Passport to Texas

Outdoor Activity: Picnicking in State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

May kicks off picnic season in Texas and Angela Shelf Medearis—an Austin-based author and cook whose moniker is The Kitchen Diva—shares tips for a stress-free picnic in the park.

62— Well, let me give you Diva Picnic 101. For one – make foods that you could do in advance. If I was doing a picnic, I would have something like a really good roast chicken; just cut the pieces up and pack those in there. I do a Carolina Cole Slaw; you toss it up, throw it in the refrigerator – it gets better day-by-day. So, if you want to do that ahead you could. You don’t have to worry about having to do everything that day. That takes all the fun out of the picnic to me if you’re trying to do all the food prep, and pack everything, and get everybody to the park. So, start your picnic a few days ahead. Use a lot of fresh fruits for dessert. The thing about a picnic that I love is you can totally unplug and really focus on the people you should be paying the most attention to. You can get out in nature; we have some beautiful parks. Some beautiful places to go in Texas. And, it gives you a chance to really focus on the most important things: your family, nature, the beauty of life… So, do a little planning ahead, and pick dishes that will be fine hot or cold, and you can’t go wrong for a great picnic.

Watch the Diva prepare her Cole Slaw recipe at passporttotexas.org.

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

Texas Wild Rice

Conservation: Texas Wild Rice Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas Wild Rice is an endangered species that exists only in a two mile stretch of the San Marcos River.

06— Just in that two-mile stretch. Because, what happens is, you go further down the river and the river‘s character changes.

Botanist, Jackie Poole says where the rice grows, the spring-fed river is clear and a constant 72 degrees; but, farther downstream…

10— It’s very different. It starts to become more turbid, and loses that constant temperature quality. So, it’s just not as good habitat further downstream.

When asked to describe the plant, Poole laughed and said it’s like flowing hair.

15— [chuckle] That’s probably the best way to say it. If you envision someone with long, flowing hair, the leaves are submerged under water. And they can be up to 10 to 15 feet long, and so they just wave underneath the water with the current.

So here we have a very rare and endangered plant that only grows underwater along a two mile stretch of river. So, does that mean we never see it?

17— It does flower. And when it flowers, the flowering stalks are produced above the water. So then you would see flowering stalks that look like, um, maybe most grasses – like a Johnson grass. I hate to use that example of a noxious, invasive species. But it does resemble that.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Endangered Texas Snowbell; image by Chase Fountain

Conservation: Rare and Endangered Texas Plants Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We have a fair share of threatened and endangered plant species in Texas.

08— Actually listed endangered or threatened plant species, we have probably right now around thirty-two.

Botanist, Jackie Poole says Texas has even more rare species.

15— We maintain a list of the rarest species in the state, which is about 250. And then we have about another 200 species that are not very common, but not at the level of being endangered.

One of the rarest of the rare is Texas Wild Rice.

11— It only occurs in two miles of the San Marcos River and, of course, the San Marcos River, is within the city of San Marcos almost its entire length. So there are all kinds of pressures.

Pressures like recreation and development… but money and manpower through the Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan benefits the species, which has only ever existed in the clear, warm, spring fed waters of the San Marcos River.

20— The only similar river in Texas, really, is the Comal River. And interestingly, the father of Texas botany – Ferdinand Lindheimer – lived in New Braunfels on the Comal River, but he never collected the plant. So, it suggests that it certainly wasn’t at his backdoor step. We think it’s always been in the San Marcos River and that’s it.

Tomorrow: getting to know Texas Wild Rice.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects in Texas.

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

Dead bird being tagged on Pelican Island.

Restoration: Galveston Bay Oil Spill Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A late March collision between two ships in Galveston Bay caused a leak in one of them, spilling more than168-thousand gallons of fuel oil into the Gulf.

06— This time of year is particularly of concern to us because it’s the spring migration, we’ve got a lot of migratory shore birds moving through.

Andy Tirpak is with the Ecosystem Resources Assessment Team at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

08— So, in essence we’ve got oil on the beach where birds are coming through to rest, to feed, as they continue their migration. So it’s challenging right now.

Shortly after the spill, rescuers discovered oil-slicked and injured birds all along the coastline. Biologist A.J. Vale, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, is among the many wildlife advocates on hand to save them.

10— It’s just tough seeing the birds all oiled and struggling. They’re trying to clean themselves and they ingest the oil and it must make them really sick.

Andy Tirpak says they’re working against the clock to clean up this vital ecosystem.

10— It’s not just that we’re going to try to save the birds. If we try to save the birds – that’s great, that’s good – but we also need to be worried about impacts in the sand and the things that live in the sand that the birds are feeding upon.

Hundreds of shorebirds are dead or oil coated. By early April, oil from the spill in Galveston Bay drifted ashore on Padre Island National Seashore. Check for updates on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

TPW TV: Flocking with Friends Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We’re deep in the heart of the 18th Annual Great Texas Birding Classic, which began April 15 and continues through May 15. It’s the world’s biggest and longest bird watching tournament.

Martha McLeod’s fifth grade science class – called the Awesome Ospreys – participated in last year’s event. They set their sights on seeing 100 species during the sunrise to noon tournament.

30— I’m hoping these kids can get to 100. They’re the last team to compete [Where’d he go?]; being at the tail end of migration, it’s going to be tough [It just flew over there.] Right now, they’re neck-and-neck with my fourth grade team. [Yeah, the eastern kingbird up there. There’s an Oriole! Oh, I see a spoonbill, guys. Whoa, what is that? A white ibis. The red-winged blackbird.] We’re not just doing textbook knowledge; we’re doing real world learning. And, if you put excitement in it, and you show the relevance to their own life — you’ve got them hook, line and sinker.