Passport to Texas

Sea turtle receiving GPS, Image courtesy Corpus Christi Caller Times

TPW TV: Eye in the Sky Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Understanding where wildlife goes provides valuable information to help manage species. Dr. Donna Shaver uses the newest GPS technology in tandem with satellites orbiting12-thousand miles above earth, [fade in ocean ambiance] to track endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles on the Texas coast.

07— We’re conducting this tracking because we want to get an idea about the habitat usage by these adult females.

Dr. Shaver is with the National Park Service.

13— We want to see where they’re going in the marine environment, which is where they spend the vast majority of their life; where they’re going for migration as well as for foraging when they’re done nesting.

[lab ambiance] It takes Dr. Shaver and her team about three hours to prepare a turtle for tracking.

18 – We have to sand the shell; we put down the first layer of epoxy, then we’ll affix the transmitter. Then when it’s on there solid, we will paint the surface to help prevent barnacles from adhering onto that area where it [the transmitter] has been applied.

See how Dr. Donna Shaver uses GPS and satellite technology to track endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles on the TPW PBS TV series during the week of January 26. Check local listings.

08— We’re one step closer towards recovering the species someday so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Ocelot image, courtesy Texas Coop Power

Endangered Wildlife: The Ocelot Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ocelots once roamed throughout Texas, Mexico, and into Arkansas and Louisiana. Jody Mays says today, only a few survive in the thick brush and shelters of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

:14—As far as we know, there less than 100 ocelots left in the United States. The ocelot’s range has disappeared, and now they only occur in the southern most tip of Texas, and that’s the only place in the whole United States that they occur.

Mays is a Wildlife Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service at Laguna Atascosa Natural Wildlife Refuge. She explains reasons for the population decline.

:41—Usually with an endangered species, you have multiple impacts that they get hit with. For the ocelot, the biggest one was the habitat loss. Some estimates say that over 95% of the native habitat in Texas has been altered. A lot of the thick habitats have been cleared for agriculture, and for development, and for other purposes. Another associated impact with that is habitat fragmentation, and that’s where, you say, have one large piece of thick habitat that gets cut up into smaller pieces that are farther and farther apart. Loss of genetic diversity is another big issue, and that’s as a result of this habitat loss and fragmentation.

That’s our show for today…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas in Texas.

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

Barton Warnock Education Center, Terlingua, Texas

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The Barton Warnock Environmental Educational Center in Terlingua is where the region’s 570 million year history comes alive.

11—It was first the Lajitas Museum and Desert Garden. In 1990, the state of Texas bought it and it became the eastern entrance to the Big Bend Ranch State Park system.

David Long is superintendent at Barton Warnock. While West Texas has a mystique that’s hard to define, the center takes on the challenge.

13—The exhibits focus on the geology of the area and the natural history of the Big Bend area. Geology brings together the vegetation, the biology, and all the natural resources here, and the culture in this whole area.

The cultural history of this region is just as fascinating as its geological and natural histories.

20—‘Terlingua’ – the name itself – means ‘tres linguas,’ and the three different languages, three different cultures that combine here are the Anglos, the Spanish, and the Indian cultures. These cultures have combined and created a unique border community. We call it the ‘borderlands,’ or if you’re in Mexico, you’d call it the ‘frontera.’

Whether you call it borderlands or frontera, the Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center in Terlingua is open to visitors who want to know more about this fascinating region. Find information about the center on the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram …

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Women relaxing after the hunt. Image from National Shooting Sports.

Hunting: Women Learning to Hunt Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(AMB: Gunshot…”good enough…next”) [:03]

That’s how a group of ten women started a weekend hunting trip at a Hill Country ranch – by taking practice shots at targets. Ranch manager Troy Calloway explains.

08—Sometimes we get people out here who have never shot before, so we set ‘em up and assess the situation….. But everybody here is nailing it; we’re good to go it looks like.

Hunt coordinator, Tami Moore, told me that women make up less than 10% of all licensed hunters, and she thinks she may know why.

10—I think a lot of women are afraid that they’re going to fail, because they’re just scared. And going out with another group of ladies, in a situation like we are this weekend, takes a lot of that out of it.

Kathy Keller of Austin is an experienced hunter. We spoke in her deer blind.

08—Oh, this is really great. And it’s exciting to see that women are getting into this sport and learning about hunting and wildlife.

Kathy explains what it was like the first time she harvested an animal.

09—It was something that made me think. I’ve taken this life, and I had to think about why I was doing it. And I realized that it is a big responsibility.

Find hunting information and resources on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.

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

Getting into the field.

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Early in my tenure at Texas Parks and Wildlife I was an observer on a women only hunting trip in the Hill Country. Tami Moore was Hunt Coordinator.

09-We’re trying to get women involved in the outdoors, and to take some of the mystery out of the sport of hunting. Before it’s just been something that the guys go do.

The women’s skill levels varied from novice to pro. Each woman brought a guide with them; first time hunter, Millissa Salinas of Austin, brought her father Ralph.

10-I’ve always wanted to experience the outdoors, and I thought the perfect opportunity to bond with my father would be this event so he could show me the ropes and spend some special memories together.

Like all the women on the trip, Salinas was enthusiastic about the opportunity.

11-We’d been preparing for it for about a month. He had taken me target shooting, I had borrowed a rifle. So I’d been anticipating for some time now. So when the actual moment came, it was extremely exciting.

Salinas harvested two deer on that trip. Hunting with other women and her father made for an experience that she intends to recreate with other family members.

07-We definitely want to get involved more in the outdoors. And I have a younger sister that we’re going to try to encourage to join us.

Find hunting resources on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.

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