Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Wildlife needs habitat to survive, but developments have encroached on their turf. Homeowners can assist wildlife by creating oases of habitat around their homes called wildscapes.

A wildscape is simply a backyard landscape that takes into consideration the needs of wildlife. So it will provide food, shelter and water for various forms of wildlife, with a minimum of fifty percent native plants.

Marks Klym coordinates the Texas Wildscapes program. He says using native plants in a wildscape serves a two-fold purpose.

Native plants are the plants that the wildlife are accustomed to using in the wild. So, that’s going to be what they’re looking for when they’re moving through the area, as well as the fact that a lot of our native plants are becoming rarer and rarer in the wild. And we don’t want to encourage their loss by using the exotics.

Many commonly used landscape plants are exotic and invasive.

An invasive plant for a biologist is something that will escape your garden, survive for a minimum of one year, and when it gets out in the wild, it has a tendency to reproduce in a way that discourages everything else. It may have a chemical that it puts into the soil to discourage other plants, or it may simply be that it grows in such a tight formation that it chokes out everything else under it.

Find Wildscaping information at passporttotexas.org.

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

What is a Wildscape? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Fishing the late shift is a feature you’ll see this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Alan Fisher.

Fishing is a favorite pastime, coastal and inland, but there’s this whole other little subculture out there; people who like to fish at night.

So, when you were talking to these nighttime fisher folk, what did they say the appeal was of doing their fishy business in the darkness.

Everybody seems to have their own reasons for fishing in the dark. I think for a lot of folks, in the summertime, there’s a good reason in Texas, it’s a little more pleasant to be on a pier or in a boat in August. But there are people who fish at night in the wintertime, too. So, it’s not just the weather.

But, also, it tends to calm down a little bit at night. Sometimes the heat causes a lot of wind, and maybe that’s not so good for fishing. At night you get the still waters, and sometimes its just a little more pleasant to be outside.

Thanks, Alan.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE for a list of stations that broadcast the Texas Parks & Wildlife Television Series

TP&W TV April Feature: Night Fishing Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Fishing the late shift is a feature you’ll see this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Alan Fisher.

Fishing is a favorite pastime, coastal and inland, but there’s this whole other little subculture out there; people who like to fish at night.

So, when you were talking to these nighttime fisher folk, what did they say the appeal was of doing their fishy business in the darkness.

Everybody seems to have their own reasons for fishing in the dark. I think for a lot of folks, in the summertime, there’s a good reason in Texas, it’s a little more pleasant to be on a pier or in a boat in August. But there are people who fish at night in the wintertime, too. So, it’s not just the weather.

But, also, it tends to calm down a little bit at night. Sometimes the heat causes a lot of wind, and maybe that’s not so good for fishing. At night you get the still waters, and sometimes its just a little more pleasant to be outside.

Thanks, Alan.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
______________________________________________________

CLICK HERE for a list of stations that broadcast the Texas Parks & Wildlife Television Series

TP&W TV April Feature: Night Fishing Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 27 through May 4. Shelley Plante, nature tourism coordinator for Parks and Wildlife, says there is a tournament for every age group.

We have kids teams for thirteen and under; we call it the rough wings tournament. It’s always a lot of fun. Birders of that age group go out about eight hours during the day, so it’s not a huge, long day. And we have a teenager competition called the Gliders. We also have adults, and we have something called the Big Sit, which is like a big tailgate party for birders. And any age can compete, and those teams can have up to ten people on them, whereas the other teams are only three to five people—enough to fit in a car, basically.

The Energy Saver tournament is new this year.

Our concern was, we have all of these people that are driving around the Texas coast for habitat conservation, and they are burning fossil fuels in the process. So, why don’t we have more than just the Big Sit as something that people can do in a more stationary way. So, the Energy Saver tournament, people are required to go at least fifty miles, but they can just do fifty miles. And the winning team is the team that sees the most species per mile. And they are going to be eligible for a new ten thousand dollar grant project that they get to fund.

Money raised from the Birding Classic funds coastal conservation projects. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE to read about past year’s highlights.

Great Texas Birding Classic, Part 2 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Spring migration brings out the birdwatcher in all of us. The twelfth Annual Great Texas Birding Classic offers birders from across North America a chance to spot species for a cause.

The birding classic is a great event to go out in the field and see as many birds as possible with your friends and families for a great cause, which is habitat conservation on the Texas coast.

Shelley Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Parks and Wildlife. This year’s Birding Classic is April 27 through May 4. Teams pay entry fees, which fund habitat conservation.

We’ve now donated five hundred and seventy eight thousand dollars to habitat conservation projects on the Texas coast. Acquisition and restoration are the things that people want to fund; the teams are the ones that get to pick which projects get funded every year, and they consistently pick restoration and acquisition projects, because that’s what we need for the birds that migrating. We need more habitat that is pristine and in its natural state, either by restoring habitat that is already owned, or by acquiring habitat that might do on to development.

While team registration is over, statewide nature-viewing opportunities are not.

We have a migration calendar of events that comes out every year in the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. And that lists activities from May of 2008 through May of 2009 that you can do statewide.

Learn more about the Classic at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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MIGRATION EVENTS IN APRIL

April 3 — 6

FeatherFest 2008 — Galveston. A birding and general nature festival focusing on the birds of the Upper Texas Coast during early spring (late wintering birds, early spring trans-gulf migrants and many all season birds). Expert led seminars on many topics, field trips by bus, boat and kayak, activities for non-birding spouses and signature socials. Registration: $30/person; Cost varies for specific activities. 5 a.m. — 5 p.m. (409) 392-0841; www.galvestonfeatherfest.com.

April 12 — 14

19th Annual Spring Native Plant Sale — Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary, McKinney. Check out over 300 varieties of native Texas plants such as trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and grasses! All sales are tax-free. Free entry. Friday: 4 — 7 p.m. (members only); Saturday: 9 a.m. — 5 p.m.; Sunday: 1 — 5 p.m. (972) 562-5566; www.heardmuseum.org.

Great Texas Birding Classic, Part 1 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download