Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Imagine spring in Texas without roadsides awash in colorful wildflowers. Dr. Damon Waitt, senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, says these native plants don’t just make us smile, they serve us in other important ways as well.

Native plants have natural benefits in the natural benefits in the natural landscape. They provide really important ecosystem services for local wildlife, pollinators. They filter storm water and rainwater, so they provide all these services to the ecosystem, and they can provide similar services in the built landscape, and reduce things like water use, pesticide use and fertilizer use. In addition, they have the aesthetic qualities that we want people to appreciate, so they’re not looking for that next exotic ornamental—that they ‘re more interested in finding that next native plant that looks great and functions perfectly in their environment. There are a lot of people who might look at wildflowers and native plants and say, gosh, how do those fit into my idea of a formal landscape. At the wildflower center, we model different design styles using native plants. That’s something we’re really trying to fight—that concept that if you’re a native plant enthusiast, then your yard must look wild and unkempt. When, in fact, you can use native plants in very high designs and very formal designs if that’s the look you’re going for.

Find plants that are right for you at wildflower.org.

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

Nature: Wildflowers & Other Natives Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

It may seem counter-intuitive that a wetland—something that’s filled with water—can actually help to reduce the amount of floodwater that reaches the built environment during extreme weather events.

06—Because it holds the water in and then releases it at a much more controlled rate over a longer period of time.

Nathan Kuhn, a wetlands biologist with parks and Wildlife, says flooding may still occur, but…

07—Flooding isn’t as severe, and so there’s less damage essentially being caused by these storm events.

We’re slowing gaining an appreciation for the benefits of wetlands, and we mostly understand that they are not worthless, stinking, mosquito infested swamps, to fill in for future development.

Nevertheless, we’ve lost acres of coastal wetlands due to that thinking and action, and so flooding in parts of Texas can be absolutely devastating during extreme weather events.

15—We’re not normally dealing with extreme events. But, when we do have those extreme events, then we’re getting the flooding that we’ve never really seen before in many cases due to the lack of wetlands. That’s because there’s so much hard surface now, where there used to be exposed soil to soak up that water.

Learn about wetlands on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Our show receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Habitat: Wetland Mitigate Flooding Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Nathan Kuhn is a wetlands biologist who spends his time studying marshes.

13—There are a lot of different categories, but the ones that I usually operate with are the four categories of freshwater, intermediate, brackish and saltwater marshes. And, basically, that’s a gradient from lowest salinity to highest salinity.

He explains that wetland is another term to describe marshland as well as other soggy bottoms.

16—Essentially they’re the same. A marsh is just a kind of wetland. A marsh is typically made up of grasses and other herb type plants. Whereas a swamp is another type of wetland, and that’s mainly composed of trees, like your bald cypress and tupelo gum trees.

We’re more inclined to visit a mall than we are a marsh. And as hard as it is to believe, our overall quality of life would not decline if malls disappeared. The same is not true were we to lose our marshes.

14—Without them, in many cases we would not have the shrimp or the speckled trout that a lot of people go to the Texas coast to enjoy. So, there are a lot of invisible values of these wetlands that these people don’t necessarily realize unless they were gone.

Tomorrow we see how a decline in marshland means an increase in flooding.

Our show is made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Habitat: What is a Marsh? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Dave Wilcox and his brother-in-law Oliver Smart own and operate Lone Oak Ranch; for their thoughtful caretaking of this nearly two thousand acres of coastal habitat, they won a 2010 LSLS Award for the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes eco-region.

10—Ranching and land owning is not for the weak. Our objective is to make every section of the property the most it can be. To me, it’s just a duty that you have when you buy a piece of property. [:01 bird call at end.]

This month the Texas parks and Wildlife PBS TV series spotlights Dave Wilcox —a third generation Anahuac pharmacist—and new generation steward. Ron Kabele produced the show.

22—[bell] You walk into his pharmacy [cash register] and it’s like a throwback… What you doing Floyd? What’s going on? It’s an interesting parallel when you think about what it is as a pharmacist, taking care of the community and taking care of his land. The two really are very similar. His responsibility that he feels toward the townspeople is the same thing he feels toward his land.

Proper grazing, prescribed burning, Chinese tallow control, and moist soil management practices are used to enhance both upland and wetland habitats on the Lone Oak Ranch.

17—You know, told me that over the ten years that its taken to do this, that all these biologists and wildlife folks who have helped him—they’ve basically educated him to the point where he’s teaching other people, other landowners, how to do this. What a great thing to do to pay it forward for the greater good.

Check the Texas Parks and Wildlife website for your local listings.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife restoration program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program … For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Parks and Wildlife TV: Lone Oak Ranch Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Did someone say camping? Camping just got better at Lake Whitney State park…but it isn’t the only thing that’s great there… as our State park Guide Bryan Frazier explains.

54—Lake Whitney SP made the news recently because of some improved camping that we have there. We have more than 40 full hookup campsites, with water, electricity and sewage. It’s great for RVers who want to come through there, and it’s the only park on the lake with full hookup capacity. And the lake is 23-thousand surface acres. So, it’s well-known for its bass fishing; it’s a great smallmouth bass lake, and white bass, and striped bass, and so it’s a fisherman’s destination. But, a lot of other things going on there with the hiking trails that we have, and the camping. The scenery that we have in that North Texas area is just beautiful. And the lake is incredibly deep, which makes for biodiversity in fish populations there. Birding is fantastic at Lake Whitney Sp. And those improvements have Really been in the works for several years on our camping oops, and I think people will really be delighted to see what’s going on at Lake Whitney.

Thanks Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years.

We record our series at the Production Block Studios in Austin, Texas, and Joel Block engineers our program.

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

State Parks: Lake Whitney State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download