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Updated Survey Protocols for the Houston Toad
Power Generation Director • Austin
Harris Frampton
Mr. Frampton has over 22+ years of experience enabling him to work effectively in complex environmental work with respect to State and Federal regulations. His expertise is in Clean Water Act permitting and compliance; threatened and endangered species surveys; leading field crews; and integrating technical scientific knowledge with the needs and goals of environmental resources, regulatory agencies, landowners, project developers, and resource managers.
In his role of Generation Business Line Director, South Region, he has worked on a range of projects including renewable and conventional energy; power generation and transmission; with a focus on client engagement.
Natural Resources Team Lead
Arron Tuggle
Arron Tuggle is an environmental specialist in SWCA’s Houston office. He is a dedicated, hardworking individual with 14 years of experience in the fields of biology and animal husbandry. His primary fields of expertise are herpetology and invasive species. He has worked with most taxa including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Prior to coming to SWCA, Arron worked for 2.5 years on the U.S. Geological Survey / Colorado State University Brown Treesnake Project where he gained a lot of skills while assisting on various research projects involving snake behavior, capture methods and population modeling. Arron played a prominent role in some of these projects. In addition, Arron obtained extensive experience in the areas of animal care and husbandry while working for the Baltimore zoo and aquarium. Arron has assisted in field data collection as part of the noise monitoring program to assess potential impacts to Mariana crows and fruit bats, and has also conducted herpetological surveys on Navy lands.
Senior Biologist
Chris Collins
Chris Collins is a senior biologist and project manager in SWCA’s San Antonio office. His responsibilities include project management, threatened and endangered species issues, habitat evaluations and surveys, endangered species compliance, and wetland delineations.
Mr. Collins is a naturalist with over 23 years of experience in monitoring, surveying, and assessing habitat use of state and federally listed threatened, and endangered species on public and private lands in Texas. He is permitted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct presence/absence surveys for 27 threatened and endangered species in Texas.
Written By
Harris Frampton
Power Generation Director
Arron Tuggle
Natural Resources Team Lead
Chris Collins
Senior Biologist
Posted
January 25, 2021
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The Houston toad (Anaxyrus houstonensis) is federally-listed under the Endangered Species Act. Survey season is fast approaching. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has issued updated presence/absence survey protocols for the species that become effective this year.
These new protocols take more time to plan and implement, and, in most cases, require the use of specialized equipment. To be successful, planning should take place in advance of implementing these new protocols.
Updated Survey Protocols
These new protocols are a substantial departure from prior methods. They involve the deployment of specialized equipment and collection of data throughout the survey season. The main considerations are detailed below:
- Methodology. The USFWS now prefers surveys be performed using audio recording devices, deployed for 178 hours (1,068 surveys; 10-minutes each) spread over the entire peak breeding season (February 1 to April 30).
- Timing. It may take approximately 3 months to perform the surveys. Additional time is needed to determine the number and placement of the audio recording devices in the project area. This includes desktop reviews, on-site reconnaissance, and ground-truth efforts after rain events.
- Field Access. The audio recording devices are to be placed in all areas of proposed disturbance that contain potential breeding sites (e.g., temporary wet-weather ponds, stock ponds, wetlands, ditches, creeks, etc.) for the duration of the survey season.
These surveys are to be repeated annually for three years and include both annual interim reporting and final reporting of survey results.
SWCA Can Help
Analyzing the data can be quite time-consuming. SWCA has staff knowledgeable with the automated process of bioacoustic analyses to expedite analyses and reporting requirements. We can answer any questions you may have on the updated protocols and are ready to help design and implement surveys today. Contact your SWCA project manager or one of our experts for more information: