Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas Outdoor stories from Texas parks and Wildlife

When Scooter Cheatham convinced his anthropology professor to let him and a friend conduct an experiment—instead of writing a research paper—he had no idea it would lead to his lifelong passion.

What we proposed was that we go down to my grandmother’s ranch on the Guadalupe river near Concrete, Texas, and take with us replicas of some of these early cultures we’d been studying. We had mostly stone tools, deerskin clothing—we did the whole thing.

And you start looking around and the great diversity, the thing that supplies us all of our organic needs is rooted in the plant kingdom. It just became very obvious to me that this was very important. And I was sure that some group of scientists had already done studies all over the world and that there was a body of information about this. So, I came back to Austin expecting to find that and to tap into it—it didn’t exist.

So, he created it—a 12 volume encyclopedia of Useful Wild Plants of Texas and beyond. Volume three is at the printers now.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Visit the website Useful Wild Plants, http://usefulwildplants.org/encyclopedia.htm, and see what Scooter’s been up to all these years. [Just copy and paste the URL into your browser]

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Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Craig Hensley is park specialist at Guadalupe River SP. For years, he’s kept track of birds for research and education purposes by banding them. He shares what his work means to him.

I’ve just started banding here but where I banded back in Nebraska for years, you got to a point where you would see certain birds year after year. And there were some woodpeckers, for example, I think I saw for six or seven years. So when you catch a bird that’s been banded, you look it up and go, “Wow! Who is this?” It’s just, for me a wonderful love of birds that I have.

We were fortunate enough, a couple of months ago, that we had a lady here, the eagle lady. She visits lots of state parks with some birds of prey, and she happened to be in our park on a weekend we were bird banding. And only the second time in all the years I’ve been involved in bird banding we caught a hawk. A sharp-shinned hawk that had chased a bird into the net and that was a treat! I don’t band hawks, I’m not permitted to do that, but we were able to take the bird out of the net, get our pictures made with it and marvel at just a spectacular bird. Best part of the whole thing was it took three of its talons and dug ‘em into my fingers when I was trying to get him out. So when that bird flew off, he actually flew off with a little piece of my skin I think still attached to a talon, which I actually loved, it was like “I’m flying free!” So, it’s kind of odd, but that was a special treat.

One man’s odd is another man’s special treat. Thanks, Craig.

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

 Texas Outdoor Story: Craig Hensley: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Brad Bell doesn’t think twice when you ask him why anyone would climb a rock.

Why would someone wanna…because it’s there…

The Austin resident teaches the sport of rock climbing. He says although you don’t need rock-hard abs to climb –before you attempt this sport — a little weight training may be the first order…

Upper body strength is good and leg strength is even more of a plus.

There ya go…push with your hand and then move your hand up to the next one…there ya go. Pull on up…good!

And even though rock climbing offers climbers a feeling of solitude, it is critical – whether you’re a novice or a seasoned climber — never go alone.

You should always have team partners… when you go you should never do it alone because up there you have to have a partner to help you belay and help you repel down and basically it’s a team effort all the way up.

Four Texas state parks offer rock climbing: Enchanted Rock, north of Fredericksburg, Hueco Tanks, just north of El Paso, Caprock Canyons southeast of Amarillo and Lake Mineral Wells.

That’s our show for today…for Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Mike Quinn is an invertebrate biologist and his interest in bugs developed through an interest in birds.

My parents were birdwatchers, and I had an interest in outdoors as a child. But it wasn’t until I was in my twenties… I was helping ornithologists at UT study painted buntings at McKinney Falls State Park, and walked around the bend, and we saw this large butterfly there sunning itself – absolutely gorgeous in the sun – and Anita Fauquier says, “I think that’s a giant swallowtail.” And it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was an epiphany for me that you could put a name on an insect. Why that was a revelation to me I still don’t quite don’t know, because I could identify birds by sight and sound, and plants and herps and etcetera. But putting a name on an insect was somehow a foreign concept. And I went home and I borrowed my mother’s butterfly field guide (which I haven’t quite returned yet), and just from that point on I started paying much closer attention to insects, and that led me to my degree now that I have in entomology and the job that I have studying them at Parks and Wildlife.

Spend time outdoors—you never know where it will lead. Share your outdoor story at passporttotexas.org.

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

 Texas Outdoor Story: From Birds to Bugs: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Patricio Naredo’s outdoor story begins on a dark and windy night…camping with his Boy Scout troop.

We were supposed to have a fire, but it was windy so we couldn’t. So then one of our camp directors or something he made up this animal called like, I don’t remember what it’s called. He said it’s like half Chihuahua, half badger. So we started putting out marshmallows and started like putting out traps going hunting for him with our flashlight. And then, someone turned it off and they were like “Oh no my batteries dead!” And then, he started making all these sounds then he turned it back on and he’s all like shining at something. It was a log but it kind of looked like an alligator. So I barely screamed and I started running for the tents. Like, everybody got we got freaked out.

One question remains: will Patricio venture out into the woods at nighttime again?

I’m not afraid of the dark!

Thanks, Patricio. Extra flashlights, batteries and, not to mention, your wits are always good things to have when you camp overnight.

If you have an outdoor story, we’d love to hear them. Spooky, funny, or sad…whatever they may be, you can share them with us at passporttotexas.org

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

 Texas Outdoor Story--Patricio Naredo: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download