Passport to Texas

TPW TV: Shooting for State Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

[…pull…*shotgun*.]

When the Texas Legislature gave schools the green light to sponsor off-campus shooting sports, lots of kids jumped at the chance. A segment on this month TPW PBS TV series called Shooting for State gives viewers a chance to see these kids in action. Producer, Karen Loke.

44—These students can do anything from football, cheer-leading or nothing at all. Shooting sports is good for everybody.

Every student must take a hunter education safety class before they can even participate—so it’s very safe. I’ve heard that these students that take shooting sports are more responsible. It encompasses all of the aspects of what school is supposed to be about.

Thanks, Karen.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Show featuring this segment airs the week of May 20th. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series, and works to increase shooting sports in Texas.

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

The Virtues of Mother Neff State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

While your mother may have many virtues, something she probably doesn’t have is three distinct ecosystems; but our mother does.

11—As you move from one ecosystem to the other, seeing the different plants and animals that live in each one of those ecosystems, just really shows you how varied the state of Texas is.

Leah Huth is Superintendent of Mother Neff State Park. The ecosystems are a river bottom, where you can fish free along the banks of the Leon River, as well as a limestone escarpment and prairie.

24—We have over three miles of hiking trails that go up through a natural limestone escarpment; and the hiking trails take you through where the golden cheeked warbler likes to make their home. Then, if you take the trail all the way to the top of the park, which is over 250 acres, is a natural prairie. And right now the wildflowers are coming out, so spring is here and it’s just absolutely beautiful.

The park, in north Central Texas, is a one-stop family weekend vacation destination.

18—We have enough diversity here to where every member of the family could find something that they enjoy. There’s road biking, they could also do hiking, we have birding, we’ve got butterflies. Of course, there’s fishing in the Leon River. And if you desire just to put up a hammock, there’s opportunity to do that as well.

Learn more about this gem of a destination at texasstateparks.org.

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

First State Park in Texas: Mother Neff Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Governor Pat Neff may have named Mother Neff park for his mother, but Isabella Neff got the ball rolling by willing several acres of the family homestead to “the people.”

11—She put it in her will in 1916 that she wanted part of the homestead to be a park to the pubic for religious, educational, fraternal and political purposes.

Leah Huth is Mother Neff State Park Superintendent. Even before Neff’s passing, Huth says people living near Waco and Temple used the land.

23—The people in the area were used to going there and meeting up with all of their neighbors. And she wanted that tradition to continue after she passed away. So, she instructed her son Pat to erect a fence around the plot and to construct a substantial building in the nature of a pavilion, and wanted it to be called something like the Neff Park; and of course, they ended up calling it Mother Neff.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, which in the 1930s built several structures at the park still in use today, started a tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day there.

13—People from all over came. And we have pictures of all of the CCC boys lined up in a star around the flagpole. It was just a very special time. It was often that Mother’s Day was celebrated here at the park.

We extol the virtues of our mother on tomorrow’s show.

We record our series at the Block House in Austin.

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

Mother's Day in State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A card and breakfast in bed is a nice way to show mom your appreciation on Mother’s Day; but what about changing things up this year?

07—We would love for folks to take their mom out to a healthier and happier kind of mother’s day and have a picnic at a state park.

Glenda Beasley is marketing manager at Parks and Wildlife. She says with more than ninety Texas State Parks, there’s one close to you and with plenty of recreational opportunities for every family member.

11—You can go on a hike…There’s wildlife nature viewing. Some parks have boats that you can rent. There’s obviously picnicking. We’re even going to have some special recipes online [that you can cook up at the park].

Those recipes are courtesy of the Texas Beef Council. It doesn’t get much better than a hearty, healthy picnic lunch, surrounded by nature’s beauty. And when you take mom to a state park park, you aren’t just doing something nice for her—you’re also doing something nice for parks, which were badly hurt last year due to extreme weather.

18—Approximately half of the fees that are paid through visitation are what funds state parks. And so, we’re still trying to recover from the recent drought and weather issues that we had. It’s a beautiful time to be at a state park, and this [increased park visitation] is really helpful for us to recover from those issues that we’ve had.

Find more information at texasstateparks.org.

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

Birding: Gateway to the Outdoors Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Legendary Birder, Victor Emanuel, views birding as a gateway to nature appreciation.

10—Well, it’s the best way for people to get connected to nature, because birds are the most obvious part of nature visible to us. A lot of the mammals are active at night. But birds are here; they’re all around us.

Emanuel says it’s the fact that they are so visible that makes them interesting.

15—Birds are some of the most visible creatures around us. You have the song of birds, you have the motion of birds, the fact they can fly. A cardinal, a blue jay, a duck on a pond… they’re large enough and so they attract our attention in a way that smaller creatures don’t.

Victor Emanuel has spent a lifetime watching birds around the world. And while all birds are watchable, he says that doesn’t mean he likes them all.

17—I actually have a prejudice against introduced birds that are a problem, like starlings. They’re a beautiful bird, actually, with the colors on them in the sunlight. But they take over the nest of native birds, and throw out the young and eggs, so they don’t get to raise their young and eggs. But, yeah, they’re all watchable.

Find links to birding information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

We record our series at the Block House in Austin, and Joel Block engineers our show.

The WSFR program supports our series and provides … funding for habitat conservation in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti