TPWD News Digest for Oct. 23, 2009
Oct. 22, 2009
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091022a&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= New Game Warden Training Center Construction On Track
AUSTIN, Texas — Phase one of construction on a new $20 million Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton County is proceeding on schedule and on budget and is set to be completed by the end of December.
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091022b&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= Texas Parks & Wildlife Seeks Partners To Co-Market Life’s Better Outside® Campaign
(AUSTIN) TX -Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is seeking additional partners for its 2010 Life’s Better Outside® cause-related marketing initiative with retailers, healthcare and education partners to reconnect children to the world of nature and the outdoors. TPWD is setting planning meetings with interested parties between now and Nov. 30.
Oct. 21, 2009
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091021a&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= Weekly Migratory Bird Hunting Report
Weekly migratory bird hunting reports are posted from early September through early February.
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091021b&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= Young Hunters Get First Shot During Special Weekend
AUSTIN, Texas — “Trick or Treat” won’t be the only activity on the minds of Texas youth on Oct. 31. While some will dress up as fairy princesses and ghosts for Halloween, many will be wearing bright orange and camouflage for the special youth-only hunting weekends. Passing the hunting heritage on to the next generation of hunters is what the special youth-only seasons are all about, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Oct. 20, 2009
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091020a&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= Fish Kill Investigated on Fairfield Lake — TPWD fisheries biologists solve mystery of dying fish.
FAIRFIELD, Texas — September means at least two unpleasant annual natural phenomena in East Texas: ragweed is blooming and fish are dying at Lake Fairfield. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries management and Kills and Spills Team (KAST) biologists investigated a major fish kill on Fairfield Lake the second week of September.
Oct. 16, 2009
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091016a&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= World Birding Center Receives SATW’s Phoenix Award
* http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091016b&nrtype=all&nrspan=2009&nrsearch= Texas Parks Make Finding Halloween Fun Easy
All TPWD News Releases are available online: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/ http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/
News Briefs
“Creepy Critters” Videos On YouTube Spark Halloween Viewing Frenzy
This week the department tried something new with its YouTube channel ( http://www.youtube.com/TexasParksWildlife http://www.youtube.com/TexasParksWildlife), one of four “social media” outlets TPWD is currently piloting, the others being Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. The agency sent a broadcast email containing embedded Web links to watch five videos that portray native wild animals doing things some people might find scary or odd. The email went to 20,620 subscribers who’ve signed up to receive information through the TPWD Email Subscription Service. The tactic generated record viewings of TPWD YouTube videos. Most popular was a piece titled Really Yucky, a cut-down of a longer TPW TV series episode showing mummified horned lizard carcasses on a West Texas yucca plant, handiwork of a bird called the loggerhead shrike that impales its prey, making it easier to eat and store for later consumption. This piece attracted 2,813 YouTube views within 24 hours after the email. Other videos, in popularity order, included How to Eat a Bat at 2,525 views, Toadally Yummy Trick at 1,921 views, Squeaky Treat on the Run at 1,868 views, and Bats Amazing! As of Oct. 23, the TPWD YouTube channel now has 144 videos posted, with new video topics added weekly. TPWD YouTube videos cover individual state parks, fishing, hunting, wildlife, boating safety, how-to topics and news reports on a variety of subjects. News outlets are free to use TPWD video posted on YouTube, or to embed video links to TPWD’s YouTube videos on their news outlet Web sites.
TPW Magazine Seeks Managing Editor
Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine is seeking to fill a vacant Managing Editor position to work at the agency’s Austin headquarters. The managing editor position performs highly detailed magazine work and serves as the magazine’s lead copy editor, ensuring correct and consistent grammar, style and punctuation. The position coordinates with the art director to finalize layouts, including gathering information for captions, writing captions, adding pull quotes, entering corrections, and may write brief articles. It coordinates production management with printing contractors and assists the editorial director in developing and maintaining procedures and guidelines to ensure all deadlines are met and high quality standards maintained. The position plays a key role in maintaining the magazine Web site and contributing Web content, and is expected to help further the ongoing evolution of magazine content. See full details at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/jobs/postings/?page=10_06_036 http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/jobs/postings/?page=10_06_036, where applicants will also find application instructions and documents. The closing deadline to apply for the job is 5 p.m. Nov. 5, 2009. For more information, see the Web site or contact Randy Brudnicki at href=”mailto:randy.brudnicki@tpwd.state.tx.us”>randy.brudnicki@tpwd.state.tx.us.
Biologists Watching Red Tide On Coast
Additional department Kills and Spills Team staff were this week pulled in to assist with fish kill assessments, as TPWD continues to monitor and assess red tide on the lower and central Texas coast. The current red tide event began about two weeks ago, originating on and affecting primarily the southern coast but extending up toward Mustang Island State Park. It is possible that a cool front late last week reduced the current red tide on the central coast, and a similar front which below through late this week could do likewise. However, on Monday there were new reports of dead fish on the southern coast, including the first confirmed report of red tide in the Laguna Madre near Mansfield Pass. The current bloom has been relatively mild compared with some larger events in past years, but it has caused dead fish to wash onto beaches and produced a mild to moderate airborne aerosol that can cause human respiratory distress. During a red tide bloom, TPWD posts daily Web updates each weekday that allow beach visitors and news media to track the latest developments ( http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/environconcerns/hab/redtide/status.phtml http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/environconcerns/hab/redtide/status.phtml). Another coastal overflight to assess the situation is tentatively set for early next week, weather permitting.
Award Highlights Houston Environmental Restoration Projects
TPWD’s Andy Sipocz, a State Parks Division environmental scientist, is receiving the Synergy Conservation Award from Citizens Environmental Coalition, an umbrella group comprised of multiple organizations based in Houston. The award highlights several outstanding conservation success stories that involved many people and organizations. The Brays Bayou Stormwater Treatment Wetland is a project Sipocz conceived and with a large team was awarded EPA funding to construct a series of wetland ponds that detain and remove pollutants from a Houston neighborhood’s stormwater. Harris County Flood Control District constructed the wetlands as part of a flood control project and TPWD, Texas AgriLife Extension and others designed and planted the wetlands. Sipocz began the project as a Coastal Fisheries Division employee and finished it as a State Parks employee, receiving help from the Wildlife Division’s exhibits program. Also, Sipocz received a tip about the location of possible San Jacinto River waste pits. An unknown source of dioxin has plagued the area and caused the closure of some Galveston Bay fisheries as well as health advisories against consuming certain fish. Sipocz was able to use old maps and photos to confirm that a series of pits had been excavated alongside the river and then abandoned. The pits became submerged in the early 1970’s as the surrounding land subsided, and they have been leaching dioxin and other pollutants into the San Jacinto ever since. The site has since been placed on EPA’s Superfund clean up list. Finally, Sipocz embarked on a long term program as Coastal Fisheries employee to restore about 500 acres of old rice fields at Sheldon Lake State Park to native prairie and marsh. A new phase of work is ongoing with US Fish and Wildlife Service funding, and this fall the team is restoring about 70 acres of marsh and 150 acres of tall grass prairie. Sipocz used historic photos and modern soil studies to determine the original locations and configurations of Sheldon’s prairie marshes. The team has partnered with Ducks Unlimited to engineer and contract out the restoration work at a much lower cost than traditional wetland creation projects. Texas AgriLife is planting the site using locally collected and grown plants and volunteers, with fantastic results. Hopefully the technique can be used to restore prairies and wetland at some of the hundreds of thousands of acres on the Texas and Louisiana coasts no longer being used to grow rice. For details about the three projects, contact Sipocz, href=”mailto:Andrew.Sipocz@tpwd.state.tx.us”>Andrew.Sipocz@tpwd.state.tx.us, (281) 471-3200 x229 (office), (832) 330-2369 (cell). For information about the CEC award, contact Katie Molina, href=”mailto:Katie@cechouston.org”>Katie@cechouston.org, (713) 524-4232.
Upcoming Events for your Editorial Calendar:
Halloween-Themed Events Offered at State Parks, Hatcheries
More than a dozen Texas state parks and two fisheries centers will offer a variety of family-themed Halloween activities and attractions over the next week weekends, as detailed in an Oct. 16 news release ( http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091016b http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20091016b). Some sites go the Halloween carnival approach with games and prizes, campsite trick-or-treating, etc., while others emphasize a Natural Halloween, featuring Halloween hiking, night fishing and campfire tales.
Land, Water, People Conference Set For Nov. 16-18 in San Marcos
News reporters have a chance to interview experts and hear the latest findings regarding a critical resource for Texas’ future at the conference “Land, Water, People 2009” Nov. 16-18 at the San Marcos Convention Center. The conference will explore the potential to more effectively manage and protect water resources, on both a local and regional scale. Topics include:
* Natural Systems Interface: examining the dynamics within four ecological interface zones; land to water, riparian zone, coastal, and groundwater/surface water, and define the role of their ecosystem functions within watershed dynamics.
* Natural and Human Systems Interface: identifying the implications of human interactions on the four natural interfaces and defining the benefits of their functions to social and economic systems.
* People to People Interface: identifying the tools and approaches that promote and support collaboration between institutions and between communities using examples from leading programs throughout the region.
The event program culminates with a panel of representatives from various major water resources management programs in EPA Region 6 and key decision makers in statewide water related issues, emphasizing the processes by which these programs integrate with each and challenges they face in achieving preferred levels of integration. See a complete agenda online ( http://www.rivers.txstate.edu/projects/conferences/Land-Water-People-09.html http://www.rivers.txstate.edu/projects/conferences/Land-Water-People-09.html). Media contact: Annette Paulin, (512) 754‐9179,
href=”mailto:conference09@grandecom.net”>conference09@grandecom.net
See TPWD’s complete calendar of events at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/calendar/ http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/calendar/