Passport to Texas

Picnics in Parks

 Take Mom on a Picnic for Mother's Day: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The merry month of May brings with it ideal weather; the perfect weather, in fact, for packing a picnic and heading to a nearby state park.

It’s also when we celebrate Mom. Mother’s Day is May 12th. Why not combine the two and take mom on a picnic? Just don’t let her do the food prep.

Picnicking is our Outdoor Activity of the Month for May, and we’ve created a page with recipes that are easy to make ahead, or prepare onsite. They are courtesy of chefs, food bloggers, the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Go Texan program, and the Texas Beef Council.

Your picnic can be as simple as burgers cooked over a campfire and served with chips, sodas, and cookies for dessert. Or it can include more unusual, fresh, and tasty fare such as sugar snap peas with basil, Jamaican jerks wings, or nectarine cobbler (which would cook up beautifully in a Dutch oven).

You’ll find the picnic recipes on the activities page of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. In addition, you’ll be able to check the weather forecast in your area, find food safety tips, as well as much more information to make your Mother’s Day picnic – or any picnic –in a state park a day to remember.

Because not only is life better outside…food tastes better outside, too.

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

Image by Earl Nottingham, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

 Angling: Sport Fish Restoration Program, 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We regularly mention the Sport Fish Restoration Program as a Passport sponsor, but you may not know what it is.

12 – The Sport Fish Restoration Program is a partnership between anglers, boaters, the fishing and boating industry, Texas Parks and Wildlife, other state fish and game agencies across the country and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Timothy Birdsong coordinates the program for Parks and Wildlife. This federal program collects taxes on fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

30—This funding is distributed across the country to states based on a formula that includes land and water area and number of resident licensed anglers in that state. We had over one million recreational anglers fish Texas waters. You take that number along with our total land and water area and we position Texas to receive the maximum available apportionment under this program, which is five percent of the total amount of money that is available which is about four hundred million nationwide.

In 2012, Texas Parks and Wildlife received approximately 17.4 million dollars from this fund; tomorrow we learn how the money was spent.

05 –It went to support sport fisheries management and sport fish stocking in Texas waters.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Bastrop State Park

 State Parks: Thanksgiving in Parks: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Some of my fondest thanksgiving memories were those I spent with family and friends in state parks. Make some holiday memories of your own this year. Our state Park Guide, Bryan Frasier tells us how.

54— Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the most popular and busiest times in our state park system. We encourage people to plan their family outings in a state park; we have so many group facilities you can rent and have your get together and your Thanksgiving meal in a state park. But also, we have a tendency to really enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey, so get out the next day and hike. See the beauty, the changing colors here in Texas, and walk around and use some energy and burn off that Thanksgiving meal. So, get outside and enjoy some time outdoors this Thanksgiving holiday. And if you’re going to, I also encourage people that if they’re going to be camping to make some advance reservations. It is a popular time. It is great weather. People historically have time off for the holidays — so make those camping and overnight reservations as early as you can to come out and enjoy state parks at Thanksgiving.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

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

Cleburne State Park

 State Parks: Cleburne State Park: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Off the beaten path, Cleburne State Park – outside of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex – is a nearly hidden treasure. And one that our State park Guide Bryan Frazier says has received a face lift and some bridgework.

57— Cleburne State Park is about 580 acres. It’s off the beaten path just enough that a lot of people don’t know about it. And not only has it recently had millions of dollars of improvements, but now they’ve restored a CCC built bridge. What they’ve done is now they have made it a foot bridge instead of having vehicle traffic that goes across it. And this incredible structure that was built in the 1930s is still supporting everything you would need in infrastructure. They shored it up and cleaned it up…and it has all the signature CCC hand built bricks that are on there. And it’s probably 25 to 30 feet tall from the bridge to the creek bottom that it crosses. And now, the new road that goes around and by passes allows vehicle traffic into the park. It’s just one more part of the history of the CCC and Cleburne State Park. And you’ve got miles of hike and bike trails—it’s gorgeous scenery, great fishing in the lake. It’s a park that people need to check out.

Thanks Bryan

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

 Nature Tourism: The Business of the Outdoors: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Eco-tourism is growing in popularity, thus creating new economic opportunities for private landowners, cities and rural communities.

18—Nature based tourism in Texas is done on small acreage and large acreage. What makes a good experience is making sure that the experience is real and really provides an opportunity to observe wildlife, to learn about it, the history and the culture of the region.”

Linda Campbell oversees the private lands program for Parks and Wildlife. The agency provides technical assistance to landowners and communities interested in making nature tourism a part of their economic development.

10—We produce one particular business planning guide called “Making Nature your Business,” that kinda helps people get started in planning how they diversify their business.

TPW can assist with assessing natural resources and provide management recommendations. The department also works with communities to develop wildlife viewing maps.

17—What these are, are destination planning that actually links together the best sites to view wildlife in these regions and we produce a map that tells people what there is to see, what kinds of wildlife habitats there are, where they can stay, and these sites are on private land and public lands.

We’ll have more about the maps tomorrow. Meantime, Learn about the agency’s technical assistance program, on TPW website.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.