Passport to Texas

Prescription Fire Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Given the devastation produced by wildfires this year, it may be difficult to grasp the vital role fire plays in land management. Nature’s been using it for eons with great success.

David Riskind, director of natural resources for state parks, says there’s a difference between a fire burning out of control, and the prescription burns biologists recommend to landowners.

Controlled burning is a term that people use that you start at part A, and you burn until you get to part B. Professional land managers use the term prescribed fire because you have specific objectives, you have specific outcomes, you burn under very specific conditions. And so a prescription is a planning document… you lay everything out ahead of time and you then implement it with very specific objectives in mind.

Riskind says the objectives set forth in prescribed burns vary from property to property.

There can be a whole series of objectives. From very simple things like fuel load reduction. You can have specific habitat objectives…to change the vegetation structure and composition to support waterfowl, or to support antelope, or lesser prairie chickens…or Houston toads for that matter.

Houston toad habitat took a big hit from wildfires last month. Learn more on tomorrow’s show.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Fall Foliage at State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Historically people associate fall foliage in Texas with Lost Maples State Natural Area.

01— And rightfully so…

Our State Park Guide, Bryan Frazier.

51—It is a unique place. You’ve got the big Sawtooth maple trees that are holdovers from the last ice age. Someone forgot to tell the trees they shouldn’t be there. But they’re there, and they’re there and they’re beautiful and people love it and flock to that park in late October and early November to see that. But one of the overlooked places for fall foliage is NE Texas.

You can actually find that out on our website texasstateparks.org/foliage, and we’ll do the fall foliage reports. And hopefully this year it will be good.

Thanks, Bryan!

We always knew Texas was a colorful place, and the fall foliage in NE TX is simply further proof.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

ShareLunker: Breeding Better Bass Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of inland fisheries’ management goals includes creating world class angling opportunities in Texas. One way that’s happening is through the Toyota Texas ShareLunker program.

A lunker is a largemouth bass caught between October first and April 30th that weighs 13 pounds or more.

David Campbell oversees the program and says anglers loan these bass to Parks and Wildlife for spawning and research purposes.

The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center here in Athens is where we pick up the fish, and we spawn ‘em. We do some of the genetic identification and stuff like that here. Also, Lorraine Fries and her staff at A.E. Wood is doing the actual genetic research on it – on the muscle tissue and the blood samples and the stuff that we send them. And we have a geneticist on staff down there that is actually directing the program. You need that. I’ve raised fish for the last 38 years or so, and when you start looking into the genetic side of things it takes people who have special training.

Hatcheries staff conducts research on bass loaned or donated to the program to produce potentially trophy-sized fish for stocking in Texas public waters.

Learn about the program by logging onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

History of a Fish Story Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Anglers help keep bass fishing interesting in Texas by donating their lunkers to the Toyota Texas ShareLunker Program where they’re used for spawning and genetic research.

07—A ShareLunker is a largemouth bass that weighs 13 pounds or more and is caught between October the first through April the 30th.

David Campbell’s oversees the Toyota ShareLunker Program. He admits in the beginning he wasn’t convinced anglers would participate.

07—I was reluctant for the fact that I didn’t think the anglers would be willing to loan us the biggest fish they ever caught in their life.

When the first lunker came to the program in 1986, not only did Campbell’s concerns disappear, but the fish caused quite a splash.

08—We made national news and it was just like from there on, people call you, and they want to loan you their ten pounders…their eight pounders (laughter)

Thousands of visitors traveled to the Tyler fish hatchery where TPW kept the lunker, just to get a peek.

13—Sometimes they were lined up all the way up to the house, which I lived on the hatchery there, around the office, they’d be lined up down the road, and I’d go out there and open up the door
and let them see the fish…and we had over ten thousand visitors that signed a register one year.

More about the ShareLunker program tomorrow.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

ShareLunker Club Tournament Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic tournament raises funds and awareness for the work of Texas Parks and Wildlife. This world class bass fishing competition takes place Halloween weekend on Lake Conroe. Tournament Director Lenny Francoeur says if you can’t make it to the Lake, and you have an internet connection, you can still keep track of the action.

11— They can still check it out online and we’ll have a real time scoring function as well. So, you can check the website, and see exactly up to the second how every angler is doing and what
weight they have for that day. So, it’s a neat little feature.

Francoeur says there’s a special competition currently underway as a lead up to the Bass Classic, and a kick off to the ShareLunker season, which began October 1.

25— The TTBC has created the ShareLunker Club Tournament. It’s only on Lake Conroe and it’s going to be for three weeks. Anyone who’s interested in catching a bass over 13 pounds, and signs up
to be a member of the ShareLunker Club—it’s a hundred dollars, but you get tickets to the event and parking and other benefits—the largest ShareLunker caught on lake Conroe between October 1
and October 21 will win a hundred thousand dollars cash.

Find a link to more information at passporttotexas.org.

We record our series in Austin at The Block House.

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