Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Approximately 500 Game Wardens dedicate themselves to protecting our state’s natural resources every day. While most of the people Game Wardens come in contact with are harmless, Assistant Chief of Fisheries Enforcement, Kris Bishop, says that’s not always the case.

In general, the people that we come in contact with are good, family people. They’re taking their family, their children out hunting, and fishing, and boating. That’s how they want to spend their free time. The kind of person who goes out and communes with nature is usually a good person and they have good intentions, and so that’s the average person that we meet.

But occasionally, you are going to meet the criminal element no matter where you are. It’s going to be anywhere. You’ll always have that certain amount of danger out there because most of the people that we’re dealing with have knives, guns, things like that, on them. That’s part of what they’re doing. They’re either fishing they they’ll have a filet knife, or they’re hunting and have a rifle or a shotgun. There’s always that little bit of an element of you could possibly get into a situation with a bad person.

Wardens receive extensive training on handling dangerous situations. Find more information about game wardens, including how you can become one, at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Game Warden Safety Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Whether you plan to hit the road or stay home this summer, now is the perfect time to make your plans. And to help you with a few ideas is Associate Publisher of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, Charles Lohrmann.

June is the perfect time to plan a fishing trip to the Texas coast, because you’re still a few weeks ahead of the extreme heat of July and August, and when you get down there to the coast, kayaking is the perfect way to get to the fish. Our saltwater fishing writer, Larry Bozka has written an article about kayak fishing and some things to keep in mind as you plan a fishing trip like that.

So, whether you’re staying home or traveling to the coast, or even going out to Southwest Texas to devil’s river, we have something that will make the summer a little more interesting.

Thank you, Charles.

That’s our show…visit us online at www.passporttotexas.org… to listen to shows and to share your favorite outdoor story.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

June Magazine Preview Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Archaeological Society — dedicated to the study and preservation of the historic and prehistoric aspects of our past — offers its annual Field School next month in West Texas, just as its done since the 1960s.

It was a way to get people out and get hands-on experience doing archeology. Because you can read about archeology, but until you get out and get in the dirt and dig and find the artifacts in the proper context, that’s when you start understanding what archeology is all about.

Doug Boyd, is Co-Director of the school’s Youth Group.

Families can come to field school and their kids can participate with us while they participate with the adult group. And we’ll have anywhere from 35 to 45 kids in our youth group. We’re doing the same thing adults are. We’re learning hands-on excavation and survey techniques, and we also have a number of other activities set up for the kids.

Kids connect with history in a very personal way.

One of the things that we try and do with the kids is we make them aware of the importance of some of the things that they’re finding. When they learn how to do a certain archaeological technique right and they get complimented on that, and their faces light up, and you know that you’re connecting with them, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what makes it worth wild.

The Texas Archaeological Society Field Camp is June 9th through 16th in Menard, Texas. Online registration is available at www.txarch.org. Register by May 31st.

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

Archaeology School, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

In June, the Texas Archaeological Society (TAS) offers a Field School where folks dig in the dirt to explore our state’s history. Bryan Jameson is Field School Committee Chairman.

I have people who come up to me and I’ll mention archeology and they think of dinosaurs, and archeology obviously is the study of the people of the past. That’s why archeology sites are so important.

The 2007 Field School takes place in Menard, and celebrates the historic site of Presidio San Saba.

This year represents the 250th anniversary of Presidio San Saba. We’re going to do some excavations at the Presidio with the intent of hoping to define more of the architecture, features that we may find to help us figure out what the daily life of these people in an 18th century post would have been like.

TAS promotes the importance of archeology with hands-on activities and education during the summer event.

We’re trying to educate everyone as much as we can as to the importance of archeology and this is one way to accomplish that. Archeology sites are a very limited resource. So, hopefully by people coming and attending and being part of it, they realize exactly what we are trying to say to them. Preservation of our history can only be accomplished by these means.

Field School is June 9th through 16th. Register online at www.txarch.org…. the deadline is May 31st.

Tomorrow, getting kids involved in archeology.

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

Archaeology School, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Window to the Past is a segment airing on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series the week of May 13. Series writer/producer, Alan Fisher, says it examines prehistoric rock art in the lower Pecos River Region of Texas.

In the canyons and cliffs in and around Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site, there are these amazing pictographs – ancient rock paintings.

You go down right in that canyon and you step back three-thousand, four-thousand years.

We followed, not only the personnel at the state park there, but also some scholars who were doing some of the latest research on trying to figure out what these rock paintings really mean to the people who made them so long ago.

Now, another symbol in this rock art that is what is called a crenelated arch; it is there to represent the physical barrier between the real world and the spirit world, or the after world.

There aren’t too many places you can look at something that was made by human hands that is that old in Texas, or really anywhere in North America. So, it’s really remarkable to stand before a painting that was painted so long ago and try to imagine what the people who made it were thinking and what their lives must have been like.

The Window to the Past segment airs the week of May 13, as part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series.

Check your local listings.

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

TPWD TV -- Window to the Past Play Now | Play in Popup | Download