Passport to Texas

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This is Passport to Texas

Given the devastation produced by wildfires this year, it may be difficult to grasp the vital role fire plays in land management. Nature’s been using it for eons with great success.

David Riskind, director of natural resources for state parks, says there’s a difference between a fire burning out of control, and the prescription burns biologists recommend to landowners.

Controlled burning is a term that people use that you start at part A, and you burn until you get to part B. Professional land managers use the term prescribed fire because you have specific objectives, you have specific outcomes, you burn under very specific conditions. And so a prescription is a planning document… you lay everything out ahead of time and you then implement it with very specific objectives in mind.

Riskind says the objectives set forth in prescribed burns vary from property to property.

There can be a whole series of objectives. From very simple things like fuel load reduction. You can have specific habitat objectives…to change the vegetation structure and composition to support waterfowl, or to support antelope, or lesser prairie chickens…or Houston toads for that matter.

Houston toad habitat took a big hit from wildfires last month. Learn more on tomorrow’s show.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

This is Passport to Texas

Over the next quarter century or less, Texas will have to find water for twice the population it has currently, and still meet the needs of the environment.

Andrew Sansom, Executive Director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos, says it’s no surprise people find this fact daunting.

And they say, ‘What in the world can I do?’ And I answer them by saying two things. One: everyone can save more water in their home. Everyone can do something in terms of their behavior that 0uts more emphasis on water conservation.

But more even important, everyone during the course of a year can take a child fishing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, to the beach—to expose a child to water in the natural systems. So that they can understand what incredible joys are to be found there, but also that they must take responsibility for it.

Go to texasthestateofwater.org for more information.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration supports our program….and funds conservation projects in Texas.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Legislators, alone, cannot ensure a future that provides an abundant supply of water for humans, fish and wildlife.

This month, as we observe the 10th anniversary of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s water issue, Executive Director, Carter Smith, reminds us that all Texans have a role to play when it comes to conserving this vital resource.

We all miss water when it’s not around. And ultimately we have to plan for those kinds of scenarios, and remember that the future of our water is a generational one.

And so, these are important things that every one of us as a citizen and steward can take to help ensure the vitality of this water for the future.

Go to texasthestateofwater.org for more information.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Supports our program….and funds conservation projects in Texas.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

An artificial reef is marine habitat created by man and placed on the ocean bottom for the benefit of marine life.

12—Nature has a way of providing its own habitat, but in the case of the Gulf of Mexico – offshore Texas – most of the substrate is soft, murky, muddy, and there’s very little hard substrate out there.

Dale Shively coordinates the artificial reef program for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He says that hard substrate is necessary for the development of reefs. What’s fascinating is that once they deploy the substrate material, within days marine life begins attaching to it.

10—In a very short period of time, the substrate is covered with barnacles and sponges and some types of coral. And that begins the basis of the food web as we know it.

Without artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, the waters wouldn’t be nearly as productive and vital as they are.

All kinds of items end up on the bottom of the gulf as artificial reefs: from oil rigs to concrete rubble to decommissioned battleships.

But what does any of this mean to the average Texan? Why should we care about this effort to create artificial reefs?

13—The importance of the reef program is, number one: preserve and enhance the marine environment. And by doing that, we also create fishing and diving opportunities for not only Texans, but also citizens throughout the US.

That’s our show for today…we receive support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

11—Anyone who recalls the aerial photographs of the Rio Grande not reaching the gulf of Mexico several years ago, should take that as a wake-up call.

Andrew Sansom, Director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos, contributes the article Keeping Rivers Flowing, in Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s tenth anniversary water issue, on newsstands now.

17—People tend to believe everything’s okay as long as the water comes out when they turn on the tap. So, by bringing people’s attention to the issues presented to us from the aquifers to the estuaries, we do a great service.

Sansom suggests that unless we change how we think about and use water, we could—in our lifetimes —unintentionally “dewater” some of the state’s most iconic and biologically diverse rivers.

16—Everything is connected. People don’t often grasp the reality that when we approve hundreds of new wells in the hill country we potentially adversely affect the estuaries on the rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

It is with the utmost urgency that we begin to think beyond our own faucets, says Sansom, and understand that up steam and downstream—the headwaters and the tidewaters—are all part of the same cycle…or flow…of life.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program funds our series…and supports conservation of Texas’ natural resources.

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

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