Passport to Texas

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

After seven decades, the Jasper Fish Hatchery will be retired, and replaced by the new state-of-the-art East Texas Hatchery.

Construction has begun in early July. We’re anticipating the completion will be sometime early 2010.

Todd Engeling is chief of inland hatcheries. The new facility is under construction on 200 acres below Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

About 2000, we did a feasibility study to determine if it whether it was more feasible to renovate the facility where it was at, or to move it to another location. And based on that assessment, we chose to build a new facility in another location.

The East Texas Hatchery will provide at least 45 acres of fish production ponds capable of delivering up to 4.5 million fish annually for stocking in Texas public waters, including….

Primarily a sub species of the large mouthed bass; channel catfish and blue catfish, and bluegill sunfish. Those will be the principle species that it will be raising. It will also have the capability to participate with our striped bass and hybrid striped bass program should it be needed in the future. We think right now, given what pond space we were planning, we should be able to produce four to five million fingerlings a year.

Innovations and environmental efficiencies at the new hatchery…that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Texas’ state fish hatcheries. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 

 New East Texas Fish Hatchery: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The Seven Cross Ranch, a stocker cattle operation, grazes its animals on restored native prairie. The ranch is the Lone Star Land Steward Award winner for the High Plains eco-region.

This is crème de la crème of the high plains ecological region.

Gene Miller is a wildlife biologist based in Canyon, Texas.

What you see, when you see this Seven Cross Ranch, is a microcosm—a natural prairie ecosystem.

Seven Cross Ranch didn’t achieve rarified status by accident. Owners/operators, LH and Nama Webb, utilize a rapid rotation grazing system that simulates a bygone era when vast herds of bison roamed the high plains.

They’d come through, graze it down, and then move on in their trek. So, it’s more like the way it evolved over centuries. The more cattle you can get on one spot, you have the animal impact, the hoof action, and you get a more uniform graze, because you have more cattle in a smaller area, but you have to move them faster. And you know, my goal is possible a hundred pastures, and you know, you’re hitting one pasture a day—and then you’re off of it. And if you have a hundred pastures, you know, you’re hitting one pasture a day, and then you’re off of it. And if you’ve got a hundred pastures, then you’re off it for ninety-nine days before you get back to it. You don’t want to severely graze it, you just want to kind of top it off and move them on.

Learn more about the Lone Star Land Steward Program 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.

 

 Lone Star Land Steward High Plains Eco-Region, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration program

In 1969, J. David and Margaret Bamberger purchased a fifty-five hundred acre ranch in Blanco County.

Let me tell you, there wasn’t a drop of water here. There wasn’t anything in the way of wildlife. I drilled seven water wells five hundred feet deep; I never got a drop of water.

By employing land management practices, the Bambergers restored the ecological balance to their land, and water began to flow.

(birds chirping) We were wanting to demonstrate, and to try and develop a model, that perhaps other people could follow.

The Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve—regional winner of the Lone Star Land Steward award for the Edwards Plateau—attracts visitors of all ages who come to learn from this conservation couple.

And that where my strength was, which was outdoor education. For the children, we have a special fifth grade program. We also do workshops for adults. Mostly landowners, trying to teach them the basics of stewardship. David and I have very much worked as a team. All of the things that we do involve both conservation and education.

Learn about the Lone Star Land Steward Awards 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.

 

 LSLS Regional Winner for the Edwards Plateau, 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

In less than a month, tens of thousands of visitors will converge on Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters in Austin for a weekend of outdoor enjoyment at the annual Expo. Ron Smith invites everyone to the Fishing FUNdamentals area.

Fishing fundamentals is a little bit of everything fishing.

Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is managing this area for Expo.

So, whether they haven’t fished before, or whether they’re going to try a new specialty type of fishing, or they want to just know where to go, or where the fish are biting, or about conservation, or safety—we’re going to have a little bit of everything at this booth. Hopefully, to provide them with the next step that they can take in enjoying fishing in Texas.

Visitors who come from urban areas may be surprised by what they learn at Fishing Fundamentals.

Many of the ones that live in urban areas have never been fishing and they don’t realize they may have a fishing hole right close to their home that they can get to very easily, and they don’t have to go many miles to get to a fishing spot. So, that’s one of the things that we’re trying to do—inform folks that they don’t have to go far to fish.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo is October 4 and 5 from 9-5 both days, and it’s free.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

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

 

 Expo: Fishing FUNdamentals, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

We get about 20-dollars per plate. And, on average, we sell about ten thousand plates, and that generates around 200-thousand dollars a year.

Matt Wagner, program director for wildlife diversity, is talking about the horned lizard conservation license plate. The money it generates supports the projects of the wildlife action plan.

The wildlife action plan is a strategy for conserving non-game wildlife and fish.

Most wildlife in Texas is non-game and the wildlife action plan will help us to understand them better.

We’ve discovered that there’s quite a demand for our freshwater turtles in terms of their value as meat, being sold to other countries. And so we have a statewide study to look at our freshwater turtle populations. We also are putting money into the conservation of the horned lizard. We’re about the decline of the horned lizard in parts of our state. And, we have some genetic work going on, and some other population analysis going on in the state that will hopefully reveal some answers to some of those questions.

Funds also support work with landowners to restore native habitat. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

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

 

 Wildlife Action Plan, 2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download