Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

On August 14, Texas gets its newest paddling trail located at Lake Arlington.

We’re very excited. This will be our first lake trail. And, not only that, it will be our first urban trail.

Ron Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is part of the paddling trail team. The new 10.9 mile trail hugs the shoreline of Lake Arlington, and is a partnership between the Arlington and Fort Worth Parks and Recreations departments.

The cities actually split right there on the lake. So, it’s a neat partnership for us and for them.

Smith was part of the team that surveyed the proposed site for the Lake Arlington Paddling Trail.

You know, one of the things we do here is we’re providing and improving public access to waterways around the state. So, when we go out, we look certainly at the access point. Does it need improvement? Do we need an additional one? We like for our trails to be between four and twelve miles.

What to expect when you put in at this new trail….that’s tomorrow.

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

 

 Lake Arlington Paddling Trail, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The Hunt Texas Online Connection is a high tech way for hunters to find landowners with hunting opportunities.

We feel like hunters need all the help they can get to find opportunities, and so that’s one of the reasons we’re doing this.

Linda Campbell oversees the state’s Private Lands and Public Hunting program. The Internet was an obvious choice when deciding how to match landowners and hunters.

Well, we know that people use the Internet to find all kinds of opportunities. And more and more that is the tool people use to plan vacations and plan trips. And so, this is just one more way that we can connect the providers of opportunities with those seeking them.

Hunters may review current opportunities on the website.

As a hunter, you search the site by the type of game you’re interested in, the way you wish to harvest, the location, the county, and other attributes. So, you can do all of this and then narrow it down that way.

To contact a landowner about a listing, hunters must create an account with a user name and password.

Find a link to the Hunt Texas Online Connection at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration program…providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Hunt Texas--Hunters: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Hunt Texas—The Basics is a first-of-its-kind skill-building workshop being offered to new hunters this fall by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The purpose of the workshop is to develop responsible and successful hunters who recognize the importance of wildlife and habitat conservation.

Linda Campbell is Program Director of the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. The workshop is an effort to support the hunting tradition in Texas, and to recruit new outdoorsmen, as these conservationist help sustain our natural resources.

In Texas, we’re doing pretty well holding our own with the number of hunters. But, we’re also concerned with changes in the population of Texas, more urbanization and people moving away from the land, and the effect of that on the ability to continue the hunting heritage of our state.

Workshop participants learn about firearm selection game processing, safety, ethics and much more.

We’re in the early stages of planning, but right now we are going to try to provide some firearms and ammunition for those that do not have firearms available to them.

The first workshop is September 19 & 20 at the Justin Hurst WMA. Participants will end the workshop with a mentored dove hunt. Find more information, including fees, at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Mentored Hunting, 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Vandivier family, owners of Llano Spring Ranch in Edwards County, is this year’s winner of the Leopold Conservation Award for Texas.

The ranch is over 51-hundred acres, and when they first purchased it, probably 80 or 90 percent of it, was covered with massive stands of re-growth cedar.

That’s wildlife consultant Fielding Harwell. The award, from the Sand County Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife, is part of the department’s Lone Star Land Steward Awards program.

(chainsaw) Tom has spent a horrendous amount of time clearing cedar. His entire family takes part in the ranching operation and just take all of these challenges with great zeal. (hawk call)

Tom Vandivier, an attorney who works near Austin, spends weekends with his family working on the ranch.

My family and I have cleared approximately 27-hundred acres out of the 51-hundred acres we have here in order to provide more food for the wildlife, enhance the water resources, and overall just bring this ranch into good productivity.

The Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation by private landowners.

Tomorrow—the impact of the improvements.

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

 

 Lone Star Land Stewards: Llano Springs, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The key to healthy habitat and wildlife populations rests in the hands of landowners. In Texas, we honor their skillful management.

Lone Star Land Steward is an award program where we recognize those landowners in Texas who are doing an exemplary job of managing their habitats and their wildlife.

Linda Campbell oversees the state’s Private Lands and Public Hunting program.

We have all kinds of focus on these landowners. We have a great diversity of people. We have a regional award for each of the ten eco-regions. And then we have an overall award, the Leopold Conservation Award, for the overall statewide land steward.

Nominations for the awards opened June first, and will continue until the end of November.

Nominations can come from the landowners themselves, or those that assist them. We will take nominations from any member of the public. All of those nominations are evaluated, and we do site visited on those. We just want to make sure that we hold up those who are doing such an excellent job managing the resources of Texas.

Find a list of current winners and a link to nomination forms at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…funding the Private Lands and Public Hunting programs… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 Lone Star Land Steward Nominations: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download