Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Women in the Wild may sound like an anthropological examination of early human females, but in truth it’s a workshop to help women interact with the outdoors in new ways.

:08—Women in the Wild is a great way for ladies to come out and try things that they otherwise might be intimidated to try, in a third party setting.

Game Warden Brandi Reeder organized the event, set for May 1 & 2 in Rockport.

:13—We have everything from shotguns, BB guns, archery, fishing and fly-fishing, boat operations, Dutch oven cooking, first aide, self-defense. We just have a wide range of activities in which these ladies can come out here and try.

Reeder says Women in the Wild participants will learn from the best.

:12—Including John Martel who does outdoor photography. And then I have Jay Watkins who’s a pro guide as well as pro tournament fisherman. I have Chuck Naiser who’s going to do my fly-fishing this year; I have an exceptional lineup.

The only requirements are that you’re a woman and at least 21 years old; otherwise, no experience necessary.

:12—The more knowledge that you get, the more confident you feel in your own capabilities to do things. Instead of relying on someone else to help you with it, you can do these activities yourself and be confident that even if you don’t know it—you can learn it!

We have details about registration and accommodations for the Women in the Wild workshop, at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show …with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Accommodations for the weekend are not provided, however, there are many great places to stay in Rockport. Find a partial listing at this website: http://www.rockportnet.com/stay.html

Explore the Outdoors with “Women in the Wild” Workshop

ROCKPORT — Women interested in the outdoors are invited to attend the second annual Women in the Wild workshop, a weekend-long event being held by the Rockport chapter of the Texas Outdoors Woman Network (TOWN) on May 1-2. The event is designed to help familiarize women with the various outdoor activities in the Coastal Bend and encourage them to participate in a fun and safe outdoor environment.

The event will be held at The Lodge in Rockport. The entry fee includes participation in four of the scheduled activities, a t-shirt, a Saltwater Fisheries Enhancement Association membership and meals for the weekend.

Courses offered include beginner and intermediate shotgun shooting, BB guns, archery and self defense. There will also be a fly fishing seminar with Chuck Naiser and a fishing seminar with Jay Watkins. Women will have a chance to learn boat equipment and operation, kayaking, outdoor photography, habitat/species identification, first aid and Dutch oven cooking.

“The intent is to help these women become familiar with new activities without pressure to master any one thing,” said Texas Game Warden Brandi Reeder.

TOWN is an offshoot of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) program. Its goal is to provide outdoors-oriented women a chance to meet and develop friendships with other women who have similar interests. Chapters across Texas regularly hold various activities that allow women to participate in the outdoors in a stress-free and supporting environment.

Women interested in the program need to register before April 15. Entry costs $125 before March 15 and $150 after that. Registration is limited to the first 75 women above the age of 21.

Registration forms are available at the Parks and Wildlife Law Enforcement Offices in Corpus Christi, Rockport, and Victoria and online at http://www.townrockport.org/. For more information visit the TOWN Rockport Web site or contact Brandi Reeder at brandi.reeder@tpwd.state.tx.us or (361) 790-2611.

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This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Families

[:20 Wind ambience under script and sound bite] It was unusually windy as sixteen families checked-in at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park in Laredo to learn camping basics at a Texas Outdoor Family Workshop.

We’re going to talk about setting your camp up. As you probably know being from around here, wind makes everything a challenge, especially setting your tent up.

After a demo, and using loaner gear, families were in high spirits as they found their campsites and tested their new skills. [Little girls screaming] Friends, Jazlyn Salinas and Daejia Rodriguez, had a blast wrestling with their tent.

It’s a super windy day over here, and the tent is literally flying all away. So, have you girls been camping before? No. But I love it because it’s super cool.

[:04 hammering] Daejia’s mother Laurie assisted the girls.

I am trying to bang in one of these silver things (laughs); it holds the tent down. (laughs) And I am using a mallet to get it in this hard ground.

[:03 hammering] Rodriguez, who admitted to not being “outdoorsy,” took the wind and hard ground in stride, saying she was glad to have an opportunity to expose Daejia to camping in state parks through TOF.

So that’s why I decided to go ahead and come out here and, who knows, if she enjoys it, then, probably we’ll start camping every summer.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Farmers know how costly it can be to spray crops with insecticides to prevent pest damage. What some may not know is…bats can be partners in pest eradication.

The Mexican free tail bat, in particular, is really valuable for agricultural purposes.

Meg Goodman is a former Parks and Wildlife’s bat biologist.

Current research has shows that these bats can save farmers up to two sprays of pesticides per year because of all the insect pests that they’re eating, like the corn earworm moth and the cotton boll worm moth, among other crop pest species.

In the early 20th century, San Antonio physician Charles A. Campbell designed and tested artificial roosts to attract bats to eat mosquitoes blamed for the spread of malaria. Eventually Campbell developed a bat tower, which he installed at Mitchell Lake, south of the city, which attracted hundreds of thousands of the flying mammals. The spectacle of the bats’ nightly emergence drew spectators in the 1920s…as it does today, wherever bats roost.

Their numbers and nightly emergences bring in a lot of tourist dollars to a lot of smaller communities—and big communities like Austin… It’s one of our top tourist destinations. But they do provide a lot of tourist dollars through nature tourism through a lot of our smaller communities throughout the state.

Learn how to attract bats at passporttotexas.org. That’s our show…we receive support from the SPWR program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Keep Texas Wild–Bat Issue
Bat House Information

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This is Passport to Texas

Giant Salvinia is a fast growing exotic aquatic plant from South America that loves the warm, nutrient rich environment of Texas’ protected waters. This invasive species develops into large floating mats of vegetation.

The water under the mat is quickly depleted of dissolved oxygen due to the lack of sunlight and contact with the air’s surface; it becomes highly acidic and basically unfit for aquatic life.

Howard Elder is an aquatic habitat biologist. Giant Salvinia can be controlled in small areas using integrated pest management.

We can only conduct herbicide operations during the warmer months when the plant is actually growing.

In South America, where Giant Salvinia is native, natural processes, including a weevil, control the plant’s growth.

We have investigated this Giant Salvinia weevil, as we call it, as a bio-control agent. And research began in 2002 after the USDA approved its importation and use and distribution in the field within the United States. The initial results of Giant Salvinia weevil introduction offers great promise as a long-term inexpensive alternative in the control of Giant Salvinia infestations in Texas and throughout the South.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to eradicate invasive species from Texas waters.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Buffalo soldiers were heroes in their time; examples of courage and hard work. But their accomplishments, seldom taught in classrooms, leave many young African American students, like Greg McClanahan, with a limited sense of their history.

They didn’t teach us nothing in school but that we were slaves. They didn’t teach us that we were heroes or nothing. In history, all you ever heard about was slaves this, and slaves that. You didn’t hear about no black heroes.

McClanahan attends public school in Kerrville, where he met Buffalo Soldier reenactors from Parks and Wildlife.

What we are doing is taking the legacy of the Buffalo Soldier into the cities and into the schools. And we feel that sharing this story, that we can instill some pride and some resolve in them.

Ken Pollard coordinates Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach for Parks and Wildlife. He said he found out about the Buffalo Soldiers as an adult, but wished he’d known about them earlier.

My relatives and kinfolk were cowboys, man. We didn’t have any black cowboys or soldiers, you know, to really look up to. For me, to have the black heroes there when I was growing up, that sense of pride would have been instilled in me. But if I had grown up with that—they would have been my heroes.

Find information about Buffalo Soldiers Heritage & Community Outreach on the TPW website.

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

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