Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

For whatever reason, it seems that…

We spend way too much time indoors.

Walt Dabney, Director of Texas State parks, says visiting a park not only gets kids and adults outside, it gets them in shape.

The other thing about being outside is while some people don’t like structured exercise, when you’re outside in a park—hiking or just doing things—you’re physically active. And it’s very positive for you from a health standpoint.

And with fuel prices continuing to climb, state parks are healthy for your body and your bank account.

We’ve got kayak and canoe rentals. You can bring a bike. You can do all kinds of things unless you’re just looking for a way to burn more gas. And I’ll tell you that the way gas prices are going today, parks are going to be even more attractive. You know, there’s probably one fairly close to where anybody hearing me lives.

Which means a healthy outdoor experience is closer than you think. We have information on state parks, the annual state parks pass and the state park guide at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…remember: life’s better outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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

Are you in need of a hunting forecast, or a place to experience nature at its most wild? Then look no further than the September issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. Managing Editor, Louie Bond.

In September, we always have our big hunting forecast. It’s much more than the dates and the permits required. We actually have lot’s of biologists who contribute to the interview, and tell us about how, perhaps, rain has affected the particular season and other environmental factors—just to tell us how’s it looking this year for quail and javelinas and things like that. So, it’s a really thorough, up-to-date look at what the hunting season is going to look like.

Another thing we have in the September issue—we featured Big Bend in our August issue—and if Big Bend is a little too populated for you, you can head out that way and go to Black Gap WMA. And it’s the biggest one in the state, and it’s really for roughing it, but it’s just huge and there’s so many things you can do out there, and the hunting is great out there, they’ve reintroduced the big horn sheep…but there’s also a lot of recreational opportunities for people who aren’t afraid to rough it. So, check out our September issue and find new ways to get outdoors.

The September issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now.

That’s our show for today…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas …For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

We all come somewhere, and Chris Holmes, who oversees the Texas Outdoor Family in State Parks program, comes from England. From the time he was a boy, Chris had a passion for the outdoors. It made sense that when he became an adult, he would seek a career that kept him close to nature. He has followed that career to several continents and two hemispheres. This is his outdoor story.

I was a park ranger once in Australia. And we had some monitor lizards that were fairly aggressive—similar to the raccoons here in Texas—they would go after food. And it was always very funny to watch these monitor lizards slinking up towards tents, and smelling the food. These lizards were about five to six feet long.

So, having a monitor lizard stick their head through the tent—a lot of people are not used to seeing that. So that was a lot of fun. And sometimes, maybe we had some mischievous young adults that have kept us awake at nighttime, so we may have encouraged the lizards to go see them in the morning.

Monitor lizards are like raccoons. I don’t think so. Thanks, Chris.

If you have a fond memory of time you’ve spent in the Texas outdoors…tell us. Go to passportotexas.org and click the Outdoor Stories link. If we use your story, we’ll send you a Life’s Better Outside t-shirt. What are you waiting for?

That’s our show…for today. Remember: Life’s Better Outside… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Outdoor Family weekend workshops help families learn skills to enhance future outdoor excursions.

We really wanted to do something for our community that was different as far as getting people outdoors.

Deirdre Flores, recreation program coordinator for the city of Kyle, www.cityofkyle.com, says hosting a workshop benefits participating families and cities.

This is a great program for any city to host if they’re looking to get into outdoor programming. It also brings other families to your community, so you get people into your community that may not have ever come otherwise. I would recommend it to anybody.

Not only is Parks and Wildlife staff on hand to facilitate the workshop, cities can tap into other local resources, like nearby colleges.

I’m actually an alum of Texas State Recreation program, www.txstate.edu, so we’ve partnered with their recreation programming class. And the students—they are having a blast. And I think they’ve done a great job. Having Texas State as a partner—you can’t get any better.

The program was so successful in Kyle, Flores says they plan to offer it again.

We want to do it twice a year, so we’re looking to do it in the fall and the spring. We really enjoyed this program, and we’d like to continue to bring it to our citizens.

That’s our show for today, with support from Toyota. To learn about upcoming Texas Outdoor Family workshops at local parks and state parks, visit lifesbetteroutside.org. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas form Texas Park and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

The majority of wildlife in Texas falls into the non-game category.

There are over six hundred species of birds, four hundred species of reptiles and amphibians, small mammals, and we really need every dime we can get to manage those animals properly.

Matt Wagner is program director for wildlife diversity. Money to study these species comes from the sale of Texas Horned Lizard license plates, which generate about 200-thousand dollars annually for conservation of non-game species…including the horned lizard.

We’re concerned about the decline of the horned lizard in part of our state, and we have some genetic work going on, and some other population analysis going on in the state that will hopefully reveal some answers to some of those questions.

The horned lizard plate strikes a chord with Texans.

People attach themselves with the horned lizard. And, whether they know where the money goes or not they reveal a value there. And so that is a vote of confidence going to wildlife. So, we want to take those dollars and put them back into the resource that they were intended for.

Go to conservation-dash-plate-dot-org to see the Horned Lizard Plate and to learn how helps wildlife in Texas.

That’s our show for today…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas …For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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