Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop County has hired Roxanne Hernandez as its first administrator to oversee management of its innovative habitat conservation plan aimed at protecting the endangered Houston toad in the Lost Pines area, mostly east of Bastrop and north of the Colorado River.
Hernandez holds a wildlife management degree and has been working for the Lower Colorado River Authority as a right of way acquisition manager, said Pct. 2 County Commissioner Clara Beckett.
Hernandez was in the news earlier this year when she helped organize a non-profit group to provide volunteer support for the Bastrop County Animal Shelter.
After years of study, debate and research the citizen-driven habitat conservation plan for the Houston toad in Bastrop County was approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, earlier this year. The county budget for FY 2009 includes funds for plan administration.