Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas and the Wildlife Restoration Program

As our population becomes urban, we see people buying rural property as weekend retreats.

Recreational buying is the greatest motivation for exchanges in land in Texas.

Linda Campbell, program director for the private lands program at Texas Parks and Wildlife, says the reasons for buying rural property are as different as the people buying it.

Game species are still a big driver – very important economically for landowners in Texas. But, we have a greater diversity of landowners, and so with a diversity of people , you have a diversity of interests. So, there are a lot of landowners, particularly those with smaller tracts, that are primarily interested in managing for birds and other non-game wildlife. Or, they just want to get away from the city to have a retreat. And that’s an absolutely valid goal as well. And, so, we work with all landowners in whatever their goal is.

Parks and Wildlife’s private lands program offers landowners free technical assistance managing their property.

Texas is over ninety percent privately owned, and so we recognized that if we’re going to have any impact at all on conservation of wildlife and habitats, we have to do it through the cooperation of private landowners.

Understanding your land…that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Programs.

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

Recreational Landowners: Rural Life Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

While it’s true that water is life, Carter Smith—Parks and Wildlife Executive Director—says for many Texans, water also means enjoyment.

It is the source of recreation in our rivers and lakes and streams and reservoirs—where Texans go to fish and kayak and swim and enjoy all of nature’s bounty.

Yet, containing flowing water for recreational use upstream can have a negative affect on the people, habitat and wildlife living downstream.

The overriding conflict is between rural and urban.

Lee Smith produces water documentaries for Texas Parks and Wildlife. The latest in the series, Texas: The State of Flowing Water, addresses environmental flow, which is the water needed to maintain healthy ecosystems along a waterway. He admits this important subject matter is complex.

This one was pretty difficult because the focus was so broad, and encompassed these various entities that are at work to try and figure out what [water] levels need to be in the rivers and the bays and how to get that written into law. That, in itself, was a huge challenge.

Witness how Smith evenhandedly weaves together the diverse aspects and points of view of this complex topic when you tune into Texas: The State of Flowing Water Thursday February 12 at 8 PM, on most PBS stations… made possible by the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

Find additional information at texasthestteorwater.org.

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

Texas--The State of Flowing Water Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

A weekend with Texas Outdoor Family introduces tricks of the camping trade and activities that families can enjoy together outdoors. One ever popular event is geocaching.

Geocaching is using GPS units to find hidden treasures. It’s kind of a fun way to get outside, and kids absolutely love it. We got to go with something that was like a telephone but it wasn’t. It told us where to go so that we could go find a green box and there’s something inside it. I got a badge out of the green box. It was a picture of a fish. It was cool.

Dan Hayes is the outdoor education specialist who led the Naredo family on their first geocaching excursion. They found that it’s not the plunder, but its pursuit that matters.

People have hidden these caches which are essentially boxes with little, cheap toys in them that people go find. The cool thing is the trading piece of it. You take one but you put one, so there’s always treasure in that box. Those little containers or wherever you find it, they told us that they disguised them and some could’ve been like inside of a soda can or some could’ve been on a magnet that they stuck to a rail fence. I mean, they’re really well hidden because they don’t really want them to find it, but at the same time they want you to find it.

Start your hunt at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Geocahing: Fun in Hidden Places Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Parks and Wildlife TV producer Lee Smith says he learned an important lesson from nature when shooting the documentary Texas–The State of Flowing Water.

It has given me a new sense of patience. I went down to the bay—it was basically a travel day the real shoot was the next day—so I was going around getting shots on this back bay of a sunset. And it was a horrible day; it was overcast; no birds were down yet, so there was nothing like that I could shoot. And the sun was going down, and I wanted to eat…and so I blew it off.

And I was driving up to the restaurant and as I was getting out of the car, the sun popped in my eye. And I looked over and the sun had come out of the clouds for just about five minutes. And if I would have stayed there, and been patient, and waited for the day to unfold, I would have gotten probably the title shot of the show. But I didn’t. So, now whenever I’m out there and things aren’t looking great, I say, you’ve got to wait it out. You’ve got to wait for nature to reveal herself.

Catch the documentary Texas the State of Flowing Water Thursday, February 12 at 8 pm on PBS stations. Visit texasthestateofwater.org for complete listings.

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

Lee's Life Lessons from Nature Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The Federal Sport Fish Restoration program—funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel—funds a variety of conservation projects in Texas. Last year Texas Parks and Wildlife received $20-million from the program.

That funding went to support sport fisheries management, sport fish stocking in Texas waters, fish habitat conservation, enhancement and restoration efforts, and aquatic education.

Timothy Birdsong coordinates the Sport Fish program for Parks and Wildlife.

Fifteen percent of that program is used to perform improvement to boat ramps and other boating access facilities around the state.

Birdsong says this is a successful conservation model—a user pay user benefit program.

The taxes that you contribute as anglers, and as boaters, to this pot of money, is used to improve the resource for you…to provide additional opportunities…provide additional access to these waters. So, it is vital that we continue to have the support of the anglers and the boating community to be able to maintain the program at the level that it is currently.

See how Parks and Wildlife spends these funds when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE to see how Texas spends the money collected through the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

Sport Fish Restoration Program: Conservation Dollars Play Now | Play in Popup | Download