Passport to Texas

During the Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Conroe in Conroe, Texas on October 6, 2013. (Photo by Jason Miczek)

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This is Passport to Texas

The 10th Annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic, May 20 through 22, takes place on Lake Ray Roberts, and features family friendly activities at Toyota Stadium in Frisco.

This is a new thing for Bass Classic. The fishing portion is going to take place at Lake Ray Roberts, and then they’re going to come over and do all the awards in the stadium. So, it’s really going to be a little different than it’s been, but almost a little cooler, because usually we’re out in the country, and this time a lot of people that haven’t been able to come out to this event in the past are going to get to come out and try it.

Lacey Estus is outreach and recruitment manager at Texas Parks and Wildlife. The festivities in Frisco offers urban families an opportunity to get acquainted with the agency and the diverse outdoor recreation opportunities available to them.

A lot of times, it’s the first time they see us. They’ve heard about us, but they don’t really know who we are and what we do. A lot of people have no idea we that we even do archery; they think a lot of times we’re just fishing and camping. But, we’re a lot of things. And, it’s a great place for them to touch and feel things. It kind of goes back to when we did EXPO. The idea was ‘Hey, let’s take this on the road and give people that experience—[take it] to places that may not have seen it before or know anything about it.

Enjoy country music concerts all three days of the Toyota Texas Fest. There are plenty of family friendly activities, food, drinks and big bass. Discounted single day tickets or weekend passes are available before the event at toyotatexasfest.com.

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

TPW TV: Balmorhea Fun Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Jeffrey Buras [Byou-ras] is the newest producer on the PBS Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series.

There’s a lot to learn, for sure. Not only just with our production process, but also [becoming familiar with] all of the biology, all of the wildlife management…

The job involves more than knowing where to point the camera. It’s challenging, and also keeps producers on the road for long stretches. Yet, even when they’re done for the day, they’re never really done. As you’ll see when you view an upcoming segment called Balmorhea Fun.

I was actually doing a story with producer Abe Moore—we were out in the Pecos region studying the Pecos Pup fish for another segment. We’d finished in the middle of the afternoon, and we were considering—okay, we could either do the drive back to Austin over six hours, or we could just stay here in Balmorhea, enjoy the afternoon, make a fun little video, and drive back the next day.

And that’s just what they did.

We had a bunch of small Go-Pro cameras, and, we had a Quad-Copter that can shoot video. We spent the afternoon swimming with folks, giving them cameras [to use], and coming up with this fun little video.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife TV segment Balmorhea Fun airs on PBS stations the week of May 15th.

It’s just a fun view of what it’s like to spend a day at Balmorhea State Park.

That’s our show…for Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Dump out standing and stagnant water around the outside of the home to limit breeding areas for all mosquitoes. Image courtesy of freshorganicgardening.com

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This is Passport to Texas

Aedes aegypti is a mosquito known to carry the zika virus we’ve heard about in the news. It’s an introduced species found in the eastern half of Texas. But Mike Quinn says there’s no cause for alarm.

There’s no locally acquired cases in the [50] United States.

Quinn is an Austin entomologist who’s been following reports of the virus and its host species. This mosquito is different than most.

We mostly we think of large numbers of mosquitoes at dawn and dusk and through the night. But the Aedes aegypti is a day biting insect.

Aedes aegypti is a creature of the summer months, and most active May through August. One way to control it is to prevent it from breeding.

Controlling breeding sights on our property can be a very effective way to reduce the mosquito [population]. It’s what we call a container breeding mosquito. [It breeds] in pots and barrels, and toys and bottles. It can breed in a very small amount of water—a tablespoon or less, even. But it takes about a week under optimal conditions to go from egg to adult. So, doing a weekly cleanup of property, checking for water sources, changing out birdbath water on a weekly basis, is a good way to keep the population down locally.

Using products containing DEET on your person can be an effective deterrent. We have links to more information about the zika virus at passporttotexas.org.

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

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More information about the zika virus; copy and paste links into your browser.

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/

http://www.who.int/features/qa/zika/en/

http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/disease-prevention-advice/zika-virus-infection.aspx

Zika infographic courtesy of Unicef.org

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This is Passport to Texas

According to the World Health Organization: Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947.

It’s one of these tropical diseases that was known in the literature, but there weren’t any outbreaks until more recently.

Mike Quinn is an entomologist in Austin who’s been following reports of the virus and its carrier, often called the yellow fever mosquito.

The consensus is that it’s Aedes aegypti that’s the main culprit. The Aedes aegypti being people specific is an effective vector in that it can bite one person with the disease virus, and then bite another person and transmit that virus.

The World Health Organization tells us: Substantial new research has strengthened the association between Zika infection and the occurrence of fetal malformations and neurological disorders. We’ve seen this most markedly in Brazil, with an increase in microcephaly in newborns of infected mothers. Do we need to worry in Texas? Is this mosquito in our midst?

It’s an introduced species. And it is most common around the southeastern gulf coast states, but it’s in the eastern half of Texas.

Direct infection by a mosquito has not occurred in Texas. Reported cases have been in people who traveled to zika hot spots. Tomorrow: what we can do to manage mosquitoes around the home.

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

Bullfrog Pond Family Fishing Event.

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This is Passport to Texas

You don’t have to be a pro to teach angling to others.

I used to be a school teacher, and you just need to know a little bit more than the person you’re instructing. We have people come that have no background knowledge whatsoever in fishing. Picture a scout troop in which none of the leadership has a background in fishing, and yet they want to extend that to their scout troops.

A dedicated volunteer base allows Texas Parks and Wildlife aquatic education training specialist Caleb Harris and his crew to reach a larger audience than they otherwise would.

That’s exactly why we need them. They extend our outreach efforts to hundreds of places a weekend. We’re a staff of four in our outreach office, and so they really multiply our efforts as a department to get the word out.

Harris says becoming a volunteer angler education instructor begins with a weekend workshop.

Our instructor workshops are normally on Saturdays, and they’re held all over the state. They’re listed on our Texas Parks and Wildlife calendar of events, and they’re free for anyone that wants to attend them. And they normally last about six hours, five hours. They’re, I’d say, about half classroom time and half playing the type of games and learning the type of fishing skills that we’d like our instructors to pass on. So, they’re pretty active workshops.

Find an angler instructor workshop near you in the calendar section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website…and get ready to get hooked.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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