Passport to Texas

Making Christmas Cookies at LBJ State parks. See larger cookie recipe below.

Thanksgiving & Christmas in State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

November is the gateway to the holiday season. And that means Texas State Parks will be bustling with festive activities.

04—Yeah, we have a lot of fall activities happening in November.

Thomas Wilhelm works with Texas State Parks.

13—For example, at Meridian State Park, which is just west of Waco, they’re having a Thanksgiving recovery hike. So, the Saturday after Thanksgiving you can go out and hike off some of those calories that you may have picked up on Thanksgiving.

Want to go in the other direction and consume calories instead of burn them? Learn to make food fit for a holiday camp out… including sweet treats.

14—Palmetto State Park is having a harvest themed Dutch oven Cooking session, and Lyndon Baines Johnson State Park near Johnson City is having a holiday cookie decorating event as they start preparing for the Christmas season.

The folks at LBJ State Park even shared an old fashioned cookie recipe with us. Find it at passporttotexas.org.

11—The holidays tend to be so rushed—and they’re so commercialized—so, parks offer an opportunity to slow down just a little bit. Take it in. And celebrate the holidays the way they were intended.

Go to texasstateparks.org/holidays for a list of all holiday events in parks.

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.

TPW TV: The State of Quail Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Grassland birds throughout North America, including the bobwhite quail, have been in decline.

06—Over the past 20, 30 years—we’ve seen serious declines across its entire range, including Texas.

Robert Perez is upland game bird program manager for Parks and Wildlife. He and others concerned about this enigmatic species’ survival appear in a segment called The State of Quail on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS.

07— Fundamentally, conservationists agree that the root cause is the changes in the quality and quantity of habitat.

During the segment, airing next week, watch conservation groups and private landowners, like Jim Willis, collaborate to improve habitat for quail, by planting native grasses, which provide shelter, seeds and insects for the birds.

19— This is a sample of a native grass. This plant contributes to the health of the land. This is the way you conserve moisture. Man has come in and ripped out a lot of this native grass and planted what we call improved grasses, which is really not improved, they’re invasive species, like Bermuda grass, and Bahia grass, and they don’t give back to the soil. They take from the soil.

The State of Quail airs the week of November 15 on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS. Check your local listings.

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

Common Eastern Bubmle Bee (Bombus impatiens) worker in flight
TEXAS: Lamar Co. Camp Maxey National Guard Facility in Paris
27.August.2009 J.C. Abbott

Making Pollinators a Priority Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Honeybees, native bees, bats, butterflies and other insects are pollinators, and are vital to our economy, food security, and environmental health. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Landowner Incentive Program, or LIP, can help interested landowners manage their property for pollinators.

09-The LIP program at the moment is prioritizing projects that are directed at pollinators. Pollinators are definitely hot.

Arlene Kalmbach coordinates the program.

33-Pollinators got on the Landowner Incentive priority list based on the funding source. The landowner Incentive Program is funded by the Fish and Wildlife Service–partners for fish and wildlife program. And pollinator projects are a high priority for them, so they are a high priority for us. They would have been a
high priority for us regardless of our funding source. But, it helps that everybody’s on the same page. So, with this next round of projects, we hope to see a lot of pollinator targeted projects.

Something to know about the LIP program is it does not have acreage restrictions.

13-It really just depends on the resources you’re trying to restore or protect. In the history of the program, I’ve seen us work on an urban lot to thousands of acres of West Texas.

Have a project in mind? Find details on the Landowner Incentive Program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Land well tended.

Helping Landowners do the Right Thing Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The Texas Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) offers funding opportunities for private landowners wishing to implement natural resource conservation practices on
their lands.

05-I usually send them to their local field biologist to start the relationship.

Arlene Kalmbach [CALM-bock] coordinates the program. After the initial phone call, there’s a site visit to…

11-…get the goals that the landowner has for the property, and maybe get the biologist’s perspective on what’s there and what potential there is for some conservation work. And then they go from there.

LIP efforts focus on projects aimed at creating, restoring, protecting and enhancing habitat for rare or at-risk species throughout the state, as well as activities that positively impact riparian areas and watersheds.

10-Sometimes they may bring in other specialists. Riparian specialists–an invertebrate biologist. It really starts with the landowner’s goals and what that property has to offer.

Through funding partnerships, the program offers cost-sharing with private landowners on LIP projects. Texas Parks and Wildlife covers a percentage of the proposed project costs; landowners, meantime, must contribute a minimum percentage through in-kind labor, materials, or finances, for example.

Find Landowner Incentive Program application details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Landowner Incentive Program

Partners in Conservation Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Landowner Incentive Program, or LIP, is a way for private landowners to partner with Texas Parks and Wildlife to achieve conservation goals on their
property…

08-…to meet the goals of the private landowners for their property, as well as conservation goals for species of concern.

Arlene Kalmbach coordinates the LIP program for the agency.

16-When we add the conservation layer of their land management plan, we’re often assisting them with erosion control, invasive species control. In some cases prescribed burns. It really varies because every property’s unique.

As 95% of Texas land is in private hands, landowners play a vital role in maintaining the state’s natural resources. Implementing conservation practices can
enhance a landowner’s management goals.

05-Conservation can often enhance the property’s value for the landowner.

Tomorrow: Getting started with the landowner Incentive program.

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