Passport to Texas

Krause Springs near Austin Texas, photo by Dan Pancamo.

TPW TV - A Look Back at Texas Swimming Holes Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Over the three decades the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show’s been airing, the name and its personnel have changed, but one thing remains — it delivers the best of Texas to you. Next month the series revisits a story from 1990 featuring Central Texas Swimming holes, many of which, like Krause Springs near Spicewood, offered more than mere recreation.

Years ago I was baptized here on this place.

Barton Springs—in Austin—one of the largest natural spring-fed swimming holes in Texas, has long been the subject of enjoyment and controversy. In this same segment, the series followed the heated debate concerning how development would affect the springs.

We need stronger protection in our watershed. In our inner city. You must find all the causes of pollution and treat them. You will represent all the city of Austin, and don’t get caught up in the cause celeb of the moment. I think without water, we will not have life. With all due respect, I cannot get away from the feeling that the new ordinance, as proposed is simply a no growth ordinance. It is very simple: if you build over the aquifer, you will pollute our water supply.

Although the segment on Central Texas swimming holes is more than a half century old, the issue is timeless. Catch it the week of June 5th on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS. Check your local listings.

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

Be aware of safe zones of fire.

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This is Passport to Texas

Firearm safety should be every gun owner’s top priority.

Firearm safety really revolves around four main things, and that’s the primary rules of shooting safety or hunter safety.

Steve Hall is hunter education coordinator at Texas Parks and Wildlife. He says the first rule of firearm safety is to have your gun pointed in a safe direction at all times.

Number two is, check the action and make sure it is unloaded. That’s the rule of treating every firearm as if it were loaded. Number three is keeping your finger outside of the trigger guard. And then number four is be sure of your target. What is in front of and beyond.

Hall says if there is one rule that gun owners break most often it is muzzle control.

There are a lot of folks who just unknowingly point the firearm in an unsafe direction. Whether they’re walking next to their buddies, or pulling a firearm out of a vehicle, or putting it into a vehicle—or even inspecting it in the home. Maybe when they’re cleaning the firearm.

Learning and practicing the four rules of firearm safety will prevent accidents in the field and at home. Need help? Find a hunter education class near you when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series and works to increase shooting sports and hunting in Texas.

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

TPWD technician Jeff Bowling holds a 42.5-inch, 39-pound blue catfish caught on a jugline at Richland Chambers Reservoir on December 10, 2009.

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This is Passport to Texas

Catfish are more adaptable to changing environmental conditions than other game fish, are popular among anglers, and are good eating. For those and other reasons, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners approved a new Catfish Management Plan earlier this year. Dave Terre.

The first step in this plan was to go to our anglers and ask them what they want for the future of catfish angling in Texas. And we took their opinions and their needs and desires for catfish fishing in the future, and we tried to look to see what we could do with our catfish populations to make fishing better for them.

Terre is chief of fisheries management and research at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Stocking, habitat management, and regulations, are among the tools they’ll use to implement the plan. In addition, he says, they’ll bring fish to the fishermen.

People want good, quality fishing opportunities close to home. So, what we strive to do is to use catfish to create good catfish fishing opportunities on smaller, public water bodies in major metropolitan areas close to where people live in cities. So, look for us [to be] doing more of that in the future.

Find the complete catfish management plan on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

All these strategies have been confirmed with our anglers as things tht they want us to do. So, for the next decade or so, this is the direction that we’ll be moving with our catfish program.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

A fine looking catfish.

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This is Passport to Texas

Largemouth bass may be the gold standard when it comes to freshwater fish in Texas, but catfish are a close second.

We’ve done a lot with regards to the management of largemouth bass. And we figure, catfish are going to meet the needs of a new generation of anglers across the state; and there’s a lot we can do to manage for catfish and make fishing even better than it is right now.

Dave Terre is chief of fisheries management and research at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Catfish are abundant and adaptable to Texas’ changing environmental conditions.

We think catfish will be a good match for our changing environmental situations that we have both in our reservoir environments and our river environments in Texas. And we think we can manage those populations to meet those changing environmental conditions.

Dave Terre says catfish management takes many forms.

Stocking fish is a good way to increase opportunities for people catching more fish. We can also manage with fishing regulations. Fishing regulations allow us to control numbers and sizes of fish that are harvested. We can also manage fish habitats to improve populations in a number of different ways. As fisheries managers, there’s all sorts of things we can do with catfish to make fishing opportunities better in Texas going forward.

The impact of the new management plan on anglers. That’s tomorrow.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Fishing fun at Purtis Creek State Park in East Texas.

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This is Passport to Texas

If you like giving back to your community, and live near Purtis Creek State Park in east Texas, you’re in luck.

We have volunteers that help us in many different ways here.

Mendy Davis is superintendent of the park, located in Eustace, just down the road from the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. Davis says Purtis Creek SP relies on volunteers.

Our park is not staffed to completely operate on its own. And, to be able to offer the interpretive programs that we provide here in the park, as well as the events, it requires additional outside assistance.

In addition to its onsite park host position, interested persons will discover a wide variety of volunteer opportunities available at the park.

We have other volunteer opportunities to come and assist with our interpretive programs. We teach basic canoe and kayaking…night sounds…night hikes…nature hikes. So, we have many volunteers who just join us for a specific hike that is something that they want to do. Or if they happen to have interest in birding. That’s one area that we don’t have anyone trained in at this time. So, we’re looking for that birding person who wants to come out and lead a birdwatching hike for us.

Whether you’re skilled in paddling, hiking, fishing, biking or birding you can share your knowledge with others at Purtis Creek State Park. Check out the volunteer page on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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