Passport to Texas

Texas wild rice flows in the current of the San Marcos River in San Marcos, Texas, photo by Earl Nottingham

Outdoor Story: Snorkeling the San Marcos River Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s a rare individual who—once introduced to the outdoors at a young age—doesn’t continue their relationship with nature long into adulthood.

Lisa Korth is no exception. With a lifetime of outdoor adventures to draw from, she’s chosen a recent memory to share with us today.

35—Well, I grew up around water, and one of my favorite memories is a recent memory: snorkeling in the San Marcos River. It’s one of my favorite places to snorkel because the clarity of the water is just so magnificent. It’s just really clean and pristine. And, when you snorkel, it’s like being in another world. And just being under water and getting an up close view of that underwater world is just really magical. A friend of mine recently compared it to riding a roller coaster. And I agree. Just that exhilarating feeling of being in the water….pushing you downstream…seeing all of the plants and fish. It’s just really, really amazing.

Now it’s your turn. Visit passporttotexas.org and share your outdoor story with us.

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

Funding for passport to Texas provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Lake Travis at 46.52 feet below normal.

Drought Improves Fishing. What? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By 2011, Texas was in a record drought. And just when we were about to cry “uncle”…we got rain… lots of rain.

05— In Texas we talk about a state of constant drought periodically broken by floods.

Cindy Loeffler is water resources branch chief at TPW. The Memorial Day storms caused flooding, but they also brought lakes back to life.

09— This recent heavy rainfall really revitalized many lakes across the state. Not only the lakes themselves and the fisheries, but also access to our lakes.

Dave Terre, with Inland fisheries, says most boat ramps are accessible again, and stocking is back on track.

15— As a matter of fact, in 2011 at the peak of the drought, about 35% of Texas reservoirs, large reservoirs, in the state had little to no boat access. Now, today, we’ve regained most of that boat access back, so people can not only get on the water, we’re also going to have great fish populations in a couple of years.

Ironically, fishing will be great because of the drought.

30— When lake levels get really low, generally lakes lose habitat. And what we need is—we need habitat in the lakes to ensure fish that are spawned every year survive to a larger size to eventually be caught by anglers one day. TPW actually did some plantings of terrestrial plants in the dry lakebeds in anticipation of these lakes coming up to provide fish habitat. So when lakes rise, they inundate all sorts of terrestrial vegetation that grew in the lakebed when the lake was dry; when the lake comes up, we have an abundance of fish habitat.

Thanks drought!

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Cedar Hill State Park after the flood.

After the Floods Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A year ago this time, the majority of the state was in the throes of exceptional drought. That changed Memorial Day weekend 2015 when the skies opened up over Texas.

10- The official status from the US Drought Monitor is that Texas is about 92 percent drought-free right now, which we haven’t seen in many, many years.

And this is good news, says Cindy Loeffler, water resources branch chief at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

11- That’s not to say that every part of the state is completely drought free. If you go up into the Texas Panhandle, there are still some regions up there that would dearly love to have a bit of this rainfall.

For areas that received extreme rainfall, changes are evident, and biologists are optimistic about the short and long term affects.

20- Many of our reservoirs have been so low that you couldn’t even access via boat ramps to go fishing. And so now that situation has been improved. And then a lot of the terrestrial and wildlife biologists are very excited about–not only the conditions now–but going into the fall, for deer, white-tailed deer, mule
deer, migrating waterfowl–that kind of thing in the fall.

You won’t have to wait long to see those outcomes, as fall is right around the corner.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Lake Sommerville, Birch Creek

Water World Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After Texas’ 5-year drought, the rainfall Memorial Day weekend was like resetting nature’s clock…

04- When it comes to our thirsty ecosystems across the state.

Cindy Loeffler is water resources branch chief at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

08- The bays and estuaries, with their characteristic salinity levels, having a flush of fresh water–especially at this time of the year–is ideal.

That flush of fresh water will, in time, help improve the productivity of the bays, which serve as nurseries for many of our sport fish species. Yet, Loeffler says productivity could decrease before it rebounds.

10- We may see some setbacks, in terms of impacts to oysters–if the water is too fresh for too long. But long term, we’re very excited about what it means for our coastal estuaries.

Conditions across the landscape have improved, too.

20- One just needs to look out the window, or go outside, and just see how green everything is. All of the vegetation is just very healthy and thriving. Importantly, our pollen producing plants, nectar producing plants, important food sources for insects-butterflies, bees, birds-lots of critters we depend on in Texas.

What are the short and long term effects of this new water windfall?

02- That’s a really great question.

And we try to answer it tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Northern Pintail

Water and Wildlife Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Water affects nearly everything Texas Parks and Wildlife does.

06— We manage the state’s fish and wildlife resources, and of course, they need water to live and thrive.

Cindy Loeffler is water resources branch chief at TPW.

11— Our state parks—people who want to recreate on water—it’s important to have flowing rivers and streams and lakes with water in them. And people. We need water. So, everything we do is affected by water.

After five years of devastating drought, Texas finally received substantial rainfall Memorial Day weekend; but it was too much, too fast. It caused flooding in parts of the state, which resulted in loss of property and life. Even so, it left behind a glimmer of hope.

22— There are benefits to the ecosystem. So, everything from seeing rivers flowing once again—reconnecting with the floodplain; very important for the riparian vegetation along rivers and streams. Flushing out some of the nuisance aquatic species… These rainfall events are sort of like resetting a clock when it comes to our thirsty ecosystems across the state.

Now that we have water—what’s next? Find out on tomorrow’s show.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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