Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Even though you’ve heard us talk many times about park interpretation, you may still wonder what it really means.

That’s such a good question, and it’s one of the hardest ones to answer.

Angela Davis is head of interpretive planning for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The word interpretation means a lot of things to a lot of people. But what it means to us – in the most romantic way – is that the parks are one of our most precious recourses… all the things that are in the parks: beautiful scenery, the mountains, the rivers, and of course, our historic structures. But what interpretation does is helps people relate personally to why those resources are significant. Why we – the people of Texas – have chosen to protect them.

Sometimes interpretation involves translating science and history into formats visitors can easily understand.

What we want to do is make the resources – and why they are significant – accessible. To make it fun…to make it enjoyable…to make it relevant…to every person who walks into one of our parks.

Or to everyone who logs onto the Internet…

It’s [the Internet] actually a perfect technology for interpretation.

Tomorrow: details about an online project under development that will breathe fresh life into the New Deal.

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

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