Passport to Texas

Master Naturalists in their element. Photo courtesy Texas Master Naturalists’ Facebook Page

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This is Passport to Texas

When you’re a certified Texas Master Naturalist you learn to understand the natural world and share it with others. Writer, Sheryl Smith Rogers, says increasing public awareness about the nature benefits everyone.

You know, our state’s undergoing so much growth, and we’re losing so much of our natural ecosystems to subdivisions and shopping centers. People like master naturalists who have more of an awareness of how important those elements are to our overall lifestyle, they’re going to share what they know with others and just raise awareness that we need to protect these areas.

Master Naturalists undergo weeks of training, says Smith Rogers, who, herself, is a certified Master Naturalist.

The classes cover geology, native grasses… Last spring I took my training from March into May. We went to different places. You don’t just sit in a classroom. You have field outings; you go out and actually look at the native grasses. We went to Jacob’s Well near Wimberley and talked about hydrology. You just cover a whole lot of different topics.

Once certified, citizens volunteer in their communities. There are more than 40 chapters statewide. Find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Become a Texas Master Naturalist, http://txmn.org/

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This is Passport to Texas

They say you never forget your first love. For writer Sheryl Smith Rogers, her first love had eight legs.

Spiders are my first love, and from there I grew into plants and animals.

Eager to fully understand the natural world around her, Smith Rogers completed Texas Master Naturalist training.

I’m with the Highland lakes chapter, which is based out of Burnet. So you learn about your own ecosystems in your region. I’m learning about the plants that are indigenous to this area. Whereas, if you live on the coast, you’ll be learning about those kinds of plants. So, we’re all learning what’s important to our
area.

Trainees learn about living things in their ecosystem, as well as their region’s geology, hydrology and more. After receiving certification, Smith Rogers says Master Naturalists volunteer in their communities where needed.

Volunteers go to ranches and survey the plant species, and they offer land management advice. In a city, volunteers might go into a city park and create a butterfly garden. For instance, here in Blanco – at Blanco State Park – the Master Naturalists help put on program every May for third graders. They do so
many different things [laughs].

Find details on becoming a master Naturalist on the Texas parks and Wildlife Website.

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

White bass

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This is Passport to Texas

In December and January, while we’re busy with the holidays and staying warm indoors, white bass begin to congregate where rivers and reservoirs meet.

And those fish are getting ready for those environmental cues to happen so they can actually all start migrating and running up river.

Environmental cues like changes in temperature and water flows. Marcos De Jesus is a fisheries biologist. When the time is right, white bass move up river to spawn.

Some of them go up pretty far – as far as they can swim to complete their spawning run. So, they become congregated and create excitement for the anglers, because once they’re congregated they’re really fun to catch.

East and Central Texas offer many white bass fishing opportunities. De Jesus says while they’re active year round, springtime runs practically set up anglers for success.

As we get into the springtime, they congregate towards the mouth of the river waiting for those cues. Right when they’re at the mouth of the river, they’re easy to catch. But, the easiest time to catch them is when they’re running up river spawning in those shallow waters, because you can actually catch them from the bank. Do these fish give you a good fight? Definitely. They’re very great fighters. They become aggressive, and they take on many types of lures and live bait. Once they hook on – they’ll fight pretty hard.

Find out when and where white bass are biting when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Current residents of Lake Texana.

NOTE: Lake Texana State Park – Is now under the management of the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. The park is open under the new name, Texana Park and Campground.

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This is Passport to Texas

In 1832, Dr. Francis F. Wells—a member of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300—founded a town along a bend of the Navidad River, which eventually became known as Texana.

This was the western most settlement of Austin.

Cindy Baker served as an interpretive ranger at the former Lake Texana State Park. Texana was a thriving community; it was in a good location, had abundant natural resources, and a shallow water port. It could have been great if not for short-sighted decisions by its founding father.

Two brothers showed up and offered for 100-thousand dollars to buy the town. Mr. Wells said, ‘No. We want 200-thousand. We love our town.’ And the two brothers—wanted to build a deep water port—so they went east, they found the Buffalo Bayou, they dug their deep water port, and they called it Houston.

And, in 1883 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway bypassed the settlement.

A man named Telferner came through and said, ‘For 30-thousand dollars, I’d like to put my railroad stop here in your town.’ And they said, ‘A railroad? We have a port. We don’t want your dirty old railroad.’ He moved seven miles north, and he named that stop after his daughter Edna. Within two years, everyone picked up and moved to Edna.

Texana became a ghost town, which today rests at the bottom of Lake Texana, created in 1979 when the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority built a damn on the Navidad River.

Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram.

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

Pictograph at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site

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Hueco Tanks, about 30 miles east of El Paso, is one of the most important pictograph sites in the Southwest, with the largest collection of painted faces in North America.

There really is no other place like Hueco Tanks, in terms of the nature and the number of the pictograph images. And for a tiny place of only eight hundred and sixty acres there’s just an amazing number of separate pictograph sites.

We visit the park next week during a segment of the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS.

This mask that we sometimes call starry eyed man has been staring out of his little niche in the rocks for between six hundred and eighteen hundred years. Um, it’s amazing that it’s in such good condition.

Vandals damaged several paintings with graffiti. During the TV segment, we watch as scientists, use high tech devices to restore the pictographs.

This is pre-Colombian, and the graffiti is about fifty years old. We’re using infrared light, and it’s the similar technology that’s used in tattoo removal to take tattoos off, so you can be very precise with the laser. The work is going really well, it’s really difficult for me to stop because it’s really exciting!

Check out the segment about Hueco Tanks next week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series on PBS. Check your local listings.

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

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