL AND THE VIOLET CROWN TRAIL AND, UH, A LOT OF THE ACCESS THAT'S SOUTH OF THE RIVER.
IT, IT'S A REAL WIN FOR TRAVIS COUNTY AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, I DO HAVE A QUESTION THAT'S PROBABLY APPROPRIATE FOR BOTH THE CITY AND THE, AND THE COUNTY.
UM, BECAUSE, UH, BOTH THE EXTREME WINTER STORMS AND THEN THE EXTREME HEAT AND DROUGHT HAS, UM, WELL, REALLY CREATED LIKE A TREE GENOCIDE.
I MEAN, THERE'S JUST SO MANY, WE'VE LOST SO MANY TREES.
UM, THERE'S, THERE'S, I THINK, NATURALLY A HEIGHTENED FEAR AROUND THE POTENTIAL FOR WILDFIRE.
AND, UM, I, I'D BE INTERESTED TO HEAR HOW, HOW WE BOTH THE CITY AND THE COUNTY AND WITH THE BCP ARE COORDINATING WITH THE PLANS FOR FIREFIGHTING SO THAT WE CAN, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, PRESERVE ENDANGERED SPECIES AND THE HABITAT, BUT ALSO, UM, KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE EACH GONNA BE DOING.
UM, WHEN, WHEN A WILDFIRE STRIKES.
'CAUSE I MEAN, ALL THE EXPERTS I TALK TO SAY IT'S, IT'S NOT A QUESTION OF IF IT'S WHEN.
MELINDA AND I BOTH SIT ON THE AUSTIN TRAVIS COUNTY WILDFIRE COALITION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AND WE WORK REGULARLY WITH AFD, UM, WITH JUST EDUCATION INFORMATION ABOUT OUR LANDS.
WE DID A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, SOME WILDFIRE CONTINGENCY MAPS FOR THE CITY'S, UH, PRESERVE LAND.
AND WE SHARED THOSE WITH ALL THE FIRST RESPONDERS.
AND THOSE IDENTIFY BUILDINGS, WATER SOURCES, ROADS THAT ARE PASSABLE WITH A BRUSH TRUCK MAYBE, BUT NOT A GIANT, YOU KNOW, A LARGE FIRE TRUCK.
UM, AND OUR STAFF HAVE ALL BEEN TRAINED AS A RESOURCE, SO THEY WOULDN'T BE OUT FIGHTING THE FIRE, BUT THEY WOULD BE OUT THERE TO SAY, HEY, GO HERE, DO THIS, WATCH OUT FOR THIS CAVE.
YOU KNOW, PLEASE DON'T BULLDOZE THIS.
OR, UM, SO THEY WOULD BE MOSTLY OUT THERE AS A RESOURCE DURING THAT EVENT.
UH, THE COALITION IS ALSO WORKING ON ALL THE EVACUATION PLANNING.
I KNOW YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH THAT, SO MELINDA MIGHT WANT TO ADD SOMETHING TO THAT FOR THE COUNTY.
WELL THEN BCCP WORKED WITH FIRE ON THE WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE PLANNING THE
AND WE, THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT STARTED WHEN I FIRST WAS APPOINTED TO THIS BOARD BECAUSE IN FACT, I WAS TALKING ABOUT IT WITH KIMBERLY WHEN I FIRST GOT HERE THIS, UH, THIS AFTERNOON.
IT WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS UPDATED, UH, UNDER WILLIE CONRAD.
AND THEN OF COURSE, YOU AND I, IN THE LETTER THAT WE SEND TO RESIDENTS WHO LIVE ADJACENT TO THE PRESERVE, TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF, UH, THE TYPE OF PLANTINGS THAT THEY HAVE AROUND THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR HOMES.
ALSO THE INCURSIONS INTO, UH, THE PRESERVE AND, AND WHERE THEY SHOULD AND SHOULDN'T, UH, EXTEND THEIR YARDS.
BUT YEAH, THE WOOEY, MAYBE MELINDA, WELL, SUPER IMPORTANT CRITICAL.
UM, THE, SO SPECIFICALLY AFTER IN 2011, YOUR MIC LINDA MAIER, DO I NEED TO IDENTIFY ME? OH, JUST, IT'S, CAN YOU HEAR ME? UM, AFTER 2011, UM, UNLIKE FLOODS,
[01:30:01]
YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY COMES TOGETHER, KNOWS WHAT TO DO.WE'VE, WE'VE DONE IT A MILLION TIMES.
UM, AT THE CITY AND COUNTY, THE STAFF CAME TOGETHER AFTER THE WILDFIRES, AND THERE WAS NO NETWORK OF PEOPLE WHO KNEW EACH OTHER AND KNEW WHAT TO DO.
SO, UH, ONE, ONE GOOD PIECE OF NEWS IS THAT SINCE THAT TIME, WE'VE, UH, WE'VE ESTABLISHED A VERY SOLID NETWORK.
WE, WE COORDINATE CLOSELY WITH EACH OTHER THROUGH THE, THE AUSTIN TRAVIS COUNTY WELFARE COALITION.
AND SO, UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, THAT HAPPENED EARLY ON, STARTING IN 2012, WAS WE JOINTLY DEVELOPED A COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN.
UM, ADMITTEDLY IT'S REALLY A PLAN FOR WILDFIRE PROFESSIONALS.
IT'S, IT'S INCREDIBLY TECHNICAL, BUT IT DID, UH, THAT PROCESS INFORMED US ABOUT WHERE TO FOCUS OUR EFFORTS FOR THE, THE GREATEST RISK REDUCTION.
THAT WAS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE GOT OUT OF THAT.
AND I DID WORK WITH WILLIE CONRAD ON THAT.
UM, WILLIE AND, AND I, AND JIM LEONARDOS, WHO WAS THE CHIEF, UH, AT STEINER RANCH AT THE TIME.
UH, ONE ANOTHER THING WE DID AT THE VERY BEGINNING THAT I CALL A SUCCESS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS THAT ADDS TO OUR OVERALL PROTECTION WAS CREATING THAT WELFARE DIVISION AT AFD THAT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PROJECTS.
UM, SO, SO THEY'RE VERY MUCH THE LEAD IN.
I FEEL LIKE WE MIGHT BE LEAVING OUT THE EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICTS ON THE COUNTY SIDE, BUT ONE THING THAT HAPPENS, COMMISSIONER SHEA, IS THAT IN THE EVENT OF A REALLY LARGE WILDFIRE, THEY ALL HAVE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENTS WITH AFD.
SO AFD IS STILL VERY KEY TO COUNTY INTEREST.
UH, THE MORE RURAL, THE MORE WE WOULD STILL BE RELYING ON AFD.
AND, UM, WE HAVE THE EMERGENCY SERVICE DISTRICTS ALSO INVITED TO OUR COALITION.
WE, WE HAVE PARTICIPATION ON TOPICALLY, UM, RATHER THAN JUST BROAD SHOWING UP AT EVERY MEETING.
THEY'RE QUARTERLY, AREN'T THEY? YES, THEY'RE NOT, THEY'RE NOT SUPER FREQUENT, BUT THEY'RE ONCE A QUARTER, THEY'RE QUARTERLY.
WE HAD ONE LAST WEEK WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT THE, THE UPCOMING UPDATE TO THE COMMUNITY WELFARE PROTECTION PLAN.
AND THERE'S A GRANT THAT HAS BEEN, UM, A APPLIED FOR ON BEHALF OF THE COALITION THAT'S EXPECTED.
AN AWARD IS EXPECTED TO COME SOON.
UH, SO CITY AND COUNTY WILL BE LOOKING TOGETHER AT HOW WE, UH, COORDINATE AND COOPERATE AND UPDATING THAT PLAN.
AND WE, UM, WE DON'T HAVE IT STAFFED OR FUNDED FOR WHAT CAN BE A VERY INTENSE, UH, A LABOR INTENSE EFFORT.
BUT WE DO HAVE A TEMPLATE FOR, UM, AN A NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING COMMUNITY, WILDFIRE EVACUATION DRILL.
AND I, I HEAR MORE AND MORE FROM NEIGHBORS THAT THEY, THEY WANNA DO IT.
THEY, AND THEY WANNA KNOW WHAT TO DO.
UM, AND WE TRIED TO CRAFT IT IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT WAS A BIT OF A HOW TO AND MADE CLEAR THAT YOU NEEDED TO GET ENOUGH PARTICIPATION SO THAT IT WOULD BE WORTHWHILE, UH, PARTICULARLY FOR THE TIME THAT WOULD BE INVOLVED WITH, UM, IN MOST CASES IN THE COUNTY PARTICIPATING WITH YOUR EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT, WHICH ARE THE, THE FIRE, UH, UH, OPERATIONS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY.
AND SOME OF THEM NOW HAVE, UM, AMBULANCE OVERLAYS AS WELL.
SO THE, THE, THE COALITION IS ALSO HAS AN EVACUATION, UH, SUBCOMMITTEE THAT HAS WORKED ON THIS STEADILY.
AND, UM, SHERRY MENTIONED THAT WORK.
I, THEY'VE REALLY, UM, I THINK THEY'VE, THEY'VE MADE SOME ACCOMPLISHMENTS LATELY.
YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THEM BETTER THAN ME.
I, I DON'T KNOW THE DETAILS, BUT THEY DID DO SOME DRILLS, I THINK JUST WITH THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE, UH, FOLKS AND AFD AND THEY FIGURED OUT SOME THINGS THEY MIGHT NEED TO TWEAK OR IMPROVE.
SO IT DIDN'T INVOLVE ALL THE CITIZENS, BUT THEY ARE DOING SOME DRILLS JUST AMONGST THEMSELVES.
I DO THINK AS WE, UH, ARE IN A TIME OF, UM, INCREASINGLY, UH, DEADLY AND DESTRUCTIVE WEATHER OCCURRENCES, WE WILL NEED TO ENGAGE THE PUBLIC MORE AND MORE.
AND I'M FINDING THAT THERE, LOTS OF GROUPS ARE CLAMORING FOR IT.
THEY WANNA KNOW WHAT THEY CAN DO.
AND, AND WHEN WE WORKED WITH, UH, UH, THE E ESDS AND THE, UH, AF D AND THE POLICE AND THE SHERIFFS AND THE PARK RANGERS, AND WE DID THIS YEAR, YEAR PLUS, UM, EXPERIMENT REALLY TO DEVELOP THIS NEIGHBORHOOD EVACUATION DRILL.
UM, THE FIRST RESPONDERS INITIALLY SAID, LOOK, WE'VE GOT THIS.
WE KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN WE DO DRILLS ALL THE TIME OURSELVES.
AND THE POINT WAS, IT'S THE 99% OF THE REST OF THE POPULATION THAT DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND IS PANICKED AND WANTS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO.
AND I THINK WE'RE JUST GONNA SEE MORE AND MORE OF THIS AS, UH, WE HAVE MORE AND MORE SEVERE WEATHER AND PEOPLE, UH,
[01:35:01]
WORRY AND WANNA KNOW WHAT, WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, WHAT THEY SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR, WHAT THEY, UH, WHAT THEY NEED TO DO IN, IN, IN CASE OF A, OF A DISASTER.SO ONE OF MY FIRST CONVERSATIONS WITH YOU WHEN YOU CAME INTO OFFICE, YOU WERE, YOU WERE DEFINITELY AHEAD OF YOUR TIME TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, THIS, CAN WE, YOU KNOW, HAVE EVERYONE GET NOTIFIED ON THEIR PHONES AND
BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, THAT'S ANOTHER THING THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPING OVER THIS DECADE.
AND UM, I WOULD SAY IF YOU DON'T SEE THE INFORMATION EMERGING AS, UM,
HAD TO GO INTO THE BEST WAY TO INFORM PEOPLE ABOUT HOW TO EVACUATE, WHERE TO EVACUATE.
AND IT'S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES, DEPENDS ON WHERE THE FIRE IS.
YOU CAN'T JUST NO WIND DIRECTION, ALL OF IT.
AND SO, UM, I THINK THAT TIME'S COMING IN AND WE WILL NOTE YOUR REQUESTS THAT AGAIN, YOU KNOW MM-HMM,
AND FIND OUT IF THE EXPERTS ARE READY TO DO A BIGGER PUSH ON OUTREACH.
AND I'M HAPPY TO COME, UH, TALK ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE.
UM, 'CAUSE WE, WE DOCUMENTED IT VERY THOROUGHLY AS WELL.
UM, AND ON THE NOTIFICATION, UM, WE WORKED FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS TO UPGRADE THE WARREN CENTRAL TEXAS SYSTEM, WHICH IS OPERATED BY CAP COG, THE TIN COUNTY ENTITY.
THAT'S THE PORTAL FOR FEDERAL MONEY FOR THE 9 1 1 SYSTEM.
THEIR INITIAL SYSTEM WAS LANDLINE BASED.
75% OF THEIR OVER HALF A MILLION PHONE NUMBERS WENT TO COUNTY BUILDINGS, HOSPITALS, CALL CENTERS, LARGE LARGE COMPANIES.
AND SO NOW WHEN PEOPLE GET BOIL WATER NOTICES OR WHATEVER THE NOTICE IS, THEY'RE ACTUALLY GETTING IT.
AND THEY DIDN'T USE TO GET IT BEFORE 'CAUSE IT WAS GOING TO THEIR FAX MACHINE OR THEIR, WE USED TO HAVE, UH, LANDLINES ON THE DAIS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
NOBODY EVER USED THEM, BUT THEY SHOWED UP IN THE DATABASE.
THOSE NUMBERS GOT A CALL WHENEVER THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY, BUT NOBODY GOT THE INFORMATION 'CAUSE WE'RE NOT SITTING THERE ALL DAY LONG OR IN THE EVENINGS OR WEEKENDS.
SO THAT UPGRADE, UH, IMPROVED THE REACH OF THE SYSTEM FROM 7% TO 70%.
AND, AND I'M ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT GOT A CALL WHEN THERE WAS A FIRE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
ANYWAY, IT'S BACK TO THEIR REPORT.
WELL, I THINK THE QUESTION ON FIRE MIGHT'VE BEEN THE LAST, UNLESS COUNCILOR, DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION OR ANY COMMENTS? ALL GOOD.
UM, AND THEN THERE'S A WRITTEN LCRA, UH, UPDATE IN THE PACKET AS WELL.
WELL, IF THERE'S NOTHING ELSE, UM, OR NO OTHER QUESTIONS, I THINK THAT CONCLUDES OUR BUSINESS HERE TODAY.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK.
UM, I, I THINK WE, WE DON'T, UH, APPRECIATE YOU ENOUGH AND THE COMMUNITY PROBABLY DOESN'T KNOW ENOUGH, UH, OF ALL THE WORK THAT YOU DO.
SO, UM, WE'RE, WE CAN THANK YOU PROFUSELY IN THESE MEETINGS.
SO WE REALLY APPRECIATE, UH, EVERYTHING THAT, THAT, THAT ALL OF YOU DO.
AND WITH THAT, I THINK WE STAND ADJOURNED.