Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Saving water and lush landscapes aren’t mutually exclusive. Gretchen Mahan tells us more…

At the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, six miniature houses on WaterSavers Lane showcase diverse landscapes and their water saving potential. Sir Oliver Smith, a master gardener, describes the typical landscape, complete with a water thirsty lawn.

This is what most people have. They have the traditional hedges at the door and all that manicuring you have to do every week. So this is probably what we don’t want if you want to save on money and save on grass and save on water.

For comparison, he points out an attractive landscape that replaces turf with groundcover.

People like this look; it’s a little less maintenance. And you’re replacing some of the lawn with Asiatic jasmine, which takes no water.

While the jasmine isn’t native, most of the other plants are. This helps save water because native plants generally require less of it survive.

Everyone thinks native plants are just a sticky agarita and the yuccas and the sotals. But all the other things in this garden are native. Vitex and desert willow and redbud and there are a lot of other things that do very well with almost no water.

And they’re beautiful. Contact your local Extension Service to find out which native plants thrive in your area.

Thanks, Gretchen. That’s our show…Find pictures and more information at passporttotexas.org. For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife…

Texas Christian University’s mascot is the horned frog. And with a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Christian University researchers are studying their mascot. Gretchen Mahan tells us more…

The Texas horned lizard, commonly called the horny toad, is a threatened species. Amanda Hale and Dean Williams are assistant professors of biology at TCU. And they’re currently collecting and analyzing horned lizard DNA samples. Williams says when he heard about the need for research on the horned lizard, he thought it would be a good opportunity for his department.

The stuff that we do here is basically conservation genetics. We work with a wide range of organisms, and the project just seemed like a good fit.

Texas horned lizards used to be so populous that people would see them in their neighborhoods…but, not anymore. Because of threats like the imported fire ant, horned lizard populations have significantly declined.

That’s why Hale says they hope to use the DNA for future conservation programs. She says the DNA will help them determine which horned lizard populations are doing best. Then, conservationists might be able to take those lizards and breed them to create a more stable population throughout Texas.

We have about 300 DNA samples from horned lizard, so we have volunteers right now who are trying to fill in gaps in collection throughout the state.

And you can help by contacting TCU’s biology department if you spot a horned lizard.

Thanks Gretchen. That’s our show… 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

Ann Miller developed and hosts a new series of videos from Texas Parks and Wildlife called Take Me Fishing 101.

Well, the primary thing I want to convey is that fishing is great fun. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors with your family, with friends; it’s inexpensive, and it’s really pretty easy.

Miller says the eleven videos in the series cover basic skills that will help anyone get started fishing in a very short time.

I think that that’s the beauty of these. They were created to be about three minute segments. So, you can choose which segments you want to view. You can view two or three at a time, or one at a time, and practice a little bit, and then come back for more.

There are three ways to view the videos: on YouTube and the Texas Parks and Wildlife website…

Then, the third day you can do this is purchase the DVD set through the Parks and Wildlife website. Who do you expect with buy the DVDs? I really feel like there are a lot of folks out there that really just have this desire to get in the out of doors and that they’re going to look at these videos as a stepping stone to help them get out, and enjoy the outdoors, and enjoy fishing in particular.

Find links to the videos at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we produce our show with a grant form the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Don’t let the fact you’ve never gone fishing—or that your skills are a bit rusty—keep you from casting a line soon.

We do offer classes, but we can’t offer classes to everyone. So, we thought a little video series would help.

Ann Miller coordinates aquatic education for TPW. She said the agency received many inquiries from adults interested in learning to fish for the first time, or who wanted to know how to get their children involved. Miller helped to develop—and hosts—the agency’s new Fishing 101 video series, which demonstrates basic fishing skills.

So, we have really started with the very basic knowledge and skills, just to get people started. Then, of course, we have also included a lot of links to resources, so that people will figure out the next steps to be able to increase their fishing knowledge.

The videos, available on YouTube and the TPW website, are for adults who want to hone their skills.

We do gear this for adults; both to teach them how to go fishing again if they’ve forgotten, or to help them teach their children.

Find links to the videos at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we produce our show with a grant form the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Fishing 101 Videos on YouTube

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

Great bass fishing in Texas gets better when anglers donate their fish to Parks and Wildlife’s Sharelunker program. Program coordinator, David Campbell.

A Sharelunker is a largemouth bass that weighs 13 pounds or more, legally caught in the state of Texas from private waters and public waters.

Loraine Fries (Fr-EYE-Z) manages the A.E. Wood Genetics Lab in San Marcos. She says geneticists use pieces of fin from donated bass to take DNA “fingerprints.” Information they collect tells them if the fish came from their selective breeding program.

We’re retaining offspring from lunkers, and as they mature and are big enough, we breed them back to other lunkers. And the idea is we are increasing the genetic contribution of lunkers to those offspring.

Florida Largemouth bass, stocked in reservoirs, grow larger than native northern bass, and enhance trophy potential. Geneticist Dijar Lutz-Carrillo (DEE-har luhtz—kah-REE-oh) says, thus far, all donated lunkers have been kin to Florida bass.

All of those fish were either a Florida largemouth bass or a hybrid with Florida largemouth bass influence in the genome. Just using those largest fish, big Florida largemouth bass, and producing fish from them—do those fish get significantly larger than the Florida largemouth bass? And that’s where the fingerprinting comes in.

And possibly where the next world record comes in, too.

That’s our show…supported by a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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