http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=60776
Top Houston Toad Experts Help Drive Bastrop Recovery
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Release Number: 4029-100
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AUSTIN, Texas, -- Michael Forstner and James Dixon, two of Texas’ distinguished
authorities on the endangered Houston toad, have joined the team of biologists
that is helping to ensure the steady pace of Bastrop County’s recovery from the
2011 wildfires by monitoring for the toad, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and Texas Division of Emergency Management said Tuesday.
Although the historic Texas drought and then the Bastrop wildfires had a
devastating impact on the toads, Forstner and other researchers from Texas
State University have recently confirmed toad presence in the burn zone. The
goal now is to ensure the toads that survived the blazes do not become a
casualty of the recovery.
Forstner, a Texas State University biology professor who has spent more than a
decade and a half studying and developing management protocols for the Houston
toad, and Dixon, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University with 40 years
experience working with the species, are part of the monitoring team whose
collective experience working with the toad and its habitat totals nearly a
century.
“The presence of a highly qualified team of Houston toad experts and habitat
conservationists will ensure no harm comes to the toad while crews work hard to
get Bastrop cleaned of debris and hazardous trees,” said Federal Coordinating
Officer Kevin Hannes of FEMA. “In this way, we’re driving citizen recovery
forward while protecting a rare native Texan that also happens to be a wildfire
survivor, the Houston toad.”
The monitors are accompanying debris removal and public utility crews in
Bastrop County to determine whether toads are present in their immediate work
areas. Should a monitor come across a toad during the removal of debris or
hazardous trees, the monitor will coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to safely relocate the toad. The team collectively holds federal and
state permits to identify, locate, handle, remove and transport the species.
“The monitoring work is important because it is a continuation of the
collaborative efforts, with FEMA as a partner, in getting Bastrop and its
Houston toads back to where they were before the fires of last year,” said
Forstner.
It is FEMA’s duty under the federal Endangered Species Act to avoid spending
taxpayer dollars on recovery projects that might jeopardize the existence of
endangered or threatened species, or that might destroy or harm critical
habitats. Bastrop County is one of the Houston toad’s few remaining habitats.
Texans can follow FEMA tweets about the wildfire disaster at
www.twitter.com/femaregion6.
Other online resources are blog.fema.gov, www.facebook.com/fema and
www.youtube.com/fema.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 14-Feb-2012 16:49:00
