Adopt-A-Loop
Hays County’s Great Texas Wildlife Trails
A New Project of Hays County Master Naturalist
Images courtesy TPWD. Used with permission
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wildlife/wildlife-trails/hote
Carolyn Langlinais
An excerpt from iNaturalist’s Great Texas Wildlife Trails Adopt-A-Loop page:
Adopt-a-Loop is a citizen science project by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Master Naturalists (TMN) to better understand the distribution of Texas' wildlife. The Great Texas Wildlife Trails (GTWT) are used by many to visit sites across the state for birding and other wildlife viewing. By adopting a loop on the GTWT, each TMN chapter will help collect data on our Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and wildlife in general. This info will be used as a guide for informing visitors on what species to look for when they are at a particular site.
TMN chapters and members will also assist in ensuring that site information along the GTWT is updated and accurate and perform site surveys throughout the year.
The information gathered from this project may be used to augment the TPWD's survey, monitoring and research efforts.
Observations of rare species may be added to the Texas Species Observations database which is maintained by the TPWD and used to assist environmental review and conservation planning efforts.
We hope that this project will both inform our agency and other researchers about species distribution as well as empower citizen scientists to assist in the conservation of Texas' wildlife.
Glossary
GTWT: Great Texas Wildlife Trails
Begun in 1996 as the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, its focus was to create a way to spotlight places that were excellent for birding. It eventually grew to include 124 loops with over 900 sites, including parks, historic sites, scenic overlooks, and oftentimes hiking trails.
Our region is the light orange one, Heart of Texas East Wildlife Trail.
Images courtesy TPWD. Used with permission
Images courtesy TPWD. Used with permission
Loop
Within each region are loops. Each loop is made of numbered sites. The loops are designed to be driven, with the idea that each loop can be visited in an outing, stopping to observe birds and wildlife at each site. There are three loops within Hays County: Capitol Loop, Wimberley Loop, and San Marcos Loop.
Images courtesy TPWD. Used with permission
Sites
Sites are numbered stops within a loop, shown as blue pins on the map above. There are 5 sites within the Wimberley Loop. There are 15 sites within the San Marcos Loop, but only 14 of those are in Hays County. Only one Capitol Loop site is within Hays County: Dripping Springs Ranch Park.
Do you know where this sign is posted and what site it is for?
Each site number within our region starts with HOTE for Heart of Texas East. The number after it is for a specific site. For example, Blue Hole Regional Park is designated as HOTE059B and The Meadows Center is HOTE064. You may have seen the sign at one of the sites for our area, which features a white roadrunner silhouette on a brown background and the site number.
Photo: courtesy Carolyn Langlinais
The AAL Project
Adopt-A-Loop requires each site within a loop to be visited 4 times per year. Wildlife and bird observations are to be recorded in iNaturalist or eBird. This is not a litter sweep, which is normally associated with adoption projects. This is strictly an observation project. And this is by no means a bioblitz at each site. The goal is to get a representation of what a visitor might find on a casual visit to the site. Observations also give state biologists information about wildlife populations and movement and how those change over time.
Images courtesy TPWD. Used with permission
As evidenced by the Facebook entry above, the contributions by other Texas Master Naturalist chapters to the GTWT program through Adopt-A-Loop led to some significant updates, including removal and addition of sites, sign replacements, and website corrections.
Volunteering for AAL - HCMN Project 2403
The loops within Hays County are as yet unclaimed. Depending on the number of volunteers, we can adopt one, two, or all three loops. It’s possible to split a loop so that volunteers are assigned particular sites within a loop.
The hours spent hiking trails observing site conditions count as volunteer hours. The time spent creating observations for iNaturalist and eBird also count as volunteer hours. With enough volunteers sharing in the fun, quarterly visits to each site will be a much anticipated event.
To sign up for a loop or request more information, contact Carolyn Langlinais at carolyn@haysmn.org. And if you are a Master Naturalist attending the 2024 Texas Master Naturalist Annual Conference in San Marcos, Texas, there will be an informational session on Friday, October 25 at 10:20 a.m.