Passport to Texas

Enjoying outdoor recreation.

Helping the Helpers Get People Outside Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Barriers that prevent people from engaging the outdoors are as diverse as the individuals, themselves. The Texas Co-Op Grant program from Texas Parks and Wildlife enables non-profits to chip away at those walls.

16-This grant program has been around for almost 20 years. And, it was designed to get underserved audiences involved in Texas Parks and Wildlife programs, activities and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Cappy Smith coordinates the program, which has $1.5 million dollars available in 2016 for reimbursement grants. She explains.

18-They [the non-profits] have to have some of their own resources available to fund the program. Let’s say that they are buying new mountain bikes. So, they buy those mountain bikes and then they submit the documentation to us. And then what we do is we reimburse them for that expense.

Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000. Cappy Smith says the Co-Op grant program provides assistance to those needing help writing their proposal.

11-We do offer Co-Op grant writing classes. The workshops are free, and we invite people to come to those. We go through the application step-by-step.

Find submission deadlines, workshop schedules and other information about the community outdoor outreach grants program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Biking Big Bend

Grants to Get Folks Outside Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The community outdoor outreach grants program from Texas Parks and Wildlife funds projects that remove barriers to outdoor recreation for residents living in underserved areas.

17-What we do is we support outdoor recreation. Things like: camping, hiking, backpacking, bird-watching, canoeing, kayaking, geocaching…and getting these underserved audiences involved and engaged.

Cappy Smith coordinates this statewide program.

22-The groups that are able to apply for this grant have to be tax exempt organizations, so that’s nonprofits. But it also can be schools and municipalities. Some of them are focused on traditional camping and getting families and adults involved in the outdoors. People that wouldn’t have been there before.

The program has $1.5 million dollars to award in 2016, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 dollars.

19-We’re looking for groups that do a variety of different things. And, what always is sad is that we run out of funds before we run out of good projects. And, just about the time that you think that you’ve seen it all, somebody comes out with something that is incredibly novel–something, perhaps, we’ve never seen before.

Find the grant submission deadline, grant workshops and other information about the community outdoor outreach grants program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Whoopers in flight.

Whoopers Flying into Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A flock of 308 endangered whooping cranes lives in Texas from October through April.

06- We fully expect to see the first of our migrating whoopers come into Texas in mid-to-late October.

The birds migrate from their summer breeding ground in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to their winter home at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.
Texas Whooper Watch coordinator, Mark Klym, says the species has rebounded from a low of just 15 cranes in the 1940s to about 600 today worldwide.

21-There are also two other flocks in the US. One that migrates from Wisconsin to Florida, and a reintroduced flock in Louisiana. We really need at least one more flock before we can consider it relatively safe to start considering down-listing them. Or, we need a thousand birds in the Aransas to Wood Buffalo
National Park flock.

While the majority of Texas cranes spend the winter at the refuge, some end up in other parts of the state.

13-In recent years we’ve seen them moving up and down the coast, as well as inland–as far as Wichita Falls for the winter. So, it is possible to see whooping cranes during the winter almost anywhere in the eastern half of the state.

Be on the lookout for whoopers, and if you see them, add your observations to Texas Whooper Watch. Find details in the Texas Nature Tracker section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Texas Outdoor Annual App

Outdoor Annual App--Don't go in the Field Without It Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Texas Outdoor Annual is a handy printed and online guide filled with valuable information for hunters and anglers. And now it’s an app.

08- Smart phones and tablets have become more popular among the general population, and our hunters and anglers are also using those devices.

Tim Peterson-director of creative and interactive services at Texas Parks and Wildlife-says the new app takes the guesswork out of which regulations apply to your location.

28-If an angler’s sitting in a particular water body or lake, or near or water body or lake, they can use the GPS function in the APP, locate the lake that they’re at or near, and they can see bag limits and exceptions for that particular lake. In addition, same goes for hunting. Same goes for hunting. If a hunter is in a blind, they can pull out the APP, and using the GPS functionality of their device, they could see which county they were in, and they would see the bag limits and season dates for that particular county.

The app is free and available for download for apple and android devices. The Outdoor Annual app strives to provide hunters and anglers up-to-the minute information for a successful experience

Find information on where to download the app for free on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series, and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

Outdoor Annual APP

On the Road with the Outdoor Annual Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

People who buy hunting and fishing licenses rely on a printed booklet called the Texas Outdoor Annual.

04-And inside the printed booklet they’ll find hunting and fishing regulations.

You’ll find those regulations on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, too.

04-[But] our website is hard to take with you if you’re in the blind and you do not have cell service.

Developing efficient ways to access information is among Tim Peterson’s priorities. He’s director of creative and interactive services at Parks and Wildlife. Making an electronic version of the outdoor annual, with simple, intuitive navigation–accessible in cell-challenged locations–necessitated creation of an app.

22- Well, as you know, smart phones and tablets have become more popular among the general population, but we’ve also noticed that our hunters and anglers are also using those devices. And we are offering it, really, as another way for them to learn about regulations while they’re in the field, and also be able to do
searches based on location.

The FREE Texas Outdoor Annual app is available for download for both apple and android devices wherever you get apps. Tim returns tomorrow to tell us about one
of the many features of the app.

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

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