[traffic noise]
This state and the world in general is becoming more and more urban.
Typically when I tell people I'm an urban wildlife biologist
they say things like,
'do you study rats and cockroaches?'
There's a misconception that cities are not the place for wildlife
and it's just not true.
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I think it's a great surprise to most people
that there is such a position as an urban wildlife biologist.
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Urban wildlife biologists are kind of like the animals here in the city.
We're highly adaptable
and we take advantage of any opportunity that comes along.
THINK OF TEXAS WILDLIFE
AND YOU MIGHT NOT THINK OF HOUSTON, DALLAS OR EL PASO.
BUT SPENDING A DAY WITH BIOLOGISTS WHO WORK HERE
MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND.
Part of our job as an urban biologist
is to help urban residents
understand the wildlife that's living all around them.
Right down there?
Makes it more stable with the heavy side downů
ON A JUNE MORNING IN EASTERN EL PASO
URBAN BIOLOGIST LOIS BALIN
WORKS WITH A VOLUNTEER CREW
TO DIG
AND DIG
A HOLE IN THE DESERT.
Let's give it our first try, guys.
I think we're going to be a little off on this one.
THOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE SOME STRANGE PLUMBING PROJECT...
...very important here is that it all goes downhill.
THEY'RE ACTUALLY BUILDING A HOUSE
FOR A FAMILY OF OWLS.
We're making an artificial nest burrow for burrowing owls.
Yeah, yeah, further in...
This is an urban wildlife sanctuary park,
Rio Bosque Wetlands
and it's a place that we can provide more habitat for the owls.
BURROWING OWLS NEED THIS HOUSING ASSISTANCE
BECAUSE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE
ARE CALLING EL PASO HOME.
There's a lot of construction going on
and a lot of owls being displaced.
SO AS FAST AS FOLKS CAN BUILD THESE ARTIFICIAL BURROWS,
...I think we've got it now.
GRATEFUL OWLS ARE MOVING IN.
There will be a momma bird here
in less than a week.
Every one of these that we've put in
gets a 'no vacancy' sign in 5 days.
I believe that's good. Let's just cover the heck out of it.
Where are we going for breakfast?
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You never know what's going to happen on a certain day.
I got a call about a mountain lion in Central El Paso.
We definitely have mountain lions.
We've even had black bear come through El Paso
so that's why I go to investigate.
It's close to a high school.
We've got neighbors that have kids.
You know it's kind of scary seeing a mountain lion roaming around.
In less than a second it was gone.
LOIS GETS THE DETAILS OF THE SIGHTING
AND, WITH LOCAL GAME WARDENS,
SEARCHES FOR EVIDENCE.
I'm going to look for tracks
BUT THE ROCKY SOIL YIELDS NO CLUES.
I didn't find any physical evidence.
We're always looking for proof
so we can go to the next level if we need to.
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AS CITIES GROW, PEOPLE MAY THREATEN WILDLIFE
OR FEEL THREATENED BY WILDLIFE.
URBAN BIOLOGISTS WORK TO PREVENT
NEGATIVE ENCOUNTERS WITH NATURE
AND PROMOTE POSITIVE ONES,
EVEN IN THE STATE'S LARGEST CITY.
In 2005 the city of Houston Parks Department
realized that there was an opportunity for bat viewing
at Waugh Drive bridge here in Houston.
We didn't know anything about the colony that was here.
We knew they were Mexican free-tailed bats
but we didn't know much about them.
ENTER: THE BAT TEAM.
I organized a group of volunteers
called the Houston Bat Team.
We came down and started monitoring the bat population,
just making general observations.
It's full all the way.
THE VOLUNTEERS COLLECT ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AT THE BRIDGE,
ESTIMATE THE NUMBERS OF BATS THAT CALL IT HOME,
AND HELP THE PUBLIC BETTER UNDERSTAND BATS.
It's just packed.
See? Look how full it is.
Wow!
-Isn't that neat? -It's neat.
There's 250,000 to 300,000 bats that are in the bridge
We think some do migrate but there are some that stay.
...are they starting to do it?
And here they come!
So we can have bat viewing year-round here in Houston,
which is pretty cool when you think about a nature tourism opportunity.
This is a Mexican free-tailed bat.
They eat 2 and a half tons of insects every night.
So do you think they're beneficial to us?
Oh yeah, big time
People come down to the bridge
to get a better view, to get more information.
See them coming out?
And hopefully that same information helps change attitudes toward bats.
An urban species that they're living right next to
is actually a beneficial species as well.
When we have a nuisance wildlife situation
you can inevitably tie it back to humans misbehaving.
We try to get people not to feed urban wildlife species.
Inevitably that becomes a problem.
Hello, is this Peggy?
WHEN JOHN DAVIS SPEAKS TO FOLKS IN THE DALLAS AREA
HE STRESSES THE BEST WAY TO PROVIDE FOR WILDLIFE
IS TO LANDSCAPE WITH NATIVE PLANTS.
Can anyone name the native species in this photograph?
It always cracks me up when someone says, "the McDonald's!"
The grackle is the answer.
There's one, there's one, there's one, there's one.
Grackles absolutely love Bradford Pears.
How many of you want more grackles in the city, anybody?
So my point being, we're actually creating some of these very problems
that we would like to get rid of
and by planting native plants we can offset some of that.
GROWING NATIVE PLANTS IS CATCHING ON
IN SOME SURPRISING PLACES.
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Tierra Verde is a very, very unusual golf course.
From the very beginning they were designing
with wildlife habitat in mind.
Tierra Verde is the first municipal golf course in the world
to achieve Audubon international signature certification.
What they tried to do when they built the golf course
is preserve native habitat in corridors all over the facility
for wildlife to go throughout the property.
AND THE DESIGN DOESN'T JUST BENEFIT URBAN WILDLIFE.
We don't have to use as much water.
We don't have to use as much man hours to mow.
No pesticides, and that's great for us on an economic sense.
We keep a master list of all the species on the golf course.
[whack]
The biggest thing about the golf course is all the nature that's here.
It just makes it an enjoyable round to come out and play.
AND JOHN IS ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER SOME GUIDANCE
WHEN HE CAN HELP.
This is looking really nice
The urban biologists are such a resource for us.
...some Broomsedge Bluestem mixed in down thereů.
We have to find ways to develop
while still being able to keep wildlife habitat around
and I believe Tierra Verde is a really good example of doing that.
What kind of lizards are they?
It's a fence lizard.
The main focus is to make people aware
of habitat and wildlife
so that they will want to help protect it.
There he goesů
Everyday in any urban area we lose green space
where urban wildlife could be.
We can live in harmony if we try
and it's just a matter of learning how to make that happen.
Humans are the ones that make decisions
about what happens to wildlife and wildlife habitat in this state.
And so I feel very, very passionately
about the importance of the jobs that we're doing in these urban environments.
I love my job.
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