Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

A weekend with Texas Outdoor Family introduces tricks of the camping trade and activities that families can enjoy together outdoors. One ever popular event is geocaching.

Geocaching is using GPS units to find hidden treasures. It’s kind of a fun way to get outside, and kids absolutely love it. We got to go with something that was like a telephone but it wasn’t. It told us where to go so that we could go find a green box and there’s something inside it. I got a badge out of the green box. It was a picture of a fish. It was cool.

Dan Hayes is the outdoor education specialist who led the Naredo family on their first geocaching excursion. They found that it’s not the plunder, but its pursuit that matters.

People have hidden these caches which are essentially boxes with little, cheap toys in them that people go find. The cool thing is the trading piece of it. You take one but you put one, so there’s always treasure in that box. Those little containers or wherever you find it, they told us that they disguised them and some could’ve been like inside of a soda can or some could’ve been on a magnet that they stuck to a rail fence. I mean, they’re really well hidden because they don’t really want them to find it, but at the same time they want you to find it.

Start your hunt at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Geocahing: Fun in Hidden Places Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Parks and Wildlife TV producer Lee Smith says he learned an important lesson from nature when shooting the documentary Texas–The State of Flowing Water.

It has given me a new sense of patience. I went down to the bay—it was basically a travel day the real shoot was the next day—so I was going around getting shots on this back bay of a sunset. And it was a horrible day; it was overcast; no birds were down yet, so there was nothing like that I could shoot. And the sun was going down, and I wanted to eat…and so I blew it off.

And I was driving up to the restaurant and as I was getting out of the car, the sun popped in my eye. And I looked over and the sun had come out of the clouds for just about five minutes. And if I would have stayed there, and been patient, and waited for the day to unfold, I would have gotten probably the title shot of the show. But I didn’t. So, now whenever I’m out there and things aren’t looking great, I say, you’ve got to wait it out. You’ve got to wait for nature to reveal herself.

Catch the documentary Texas the State of Flowing Water Thursday, February 12 at 8 pm on PBS stations. Visit texasthestateofwater.org for complete listings.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Lee's Life Lessons from Nature Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

The Federal Sport Fish Restoration program—funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel—funds a variety of conservation projects in Texas. Last year Texas Parks and Wildlife received $20-million from the program.

That funding went to support sport fisheries management, sport fish stocking in Texas waters, fish habitat conservation, enhancement and restoration efforts, and aquatic education.

Timothy Birdsong coordinates the Sport Fish program for Parks and Wildlife.

Fifteen percent of that program is used to perform improvement to boat ramps and other boating access facilities around the state.

Birdsong says this is a successful conservation model—a user pay user benefit program.

The taxes that you contribute as anglers, and as boaters, to this pot of money, is used to improve the resource for you…to provide additional opportunities…provide additional access to these waters. So, it is vital that we continue to have the support of the anglers and the boating community to be able to maintain the program at the level that it is currently.

See how Parks and Wildlife spends these funds when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE to see how Texas spends the money collected through the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

Sport Fish Restoration Program: Conservation Dollars Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

We regularly mention the Sport Fish Restoration Program as a Passport sponsor, but you may not know what it is.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program is a partnership between anglers, boaters, the fishing and boating industry, Texas Parks and Wildlife, other state fish and game agencies across the country and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Timothy Birdsong coordinates the program for Parks and Wildlife. This federal program collects taxes on fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

This funding is distributed across the country to states based on a formula that includes land and water area and number of resident licensed anglers in that state. We had over one million recreational anglers fish Texas waters in 2007. You take that number along with our total land and water area and we position Texas to receive the maximum available apportionment under this program, which is five percent of the total amount of money that is available which is about four hundred million nationwide.

In 2008, Texas Parks and Wildlife received approximately twenty million dollars from this fund, and tomorrow we learn how the money was spent.

It went to support sport fisheries management and sport fish stocking in Texas waters.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Intro to the Sport Fish Restoration Program Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Catfish have a face only a mother and angler could love. Texas Parks and Wildlife television series producer Alan Fisher hooked up with fishermen who were catching cats.

In the story we visit Lake Buchanan in Central Texas, and then Lake Conroe in Southeast Texas. I went out with two folks who target big catfish. And, the folks on Lake Conroe actually landed a thirty-five pounder that night. And, thirty five pounds is a lot of fish when you try and lift it into a boat.

[Groaning and fish flopping] He’s not very happy about all this.

Alan says something called jug fishing is a popular among cat anglers.

[Chuckles] Well, the jug fishing is something I’ve always known about. People take an old milk jug and tie a string around it, and [put a] hook on it, and throw it out in the water.

[With a] jug, you’re increasing your odds a whole lot, because you can put up to five hooks on a jug. It’s a blast. [laughs] I love it.

Catfish are kind of a fun fish. Some people like to see them at the end of a rod, some people like to see them on the dinner plate. But they’re a fun fish any way you choose to enjoy them.

Thanks, Alan. Go to passporttotexas.org for a listing of PBS stations that air the series.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas Parks and Wildlife on PBS and Cable

Times and dates are subject to change, especially during PBS membership drives.

• Amarillo, KACV-TV, Channel 2: October–March, Saturday 6 p.m.
• Austin, KLRU-TV, Channel 18: Monday, 12:30 p.m.; Friday 5:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. KLRU2, Cable 20: Tuesday, 11 p.m.
• Bryan-College Station, KAMU-TV, Channel 15: Sunday, 5 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Corpus Christi, KEDT-TV, Channel 16: Sunday, 12 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, KERA-TV, Channel 13: October–March, Saturday, 6 p.m. Also serving Abilene, Denton, Longview, Marshall, San Angelo, Texarkana, Tyler, Wichita Falls and Sherman.
• El Paso, KCOS-TV, Channel 13: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Harlingen, KMBH-TV, Channel 60: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving McAllen, Mission and Brownsville.
• Houston, KUHT-TV, Channel 8: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.; Friday 1:30 p.m. Also serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Texas City and Victoria.
• Killeen, KNCT-TV, Channel 46: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving Temple.
• Lubbock, KTXT-TV, Channel 5: Saturday, 10 a.m.
• Odessa-Midland, KPBT-TV, Channel 36: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• San Antonio and Laredo, KLRN-TV, Channel 9: Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Waco, KWBU-TV, Channel 34: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Portales, New Mexico, KENW-TV, Channel 3: Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
• The New York Network, NYN, Thursday 8:30 p.m.; Saturday 2:30 p.m. Serving the Albany area.

Cable

Texas Parks & Wildlife can also be seen on a variety of government, educational and access cable channels in the following communities: Abilene, Allen, Atlanta, Boerne, Collin County Community College, Coppell, Del Mar College, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Irving, McKinney, North Richland Hills, Plano, Rogers State University, Texarkana College, The Colony, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls. Check your local listings for days and times.

TPW TV: Catching Cats Play Now | Play in Popup | Download