Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Before we had grocery stores, we had nature.

Whenever the edible wild plants were domesticated, tamed and cultivated, that’s when human culture could grow.

Human culture evolved, says Joe Roach, because people no longer spent their days searching for food in the wild. Roach, a park interpreter, occasionally takes visitors on wild food hikes in Tyler State Park.

The program is to have park visitors recognize and gain and appreciation of how edible wild plant support our human culture. We do that by taking a very moderate one half mile hike. We point out the various the various things that the Caddo Indians used [and others] when they were here. And we investigate how the human culture rose on the foundation of edible wild plants.

Roach warns never to eat any wild plant unless you are 100% certain it is safe, as some edible wild plants are similar in appearance to poisonous wild plants. One ubiquitous edible plant is the juniper tree, more commonly referred to as cedar.

You can make a tea out of them, or chew on the leaves. Some people have reported that it helps control various gum diseases. In survival training some people say you can chew on the juniper to freshen the breath.

And juniper berries are a classic seasoning for wild game dishes. There’s a Wild Food Hike at Tyler SP March 20; it’s accessible for the mobility impaired. Find details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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March 20, 2010 — Tyler SP — Wild Food Hike — Explore the edible wildscape during a moderate, half-mile hike. Learn to identify and prepare some of the common edible wild plants and other benefits they have to offer. Accessible for the mobility impaired. 11 a.m.-noon (903) 597-5338.

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Javelina strolling in the park.

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This is Passport to Texas

No matter what your outdoor interest, chances are you’ll find it at Choke Canyon State Park. Bryan Frazier is our guide.

Choke Canyon State Park—a great place to go in terms of catfish fishing, which turns on a little later in the spring. Crappie fishing, white bass…Choke Canyon has just risen in the ranks, if you will, in the fishing world as a place to go to really catch lots of different kinds of fish. But, right now, bass fishermen, that’s one of their hot spots to stop and visit on the way. A lot of tournament fishermen show up there.

Another thing about Choke Canyon is, it’s a complete park from a recreational standpoint. You’ve got hike and bike trails, you’ve got a gymnasium, you’ve got screen shelters that have been enclosed with air conditioning, you’ve got lots of different facilities. A group facility, fish cleaning stations—so many different things, depending on what your needs are. Hookups for RVs are good there, with 50 amp service.

It’s far enough south—you’ve got great birding—even some of the things like the green jays and chachalacas…and the wildlife viewing is unmatched. Whether you’re looking for deer, or turkeys or javelina—they’re oftentimes viewable right from the park road in your vehicle. A great place to take the kids to get them familiar with nature. So, Choke Canyon is definitely a place I recommend this time of year to people to visit.

Find more State Park Getaway information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

How do you balance the needs of wildlife and habitat, with wind energy? Find out this month and next on the TPW TV series: Producer Abe Moore.

One of the areas we go is up in the Panhandle, where wind energy is threatening tall grass prairies and the Lesser prairie Chicken, which is there; and it’s got biologists a little concerned.

They don’t do well with change on the landscape. We think that we’re displacing or moving a nesting female away from where she wants to be, and we don’t have much habitat left for her to go to.

We also do a second part on wind energy and we go down to the coast, where wind energy is being developed even faster than in the Panhandle. And, it’s a concern because it’s in the Central Flyway where millions of birds migrate through. So you have all these birds and you’re putting wind turbines in there. So there’s a balance there. We talk with Penescal Wind Farm down there. And they have a radar system set up where they can see the birds coming before they get there.

The radar itself generates a curtailment command, and in less than one minute all the turbines will be turning at less than one RPM. And in within five minutes, all of them are completely stationary.

So, both on the coast, and on the Panhandle, it comes down to habitat issues and trying to site them in the right place.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Giant Salvinia is a fast growing exotic aquatic plant from South America that loves the warm, nutrient rich environment of Texas’ protected waters. This invasive species develops into large floating mats of vegetation.

The water under the mat is quickly depleted of dissolved oxygen due to the lack of sunlight and contact with the air’s surface; it becomes highly acidic and basically unfit for aquatic life.

Howard Elder is an aquatic habitat biologist. Giant Salvinia can be controlled in small areas using integrated pest management.

We can only conduct herbicide operations during the warmer months when the plant is actually growing.

In South America, where Giant Salvinia is native, natural processes, including a weevil, control the plant’s growth.

We have investigated this Giant Salvinia weevil, as we call it, as a bio-control agent. And research began in 2002 after the USDA approved its importation and use and distribution in the field within the United States. The initial results of Giant Salvinia weevil introduction offers great promise as a long-term inexpensive alternative in the control of Giant Salvinia infestations in Texas and throughout the South.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to eradicate invasive species from Texas waters.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

This week’s state park getaway takes us to Falcon Lake State Park, where fishing for bass tops a long list of recreational opportunities. Bryan Frazier is our guide.

Falcon state park—this time of year—is really one of the premier bass fishing destinations in the United States. It’s one of the first ones to be an indicator of the bass fishing season, if you will, as a lot of bass fishermen can note.

There’s a butterfly garden there that the volunteers helped build. You’ve got great camping, you’ve got some enclosed shelters there that are air conditioned. So, Falcon State Park, this time of year especially—but really all year—a great place by yourself, friends, family, check out Falcon State Park.

Find more State Park Getaway information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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