The Texas Department of Transportation has released a new video on Wurzbach Bat Cave, highlighting how the state partnered with TCMA, a consulting firm, and others to save endangered species.
Preserving and restoring cave habitat can save taxpayer dollars, decrease flooding, and replenish drinking water. That’s how TxDOT approached the balancing act that it has between reducing highway congestion while minimizing impact to natural resources.
In San Antonio’s rapidly expanding west side, where State Loop 1604 meets Texas Highway 151, invertebrates on the Federal Endangered Species List were found inside caves and karst features as highway workers tried to build bridges and intersections. What happened next?
The result was a success story documented in a YouTube “Beyond the Road” video produced by TxDOT entitled, “Innovative Mitigation Preserves Cave Habitat.” Rachael Lindsey and Jim Kennedy, TCMA president and vice-president, accompanied TMCA Director Ethan Perrine and others to San Antonio for the filming, which also included interviews of biologists from Zara Environmental LLC.
To complete the highway construction, TxDOT had to provide mitigation under federal and state law. That mitigation led to the purchase of Wurzbach Bat Cave, which was deeded to Texas Cave Management Association.
The same endangered invertebrates at the highway construction site were also present in Wurzbach. So TxDOT bought the cave to offset for impacts to the endangered karst species at its construction site.
It was the first time TxDOT had purchased property in a residential area for highway mitigation.
The mitigation project also included habitat restoration, biological surveys, community outreach, and the development of a long-term management plan.
Rachael said TCMA exists to “acquire, protect, and manage caves in Texas, and we promote research and education and facilitate access to the caves that we work with.”
Jim said the cave is hydrologically important because it drains a large area of the neighborhood, providing a natural conduit to replenishing the aquifer. Monitoring and restoring the cave may encourage bats to return there.
“At one time, it had 20,000 to 40,000 bats roosting here in the summer months,” Jim said.
Key to the mitigation’s success occurred when genetic sequencing at Zara confirmed that the eyeless Cicurina spider collected from the highway site was the federally listed Cicurina vespera — one of the rarely encountered species TxDOT was working to conserve.
When the path of roadway construction intersected with cave-dwelling endangered species, highway mitigation took a new turn. Other potential opportunities for cave management may exist in the area.