Texas Snowbell in bloom
The Texas snowbell (Styrax texana) has long been recognized as Texas’ most seriously threatened native plant species, and was officially declared as endangered in the federal Register in 1984. The snowbell is a beautiful understory tree that inhabits the limestone cliffs of the southwestern corner of the Edwards Plateau. This delicate, heart-shaped leafed tree grows 10-15 feet and blooms white bell-shaped flowers in mid-April. Found mostly on cliffs associated with deeply cut waterways, only 87 plants from seven widely scattered populations were known to exist when this species was listed as endangered by the State of Texas in January 1987. The problem , scientists believe, is in the location of the trees; leaning out from high cliffs, most seeds ripen and fall into streams below and are carried away. The seedlings that do survive are quickly eaten by deer, wild goats, and particularly by the great numbers of sheep known to be in the counties of its native habitat of Edwards, Val Verde and Real Counties in Texas.
The Texas snowbell’s recovery objective is to be “delisted”, and its criteria are to improve “each center to the point of containing a minimum of five populations, one of which should be viable and comprised of at least 100 individuals.” These individuals should represent a mix of age classes, with a ratio of approximating 2:7:1 (reproductive adults, juveniles, and seedlings.) The major objectives of this plan include:
- protecting known populations and develop management plans,
- establish and maintain seed bank,
- gather biological information necessary for management decisions,
- search for new populations,
- evaluate and revise plans for reintroduction of new populations at suitable sites, and
- establish a “Recovery Team, comprised of landowner/managers, agency personnel, horticulturists, and other stakeholders.
Because all but two of the known populations of the Texas snowbell occur on private land, it was imperative from the very beginning of the recovery process to include private landowners. But due to paranoia and fears stemming from conflicts addressed earlier in this paper, cooperation between private landowners and biologists was minimal and new properties having the snowbell were slow to be identified. Landowners feared that finding the endangered plant on their property would surely bring about a hostile federal government take-over, thus research, experiments and reintroductions of the Texas snowbell were limited and difficult.
J. David Bamberger, as a personal quest, began landowner contacts and relationships with private landowners who knew that they had this tree on their properties. Mr. Bamberger began collecting seeds from these plants and for 10 years has been growing and planting these rees around the Bamberger Ranch. Several attempts by many botanists have been unsuccessful at growing this tree from seed, but Mr. Bamberger’s success rate has been good. Over the years, more and more landowners allowed him access to their properties to search for new trees that were unidentified by federal botanists and agents. And eventually, the government took notice of Mr. Bamberger’s success in an area that many had failed.
In 2003, Mr. Bamberger and his staff gained confidence with those who oversee endangered species at the federal level. The Bamberger Ranch wrote a five year plan, to be executed in phases. The recovery plan states that within the next five years 500 plants will be reintroduced into counties of its natural habitat on cooperating private landowners’ properties. Seeds collected from existing sites will be grown and potted and kept separate from each other so that hybridization of genetic material will be unlikely to occur. Records will be kept as to where each plant came from and will either be reintroduced on the same property from where the seeds came from or will be introduced to a new piece of property located in the same watershed.
In 2003, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve was awarded funding by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation for Phase One of the recovery plan, thereby making Bamberger Ranch the lead institution tasked with saving this tree from extinction. Landowners cooperated, seeds were collected, and several dozen plants were reintroduced into their native watershed locations. All trees were protected with corral fencing so that deer, sheep, cattle and goats would not predate on the new seedlings. In 2004, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve received funding from the Landowner Incentive Program through Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for Phase Two. More seeds were collected, more landowners joined the reintroduction team and more trees were planted. Currently, there are 146 successful plants ain their proper watersheds.
Texas snowbell hunters
Every year, the Bamberger Ranch staff, along with a corps of dedicated volunteers makes at least three site visits to 13 different properties that own a combined acreage of 70,000. In April, the purpose of visitation is to scout for new Texas snowbell plants already growing on the properties. In July, visitations are for seed collection from known plants and all seeds are categorized and recorded for their parent tree location and watershed determination. A percentage of the seed collection is distributed to seed banks and cooperating institutions, the San Antonio Botanical Center, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Seeds kept by the Bamberger Ranch are stratified and potted after germination. Seedlings and young trees are then assigned for reintroduction to their proper watershed location in late October and early November.
Both grant awards from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the Landowner Incentive Program have assisted with the costs that the Bamberger Ranch Preserve incur for recovering this plant. Costs remain, however, as there are still remaining hundreds of successful plantings to go before “recovery” can be declared by scientists and federal agents.
Article in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine about Selah’s efforts to save the Texas bluebell.
