Is there a new genetic strain of Couchs Spadefoot Toad in Midland?
July, 16, 2000 A number of parks in Midland are built in old playas. During a rainstorm, the 15- to 30-foot-deep swales are filled up quickly. In the 24 hours following a storm, these flood retention reservoirs will be pumped as dry as possible. When I was a child, the land that is now known as Grafa Park was almost 2 miles out of town. The watershed for that playa came from then unused farm and ranch land that developers had obtained in anticipation of a predicted oil boom in the early 1960s. What is now Rusk Elementary was a maize field, while only a dozen or so houses had been built north of Golf Course Road. In those days, there were no pumps in the playa and water would stand for a month or more after a good rain. I spent many hours there, wading around, catching toads the first evening after a storm. During the ensuing weeks before the playa dried out completely, I spent parts of almost every day catching tadpoles, fairy shrimp, tadpole shrimp, dragonfly larvae, and water beetles
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