Months after Bastrop fires, scientist says wild population of Houston toads nearly gone

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Austin Statesman:

BASTROP — Mike Forstner tromps along the mucky edge of a pond, trilling loudly as he sweeps the beam of his flashlight over the bank.

He's hoping for an answering call from an endangered Houston toad, but he hears nothing.

 

The tea-colored watering holes around Bastrop are the last stronghold of the endangered amphibian, which is about the size of a partially flattened apricot. But after years of drought and development, topped five months ago by searing wildfires, Forstner fears the worst.

 

"I believe the Houston toad effectively ceased to exist as a purely wild species on Sept. 5, 2011," said Forstner, 47, a biology professor at Texas State University who is spearheading the Houston toad recovery effort. "We've had the most rain since 2002, and it was insignificant to motivate the Houston toad to chorus. That's not good."

 

A week after that late January hunt on Griffith League Scout Ranch, though, when temperatures warmed slightly, Forstner and his crews heard three of the grayish-brown toads chorusing in Bastrop County. The next night, they detected three more. Crews from the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection at Texas A&M University and the herpetology department of the Houston Zoo heard a few in Austin County, farther east, too.

 

The activity triggered a requirement that wildlife biologists inspect construction and debris removal sites inside areas that burned for toads before work can continue.

 

"It's a native species, a native Texan that needs help," said Paul Crumb, head of a captive breeding program at the Houston Zoo. "It illustrates the plight of what's going on with habitat and endangered species in the state."

 

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So worst drought in Texas history, fire wipes out 90% of their habitat. I looked for Global Warming reference and did not see it. Species don't all make it. Did we kill off the dinosaurs? Some how I think the toad will survive, I don't think 3 guys out listening for their croaks is conclusive, but if not, life is tough, with or without man influencing it.