Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Looking to catch some waves this winter?

The rule of thumb in Texas is, the farther South you go, the nicer the water is and the bigger the waves are.

Rick Thomsen is the chapter chair of the Central Texas Chapter of Surfrider, an environmental organization that raises awareness about ocean related issues through its members’ passion for surfing. We caught up with him in October at Texas Parks and Wildlife EXPO.

We’re always concerned about clean water, so we’re interested in our watersheds. But one of the bigger issues in Texas is access to our beaches because we have some of the highest erosion rates in the United States. So what happens, if there’s irresponsible development and houses are too close to the beach and then the beaches erode – a lot of house s end up actually on the beach and then we have an access issue.

Access is a major concern for Surfrider’s surfer and non-surfer members alike. Luckily…

Texas has one of the strongest beach access laws on the books. It’s the Texas Open Beaches Act. Everybody has access from the low tide line to the mean high tide line and then we actually have an easement up into the grass line.

For more information on beach access and on the SurfRider organization, visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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SurfRider, http://www.surfrider.org/default.aspx

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

In the fall of 2002, Krista Allen was a novice to the outdoors.

I was definitely a girly girl and my entire life, I was always looking for a sport and really never found anything that I enjoyed or really stuck too.

A friend at work told Allen about the Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshops offered by Texas Parks and Wildlife; she signed up with the intention to learn how to backpack.

I took a backpacking class, outdoor survival, land navigation – which was compass and map, and camping and I came away feeling so empowered. And I knew I had a really good, solid knowledge base to work from.

Her first workshop sparked Krista’s interest in the outdoors. Since then she’s taken the skills she learned and has turned them into a passion for the outdoors.

Once you start getting into the outdoors and noticing your surroundings, there’s just all sorts of things that may touch off your curiosity.

Allen also wanted to give back.

Government Canyon [in San Antonio] is one the biggest local parks and I wanted to become familiar with that. And as it opened up I volunteered to be on the trail patrol.

To find out more information about the Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshops, visit passporttotexas.org

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

 

 Sparking Women's Interest in the Outdoors: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Boys and girl with an interest in hunting who don’t have a family member who hunts, can participate in Texas’ youth hunting program.

We offer a Texas youth hunting program through Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Wildlife Association.

Heidi Rao is a hunter education coordinator from Dickenson.

This is a program that offers youth hunting opportunities to those of the ages between nine and seventeen. They go through the hunter education course, and then they have opportunities to go on a variety of youth hunts that are guided by trained hunt masters.

With the proper training, even young hunters can become volunteer hunter education instructors.

We have an assistant hunter education instructor program for those who are between the ages fifteen and twenty. They have to go through the same requirements as a full instructor, such as the student course, the game warden interview, and the instructor course. The only other requirement that we have is that our assistant instructors has to team teach with a full instructor, who’s at least twenty-one years of age. When that assistant turns twenty-one, if they are still active, we will roll them over, and they will become a full instructor.
Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…supported by a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase shooting, hunting, fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife…

It’s estimated that some 350-million monarch butterflies will arrive in Texas as part of an annual fall migration to Mexico.

They hit the Panhandle and the Red River in mid September… they’ll hit Central Texas in the first week of October. The best place is actually along the western portion of the state. They’re not common in East Texas and along the coast.

Mike Quinn, invertebrate biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife, says monarchs make the long trip, surviving on nothing more than flower nectar. And yes, there is a visual difference between the males and the females…

The male monarch has black spots in the middle of the upper side of the side wings and females lack those.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Monarch Watch program enlists the services of hundreds of volunteers to collect data on the species during its migration.

We recruit volunteers of all ages and backgrounds all across the state, and we have over 500 people that keep calendars, that’s the one of the most helpful bits of information that people collect for us.

Members receive a booklet and migration calendar, which helps record the presence and abundance of the species in their area.

To volunteer, log on to our website, passporttotexas.org.

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

 

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

If you’re wondering what people do in the great outdoors, consider spending a little time indoors watching the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series and find out. Series producer Abe Moore…

The first week of April, one of the main stories we’re working on is Pedernales Volunteers. It’s a story on how important our volunteers are to the state park system.

The work they do is a tremendous benefit to the staff, because it saves them a lot of time. It allows us to actually provide a higher level of customer service.

The second week of April, we’re doing a story on the Guadalupe bass – our state fish – and folks at the Texas Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center are working to save our state fish from going extinct.

We began work to raise thousands and thousands of pure Guadalupe Bass, and put them back into the system, and simply overwhelm the hybrids.

The third week of April, we’re heading out with the game wardens of the Texas parks and Wildlife department. They’re heading out to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Lots of chaos. But when we were given a mission, we brought order to that chaos. We had a command staff. We had game wardens that were organized, knew how to work the boats, and knew how to fit into a team effort.

And, finally, on the fourth week of April on our TV program, we’re doing a program called “Student Parking” – and it deals with all of our state parks and how great they are as outdoor classrooms.

Check local listings to see when the show airs in your town.

That’s our show…thank you for joining us…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

 

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