Passport to Texas

Working with Landowners on Conservation

50th Anniversary: Building Relationships Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Through confidential relationships with area biologists, Texas landowners conserve the state’s natural resources for future generations.

14 — Our goal is to develop these relationships. We do have laws that maintain confidentiality for the landowner. That’s helpful to people and gives them comfort to know that their private business is between them and their biologist.

Linda Campbell oversees the private lands and public hunting programs.

19— We have good relationships all over Texas. We have over 8-thousand wildlife management plans that we hold with active cooperators, one over 29-million acres. We do everything from deer management to quail management to whatever the landowner is interested in – and what the habitat can support.

For the past 18 years, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s honored landowner efforts through its Lone Star Land Steward Awards Program.

13 —And we hold them up to show people what they can do with this dedication and commitment these award winners show. And we want to honor those folks for their achievement and their commitment to good land stewardship.

Find information about free technical assistance and the Lone Star Land Steward Program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and provides funding for Private lands and Public Hunting programs.

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

Private Ranch in Texas

50th Anniversary: Working with Landowners Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ninety-five percent of land in Texas is in private hands, making landowners the key to long-term wildlife habitat conservation.

08 — We understand that in a private land state, we’re not going to make much of a dent in wildlife habitat conservation without our private land partners.

For the past 30 years, the private lands program at Parks and Wildlife has worked closely with landowners, providing free technical assistance for their long range land management goals. It’s another success story in the agency’s 50 year history. Linda Campbell oversees the program.

08—People can go to our website and find their local biologist, talk to them, and they can help you reach your wildlife management goals.

Through its Landowner Incentive Program, the agency provides funds to cost-share.

22 — Projects for landowners who want to enhance habitat for declining species, rare species – in certain targeted areas of the state. We also have funding for landowners who want to do work to enhance watersheds. We look at those as well, and we have a great website on that. So, people that are interested in financial incentives should certainly check out the landowner incentive program.

Find information about free technical assistance and the landowner incentive program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and provides funding for Private lands and Public Hunting programs.

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

Wildfire in Bastrop, Image Jay Jenner Austin American Statesman

This is Passport to Texas

Low hanging tree branches that hug the roof line of your home may provide shade, but they could put you and your property in danger during a wildfire.

11— The roof is the most vulnerable spot on your house; and plants that grow their branches down very close to or even touching the ground, and continue up to your roof, are really plants you want to avoid.

Mark Klym coordinates the Wildscapes program for Parks and Wildlife. He says homeowners living near wildlands are encouraged to use firewise landscaping techniques to reduce their home’s vulnerability to wildfires.

33— Firefighters prefer to see 30 feet of cleared ground around your home if possible; if you can’t give them 30 feet, give them as much as you can. That doesn’t mean no plants – it simply means being very selective with the plants that you have. Some of our wildflowers are very good at retaining their moisture; those are the plants that you want up close to your home. But anything that’s got an oily resin in it… anything that’s going to ignite very easily – dried grasses – you’ll want to avoid that. You also want to try and clean up the leaf litter around your home if you can. Because that will carry the fire to your door.

Find Mark Klym’s article on firewise landscaping in the October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM.

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

Pine burning in wildland fire

Firewise Landscaping Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Homeowners in close proximity to wildlands are at greatest risk of property damage from wildfires. A firewise landscape won’t stop flames, but it could slow them long enough to allow families to escape safely.

13— That means selecting our plants and landscaping materials, as well as some of our outbuildings and structures associated with our home, in a way that will help reduce the probability of a wildfire having catastrophic results for us.

Mark Klym coordinates the Wildscapes program for Parks and Wildlife. He says what you plant on your property, and where you plant it, makes all the difference during a wildfire.

25— You definitely don’t want anything that’s highly explosive or that ignites very easily close to your home. Some examples would be cedar, or any of our holly plants – which a lot of people want right up against their house. And the firefighter’s nickname for holly is “green gas” – it’s very explosive. So, you want to avoid that type of plant around your home. You also want to avoid anything that might ignite at ground level and carry the fire to your roof.

Mark Klym’s wrote an article about firewise landscaping for the October issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

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.

Sauer-Beckman Farm

TPW TV: Moving Pictures Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For years, Earl Nottingham captured the beauty of nature still photographs for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He now works that same magic with video, as Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series producer Don Cash explains.

57— Earl is moving into the video realm now since every camera made has video and stills. It’s phenomenal what high quality video can be captured with a DSLR camera. It opens up a lot of creative opportunities for a traditional still photographer such as myself. One of the things Earl did was a video essay, if you will, at the Sauer Beckmann Farm in Stonewall. It was such a nice piece that we just had to run it on the show. I think that regardless of what type of camera you use to capture an image, all you’re really trying to do is tell a story visually. For a still photographer like Earl to make the transition from stills to video has got to be a little difficult, but he seems to pull it off just fine. Back in college, I minored in cinematography, but pursued a career in photography. So, I’m really enjoying the opportunity to now shoot some video with the advent of the DSLR. And, I get to use some of the very same film techniques I learned with the old 16mm movie camera.

The video essay on Saur-Beckmann Farm airs the week of August 18 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV series.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM.

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