Passport to Texas

During hot summer days when you’re zipping around in a boat on a Texas Lake, a cold adult beverage could really hit the spot. While it may be legal, research suggests boat operators should avoid drinking while boating.

06—National statistics show that upwards of fifty percent of boating accidents involve alcohol.

Steve Hall is Education Director at Parks and Wildlife. The good news is Texans are involved in fewer alcohol related boating accidents than the national average.

15—In fact, it’s down around 10% in Texas. But still again, alcohol is involved way too many accidents.

Hall says everyone on a boat needs to keep their alcohol consumption in check.

08—If you’re the operator of the boat, you’re going to have to try and avoid it. Even the passengers should not overindulge, because they’re the proper boat lookouts.

The most common cause of a boating accident is failure to have a proper boat lookout, which is basically the failure to see what’s in front of you—like a stump, a dock, or another boat.

11—It usually happens on clear days. It usually happens on calmer waters. So, we know that those boating accidents could be prevented by having a second person on board that’s avoiding alcohol as well.

That’s our show… We receive support 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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This is Passport to Texas

Everyone, no matter how long they’ve been boating, benefits from a little extra education.

04—Boater education goes over the basic responsibility of every boater.

Steve Hall is director of Education at Parks and Wildlife. In a boater education class you’ll learn how to equip your vessel with the proper safety equipment and how to file a float plan…but it doesn’t end there.

Next it follows all the navigation aids and procedures on the water and getting underway—and that is familiarization with the rules of the road, they call them. And this is the rules of the waterway.

Boating education is mandatory for those 13 through 17 years of age. But, unfortunately, the age group that’s involved in most boating accident are above that age, and comprise most of the operators in the state of Texas. And so, trying to get more adults to take boater education is a trick, but it would be imperative if we’re going to reduce the accidents even more.

Find boating education courses, including Internet options, at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

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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This is Passport to Texas

If you’ve never spent time in a state park, it’s easy to come up with all kinds of reasons why they may not be for you. Our Stat Park guide, Bryan Frazier, says one myth about parks is that in order to get the most out of the experience—you have to go extreme.

And the good thing about state parks in Texas is, if you like those kinds of extreme activities—the mountain climbing, or the mountain biking—we have some pretty technical things where you can actually enjoy just about as an extreme experience as you want.

So, we don’t want people to be intimidated of the outdoors. We’ve got pretty much everything you’re looking for, whether it’s just a nice little walk, or something more than that at a state park in Texas.

Thanks, Bryan.

Start planning your next state park getaway—whether relaxed or adrenaline fueled—when you log onto the Texas and Wildlife website.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Everyone has a favorite state park—sometimes more than one. The Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS television series takes viewers to four parks in July. One of the parks you’ll visit also happens to be a favorite of producer, Abe Moore.

I produced a story on Mustang Island State Park down by Port Aransas. It’s got the beach, it’s got the sun, it’s go the fun—it’s a great place to take the family for the summer.

So, it’s one of my favorite state parks, and I always recommend—especially with the summer and seaweed and everything going on, it’s good to check the park for beach conditions before you go down there. Parks and Wildlife television is on PBS stations all across the state, and you can go to our website to find stations and times in your area.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s easy to forget how the sounds of nature enrich our well-being, or how some man-made sounds can have the opposite effect. The World Listening Project recognizes these relationships.

08—The World Listening Project is a not for profit organization whose goal is to help people better understand our relationships with the sounds around us.

Dan Godston lives in Chicago and is involved in the World Listening Project. He says Sunday, July 18 is World Listening Day, and one way to observe it is by taking a sound walk in a state park.

05—And a sound walk is where you’re focused on what you hear in your sound scape, your sonic environment.

In parks you might hear birds, rustling leaves, water, buzzing insects, the sound of mountain bikes whizzing by, people’s voices, and the crunch of a hiking trail beneath your feet.

Traffic, the clanging and growling of industry and manufacturing, and the thumping bass of car stereos heard from blocks away, are also part of the sonic environment, and often considered sound pollution. Just as bright city lights obscure our view of stars in the night sky, excessive man-made sounds muffle our ability to connect with the natural world.

10—As stewards of this planet, we should try to be careful about what’s happening to biodiversity, and certainly, I think, having the range of sounds relates to that.

We have a collection of sounds at passporttotexas.org, and instructions for making a sound map. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Noé Cuéllar is a sound designer, photographer, and curator originally from Laredo, Texas, who currently lives in Chicago. He worked on a project called “Prairie Mountain Soundscape” for which Chicago-based anthropologist Lise McKean commissioned him to compose a soundscape of Chicago’s both natural and urban sounds. The podcast is above.

“Prairie Mountain Soundscape” is a sound journey through the evaporation and condensation of Chicago’s sound environment, where the audible embodies urban and natural landscapes.
– Noé Cuéllar

MAKE A SOUND MAP

What You Need:

• Paper
• Clipboard, tablet or something to write on
• Something to write with like a pencil or pen

Directions:

1. Find a comfortable spot to sit outdoors
2. Mark an “X” in the center of the paper. This shows YOU on the map
3. Close your eyes and listen for at least one minute. Listen for sounds from animals, birds, people and other activities
4. Keep listening, but now draw pictures or symbols on the map representing all the sounds you hear, and where they are coming from
5. At the top of your page, write down the date, time and where you were (school yard, park, etc.)

What Did You Discover?
Did you hear something from each direction around you?
Could you hear at least 10 different sounds?
Could you identify all the sounds you heard?
If you did this with a friend, compare your maps!

Stuff to Think About:
What would happen if you sat somewhere else?
What would be different at another time of day?
Another season?