Passport to Texas

Zebra mussels on a boat motor.

Texas Boaters: Time to Clean, Drain & Dry Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Texans can help to protect their lakes this summer by properly cleaning, draining and drying boats and equipment every time they leave the water.

The threats to Texas’ aquatic ecosystems are many. In East Texas, the primary threat is giant salvinia – a highly invasive, free-floating aquatic fern that can make fishing, boating, swimming and other water recreation nearly impossible.

Another threat, Zebra mussels, have spread from North Texas to other lakes in East and Central Texas. These mussels can ruin shorelines with sharp shells, impact recreation, hurt native aquatic life, damage boats and clog water intakes.

If boaters take a few minutes to properly clean, drain and dry everything that touches the water before they leave, they become part of the solution. These simple steps can make a huge difference in our efforts to protect and preserve Texas lakes for future generations.

If you need incentive: the transport of aquatic invasive species can result in legal trouble for boaters, and it is punishable by a fine of up to $500 per violation.

Learn more about giant salvinia, zebra mussels and other invasive species in Texas at texasinvasives.org.

The Sport Fish restoration Program supports our series.

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

Angler Stacy Spriggs of Huntsville caught the 13.06 pound, 27 inch Legacy Class lunker during the Second Annual Stanley Burgay Memorial Bass Tournament on a Carolina rig in 8 feet of water.

Effects of Drought on Bass (it's not all bad) Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Lake Travis is the site of this year’s Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest May 17-20th.

Just a few short years ago the lake was at historic low levels due to extreme drought. However, Dave Terre, chief of fish management and research at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says, the drought contributed to improvements in the fishery.

During those low water years, what happened is a lot of terrestrial vegetation grew up into the lake bed, or on the edges of the lake. Then, in 2015, when we caught all that new water, it flooded all that terrestrial vegetation, creating an immense amount of fish habitat at the lake. Then, TPWD came in there and stocked Florida largemouth bass into the reservoir; plus we had a lot of natural spawning of bass also at the same time, and the bass population just took off wildly. And now, we’re just seeing the result of that increased fish production. And these strong year classes of fish up pushing through. And fishing has really been amazing on Lake Travis. And now is a great opportunity with the Toyota Bass Master Texas Fest to showcase this great fishery to a worldwide audience.

It’s free to attend the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest, May 17-20th, on Lake Travis. Find details at bassmaster.com.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest

It's Back: Toyota Texas Bassmaster Texas Fest Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Excellent management has made Texas a destination for bass fishing. And more than a hundred of the nation’s top professional bass anglers will be at Lake Travis, May 17-20, for the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest.

Well, what’s so cool about this event in its 12 fabulous years is we’ve gotten the opportunity to showcase our fisheries all across the state.

Dave Terre is chief of fish management and research at TPW, and helps to coordinate the event for the agency.

The event is really a benefit event for Texas Parks and Wildlife, to help the department raise funds to benefit our youth fishing activities; including the neighborhood fishin’ program, the state fish art contest, and other programs that get youth involved in fishing.

An Outdoor Adventures Area will provide visitors a chance to meet pro anglers and participate in outdoor activities.

Where the weigh-ins happen, there’ll be an onsite expo. Families can come, learn how to cast, meet a fisheries biologist, learn how to camp, learn about our state parks. You can learn about how we do our fisheries management business. You can learn all about the outdoors in our Outdoor Adventures Area. So it’s a great time to come and get the kids involved, and we hope everybody will come and enjoy this.

It’s free to attend the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest, May 17-20th, on Lake Travis at Jones Brothers Park. Find details at bassmaster.com.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Angela Shelf Medearis serving a picnic lunch to her family. Photograph by Penny De Los Santos.

Pack a Picnic on Mother's Day and Head to a Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

This Mother’s Day, take mom on a picnic in a Texas state park. Cookbook author, Angela Shelf Medearis, says the key to a stress-free picnic is planning and simplicity.

You don’t have to worry about having to do everything that day. That takes all the fun out of the picnic to me if you’re trying to do all the food prep, and pack everything, and get everybody to the park. So, start your picnic a few days ahead. If I was doing a picnic, I would have something like a really good roast chicken; just cut the pieces up and pack those in there. I do a Carolina Cole Slaw; you toss it up, throw it in the refrigerator – it gets better day-by-day. So, if you want to do that ahead you could. Use a lot of fresh fruits for dessert. The thing about a picnic that I love is you can totally unplug and really focus on the people you should be paying the most attention to. You can get out in nature; we have some beautiful parks. Some beautiful places to go in Texas. And, it gives you a chance to really focus on the most important things: your family, nature, the beauty of life… So, do a little planning ahead, and pick dishes that will be fine hot or cold, and you can’t go wrong for a great picnic.

Find recipes for your picnic on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…. brought to you in part by Ram trucks: built to serve.

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

Arundo Donax, Image USGS

Down with Donax Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife rolled out a new campaign on management of an invasive grass called Arundo Donax.
Angela England, an aquatic invasive species biologist, says learn to recognize the plant; say something if you see it, and be aware of its presence.

A lot of it you’ll see on the right-of-ways of the roads—but also in the creeks and rivers. On the banks.

The program reaches out to people in construction and road maintenance. The most effective management is herbicide use.

It doesn’t spread by seed. It only spreads by fragments of the roots and stems. So, any time there is construction activity, or veg management with mowing or tilling that will create these new fragments and spread them around—that’s just creating whole new patches that will be a problem later.

Monica McGarrity, aquatic invasive team leader says the campaign employs a character called Arundo Control Man—an everyday hero.

Everyone can be an Arundo control hero. Everyone can help to manage it. This is a training program that we’re asking everyone to put into play for their safety trainings; it’s plug and play. You can order brochures from us online. You can click play on the video, and train these groups so that all of them can become Arundo control heroes. And that’s what we’re trying to encourage.

Find a link to additional resources at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.