Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Amphibian Watch is a statewide volunteer program in which citizen scientists monitor frogs and toads in an effort to fend off the extinction of species currently in decline. Here’s how it’s done:

There are different levels of monitoring. The easiest of which is whenever you see an amphibian, you write down the time of day, the weather, the rough location, and then once a year you send that in to Parks and Wildlife and they’ll add that into one database.

Scott Kiester, Texas Amphibian Watch volunteer. If you prefer listening to amphibians as opposed to looking at them, there’s a way you can make a contribution.

There’s a program called Adopt-a-Frog-Pond, where you agree to go and listen and record the species you hear at a specific location. Once a month, sometimes more often than that, I’ll take 15 minutes and go out in the evening and listen to who’s out in the neighborhood croaking away. Frogs are a lot more active and do a lot more calling in that period of time after a rain, particularly if you can do it the day after a rain or if you get a rain in the afternoon go out and do it that evening. They just croak away.

Hop on over to the calendar section of the Texas Parks & Wildlife website to find upcoming Amphibian Watch workshops.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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

Turkey hunters look forward to spring.

Any time that I can be out in the spring where it’s starting to get warm and the flowers are starting to bloom, and the spring smells are out in the air, it’s a good time to be out in the woods.

Steve DeMaso is Upland Game Bird Manager.

There have been times where I’ve called birds up and not even thought about shooting them, just call them in and watch them strut and relax and enjoy the scenery.

For those who do wish to harvest a bird, DeMaso says the season – which varies around the state — looks promising.

Throughout the state we’re expecting this spring to be a pretty good turkey season, if we get good hunting conditions. And by good conditions I mean it’s not abnormally hot, dry, or we don’t get a month of thunderstorms. But if we can get some nice spring days, I think we ought to have a pretty good season this year.

And where will hunters find these big birds?

The Edward’s plateau, the cross timbers, the rolling plains and south Texas would be the primary area for the Rio Grande. And then the Pineywoods, over in northeast Texas would be the primary area for the Eastern birds.

Remember to always consult your Outdoor Annual for hunting regulations

That’s our show… made possible by the 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.

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

The Texas coast draws anglers from near and far. And Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series producer, Don Cash, says a segment this month addresses an issue caused by its popularity.

One of the problems with so many people going to the coast to fish is protecting the fragile seagrasses on the coast. The seagrasses are a very important nursery area for all the kind of things we like to eat and like to catch, and are necessary down on the coast. And over the years, more people have gone fishing in these shallow areas along the coast…they’ve taken their boats and have really done quite a bit of damage to the sea grasses.

Run deep. Fish shallow. That’s the way the people fished here fifty years ago. They would run in the deep sloughs and get out and wade the shallow flats. And everybody respected the shallow flats until flats boats came in…

Not only do we address the importance of the seagrasses, and the importance of the entire coastal ecosystem, there is some explanation on how to operate your boat properly in this water. And, one of the interviews is with a boat dealer, who talks about, “Well, everybody goes and buys the boat without really learning how to operate the boat in the most responsible manner.”

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

That’s our show…supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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

It’s time to enjoy our state parks; and Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series producer, Don Cash, says the show delivers an eyeful of parks all month long.

And a couple of them come to mind. Martin Dies, Junior SP in Jasper, which suffered quite a bit of hurricane damage from hurricane Rita, and was closed for awhile, has reopened part of their camping area, and they are again doing the float trip down the Angelina River.

The Angelina River down here is really…it’s very clean. The water’s pretty clear. It’s really nice. Makes the trip real enjoyable.

One of the other parks is Goose Island SP, which is on the coast across the Copano Bay across from Rockport and Fulton. Fishing is the big thing at Goose Island.

Ever since I been a little kid been coming out here. It’s relaxing. One of these days we might get lucky and catch a fish.

You can fish out of a boat. You can wade fish. You can take your kayak into the shallows. And they’ve got a sixteen hundred foot fishing pier at Goose Island SP that people are fishing on all day and all night.

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

That’s our show…supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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The year 2006 marked a major milestone in the recovery of the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. Mexican and U.S. scientists staged the largest single-day turtle release since the bi-national recovery project began three decades ago, helping two hundred forty thousand (240,000) turtle hatchlings wriggle across the sand and into the Gulf of Mexico. Even though sea turtle nestings on Texas and Mexico beaches soared to record highs in 2006, biologists are tempering jubilation with caution, saying current levels of funding and work must continue for the world’s most endangered sea turtle to fully recover. Tom Harvey has this report.

Read about Ridley Recovery

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