Passport to Texas

Robert Newman. Photo Credit: elpasotriathlete.blogspot.com

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This is Passport to Texas

Seventy-nine year old retired math teacher Robert Newman looks after the Franklin Mountains; he hand builds the trails visitors enjoy.

I just take it day-by-day. One Rock at a time. Ah…it looks alright.

For fifteen years, Robert has done this difficult work on his own. And says he doesn’t mind because the surroundings are beautiful.

Now this is going to be a pretty rough ride, I’m going to go very slow. Today we are at the Tom Mays unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park, and we’re going on up to where we are working on a new trail. There’s existing trails, well actually old bulldozed roads basically. That are really tough, so I’m trying to put in one that’s more user friendly!

Robert takes his old jeep up the side of the mountain as far as it will go, before walking the last half mile over rocky terrain to his work site where, with simple tools, creates trails.

When I’m out here working on a trail I have basically three settings: the first setting is very slow. The second setting is even slower, and the third setting is stopped. And stopped eats up more time than the other two put together. When I’m out here working most of the time I’m sitting and I’ll just sit and look in awe at what’s out here.

Enjoy the scenery and meet Robert Newman on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS next week. Check your local listings.

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

Dale Blasingame with Lucy at Caprock Canyon State Park. Photo credit: Dale Blasingame

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas State University lecturer, Dale Blasingame visited all 95 Texas state parks in just one year; he wrote about it for the January/February issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

I got the essence of the parks, even though there were some of them that I didn’t spend a ton of time at.

Dale spent most of his time in parks with diverse hiking opportunities, and preferred going solo.

I like to travel alone. I’m kind of weird like that. I like being on my own schedule and not having to worry about if other people are having fun. I realize I’m kind of a pain in the “you know what” to travel with because I’m always going off path to try and go see something.

One day, while hiking at Buescher State Park he met a man hiking with his dog.

And we didn’t really talk much, but just silently hiked together. And I was watching his dog the whole time, and when we got to the end of the trail where he was heading out, I turned and I said: Do you like hiking with that thing? And he goes, Aw man. You will never regret it.

On the way home, Dale noticed a rescue dog adoption day at his neighborhood pet store, which is where he met and adopted 1-year-old Lucy.

She’s been to about 50 parks with me. So, one of my goals is I want to take her to the rest of the parks that she hasn’t been to. I don’t think she’ll care, but it would matter to me. I’ve only had her for about a year. But, I cannot think of what life was like without her.

Read Dale Blasingame’s article One is Not Enough in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

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

The day Dale Blasingame bought his Texas State Park pass. Photo credit: Dale Blasingame.

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This is Passport to Texas

A dream is a wish your heart makes. So says the song from the 1950s Disney classic, Cinderella. Perhaps the night Dale Blasingame had a dream about driving around the country—his heart was revealing its deepest wish.

I woke up that next day, and it was all I could think about—and I was coming to the end of the semester and I was about to have a break. And so I just decided to go for it. And so, I went on this trip across the entire west.

During his travels, Dale—a social journalism lecturer at Texas State University—visited national parks.

When I got home, it was one of those vacation blues type things, where I was just kind of bored. And a friend of mine suggested that I go to a state park. And, that kind of spawned the whole thing.

That thing: visit Texas’ 95 state parks in a single year. He writes about his journey in the January/February issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

I really didn’t do a ton of planning. There were a couple of times I took big, huge trips and I would hit 15 or 18 parks at one time. But it really just kind of started as: ‘Okay, here’s this one. This is the next closest one—I’m going to go there…’  I’d wake up on a Saturday morning, or I’d think about it the Friday the night before, and ask: ‘Where am I going to go tomorrow?’

Tomorrow Dale Blasingame tells us how he found a hiking buddy. Read his story, One is Not Enough, in the January/February issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

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

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

Learning to fish with family.

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This is Passport to Texas

Why is fishing growing in popularity?

Access Is there. It’s not expensive. There’s a draw to water. And young kids are excited to get into fishing typically, [because] it’s weird. [laughs].

Caleb Harris, an aquatic education training specialist, says access may be the top reason why people fish.

There’s significant access to fishing in Texas. We have lots of lakes and lots of parks. Within ten minutes of most homes you can find a place to stick a hook in the water.

Find neighborhood fishing locations on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. And, if you’re new to fishing attend a Go Fish Event at Texas State Parks.

The Go Fish events are free events in the park, and they start in the morning – typically – and they’ll have education stations. And, they’re very specific for exactly those people who say I’m interested in fishing but I really don’t even know where to start. And after about an hour and a half to two hours of basic hands on activities to learn these things, then there’s an opportunity to borrow some fishing poles and go fishing right there in the park. And after that, most people would have an example of where they could fish, what type of bait to use, how to tie on lures and hooks, what different fish they could expect to catch with certain types of bait – they would get that information at these events. It really is a good starting point.

Find Go Fish events in the calendar section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

This project…and our show… was funded in part by a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

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

Photo credit: www.texaseliteangler.com

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This is Passport to Texas

As more people gravitate toward fishing, the need for trained angler education instructors increases.

Our strategy is to equip people so that they can bring fishing activities and events and outdoor experiences to their own communities.

Caleb Harris is an aquatic education training specialist. He trains interested folks how to host fishing events.

What we offer is some training to equip people to bring that to their own communities – whether it be their city, their church, their scout group… And then we can train them how to put on those events and we can give them the resources to successfully do it.

Interested in becoming a volunteer angler education instructor? Start with a skills workshop.

There’s at least one or two happening each month somewhere in the state. And our workshops are free, too, to people who are interested in them. So, people can contact us directly and ask when the next workshop is, or they can follow the calendar of events on Texas Parks and Wildlife website. They’ll all be posted there, too.

Harris says the people who reach out to the agency for training are enthusiastic, and believe in fishing as a way to engage the outdoors and bring families together.

Our volunteers are pretty incredible, actually, how motivated they are to help families get outside and have a good experience in fishing.

A grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program helps fund this project and our show. Find an angler education workshop near you on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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