Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

June Hershey, who in 1941 penned the lyrics of the well-loved song, Deep in the Heart of Texas, must have been inspired by a nighttime visit to the Trans Pecos region for her first verse.

The stars at night are big and bright (Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!) Deep in the heart of Texas….

Once you experience the deep, velvety blackness of the West Texas night sky, studded with a profusion of luminous stars, you’ll come away thinking….

The stars are unbelievable.

David Bischofhausen manages Davis Mountains State Park. He says that in West Texas, dark skies are the law.

There is a dark sky policy in town. You have to have restrictions on lights and such.

Poorly directed outdoor lighting interferes with our ability to see stars clearly. And dark skies are crucial to the park’s neighbor – the McDonald Observatory.

From the park headquarters you can see McDonald Observatory. It’s about thirteen miles away. They built the observatory here because some of the darkest skies in North America are right here. And I’ve seen a picture McDonald observatory did on a slide show of the United States at night. You can definitely tell where Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are…and then you look over here, and there’s this big black spot where Big Bend and Davis Mountains are. And it’s just unbelievable.

Learn more about Davis Mountain State Park.

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

Davis Mountains, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Spring is that ephemeral expanse of time between our unpredictable winters and our all-too- predictable summers.

The unrelenting heat and humidity of summer turns many Texans into prisoners of indoor air conditioning. Yet, imagine if you can, a place in our great state where in July people wear sweaters and light jackets to protect themselves against the chill of the night air. Is this just some beautiful dream? No, my friends, it’s the Davis Mountains of West Texas.

One thing nice about the Davis Mountains is you can’t beat the weather.

David Bischofhausen manages the Davis Mountains State Park Complex.

I see people on the fourth of July in the park having to wear sweatshirts because it gets so cool at night. It’s generally dry and usually – you know – ten to fifteen degrees cooler up in the mountains than it is down in the flats. The lodge is right about 5-thousand feet in elevation. Park headquarters is about 49-hundred — so we go up from there.

We’re in the foothills of the Davis Mountains. So, we’re definitely in a sky island with lots of vegetation and lots of wildlife. Just a beautiful place. And, some people don’t think there are mountains in Texas…you come out here and it’s just unbelievable. I mean it’s just gorgeous.

So when you can’t stand the heat…head to the mountains.

Learn more about Davis Mountain State Park.

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

Davis Mountains, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Don’t leave your good sense or your manners on the shore when you go kayaking.

Oftentimes you’re kayaking in very shallow water, and you think you won’t need a life jacket. But every now and then you can get into a channel or a deep pocket, and if you do happen to flip over…it’s very nice not to be worried about losing your life.

Jim Blackburn is a kayaking enthusiast from Houston. Another kayaking tip: there’s safety in numbers.

Always go with a partner. It’s something very easily enjoyed with a group. And I think that’s the way it should be done.

Blackburn would know. He’s been kayaking for years, and has written a book…

Called the Book of Texas Bays, that has a lot of stories about kayaking…a lot of experiences about kayaking in it.

In addition to being safe while paddling in Texas’ coastal waters, remember others are also enjoying the resource.

If you encounter people that are fishing, you might look at the direction the fisherman is wading, come around behind him… move away from the shoreline…go around the fisherman if they happen to be wading around the shoreline. Sometimes during the winter duck hunting is going on. Over in the Lighthouse Lakes trails there can be duck hunting. You want to make sure you don’t paddle into some decoys.

Download a Canoing and Kayaking resource guide.

Our show is supported by the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

Coastal Kayaking with Jim Blackburn, 3 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

I’m uncoordinated, plus I don’t like feeling confined. So the thought of squeezing into a kayak, doesn’t float my boat. But, after talking with kayaking enthusiast Jim Blackburn, I realize I have options.

There’s hope for all of you out there that feel uncoordinated and have trouble – sit-on-top kayaks is the way to go.

Blackburn is kayaking enthusiast, and an environmental attorney and planner in Houston.

These open cockpit kayaks are really – in my opinion – the way to go because they’re so stable and they’re so non-confining. People who have had trouble with kayaks in the past absolutely love them. I have no trouble at all with stability with these sit-on-top kayaks.

The trade off with sit-on-top kayaks is… you get wet.

Water comes up around your bottom when you’re sitting there, so you get wet during the summer. During the winter, we wear waders when we waders when we use these kayaks.

Getting your britches soaked to get closer to the natural world is worth it, says Blackburn – who does his kayaking along the Texas coast.

With a kayak, you can glide right on top of water that’s only a few inches deep, and you can get right up on a lot of the birds for sure, and oftentimes can see a lot of the fish as well.

We’ll have kayaking tips and etiquette tomorrow.

Our show is supported by the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

Coastal Kayaking with Jim Blackburn, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The March issue of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine is on newsstands now. And in it you’ll find an article by Jim Blackburn – an environmental attorney and planner from Houston — who writes about one of his more memorable kayaking experiences along the Texas coast.

We were out on Bolivar flats in our kayaks, and there were literally thousands of avocets, which are gorgeous black and white birds with sort of a brownish neck and sort of an upturned bill. They’re wading birds, probably about fourteen-sixteen inches in height. There were literally thousands of them, and they would sort of just rise and fall in a mass. Just the patterns that threes birds made, were just incredible to see. And I’ve just never seen that many avocets in one place.

When you’re on a kayak, says Blackburn, you can get closer to nature than you ever thought possible.

I oftentimes take my kayak to the rookery islands to see the large fish-eating birds – the herons…the egrets… going through their breeding rituals… and then later in the spring raising their young. And those are really, really nice experiences.

Download a Canoing and Kayaking resource guide.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

Coastal Kayaking with Jim Blackburn, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download