Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

When you engage the outdoors — whether camping, paddling, bird watching, hunting, fishing, or any number of activities – you’re participating in nature tourism.

07— Nature tourism, quite simply, is going out and traveling based on natural resources.

Shelly Plante oversees Nature Tourism for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

16— Nature tourism in Texas is booming. Wildlife viewing has been skyrocketing; people are doing more and more bird watching, people are doing wildlife photography, camping at our state parks, hiking. We’ve become so urban that I feel people are really just looking for a way to reconnect with the outdoors.

Plante says city squirrels, pigeons and community pools just don’t cut it anymore for urban dwellers. That’s good news for people in rural communities.

20— These nature tourism opportunities give rural communities a way to step in, market themselves, make activities available and easy for people to do: everything from paddling trails and wildlife trails, to photography opportunities on private ranches. Texas has it all, and it is definitely great income for private landowners, and great for the income of local businesses.

Find nature tourism opportunities on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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.