Passport to Texas

Teaching about prairies. Image: Texas Children in Nature.

TPW TV - Pocket Prairies Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Less than 1% of the original 20 million acres of Texas’ tallgrass prairie remains. But restoration efforts are ongoing, and even small pockets of prairie have value.

Our vision for this prairie is that eventually we get back to what it was 250 years ago which would have been six to nine foot tall grasses mixed with forbes and other wildflowers.

Carolyn Klein teaches science at Westside High, in Houston, along with her colleague Lawrence Spence. The land that sustains this pocket prairie was originally destined to be a school parking lot.

Having a prairie here on campus enables us to bring students out during the school day. We don’t have to rent a bus. We just walk them outside and we have access to wild spaces.

In a segment airing this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series, you’ll meet Westside educators, students and the prairie. Counselor, Jaime Gonzales is also on the show.

I’m trying to fix a broken relationship between people and nature. I think we’re working in a hybrid world. Technology’s cool, but Nature—which is very ancient and a part of us—I think needs to be a part of our lives, too, because it keeps us grounded and healthy.

These plant communities sustain pollinators and other wildlife. The pocket prairie segment airs on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS the week of December 18. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our show.

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

Anderson Ranch in the Texas Panhandle

Holiday Gifts for the Nature Lovers on Your List Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Holiday gift giving season is upon us, and if you have nature lovers on your list—the giving is easy—and twice as nice.

A seventy-dollar Texas State Parks Pass is a thoughtful gift for your outdoor enthusiast. Pass holders enjoy twelve months of unlimited visits to more than ninety state parks and historic sites. They also get discounts on camping and recreational equipment rentals. Money spent on the pass supports your Texas state parks.

For thirty dollars each, you can give the drivers on your list a conservation license plate. Twenty-two dollars from every sale goes directly to help fund conservation efforts in Texas.

Give every outdoor lover on your list access to more than a million acres of public land—with the Limited Use Permit—for the ridiculously reasonable price of twelve dollars.

Permit holders receive twelve months of access to Texas’ wildlife management areas, where they can fish, hike, bird watch, cycle, and camp.

When you give one of these gifts, you delight the receiver, and help support state parks and conservation in Texas.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation supports our series and helps keep Texas wild with support of proud members across the state.

Find out more at tpwf.org

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

Eastern wild turkey release at Gus Engeling WMA 02-05-2014

TPW TV - Gobblers Go East Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

A group of 31 eastern wild turkeys recently released in the Angelina National Forest may not be from Texas, but they got here as fast as they could. Wildlife biologist, Jason Hardin.

Any of these birds that come into Texas from out of state, we draw blood for disease testing. We’ve been really lucky—we’ve had really healthy birds coming in. In addition to that, the University of Georgia is doing DNA on all these birds.

Each bird got banded with its own ID number, and joined a four-decades-long restocking effort.

Turkeys were historically found throughout close to 30-million acres in east Texas. So, this is part of their historic range. Around the turn of the 20th Century, we lost birds due to over harvest—primarily—European settlers coming into Texas. There were no regulations to stop them from harvesting those animals. And no law enforcement out there to enforce the few regulations that we did have.

With the last batch of 31, Texas Parks and Wildlife has introduced about 80 birds to the site. Now they’ll monitor their habitat use to determine their preferences, and to ensure their future.

From what we can tell, the birds appear to be doing pretty well. We have some of our highest populations of turkeys in east Texas on that site. So, we know that it can be very successful.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS airs a segment called Gobblers Go East the week of November 20, where you can see the rest of the story. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

The Kraken is in the Ships-to-Reefs program.

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This is Passport to Texas

The artificial reef team at Texas Parks and Wildlife works on several projects at once. Each with staggered timelines.

The whole process [for each] can take several years.

Program leader, Dale Shively says monies for mitigation from the Deep Water Horizon oil spill that came to Texas Parks and Wildlife were earmarked to establish new reefs.

One of those is an offshore, deep water ship project. We have a reef site that’s 70 miles out of Galveston in 140 feet of water that is designed for a ship. Recently, we awarded a contract on a ship that’s currently being cleaned in Brownsville, Texas. One of my staff members thought it would be fun to name it The Kraken. I, for one, didn’t know what a Kraken was. Later I found out it was a sea monster from various movies and Greek Mythology.

Far from being scary, this ship will attract marine life and help to improve recreational and commercial fishing.

So, we’re hoping to have that cleaned and ready to go later this year, if we can get all the approvals in place.

For all the latest information on the artificial reef program, log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and use the key words “artificial reef”.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Tugboat preparing to deploy near shore reefing materials.

Types of Artificial Reefs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Artificial reefs created in the Gulf of Mexico provide substrate and habitat for marine life. The distance from shore factors into the kind of materials used for the reefs.

Well, in our program we look at the Gulf of Mexico as a whole.

Dale Shively is artificial reef program leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife

As you get near shore, you get into shallower environments; you get into more mud-type environments. As you travel farther off shore, you get into deeper water, clearer water, more sand-type environments. The materials that we use are related to whatever water depth, and the type of water that we’re working in.

Rubble may be used near shore whereas ships and oil platforms are best in deep water.

In shallower environments, we need materials that are going to fit within a certain clearance—and that clearance is set by the coast guard and by the US Army Corps of Engineers. So, as we travel farther offshore, we’ll get into larger pieces of material such as ships and oil platforms. But, we’ll typically use pre-designed materials such as concrete pyramids, or man-made materials such as quarry rock, concrete culverts, and things like that for the shallower environments.

These reefs, near shore and farther out, attract marine life and create better fishing opportunities for all.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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