Archive for February, 2010

State Park Getaway–Mustang Island

Friday, February 12th, 2010

This is Passport to Texas SP Getaways

Bryan Frazier works for State Parks, and will join us regularly to talk about your state parks. This week, he’s taking us to Mustang Island.

Mustang Island State Park…you’re talking about almost 4-thousand acres of park that goes on both sides of the bay and the gulf.

Great recreation in terms of beach camping. You’ve got three hundred primitive tents sites there and its one of the few places in Texas that you can do that with public access.

And then you’ve also got great birding, particularly this time of year. You never know what you’re going to see from a waterfowl perspective or shorebird there that’s come in from the gulf or on the bay side.

Then, you’ve also got developed campsites; you’ve got 48 hook-up sites with water and electricity there for RVs. So you’ve got the best of both worlds.

So, Mustang Island really represents a lot for people…that they can maybe not go so far from home, but still get the warmth of South Texas, the beach access the great fishing.

Whether you’re talking about red fish or black drum or speckled trout, things that the Texas coast is famous for—Mustang Island SP is a great place.

Thanks, Bryan.

Check availability and reserve your campsite at Mustang Island SP by visiting the TPW website.

That’s our show…watch State Park videos on the TPW channel on YouTube channel…

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

Trees for Texas–Still Time to Plant

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

This is Passport to Texas

Planting native trees in your landscape provides pleasing aesthetics, shade in summer, and habitat for wildlife. Late winter is still a good time to add new trees to your yard.

They have the dormant season to spread roots out.

Certified arborist Scott Harris says planting trees before summer arrives gives them an advantage.

You can plant a tree if you really baby it in the summertime; but you won’t gain any growth on it until after that first cool season, anyway. The only thing you’ll gain is getting it behind you. You won’t have a bigger tree for it.

The best trees to plant are natives. Native trees evolved with local wildlife and weather, both of which keep them in check. Non-native trees have no such relationships, which can make them a nuisance.

Unfortunately, they’re still on the market out there, and you can still buy them everywhere. They’ll spread seeds that the people at the parks and preserves will have to spend hours and hours cutting down and taking away so that the natives can thrive, so that the wildlife can thrive, and the environment can function the way its supposed to.

You can find lists of native plants for your landscape on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Guadalupe Bass–Solving the Hybrid Problem

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

This is Passport to Texas

For more than a decade, researchers at the Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center in Kerrville have battled the hybrid progeny of Guadalupe bass—the state fish of Texas—and the introduced Smallmouth bass.

We’re raising thousands of pure Guadalupe bass here at the research station. And every year we stock them back into nature. Basically, what we’re doing is replacing the hybrids that are out there with these pure Guadalupe bass. And we’ll let nature take its course form there.

That’s Gary Garrett, who initiated the Guadalupe bass recovery program. The fish exists only in the Texas Hill Country—in the headwaters of streams that drain the Edward’s Plateau.

Shortly after non-native smallmouth bass were introduced to Texas waters, they bred with native bass, resulting in an explosion of hybrids. But using a technique called “saturation stocking,” Garrett and his crew have made exceptional progress.

So far we’re seeing here in Johnson Creek, where we began eh study, we started where 30 percent of the fish were hybrids. And that wasn’t stable—it was still increasing when we started. It is now down to around three percent. Which is excellent! Top go from thirty to three is great. Now we want to go from three to zero.

And Garrett expects to reach zero in the next four to five years.

That’s our show… we receive support from the SF Restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Guadalupe Bass–A Hybrid Problem

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

This is Passport to Texas

Some ideas seem good when you first have them. Then after some time passes—not so much. Take smallmouth bass, for example, and their effect on the Guadalupe bass population.

Small mouth bass, of course, are not native to Texas, but were brought in as an additional sport fish. The problem is they can’t tell each other apart. Even though they look very different, but evidently, they act similar enough behaviorally that they’ll reproduce—and they have hybrids.

That’s Gary Garrett, Director of the Watershed Conservation Program. So, what’s wrong with hybrids, anyway?

Hybrids, by definition, are halfway between the parents. 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.

Besides, they’re the state fish of Texas, occurring only in the Hill Country. And, well, you just don’t mess with Texas.

The other thing we’re now seeing a little bit is that these hybrids are now also crossing with our largemouth bass…which is yet another problem we want to avoid.

And you definitely don’t mess with largemouth bass. But, we’ve started to turn the tide on these hybrids with saturation stocking.

And we’re confident that in the next four or five years we’re going to be able to solve this problem.

That’s our show… we receive support from the SF Restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TPW TV–Palo Duro Canyon

Monday, February 8th, 2010

This is Passport to Texas

This month on the TPW TV series you’ll get to the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon. Producer, Ron Kabele.

It’s the second largest canyon in the country. And, it has a big advantage over the Grand Canyon, and that is you can drive down to it.

The Grand Canyon is nice to stand on the edge and go. ‘That’s a great canyon.’ Here, you can get into the canyon and you can become part of it.

I heard about this 24-hour bike race that they were doing, and it was to raise money for cancer research. And so, what better way to show off the park than to show people actually uses it.

When you’ve got a huge park like this, these are the only places where you can do these kinds of events. That’s what the parks are for.

And one of the kids, his name was Joe. I got some video of him during the race, and then afterwards I interviewed him, and that’s when I realized that he only had one arm.

They’re like you can’t bike a hundred miles. You know, I was able to do the fifty with ease; I’m sure I can bike a hundred. Yeah, they did kind of think I was crazy.

You don’t have to be crazy to visit Palo Duro State Park—just adventurous. Learn what awaits you at Texas’ Grand Canyon, when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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