Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

A lot can change in 10 years, but one constant is Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s annual water issue. Dr. Larry McKinney, Director of the Harte Research Institute, and former Director of Aquatic Resources at Parks and Wildlife, has been involved from the beginning.

14—When we wrote the first article in that series, we were in the middle of just trying to get the Texas Legislature to come up with a method for including environmental issues—and all the other concerns—for evaluating water needs in the state of Texas.

Dr. McKinney says although we’ve made progress since that first issue, we’ve further to go to solve the problem.

17—I think now, more and more people understand that we have to have water for the environment; I hear that from our political leaders. I see a commitment in our legislature to move in the right direction. So, it’s all positive. The question is: can we move quickly enough to make sure that we hit that balance before we get into a situation where the options are very, very limited.

How much time does Texas have to achieve a balance between human and environmental water needs?

14—We have to solve this within the next ten years, because by then the population will have reached such a level that our options to balance the environmental water needs with industry and agriculture and municipalities will be frankly gone. We will not have another chance.

Go to texasthestateofwater.org for more information.

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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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife recognizes private landowners who demonstrate outstanding stewardship with the Lone Star Land Steward Awards. Meet these dedicated men and women in June on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Don Cash.

57—One of the award winners that we’re going to look at is the Duval County Ranch in the South Texas Plains. And this ranch has had over a hundred years of being heavily overgrazed.

These are just a couple of examples of landowners doing the right thing by their land. And we’ve got a Lone Star Land Steward winner every week this month on the television show.

Thanks, Don

Check your local listings.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

For a family friendly, memory-making, spring break getaway—you can’t beat Colorado Bend State Park, and the white bass run. Our State Park guide, Bryan Frazier has more.

55—And at Colorado Bend, when the white bass run is on, it could be one of the best in the state of Texas. You can catch lots of fish, get kids involved and other people, and really share a memory that you might not be able to find anywhere else, or any other time of year. Well, before I turned on this machine, you shared a memory, and you said that you took your mom and son. Tell me about that. Well, I took my mother and my young son who hadn’t fished much either last year; it was one of the best white bass runs at Colorado bend that we had in a long, long time. The water levels were up, and we took our little boat, and we had a ball. We put the boat in the water and moved upstream just a few hundred yards, and started catching white bass, and we caught them for a couple hours. We kept, you know, enough for us to eat, and white bass are great to eat, so I recommend doing that when you know what the bag limits and the length limits are. We had a time that I know I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and probably my mom and little boy will as well. So, get outdoors and enjoy that—it’s spring break—white bass run…Colorado bend. That’s a great recipe right there for a lot of fun.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife recently completed the ninth and final map in its Great Texas Wildlife Trails map series.

05—And that is the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map, which just launched in December of 2010.

Shelly Plante oversees nature tourism for Parks and Wildlife. The latest map, divided into 10 loops, features 57 sites.

21—It stretches from Midland-Odessa down to Sanderson, Big Bend, and up all the way to El Paso. So, we go over two different time zones in this trail. In other trails, we’ve tried to keep sites within a half hour of other sites; in West Texas we’ve had to make that within a couple hours within the closest sites, but in West Texas standards—that’s close.

You’ll find the GPS coordinates for each site on the map, as well as relevant information. Some of the wildlife viewing sites included on this map may surprise you.

18—A golf course is involved… RV parks…and things that you wouldn’t necessarily think of as wildlife viewing sites—but they are. They’re protected habitat, and they’re these green oases, in the middle of Far West Texas, so they really do make good wildlife viewing site. But they aren’t necessarily what you would think of as a visitor. So, they’re perfect sites for a map like this.

Download any of the nine maps of the Great Texas Wildlife Trails from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and experience the wild(life) side of nature.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

We know how spring breakers like to get wild on their week away from classes. This spring break, you can either follow the crowd, or blaze a trail when you follow our maps to the best wildlife in Texas.

07—Through this series of maps, we now have over 950 sites, statewide, that show you the best places to see all kinds of wildlife.

I’m sure you’ve figured out we’re talking about actual wildlife—not questionable behavior.

07—From bighorn sheep to monarch butterflies to migratory song birds, to nesting shorebirds on the Texas coast.

Shelly Plante oversees nature tourism for Parks and Wildlife.

30—Fifteen years ago we started with the Great Texas Coastal Birding trail, which was a series of three trails on the Texas coast: the upper, central and lower Texas coast. With the success of those, we moved on and did the Heart of Texas, and Panhandle Plains, and those were so successful we then moved on to the Prairies and Pineywoods. About two years ago, I started partnering with the Texas Mountain Trail and Texas Pecos Trail regions of the Heritage Trails of the Historical Commission to create the final map of the series. And that is the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map.

Download any of the nine maps of the Great Texas Wildlife Trails from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and have a wild spring break—the kind you can tell your folks about.

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

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