It is a good bet that anyone attending a Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting over the last year could have looked around and seen Roxanne Hernandez in the crowd.
Hired by the county in late 2008 as administrator of the Lost Pines Habit Conservation Plan, Hernandez has stayed busy with her job negotiating the conservation easements aimed at protecting habitat areas for the endangered Houston Toad.
Judging by her increasing number of presentations to commissioners, the LPHCP – which only came to fruition after a period of contentious negotiating between Bastrop County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – appears to be gaining ground.
In the course of providing the latest update to the court on Monday, for example, Hernandez took a moment to remind the court that a total of 2,038 acres within 69 separate easements are now included in the conservation plan as it pertains to protecting wildlife (the number includes 13 easements that are expected to be approved next month).
Asked after the meeting about the figures, Hernandez said she remembers approaching the end of the last fiscal year just hoping to reach 1,000 acres. That goal was ultimately met – and then some.
“To go from 1,024 acres at the end of September 2009 to 2,038 acres by the end of March; that’s almost doubling it,” Hernandez said. I think that’s pretty significant and I am happy with the way the plan is progressing.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Lee Dildy says he remembers well the time span close to a decade ago when the LPHCP was not part of the county’s vision for complying with the endangered species act in regards to the Houston Toad. According to Dildy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially put substantial pressure on Bastrop County to purchase upwards of 15,000 acres to be set aside exclusively for habitat protection. What resulted, said the commissioner, was a “massive disconnect” between the agency and county leaders who made the case such a large land purchase would leave the county’s budget in shambles.
“At the time we were looking at what was really a crippling set of circumstances for the county,” Dildy said. “The population boom was just getting started. We had little or no debt, but had we done this it would have had far ranging implications for the taxpayers of this county.”
Dildy says Precinct 2 Commissioner Clara Beckett played a significant role in working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the ensuing years and developing the LPHCP as something of a compromise. Since its implementation, the LPHCP has come to be a collaborative effort not only involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bastrop County, but Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Forest Service and Texas State University among others.
Both Luela Roberts and Paige Najvar, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, gave no intimations of the past disagreements with Bastrop County when asked this week about their feelings on the status of the LPHCP thus far.
“We are very satisfied with the LPHCP and the work the county has been doing,” said Najvar, a wildlife biologist with the agency. “I think the amount of landowners and acreage that Roxanne has been able to bring on board is a really good start for the Houston Toad and we feel positive about it.”
Roberts, who is chief of consultations and Habitat Conservation Plans for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Austin branch, stressed the increasing amount of easements is a sign more landowners are discovering their ability to join the plan.
“When programs like this first begin, people are not really sure they want to be involved,” Roberts said. “But when they start seeing the results they are more likely to approach them (LPHCP) and say ‘we want to be a part of this.’”
According to Hernandez, the ultimate goal is to establish more contiguous corridors in the Lost Pines region where the Houston Toad might stage a rebound. She admits data on the amphibians’ recovery has thus far has been elusive but is hopeful positive evidence will come to light as more land is designated under the conservation easements.
“What we have now is large chunks of land that when you put them together is starting to be something cohesive,” Hernandez said.
In addition to the 2,038 acres, there are roughly 8,500 acres in Bastrop County protected either through agreements with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Hernandez. Two participants who together own 1,311 acres of agriculturally designated land have entered into an agreement with the LPHCP. Although the agriculture land agreements do include restrictions on certain practices aimed at helping wildlife, they are not held by the same standards as the wildlife designated easements.