January 12, 2024
Chris talks with Bill Adams and Matthew Hewitt of the Borderlands Research Institute about a new event that BRI and Visit Alpine are planning for Saturday, February 3: Wildlife Day in Alpine!
The event will be a full day with lots of free opportunities to learn about and celebrate our non-human friends and neighbors in the Big bend region. Don’t miss it! https://visitalpinetx.com/wildlifeday
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Transcript for “Wildlife Day in Alpine!”:
Intro
Welcome to the heart of the Big Bend. It’s time to kick back, put your feet up, grab your favorite beverage or snack as we discussed, declare, proclaim, publicize and articulate about the wonders, magic, beauty, music and happenings here in the area known as the Big Bend of Texas.
Chris Ruggia
Hello welcome and thank you for joining us again for heart of the Big Bend. This is a podcast and radio show coming to you every other week about visiting the beautiful Big Bend of Texas. Specifically, we will cover what’s happening in Alpine, an incredibly friendly, small town nestled in a desert mountain valley at the heart of the Big Bend region. With easy day trips from Alpine, you can take in everything this amazing region has to offer.
I’m Chris Ruggia, Director of Tourism for the City of Alpine and today we’re talking about a brand new event that we’re kind of making up as we go along.
Visit Alpine is partnering with Borderlands Research Institute, which sounds sounds kind of serious. Borderlands Research Institute.
But today from Borderlands Research Institute, we’re talking with Bill Adams, the Associate Director of Operations.
Hi Bill, how you doing?
Bill Adams
Thanks, Chris.
Chris R
And with Matthew Hewitt, a PhD student at BRI.
Matthew Hewitt
Yeah, good to be here.
Chris R
Just to fill everybody in, we’re talking about Saturday, February 3rd. It’s a brand new event that for now, we’re calling Wildlife Day in Alpine. It’s going to be morning, afternoon and evening of learning opportunities, entertaining things. First off, let’s give folks an overview of the day and then we’ll talk a bit more in detail about Borderlands Research if that sounds all right.
Super quick overview, we’re going to have a morning guided hike up Hancock Hill. That’s going to be most of the morning. We’re also going to have for that a small group available. Also in the morning, we’ll have a birding event at a Kokernot Park in the Kokernot Lodge area. That’s the morning. Then at lunchtime, we’re going to have a little lunch and learn session where you can learn about some of the research going on at BRI. We don’t have the venue locked down yet. In the afternoon, there’s going to be some opportunities in the downtown shops for looking at some art, some book signings. There’s going to be some music downtown, all wildlife themed. In the evening, the centerpiece will be a screening of the astounding nature documentary Deep in the Heart, followed by a panel discussion. So that’s the snapshot.
But now, for everybody who’s wondering, what is BRI? Bill, tell us, what is the Borderlands Research Institute?
Bill A
Well, we’re thankful to be a part of this. The Borderlands Research Institute is about 16 years old. It’s a part of the Sul Ross State University and it’s really sister paired with the Department of Natural Resource Management. Our vision, if you will, is an ecologically and an economically sustainable Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands. What that means is helping working landscapes, to sustain those, while also managing for wildlife resources. Our focus is conservation, but working with land owners to accomplish that task. Our mission is threefold. It’s a 3 legged stool centered around research, education and outreach and so part of our outreach leg, if you will, is community engagement. It’s a great opportunity for us to engage the community.
We work with partners at Texas Parks and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, private land owners, other NGOs, and we write grants to fund research projects and help students like Matt answer questions in conservation. Really our focus on research, typically, is going to be kind of applied research, not so much theoretical. We want results that are beneficial to land owners, to help them make decisions – wise decisions – in the landscape to help with their grazing operations or land use operations, as well as conservation. A part of that also involves being engaged with our local community and in providing information to the local citizens.
Chris R
In that conservation slash range management picture, your one thing that I find most interesting about your activities, ’cause I’ll pick up your newsletters and things, I love to know what we’re learning about our neighbors, let’s say, meaning the animals that we share this landscape with. You guys are the ones who are actually going out in the field and first hand learning and observing what all these different animals are doing, what they need to survive, how the populations are doing and all that sort of thing. Top level, what kind of creatures are you out looking at and asking questions of?
Bill A
I think just we’ll kind of break it down into four programs, which are our Research Institute focuses on it’s going to be big game – mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, ouidad, elk, those interactions, habitat requirements, those things to sustain those populations. We’re looking at the conservation biology more like non-game birds wintering migrations and what wintering migratory birds need in the winter. We look at habitat restoration, you know habitat really supports healthy wildlife populations. We look at hydrology, we look at soil restoration, range restoration to support wildlife populations and then our game bird program. So those are the four programs, but Matt may want to give you an example specifically.
Chris R
That’s my next question is what are you studying, Matt?
Matthew H
Yeah, so I’m a very small piece of this BRI puzzle and I am a student here researching black bears. We’ve fallen under that non-game department in BRI. I mean, as everyone knows right now, black bears are coming back. They’re a hot topic out here in the Big Bend region and we’re just trying to learn as much about them as we can. Like Bill was saying, their movements, the things that they are preferring on these landscapes. Bears are across the United States, but this is a very unique place for bears to be out in the Chihuahuan Desert. Learning how they behave and move in a very unique ecosystem is really interesting, especially to me and to the managers out here that are making decisions for managing black bears in the state.
Chris R
On that property owner side of things, how do you try and help the landowner balance these concerns? Because what’s the upside of somebody, a ranch owner, having a bunch of bears running through there?
Matthew H
Well, to start off, it means you have good habitat.
Chris R
OK. So it’s healthy, right?
Matthew H
Yeah, exactly. They could kind of be an indicator species in that sense. But you know, as the rest of the United States knows, bears are can also be a problem. They can get into your dumpsters, they can do stuff like that. That’s another big push that BRI is trying to make. Partnering of course with Texas Parks and Wildlife and trying to up the awareness that bears are returning to west Texas. As a community, we need to start practicing bear-wise practices. Keep our trash inside, clean up our grills, decrease the attractants that are on the landscape.
Chris R
We living in the middle of Alpine are not gonna be thinking about.
Matthew H
Especially since bears haven’t been here exactly 30-40 years.
Chris R
Exactly, that’s something that folks might want to come to in the evening, to the screening in the evening and learn a little bit about. Because we want to keep all the citizens of Alpine safe, all the human citizens of Alpine, but we also want to keep those bears safe.
Matthew H
Exactly.
Chris R
Yeah, excellent. Well, so then now that we have the overview of BRI and what you do, then let’s go dive back into this day on Saturday, February 3rd starting in the morning. We’re sort of opportunistically tying this in with something you guys are already doing, which you just started these guided hikes up Hancock Hill and now everybody in Alpine knows what Hancock Hill is, some of the listeners might not. There’s a small network of hiking trails in the hill behind Sul Ross State University and that’s open to the public at any time. It’s a great hike no matter what. This is a little different because you’ve got a guide, you got some interpretation.
Bill A
Right. Yeah, that’s a great way to put it. It is interpretation. So many folks are interested in hiking Alpine at Hancock Hill and some of us in BRI developed kind of a strategy to focus that and and to include subject matter experts, if you will, on monthly hikes. Typically the first or second hike of each month will have a one to two hour hike with anybody that’s interested and they’ve got to go online and sign up. We can only take a dozen people at a time because otherwise the group gets too large for an effective interpretive hike. But our first one will be this weekend, January 13th, and then January 16th we’ll advertise on our website the hike scheduled for February 3rd.
Chris R
What is that web address?
Bill A
The web address is going to be sulross.edu and on the top of the page there will be a link called Community. You click the community link and scroll down to hikes at Hancock Hill. I believe it’s it’s pretty intuitive. Once you get the community link, it’ll say guided hike.
Chris R
OK so sulross.edu and look for community. Scroll down, look for guided hike.
Bill A
Exactly. Basically, we require a sign-up because it is popular and we take the the first 12 that sign up. We meet with them in the morning about 9:00, introduce, and we typically have two to three guides per weekend. We’ll introduce the guides, some will be there just for general information, and then we’ll introduce the subject matter experts. February 3rd, Doctor Justin French who’s our big game specialist, will be the subject matter expert for that weekend.
So those that are coming to the Wildlife Day in Alpine have an opportunity Tuesday, January 16th to go to the link we just talked about and sign up for the hike on February 3rd. Now, very popular and you might not get picked, but the the hill is public. Anybody can go at any time. But for an interpretive hike we do have to limit it to a dozen people.
Chris R
You bet. Now as we were discussing the plans for this day, we realized this is already a popular event. The first ever one that you did, it was overflow registration. We’re expecting that’s going to fill up fast.
Then we talked to Doctor Maureen French, who’s with Borderlands Research. I talked to Maureen yesterday about the possibility of doing a bird event because she is certainly a subject matter expert on that topic. She thought that the best place was the Kokernot Lodge area. Alpine Creek runs between the Kokernot Municipal Park and Sul Ross property, it’s kind of all through Sul Ross property. Pretty much the same time that the hike is going on, there’s also going to be an interpretive experience available about the birds, specifically what’s happening in that quasi riparian, let’s say area and mostly dry but a creek corridor. For all the information about this day, we’re going to have a landing page at visitalpinetx.com/wildlifeday. All one word, so visitalpinetx.com/wildlifeday, keep going back to that. I’ll be adding to it as we learn more. But that’s how you can find out where to go to sign up for the birding thing. We’ll go from there.
So there’s our morning. Now if you don’t make it to the hike, but you’re really interested in learning about the big game information that Doctor French has, I think our plan is for him to be at the panel in the evening as well. So don’t feel like you’re completely missing out if you don’t make it.
Bill A
There’s a lot of opportunity to learn throughout the day. To back up a little bit on the bird tour, I’m sure birders know, but bring your binoculars, right? Be prepared for the bird tour there.
Chris R
Yes and if you’re thinking about hiking Hancock Hill, bring good shoes, long, thick pants, you know, I mean, this is the desert. It’s not a super difficult trail, but it’s rocky and it can get kind of steep so.
Bill A
For the hill hike, that’ll be January 16th, as soon as we have the first 12 that sign up, we’re going to e-mail that group and say you’ve been picked for the February 3rd hike and bring your water, bring your hiking shoes and then we’ll have three alternates. If any of the 12 back out, then we’ll contact the next three alternates to keep that full. The same goes for the birding too, bring some good solid shoes, boots, binoculars.
Chris R
It’s not going to be as rigorous, should be a little more mobility-accessible terrain there, but yeah, you’ll still be outside,. The hike, the birding event, those things should end around 11, 11:30, something like that. In the noon hour, we’re looking at, hoping to do a lunch and learn thing, but we’ll have some presentations from some of the researchers and I’m imagining Matthew you may be one of those.
Matthew H
Very well might be, yeah.
Chris R
It’s a little teaser you’re studying bears now. What’s the latest, what was the last time you went out in the field looking for bears and what happened?
Matthew H
We actually have some traps open for bears right now, which is kind of odd because most places in the United States, they’d all be sleeping, right? That’s right here in the desert, this is kind of one of those unique things about this landscape is these bears don’t den as much as they do in other places.
Chris R
They do some, but not as much.
Matthew H
Yeah, they do tend to den a lot later in the year. Average entrance for last winter was about mid January. So in other places of the United States, maybe November or December, but here it was mid January. The average duration of denning was only about a month and a half longer for females, right? For males especially, longer for females that have cubs, right, you know, since they’re obligated to be there with their cubs in their den until the cubs are big enough to leave.
Chris R
Aren’t usually the cubs actually born in the den? Or is that true?
Matthew H
Yep. Absolutely. So females will go into the den pregnant and will give birth while they’re in hibernation in their den. Then they’ll wake up in the spring and they’ll have a couple little cubs there.
Chris R
The Cubs stay with them for a couple of years. Is that right?
Matthew H
About a year and a half. This is what the average number is. They have one winter with toddlers is basically what you’re saying, they’ll have one winter with babies, and then one winter they’ll den with their Cubs again the next winter, and then that next summer they’ll kick them off. Gotcha.
Chris R
Yeah, cool. Matthew will probably be one of the presenters at that talk, and then one or two others to talk about different…
Bill A
We’ll likely try to have a bear, maybe a large a big game animal, somebody talking about mule deer or pronghorn. To us, restoration, habitat health is really important. It’s vital to support every living thing. So we’ll probably have someone there may be talking about range management or restoration or soil restoration. Hydrology. Maybe not as fun to talk about as bears, but probably the most important. The most important, right. They’ll all be well informed as the the students or professional. BRI attracts really quality students because I think we all know Alpine in the area offers such a unique opportunity in Texas for studying big game creatures. We just don’t have places around the state that sustain or or have habitats to support these kinds of populations of wildlife out here. So I think we’ve got it. We’ve developed a good reputation working with private land owners, working with state agencies, federal agencies, and we’re able to attract quality students. I think whoever’s able to attend the lunch and learn will appreciate that time because they’re going to learn quite a bit about what we’re actually doing right now. I don’t want to push websites too much, but in the meantime, before the field day or the wildlife day, anybody who’s interested could go to our website bri.sulross.edu. We’ve got a publications link there and current graduate student link there. They can read about some of the research beyond what Matt’s talking about today. They can read about all the research we’re doing currently, and the recent research we’ve just finished. There’s a lot of publications online that people get to know BRI.
Chris R
Excellent. So then we’ve had lunch, we’ve learned, and our evening program is going to be at the Granada Theater. The doors are going to open at 4:30. We’ve got the afternoon to fill. We’ve been reaching out to some downtown merchants and artists. We’ve got 3 who’ve already agreed to do something special and we’ll add more as we learn more. I know that right directly across from the Holland Hotel, there’s a brand new shop called Javelina’s on Holland. And if you don’t know, that’s wildlife all over. You know the Javelina. Those are our Alpine neighbors. They’re coming through down my driveway multiple times a day, but that is a new version of the Javelinas and Hollyhocks store that was in Fort Davis. There’s a lot of wildlife themed material. I understand they’re going to have some live music and and some snacks and specials and things like that. That’ll be going through the afternoon. Then at Gallery On The Square, Doctor Patricia Harvison, who was, I believe, one of the founders of Borderlands Research Institute. Did she retire from that position? (Yeah.) Because she’s now spending a lot of her time doing artwork. She’s exhibiting now at Gallery on the Square. She just confirmed to me today as we’re recording this that she’ll be at the gallery that afternoon and talking to folks about conservation and art and their overlap and what her mission is for this new activity in her life. So don’t miss that.
And then at Front Street Books, I believe they’ll have some specials on nature themed books, but I don’t have the detail on that yet. I actually will be there. I did a series of comic books about the wildlife in the area, so I’ll be signing my comic books and doing drawings of – tell me what animal you want me to draw, I might have to look it up on Google image search for reference, but I’ll do it. In Front Street, we put up a sign at the front that says there’ll be 5 minute drawings. So I’ll have to do them fast. I’ll be there from 1:00 to 3:00. The bookstore closes at 3. Also on that wildlife art side of things, one thing that I’ll be launching during this this event is an art fundraiser that will benefit Borderlands Research Institute. I just finished a painting of a black bear mother and her cubs playing. I’ll be presenting that original painting and some prints and half of the proceeds will go to the research fund at Borderlands Research. We’ll put some information on that on the website I think.
Bill A
First of all, thank you. That’s a great gift. We appreciate it and I think you’re nominating yourself for BRI’s Artist Spotlight. BRI does appreciate artists and recognize them periodically. Artists obviously inspire folks just like our landscapes do. So capturing those and capturing wildlife, that’s another value, it’s community engagement and we appreciate and support local artists. Thank you for thinking of it.
Chris R
Oh, it’s my pleasure because what drives my wildlife artwork is the learning. I love it. It’s much more fun to me to draw something that’s referring to what they really do rather than just what they look like. That’ll be happening through the afternoon and then we come into the evening and that’s where the Deep In the Heart film screening and our panel discussion will happen. Deep in the Heart came out a couple of years ago.
Bill A
I want to say 2018, yeah.
Chris R
Oh, so it’s a little while longer. It screened at the Rangra Theater when it when it first came out. There was a tour that I think Texas Parks and Wildlife partnered with that toured the state with its premiere run. There’s been another screening or two at at more private events in Alpine. We loved the film and wanted to wanted to share it. So that sort of started the whole Wildlife Day idea. We’ll be screening that film and the photography in this movie. How did they do it? Every, every, every little segment is like, how in the world did they get that?
Bill A
Yep. I agree, yeah, another form of art that inspires people. That’s why I’m here today, right deep in the heart. Those are those are forms of art that really do inspire people. What a great thing to celebrate.
Chris R
If you haven’t seen it, just to see the photography of these animals, it’s worth your time for sure, but then we’ll follow up. A lot of the listeners on our local broadcast may have been at the screening of the Second Chance short film that HEB funded. BRI did a screening of that and a panel and talked about the recolonization of this region by the black bears. If you made it to that panel, come out to this one because we’ll get the latest, and what we’ve learned since then. And if you didn’t make it to that one, if you’ll have a whole lot of of information.
Bill A
Maybe a little more depth from the lunch and learn we can we can add to that with the panel discussion as well.
Chris R
If we’re lucky, we might even have some of the folks, at least one maybe, who worked on the film that can answer some questions.
Bill A
That’d be a great panel.
Chris R
Yeah, I’m excited.
Bill A
I love it. Anything that brings people to Alpine to celebrate Alpine and the surrounding landscape and the people here, we’re glad to help.
Chris R
Between BRI Dixon Water Foundation and you know the the long history of CDRI that then became the Nature Center and all that, not to mention the parks that we have, there’s such a robust group of people that are learning about trying to help all of our neighboring species. It feels really good to me to try and celebrate that and to just get some appreciation for our non human neighbors in the Trans Pecos.
Bill A
That’s right.
Chris R
Well, anything else crosses your mind about BRI that you want to let people know that we haven’t covered?
Bill A
I don’t guess so. Probably what’s helpful for the wildlife day. So the BRI website again it’s bri.sulross.edu.
Chris R
And then sulross.edu, go to community and look for that drop down for the guided hike and that’s going to open on this January 16th.
Bill A
We’ll post the sign up for the February 3rd hike.
Chris R
It’s going to go fast, so jump on that if you’re interested, but know that there is the birding opportunity in the morning as well. And then for everything about the event as we as it develops, we’ll be posting that at visitalpinetx.com/wildlifeday. All one word. Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Bill, so much.
Bill A
Thank you all for having us. We really appreciate it and we’re looking forward to it.
Chris R
As always, thank you for joining us for Heart of the Big Bend every other week. You can get more information about Heart of the Big Bend at visitalpinetx.com/podcast or search for Heart of the Big Bend on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast apps. And for all of you guys, listening to us on KALP/KVLF radio in Alpine, we’ll see you in two Fridays.
Outro
You’ve been listening to the heart of the Big Bend. Hope you liked what you heard and that you’ll find the time to experience all that the Big Ben has to offer. See you soon, partner.