Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

In Galveston Bay, some volunteers are gardening oysters. But they’re not looking to eat their produce.

(Water sounds)…We’ve got to rinse off some of the muck.

Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Bill Rodney pulls up one of the mesh bags that hang off some of the private piers in San Leon.

The pier owners filled these bags with oyster shells and put them in the water at the beginning of the summer. Now, they are teeming with crabs, shrimp, small fish and baby oyster.

Rodney says none of these little critters will be staying in the bags.

Probably in the late fall we’ll pull up all these bags and then we’ll take them out to the reefs that we built to give those little communities a jump start.

It’s like seeing the reef. These reefs aren’t far from shore or the avid anglers of San Leon.

This is a big fishing community. Their motto is they are a drinking community with a fishing problem. These reefs will create structure that attracts fish. By having the reefs close to their pier, they won’t have to go out so far to find fish, and hopefully it will improve the recreational fishing around here.

Volunteers can’t eat the oysters they grow because the water close to shore doesn’t meet water quality standards, but these oysters will help repopulate reefs in the rest of the bay. And if that’s the case, this fishing community is more than happy to help.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

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This is Passport to Texas

On a recent day in East Galveston Bay, there are twelve boats driving back and forth in an area that is about the size of 70 football fields. Most of the boats are oyster and shrimping boats.

But Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Jennie Rohrer (Roar) says they aren’t fishing today. They’re helping restore oyster reefs that were destroyed by Hurricane Ike two years ago.

These boats are pulling what we are calling bagless dredges over an existing oyster reef that was covered up from sediment from Hurricane Ike. So instead of actually pulling up the oysters from the bottom, they’re just bringing the shells from underneath the sediment up on to the top of the existing sediment.

Oyster larvae need to attach to a hard surface in order to grow. So biologists hope that by exposing the shells, oysters will attach to them and slowly reestablish the reefs.

And Rohrer says oysters are a crucial part of this community’s livelihood.

Galveston Bay is very important in oyster harvest. And so a lot of money, a lot of effort, and a lot of people are hired through the commercial fishing industry.

East Galveston Bay is currently closed to commercial fishing to let the oysters grow and reproduce. But if all goes well, in two years, the oysters here should be ready for the catch.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Oyster Restoration: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

In 2006, a massive wildfire swept through Amarillo, covering over 900,000 acres of land.

Despite concerns of habitat loss, Texas Tech University researchers recently discovered that quail populations have rebounded quite well.

Basically what we found was in two years post fire, we had normal quail movement, normal nesting success and normal survival of hens.

Head researcher Dr. Brad Dabbert says the research shows biologists need to keep monitoring quail, but they don’t need to worry too much.

It helps us to understand that if wildfires do occur and are large scale that we don’t necessarily need to panic about long-term reductions in populations.

He says, in the some areas that have a lot of vegetation, controlled wildfires can create good quail habitat.

Quail are considered to like areas that do have some bare ground below the canopy of plants. They like the weeds that are encouraged by fire at the right time of year.

And controlled fires can also lessen the possibility of a wildfire. Still, wildfires can be hard to predict. Like much of nature, we’re constantly learning how to live with and manage them while keeping people and wildlife safe and sound.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Amarillo Wildfires Four Years Later: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

You may be familiar with our state park system, but not as familiar with our system of wildlife management areas. Learn about them this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS show; here’s series producer, Don Cash.

We’ve got them all over the state and they serve a variety of purposes: research, education and hunting. And. We’re going to take a look at just what all goes on, on a WMA.

August…if you don’t know about our Wildlife Management Areas, watch the show, and we’ll let you know what the WMAs are all about.

Find a station near you when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

 

 TPW TV: Wildlife Management Areas: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

[Nats aquarium] Pet stores like Rivers and Reefs in Austin sell fish and plant species from all over the world.

11—Most of your Tetris species are from South America. Even your average gold-fish comes from China. Some of your Amazon sword plants obviously come from South America from the Amazon River.

Manager Rachel Pohl says that’s why people should be careful not to dump their aquariums in rivers or lakes or even flush live fish down the toilet.

08—Some of these fish get into our rivers and start eating our fingerlings in our rivers, and it starts unbalancing the native population because they don’t have a predator here.

And it’s not just fish. TPWD aquatic habitat biologist Howard Elder says giant salvinia started out as a decorative plant for aquariums…but it didn’t stay there.

09—Giant salvinia was found in a Houston school yard in 1998. It has since been found in 17 public reservoirs.

And it’s not pretty anymore.

10—The plant can produce dense mats that actually block out sunlight and displace native vegetation and fish species as well as many wildlife species.

So do Texas a favor. Have fun with your aquariums. Just don’t dump them. Many pet stores will take back unwanted fish or at least tell you where you can take them.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

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