[texbirds] REFre: Re: Ecotourism definition for "South Texas"?

  • From: "Stevan Hawkins" <shawkins4@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <FCollins@xxxxxxxx>, <dellel1119@xxxxxxxxx>, "'Jim Sinclair'" <jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:24:05 -0500

Fred:

Six or seven years ago a retired Texas hydrologist told me that ecological
provinces can be defined by substrate, plant life, or animal life. As long
as things are relatively stable, the three factors work well hand in hand.
In this day and age of major range expansion of birds, that synchronicity
goes out the window like cigarette smoke from a vehicle at traffic speeds.
Substrates change over thousands or tens of thousands of years; plant life
changes over hundreds and thousands of years; birdlife changes over tens of
years. The growth of cities often obliterates eco-region boundaries. A
case can be made that cities become ecological provinces. There are certain
species that are never found any distance from human habitation

Later!

Steve
Stevan Hawkins
San Antonio TX

-----Original Message-----
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Collins, Fred (Commissioner Pct. 3)
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 2:36 PM
To: dellel1119@xxxxxxxxx; Jim Sinclair <jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: sandboa@xxxxxxxxxxx; Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [texbirds] Re: Ecotourism definition for "South Texas"?

Ecotourism is marketing wildlife centric tours not ecology. If your market
includes people from Britain and Japan, South Texas goes from Houston to San
Antonio or Austin south to the border and likely includes Seminole Canyon.

Course Texas birders would find that ludicrous. I like the TPWD ecoregions
but they cannot reflect all the range expansions we have seen as so many
species spread beyond their ecological habitat cores.


Fred Collins, Director
Kleb Woods Nature Center
20303 Draper Road,Tomball TX 77377
281-357-5324

Harris County Precinct 3
Steve Radack Commissioner
www.pct3.com




-----Original Message-----
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Dell Little
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 2:29 PM
To: Jim Sinclair <jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: sandboa@xxxxxxxxxxx; Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [texbirds] Re: Ecotourism definition for "South Texas"?

I've always liked TOS Region 7
<http://www.texasbirdimages.com/home/region-7>
On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 2:24 PM, Jim Sinclair <jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Interesting comments! Thanks to all that replied, both here and
privately. I'm definitely playing devil's advocate here, as my own
view has bounced around considerably over the last few years, and I
currently have no personal working definition.
Most of the replies offered definitions that are party based upon
ecosystem definitions without regard for ecotourism. But even those
were not consistent.

There are multiple definitions for dividing the state into ecosystem
or natural regions. See the two following links for examples:

<

https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/online-course/wildli
fe-conservation/texas-ecoregions


<http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/152207/>

Chris touched upon another component of defining an area by mentioning
his interest in herpetology. I would even add lep and odes into that mix.

I am in the early stages of developing an ecotour program guide for
South Texas (not for profit, David;-)) that will have the Texas state
park system as its core. It will include an economic component as well.

Again, thanks to all!


On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 8:06 AM, Chris Harrison <sandboa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

For my money, I agree with Tim to a large degree. I look at it
personally
based on herp distributions since that is an interest of mine and
herps
are
much less vagile than birds.


My boundaries for South Texas are Del Rio across the edge of the
hill country (roughly highway 90) to San Antonio then SE along the
southern
edge
of the San Antonio River to the coast. The San Antonio River seems to
cut
it about right and it seems to be an approximate boundary for many
Tamaulipan species.



Seminole Canyon is definitely not in South Texas, it is part of the
Trans-Pecos.



Chris Harrison

San Antonio



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--
Jim Sinclair (TX-ESA)
TOS Life Member
Kingsville, TX

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level
of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein


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