How many times have you driven up and down the Valley or even around Texas and spotted something on the side of the road in your peripheral vision. I have to admit, I never stopped to look or gave it a second thought, but now things will be different; we are adopting…not just one…but many! We (our Chapter) are joining the Adopt-a-Loop Project!
I often wondered what exactly was the purpose for the signs on the side of the road that point to Scenic Trails, Birding Trails, etc. During the 2020 Virtual TMN Annual Meeting, I discovered that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Master Naturalist created the Adopt-a-Loop Project as a citizen science project to assess Texas’ wildlife. Their Great Texas Wildlife Trails are some of the loops designated with special signs to point visitors across our state to key sites for viewing birds and other wildlife.
By joining this project, our Chapter will assist ensuring our adopted loops are properly marked and the loop sites conform to predefined checklists. Information published for each loop and site must be accurate and periodically updated. Through site surveys we will conduct throughout the year, we will keep our Lower Texas Coast trails fun and enjoyable for all visitors.
Aside from the overall upkeep of the loops, our Chapter will collect data on the wildlife that can be found on these trails. Our information will be used to inform visitors of what they might see and experience while on the loops within our region. By loading our observations into iNaturalist, we may additionally contribute to research on rare species, environmental assessments, and conservation planning efforts. We might also contribute to the tracking of migratory patterns, species distributions, and assist with conservation efforts across our state.
So how do we get started? We are fortunate that Maria Reyna-Gomez, besides being our Treasurer and one of our news reporters, has volunteered to be coordinator for our participation in this program. Maria has been in contact with the state coordinator of the project and organized the Adopt-a-Loop Project Committee consisting of Joni Gillis, Teresa Du Bois, Rosana Gomez, and Robert Gaitan. The next steps are to create a plan. Key will be what can we do virtually while we wait for guidelines to allow for more activities.
If this project might be of interest to you, consider the following:
- Are there sites you go to for birding or volunteering?
- Are there sites you visit a couple times a year?
- Want to ‘own’ a site or loop for this project?
- Want to lead a virtual field trip to a site?
- Want to help build our in-house expertise on plants, insects, reptiles, butterflies, etc.?
- Want to build your skills on iNaturalist, Seek, etc.?
I believe this project offers our Chapter and every member an opportunity to volunteer on a great project with large implications. In the meantime, browse the following websites for more information on the program and explore virtually the loops and sites of the Lower Texas Coast.
- Great Texas Wildlife Trails home page: https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wildlife/wildlife-trails/
- Lower Texas Coast interactive map: https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wildlife/wildlife-trails/ltc
- iNaturalist – Great Texas Wildlife Trails Adopt-a-Loop project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gtwt-adopt-a-loop
Stay tuned…as we process our adoption…
