Passport to Texas

Everyone on your boat should wear a life jacket.

Not Your Grandpa's Life Jacket Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, personal flotation devices were like big orange clown collars.

Those of us that are a little older, we always remember that bright orange collar lifejacket that would hang around your neck when you were a little kid. Those are a thing of the past.

And Tim Spice should know. He oversees boater education for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Right now, there’s thin, lightweight inflatable lifejackets that look like a little belt pack Or, one that you put around your neck like a scarf. [They have] a lot of buoyancy; more buoyancy that your traditional type III lifejacket that you might see a water skier wear.

Wearing lifejackets is more than a good idea, it’s the law.

So, we recommend that everyone wear a lifejacket when they’re on the water. But the law states that if you’re under 13 years of age, and you’re underway that you have to wear a lifejacket. Other than that, the law states: readily accessible, which means you want to be able to get it quickly in an emergency. The one thing that people forget is: in an emergency people start to panic, and they try to grab a lifejacket, and then it’s very difficult to put a lifejacket on in the water.

Find information on choosing the right lifejacket for you on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Everyone who goes on the water should wear a life jacket.

Life Jackets Save Lives Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

We’re on the threshold of summer; and what goes well with summer in Texas? Boating, of course. But before you get on the water, Tim Spice says: put on a life jacket.

A life jacket is something you wear that provides buoyancy if you jumped in the water or fell in the water.

Spice oversees boater education for Texas Parks and Wildlife. People make excuses to avoid wearing life jackets—including that they’re ugly—says Spice. But ask yourself this: is your street cred as a fashionista really more important than your life?

It’s one of the key components of drowning prevention. The Coast Guard estimates that 70% to 80% of the people who drown would be alive if they just wore a life jacket.

Tim Spice says, today’s life jackets are not the awkward, ill-fitting, boxy garments of a generation ago.

There are lots of new life jacket designs out there now. They don’t get in the way; they’re lightweight. Just really neat technology used today. Inflatable life jackets. And if you get into an emergency, or you’re not familiar with your surroundings—a lifejacket will be there to save your life.

“Life” is in the name, for goodness sake. Find information on choosing the right lifejacket for you and your family on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, Cecilia Nasti.

Learning about Texas water.

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This is Passport to Texas

Water is a precious resource, and a new Texas Parks and Wildlife program helps citizens to become certified Texas Waters Specialists.

It comes down to appreciation for the natural world – to realize that everything’s connected. From humans to wildlife; we all need water to survive.

Colin Findley, an AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer, oversees the program, which covers ecosystems to water law.

There’s a curriculum, and also there’s webinars. It’s really just a matter of going to the Texas Parks [and Wildlife] website: tpwd.texas.gov. Search for Texas Water Specialist, and it will take you to that page.

Anyone may register for the course.

There are specific requirements for Texas Master Naturalist, so if you are a Master Naturalist, you go through the representative for Texas Waters for your program to log those hours. But if you’re from the general public, it’s completely free. It takes eight hours of different program requirements to get your certification. To renew it – it’s all about community service. You have to do ten hours of water related community service each year.

Many volunteer opportunities exist for certified waters specialists.

Texas Stream Team. Texas Parks and Wildlife has different volunteer opportunities in terms of water quality, habitat conservation, restoration and management, freshwater inflows. And then, you know, there’s a lot of different coastal restoration projects as well.

Find information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Playa Lakes, Photo: Kevin Kraai, TPDW

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This is Passport to Texas

Playa lakes are shallow clay basins bordered by native grasses that depend on rainfall to fill them. Panhandle playas provide a direct link for rainwater to reach the Ogallala Aquifer, and as stopovers for migrating waterfowl.

[But] land use has altered playas in many different ways. Some playas are completely barren and farmed through – which is one issue.

Biologist, Don Kahl says an initiative started in 2014 by a coalition of organizations is returning functionality to altered playas.

We’re targeting the playas that have a grass buffer around them – that helps with that primary filtering – and playas that have pits that were dug into them. These pits typically aren’t used anymore. They were used in irrigation practices back in the fifties. The easiest way to fix a playa that’s pitted is basically to go back in and put the dirt back into the hole to seal off that clay layer.

Deep pits dug into playas force rainwater into limited areas, greatly reducing a basin’s usefulness. But by backfilling the manmade pits…

It’s going to: 1) help reestablish the filtering mechanism [for the aquifer], and 2) instead of all that water collecting in a deep pit in the middle, we’re going to spread that water back across the playa to create that shallow water habitat that we want for waterfowl.

The Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program supports our series and funds wildlife surveys throughout Texas.

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

Playa lakes attract waterfowl.

Ephemeral Panhandle Wetlands Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Something that is ephemeral is random, and exists for a short time, such as the playa lakes in Texas’ High Plains.

On average, playas are only wet one out of every ten years. And as we go from one side of the panhandle to the other, from west to east, our rainfall totals increase. So, the likelihood of a playa being went increases as you go further east. On the western side of the panhandle, along the New Mexico border, it could be tens of years between wet spells for these playas.

Biologist Don Kahl says playas are the most direct link for rainfall to reach the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet, their importance goes further yet.

There’s numerous plant species that can be found [around playas] – upwards to 350 plant species. And up to a couple hundred different bird species can be found around playas. So, they’re very useful, especially in the high plains landscape.

Playa lakes are valuable to migrating waterfowl, too.

It’s a very productive area for waterfowl whenever we do have the rain. Our mid-winter surveys in 2017, which were conducted this past January, set an all-time high for our estimate of the number of ducks for the High Plains of Texas, at about 1.4 million ducks in the Panhandle. So, this past year was good evidence of just how productive it can be for waterfowl.

The Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program supports our series and funds wildlife surveys throughout Texas.

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