Passport to Texas

Fishing is fun for the entire family.

2017 Free Fishing Day in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

During National Fishing and Boating Week, most states offer free fishing days. These are days where anglers are allowed to fish on public bodies of water without a fishing license. Anyone who wishes to cast a line in fresh or saltwater may do so…freely.

This year free fishing day in Texas is June 3rd.

Every day is Free Fishing Day at Texas state parks that have fishing opportunities. Once you pay the park entrance fee, you and yours can fish to your heart’s content—while following bag limits and other regulations.

If you’re not currently an angler, but want to give it a try, some parks have tackle loaner programs. Borrow the tackle to use at the park, but bring your own bait. For very little investment, you can sample a sport that gets you outdoors and has the potential of putting food on the table.

On June 3rd in East Texas, the Texas freshwater Fisheries Center offers a day of free fishing, hot dogs, soft drinks and games. Other parks throughout the state offer Go Fish events and Kids fishing derbies on June 3rd, for a day of outdoor fun with family and friends.

Log onto the calendar page of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website for more angling opportunities.

We receive support for our program from the Sport Fish restoration Program… reminding you that Saturday June 3rd is Free Fishing Day in Texas.

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

Working to restore pronghorn to the Trans Pecos.

Pronghorn Restoration Benefits Communities Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Wildlife biologist Shawn Gray finds pronghorns fascinating, and hopes you will, too.

The pronghorn is a unique mammal of North America; it’s the only one found in its family. It’s the fastest mammal in North America. It’s a big game species.

Gray is the pronghorn program leader and oversees the Pronghorn Restoration Project. Because it’s is a game species, hunting them should pick up as their population grows, thus benefiting local communities.

In 2008, we issued probably like 800 buck only hunting permits. And, shoot, in 2009 or 10, we were issuing less than 100. And there’s a lot to that. Not only is it the money that they get for trespass access for hunting, but the hunters come into the local communities and spend time and spend money. So, there’s a lot of those economic impacts as well with a much reduced pronghorn population out here.

The Trans-Pecos pronghorn population dipped below 3,000 in 2012, and Gray says through translocation, range management, and natural reproduction, they hope to see the number rise to 10,000.

Most of the local communities in the Trans-Pecos really miss the pronghorn. And they really want to see pronghorn back on the landscape at numbers that they are used to seeing.

With the continued success of the restoration project, they may get their wish.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation supports our series.

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

Pronghorn capture and release.

Restoring Pronghorn to its Range Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Wildlife biologist, Shawn Gray, stays busy most days in his role as Texas Parks and Wildlife pronghorn and mule deer program leader in the Trans Pecos.

I get to oversee the management and research for the two species for Texas parks and Wildlife.

This includes orchestrating the restoration of these species to their native range. Earlier this year, Texas Parks and Wildlife successfully relocated 109 pronghorn.

Our surplus populations are located in the Northwest and Northeast Panhandle. We take animals from healthy populations there to boost our local populations in the Trans Pecos that have in recent years seen historic decline.

Texas Parks and Wildlife worked with partners to redistribute the animals. After trapping them, each received a health checkup; some got radio collars for monitoring.

Translocation has been one of the management tools we’ve been able to do to help those populations rebound. There’s a whole suite of things that we do to improve populations. And, of course, we always need help from Mother Nature to make all those things work for us.

Drought was a leading factor in the pronghorn’s decline in the Trans Pecos; Shawn Gray is addressing it and other range issues to ensure the pronghorn’s future.

Through time and our management practices, the populations have been responding well.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation supports our series…and pronghorn restoration. Find out more at tpwf.org.

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

Texas Rivers conservation license plate.

Taking Texas Rivers on the Road Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

If you’ve fished, paddled or even picnicked along a Texas river, you know how special they are. Take that appreciation on the road with a new Texas Rivers conservation license plate.

It’s a really beautiful view of a Hill Country river with a kayaker and a fly angler off in the distance. It’s just a really scenic landscape that points to the values that we all have for Texas rivers and rivers in general.

Tim Birdsong is a rivers biologist.

There are all these different aesthetic, and ecological and recreational and economic values tied to rivers, whether it’s water supply, or flood abatement, or bank, wade or kayak fishing. Tubing. You name it. There are reasons we value rivers. And Parks and Wildlife works to conserve Texas rivers.

Fish and wildlife conservation, habitat restoration, and bank access for recreational use. The new Texas Rivers conservation plate helps to support it all.

The sale of the license plate will generate $22 for the department for every plate sold. And, that’s non-federal funding that’s really important in matching federal grants that we’ve been able to tap to support these programs. So, if you love Texas rivers, you can show your support, and support of Parks and Wildlife’s river conservation programs by purchasing a plate.

Find the Texas Rivers conservation plate and how the money’s spent at conservationplate.org.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Tom Birdsong enjoying river access.

Texas River Access Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Legal access to Texas Rivers can be challenging.

Texas is a private land state. Over 95% of the land in the state is privately owned, and that’s reflected in ownership of banks along rivers.

Tim Birdsong is a rivers biologist. Texas Parks and Wildlife’s paddling trails program works with communities to create access to some of the 191,000 miles of Texas Rivers. Currently, we have 70 trails in the system.

Seventy trails, 191,000 miles of rivers—that’s a drop in the bucket. There are lots of high quality river segments that aren’t accessible because of this preponderance of private lands ownership. So, we look for opportunities to bring landowners into the mix, and provide a win-win scenario where we can provide a cost share arrangement; provide payments to landowners to lease private lands for public access to rivers. And this is real similar to our public hunting program that we’ve had in place for years.

This partnership with local landowners allows Texans to more fully enjoy the natural beauty that our rivers have to offer.

We began leasing these private lands for access to bank, wade and kayak fishing in 2012. And now, we’re up to 19 different lease-access sites statewide on 10 different rivers.

Texas Parks and Wildlife seeks landowners with riverfront property strategically positioned to expand current Texas Padding Trails, connect to parks, or provide connections to other public river access areas. Find program details on the TPW website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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