Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Andrew Sansom, a research professor of geography at Texas State University in San Marcos, and author of Water in Texas, is passionate about this vital resource.

08—Water is life. We can’t do without it. We can go without food for several weeks, but we can’t live without water for two or three days.

Water will be the defining natural resource issue of the twenty-first century, exacerbated by a predicted doubling of our population by 20-40. Sansom says at the heart of the issue is the rural/urban dynamic.

32—Cities like San Antonio are desperate to take more supplies out of the Edwards Aquifer to meet growing population. While at the same time, communities downstream, like Victoria and Seguin on the Guadalupe, are dependent on flows out of the springs that feed the river systems. Dallas and Forth Worth area, want to build new reservoirs in East Texas, whereas, in those rural areas, people want to continue to farm and graze and raise crops and timber. So, there’s a conflict growing between urban and rural interest

Tomorrow: making a difference.

04—First and foremost, we need to be doing a whole lot more to conserve water.

Find information about Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Water Communication Initiative at www.texasthestateofwater.org… sponsored in part by Harte Research Institute and the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

In Texas, water will be the defining natural resource issue of the twenty-first century—in no small part due to the over appropriation of our state’s rivers.

05—Meaning, there’s more water permitted to be withdrawn from them than is actually in them.

Andrew Sansom is a research professor of geography at Texas State University in San Marcos, and author of Water in Texas. Sansom says current predictions indicate the state’s population will double by 20-40.

12—So, unless we find a way to save water, or produce additional water, we’re going to have a real resource crisis in our state in the next fifteen to twenty years.

Of course, he does not mean we must literally “create” water. He’s referring to making it available to end users.

20—Traditionally, that has been—in our state—the creation of reservoirs. We have over 214 reservoirs in Texas, which were made by human beings, for the purpose of capturing available water supplies and making them available. So, it’s not so much a matter of creating it, as it is capturing it is for our use.

Tomorrow, we’ll explore the role water plays in the urban/rural dynamic.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Conservation Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Austin’s Camp Fire USA Balcones Teens in Action recently eradicated invasive plants from Griffin School and Waller Creek and replaced them with native plants that are better for the natural environment.

The project was a part of the Texas Healthy Habitat’s program, and Campfire Team Program Manager Lavert Rodgers says it was a huge success.

After we put in the plants, it really looked pretty good. It looks natural, and that’s the best way I can say it because it looks like it works there.

And beauty wasn’t the only benefit.

There was actually a lot of wildlife that returned to that area, which was kind of neat. In the beginning there wasn’t much wildlife but then we started seeing some different insects, some different birds, and even in the little creek area there were some fish that started to come back.

The project’s student leader Dung Le (Yoong, Ley) is a senior at Griffin School. She says she learned a lot from the project.

Now I am able to identify the invasive plants, at least the major ones in Texas. That’s not something everybody knows and I’m glad I am able to do it.

As it turns out, you can combine conservation, education and fun.

That’s our show… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

There are two types of aquatic mussels in Texas: those that belong here, and those that don’t.

Texas parks and Wildlife aquatic habitat enhancement director Earl Chilton says native mussels indicate when rivers and lakes are healthy.

Native mussels often have pretty strict environmental requirements, and you can tell whether a system is healthy or not by the kind of native mussel population it has.

Invasive species like zebra mussels aren’t native to Texas. Because they have no natural competitors here, they reproduce quickly. And large numbers of zebra mussels can clog pipes and even kill native mussels.

Unlike native mussels, zebra mussels have byssal threads they use to attach to various objects. They also can attach to native mussels and when enough of them attach to a native mussel they can actually suffocate that mussel.

So how can you tell the difference between these good and bad mussels?

Zebra mussels are small and they’re going to attach to things. If you see a mussel attached to something it is a non-native mussel.

But native freshwater mussels don’t attach to anything. Now that you know the difference, you can find out how you can help stop the spread of zebra mussels and protect the native species at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

Biologists have found Rio Grande silvery minnow eggs in Texas for the first time in over fifty years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started a restocking program two years ago. Those fish have now successfully spawned in the Big Bend region of the Rio Grande.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Jason Remshardt says the minnow is important because it tells biologists a lot about the environment it lives in.

The silvery minnow is just sort of an indicator of the river’s health itself. By showing that this fish can survive, it also documents that the river ecosystem itself is healthy, that the habitat for lots of birds and lots of fish is available.

Unfortunately, the minnow’s habitat has shrunk considerably from what it used to be.

Historically the minnow was found in the Rio Grande and the Pecos rivers in New Mexico and Texas all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. And they hadn’t been found in Texas or Big Bend since the 1950s.

Until now that is. Remshardt says finding the eggs is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t guarantee success.

The next step is to find young fish and have those fish reproduce on their own. We have to document not just the fish that we stocked, but we have to document the survival and reproduction of several generations.

Rest assured, biologists will be checking up on those baby minnows frequently to make sure they’re doing Okay.

That’s our show… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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