Passport to Texas

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

Biologists at the Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center in Kerrville for the past thirteen years have worked to reestablish the Guadalupe Bass, which had experienced a significant population decline.

It has two different problems it’s facing throughout its range. One is just habitat loss – which a lot of animals face. Here, and in most of the places it occurs, that’s not nearly as much of a problem as hybridization with the smallmouth bass.

Dr. Gary Garrett is a fisheries biologist at Heart of the Hills. The Guadalupe bass occurs only in the Texas Hill Country, in the headwaters of the streams that drain the Edwards Plateau. Smallmouth bass, introduced to these waters in the mid-1970s to provide additional sport fish for anglers, hybridized with the native species.

So, they’re not as well adapted for their environment. They may do well in the short run, but in the long haul they’re really not going to be as good a species.

Efforts to restore the Guadalupe bass population began with a study of Johnson Creek.

Here in Johnson Creek where we began the study, we started with about thirty percent of the fish were hybrids –and that wasn’t stable – it was still increasing when we started.

The prognosis for the state fish of Texas is excellent. And we’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish Restoration program, which funds research at the Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center…

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 Restoration Program

Kayaking and canoeing allows us to see nature from a new perspective. And some of these waterways are official state paddling trails.

The reason a Parks and Wildlife paddling trail is so special is because, we’re very interested in conservation issues, water issues, the importance of water for the state of Texas, and educating the public on all of these issues.

Shelly Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. If your community has a stretch of river or coastline you think is trail-worthy, submit a nomination.

On our website, we have application forms that any community partner can fill out if they think they have a trail that has potential to be in our paddling trails program. The main requirement is that it’s a four to twelve mile river segment. We really want this to be a morning or afternoon river run that people can do with their family and friends, and not multi-day. If they have any questions, they can call the number on the website, or email, and we’ll review their application.

Applicants will receive a response in about a month – and if accepted — that’s when the work really starts.

The process for us to be able to get a river survey done, work with the community to develop text for the website and the kiosks, get kiosks installed, create panels for the kiosks….the entire process to become a paddling trail could take between six to twelve months.

Visit passporttotexas.org for a link to the application.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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 Restoration Program

What could be more relaxing than kayaking along an inland or coastal paddling trail, taking in the beauty of nature?

Water trails are one of the last public resources in the state.

Shelly Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

In a state that’s about ninety-six percent privately owned, waterways are public passage. So the public has access to these waterways, and we just want to let people where they can go, and easily access the sites with community help, and paddle and see nature from a different perspective – down low on the water.

A community must nominate a stretch of river, or coastline, and then a thorough evaluation must take place before acceptance into the paddling trail program.

Currently most of our trails are from Central Texas down to the coast. And so, we are lacking paddling trails that have been nominated for east Texas, the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the panhandle, west Texas…if we get too many for us to be able to do in a year, geographic diversity is going to play a role in which ones get accepted annually.

Tomorrow, we tell you how to nominate your stretch of river or coastline for the paddling trails program.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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 Restoration Program

There’s something special about experiencing Texas from a kayak or canoe. And lucky for us, we have coastal and inland paddling trails to accommodate all levels of watery wanderlust.

The Texas paddling trails program began informally about a decade ago when Texas Parks and Wildlife set up some coastal paddling trails.

Shelly Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. That first trail was just the beginning.

From that project, we now have seven coastal paddling trails in our paddling trail program. And, in March of 2006, we launched our first inland paddling trail in Luling.

Other inland paddling trails are set to open throughout the year. Active community partners, and a thorough evaluation, are required of all would be trails – inland or coastal.

There are a few steps that need to happen for a paddling trail to become one of ours. And that includes a river survey to look at the water quality. Look at the wildlife, ecology, fishing opportunities that can happen along that river or bay. And then, again, meeting with the community, having a community partner that’s actively involved and interested in having paddlers come to their site. And then, developing kiosk materials, because we will have educational kiosks at every access point.

More on paddling trails tomorrow.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Paul Dockery, from San Antonio, emailed his outdoor story to us through our website: passporttotexas.org.

He told us he’s an avid outdoorsman and a member of the Christian Outdoor Alliance, http://www.mycoa.org/. He shares his favorite times spent in the outdoors.

You know, it’s not that any one in particular thing happens. It’s just the fact that we get to get to get away and spend some quality time together. And we’ll be out on God’s front porch enjoying the beautiful weather and just enjoying each other.

My favorite times in the outdoors are when I get to load up with my wife and the kids. And we’ll have an ice chest and some goodies in it, and some folding chairs and a portable grill, and we’ll drag our boat out to a riverbank somewhere in the Hill Country. And just spend the day getting by on what we didn’t forget to bring.

We’ll have some fishing rods, and things like that, and probably take the dog with us, and spend the day out enjoying the Hill Country.

Visit passportotexas.org and send us your outdoor story. We may invite you to tell it to Passport to Texas listeners, like Paul did. And if we use your story, we’ll send you a Life’s Better Outside t-shirt!

That’s our show for today… Remember: Life’s Better Outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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