Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Crawfish, crayfish, or crawdad to you…Procambarus clarki is actually just one of its kind.

If I say, “How many crawfish species from Texas can you name?” Most of the people only know one; and that’s the eating kind.

Despite its popularity at the boil, very little research on crawfish has existed…until now…Nathan Johnson is the enthusiast, activist, and coauthor behind a new field guide to Texas crawdads.

There’s about 40 species of crayfish in our state. Prairie Crawfish have never been described in literature outside of Collin County, TX. and wasn’t even discovered until, uh, the 90s when it was trapped in snake traps. They were doing a study of reptiles out in the prairie and these crawfish showed up, and they were like, “amazing!”

Raising awareness about the various species living in Texas, such as the Prairie Crawfish, and the unique niche they fill in our ecosystems; Johnson hopes that people will take more care to conserve them.

If you don’t know it exists, how do you know to be concerned? This book is a resource towards understanding crayfish, what habitats we might want to be concerned about, and which species we need to pay attention to because they’re so specialized or restricted in their range.

Learn more about Texas crawdads at passporttotexas.org

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas Crawdads
http://www.texascrawdads.com

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Give a gift as big as the Texas outdoors to someone you love and receive the 2009 commemorative State Park Christmas ornament for yourself.

If you buy a state park pass gift certificate, you get an ornament for free And you get the gift card in the little pillow box so that you can give it as a gift. This is about our fourth year to do that, and it’s really popular.

Bryan Frazier is promotions coordinator for state parks, and says this special opportunity continues through December 31.

State Park gift certificates are sixty dollars. We’re really trying to encourage people to give these as gifts, and the free ornament really makes [it] a nice gift package for people.

Of course, you can keep the ornament for yourself. No one has to know. The certificates and the ornament are available only through Parks and Wildlife central reservations.

It’s the same reservation number that people call to make a reservation for a state park. It’s a little easier, a little more coordinated, to handle it all through one place for our fulfillment. And so we’re doing it again this year.

Now through December 31, when you buy a sixty-dollar state park pass gift certificate, you will receive the 2009 commemorative State Park Christmas ornament free to give to a friend or keep for yourself.

Find complete details at passporttotexas.org, including that central reservation number you’re going to need to call.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The 2009 commemorative State Park Christmas ornament is as big as Texas—at least in spirit—and is available through the end of the month.

Each year it showcases something different that is particularly unique to what you can find when you go and visit our state parks.

Bryan Frazier is promotions coordinator for state parks. The newest ornament is gold-plated, diamond shaped, and has a fly rod gracefully arching over the top.

There’s a ring-tailed cat on the inside, there’s the windmill that’s at Brazos Bend State Park, there’s a magnolia flower, and a desert big horn sheep, and part of the mountain range of Big Bend Ranch in there.

And that’s only half of what’s included in this lovely, delicate decoration. If you’ve been collecting these ornaments, be advised you only have until the end of the month to get yours.

They’re $5.50 plus tax, and you can order them from our central reservation system. And a special promotion is going to happen starting December first and runs through December thirty-first, where if you buy a state park pass gift certificate you get the ornament for free.

There is also a nominal fee for shipping and handling.

We’ll tell you about the special promotion tomorrow.

Until then, go to passporttotexas.org for details on how to get your 2009 commemorative State Park Christmas ornament.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Witness efforts to understand and protect the endangered Houston Toad this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. Producer, Abe Moore.

They used to be all the way from Houston to Bastrop, but now they’re just in little pockets. So, we went out with some biologists to try and find some Houston toads in some ponds.

[Frog calls] So, it’s the unicorn in the woods. I mean, this is the thing that no one can find, and yet, at the same time, this is an animal that makes three thousand eggs at a time.

What we found while we were doing the story was that the Houston Zoo is working with biologists by raising baby toads—little Houston toadlets.

Our role in the Houston Toad recovery plan is one of kind of last resort. We’re starting to form a captive assurance colony, basically, and that is a, uh, like a failsafe against the extinction of the Houston Toad in the wild.

While we were out there, I was amazed at how big these toads were. They were fat and happy.

Some are kind of larger than what you’d expect.[shakes container of crickets] We’ve probably got about three or four thousand crickets in this container right here. We go through in the moment about six thousand a week.

So that’s on Texas Parks and Wildlife television the first or second week of December.

Thanks, Abe. Better check your local listings.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You don’t have to be a birder to appreciate Resaca de la Palma State Park, north of Brownsville. Pablo De Yturbe is park superintendent.

We are part of the World Birding Center, so birds are important to us. But, not only that, when you get birds, you have butterflies, you have dragonflies, and five hundred and so different plant species, which some of them are very rare.

You also get a variety of mammals, reptiles and amphibians. The 12-hundred acre park is the largest tract of native habitat in the World Birding Center network.

It also offers viewing decks overlooking the resaca, thus affording visitors a bird’s eye view of wildlife that uses the wetland.

Experience it for yourself on Saturday, December 6, when Resaca de la Palma State Park celebrates its grand opening with Family Day.

Our aim is to have not only bird watchers and nature lovers, but the whole family come and spend the day at the park. We’re going to have different activities. We’re going to have vendors, food, interpretive tours, hawk shows, and the buffalo soldiers.

Entrance is free for the grand opening. Resaca de la Palma State Park is possible thanks to increased park funding provided last session by the Texas Legislature.

Find information about the park at passporttotexas.org. That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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