The houston toad anaxyrus houstonesis is a federal and state listed endangered species and a high priority species of greatest conservation need sgcn G1 S1 in the texas conservation action plan 2012…

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 awarded a $152,400 Project Grant to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department under the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund program. The grant will support restoration of 140 acres of habitat for the federally and state-listed endangered Houston toad at the Cedar Hill Ranch in Milam County, Texas from September 1, 2022 through December 31, 2025. Key activities include selectively removing woody understory brush using a forestry mulcher to allow sunlight to reach the savanna floor, followed by herbicide application and prescribed fires. These restoration tools will directly improve habitat for the Houston toad and benefit numerous other species of greatest conservation need that rely on open pine oak savannas, such as the northern bobwhite quail and Centerville Brazos mint.

The houston toad anaxyrus houstonesis is a federal and state listed endangered species and a high priority species of greatest conservation need sgcn G1 S1 in the texas conservation action plan 2012 the species is endemic to 9 counties in the xeric, sandy lost pines and post OAK savannah ecoregions of eastern central texas forstner and dixon, 2010 range wide monitoring suggests IT is at historically low occupancy and abundance levels the main threat facing this species is the loss and degradation of pine OAK savanna ecosystems much of the post OAK savanna has been converted to non native pastures for agricultural production however, without active processes such as fire, even the remaining pine OAK savannas rapidly transition within 10 15 years from an open understory with a diverse ground cover layer of warm season bunch grasses and forbs to an understory infested with woody brush these degraded savannas are detrimental for both human and wildlife use, due to excessive woody fuel for wildfires and reduced herbaceous productivity, resulting in a state shift to a more mesic understory with little light reaching the savanna floor sparks ET AL , 2012 fortunately, we have the tools in place to restore these degraded savannas selectively removing the understory brush layer using a forestry mulcher, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the floor and following up with herbicide and prescribed fire has been demonstrated to have positive impacts on the structure and composition of savanna ecosystems mitchell ET AL , 2005 mcinnerney ET AL , 2020 here we propose to implement these restoration tools at the cedar hill ranch in milam county to directly improve 140 acres of habitat for the houston toad this site is proposed as a future reintroduction site for the species while the focal species of this project is the houston toad, numerous other sgcn bird and plant species that rely on open pine OAK savanna habitats will benefit from this restoration work, such as northern bobwhite quail colinus virginianus and centerville brazos mint brazoria truncata VAR pulcherrima