Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

This month the producers of the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV series explore Devil’s Sinkhole, and take you down with them. Abe Moore.

64—To get there, you go to Rock Springs, Texas, and once you get to the visitor’s center, you take this cool bat mobile bus. And it takes you all the way out to this sinkhole in the middle on nowhere. You get off the bus and you go out to this platform, and watch the bats emerge as they head out for their evening feeding.

That story will air on Texas parks and Wildlife Television the week of April 17 through the 24th.

Thanks, Abe.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Each day, hundreds of Game Wardens dedicate themselves to protecting our state’s natural resources. Texas Game Wardens face a variety of dangers in their line of work. While most of the people Game Wardens come in contact with are harmless, Game Warden Kris Bishop explains the risks of being in the field.

:46 Think you’ll see a couple of different scenarios- what Game Wardens experience in the field. In general, the people that we come in contact with are good, family people. They’re taking their family, their children out hunting, and fishing, and boating. That’s how they want to spend their free time. The kind of person who goes out and communes with nature is usually a good person and they have good intentions, and so that’s the average person that we meet. But occasionally, you are going to meet the criminal element no matter where you are. It’s going to be anywhere. You’ll always have that certain amount of danger out there because most of the people that we’re dealing with have knives, guns, things like that, on them. That’s part of what they’re doing. They’re either fishing they they’ll have a filet knife, or they’re hunting and have a rifle or a shotgun. There’s always that little bit of an element of you could possibly get into a situation with a bad person.

Details about Law Enforcement can be found on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Being a Texas Game Warden is an important and rewarding profession. Occasionally, though, it takes an outsider to recognize you have the right stuff to wear the badge.

09—When I was going to college, I studied a lot of science and as a Texan I grew up hunting and fishing. One of my professors actually was the one who thought I’d make a good Game Warden.

Kris Bishop, Assistant Chief of Fisheries Enforcement for Law Enforcement, outlines the steps involved in becoming a Game Warden.

15—To be a Game Warden, you have to have a four-year college degree. Once you’ve finished your four-year degree, if you are accepted into the Academy, it’s about a seven month live-in academy, and they teach you everything about the Code of Criminal procedures, Penal code, and then animal identification.

Graduates of Game Warden Academy enforce all state laws because they are Texas Peace Officers.

08—You’re a conservation enforcement officer, and then because you are a state peace office, you are responsible to know and be able to enforce all the laws of the state.

Whether you seek information on becoming a Texas Game Warden, or you need information on various hunting, fishing a conservation regulations and policies for our state—you can find all of it on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

This month the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series follows a self-proclaimed foodie as he learns how to hunt. Producer, Alan Fisher was with him every step of the way.

Coming up the week of April 17th we have a story called Will Hunt for Food, in which we follow a person interested in hunting for the first time through his interest in local foods. People are really more interested in organic and natural food, free range food, and of course wild game has always been all of those things.

I think definitely the story will show that where there are perceived hurdles, there are many resources out there, and a lot of people who would like to help you get started hunting. For more information, folks can visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

Thanks, Alan.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

April 21is the day Texans remember the Battle of San Jacinto—a turning point in the story of Texas. Our State Park Guide, Bryan Frazier, tells us about a battle reenactment to take place on the San Jacinto Battleground.

This is one of the most iconic battles we have in our colorful Texas history. It’s a reenactment of what happened on April 21, 1836. There’ll be people in period costume and battle garb, and they will actually reconstruct that battle from 1836 where the Texans courageously won their independence from Santa Anna’s forces down in Southeast Texas. And that’s at San Jacinto Battleground, down just outside of Houston. Every year it draws lots and lots of people, and it’s just one of those times where you can get up close and personal with living Texas history, because the battle is reenacted right before your very eyes. People who go say it is a pretty revealing, interesting and powerful thing to see—and its so fundamental to our Texas history base. It’s something that we think everyone who’s a Texan should understand what happened and its significance to our state. Few times can you get up and really see, or witness and event that did happen in history that turned the tide of a nation.

Thanks, Bryan.

Find more information at texasstateparks.org.

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

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