Passport to Texas

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

For most of us the expression “gone fishing” is a euphemism that means we’re goofing off. But for elementary school students in Katy ISD, gone fishing means just that.

At Golbow Elementary they had the first fishing club, and that’s where they really started the KATY ISD Anglers.

Keiko (CAKE-oh) Davidson, principal at Hutsell Elementary in Katy ISD followed Golbow’s lead and brought the TPW Take Me Fishing Houston program to her students with a goal, in part, to improve academic scores in science.

Our scores, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills… in 2007… 78% of our boys and girls demonstrated proficiency on that test. Last year 94% of our boys and girls in fifth grade demonstrated proficiency.

The community has embraced Take Me Fishing Houston by volunteering at events, as well as contributing in other ways. Exposing students to positive community involvement is an added benefit of the program.

Most of all, I think it gives children a chance to connect with the larger community. Their own particular family, family members, getting their family engaged in activities that involve interaction in the out of doors. That’s what I want them to take away…and to have a happy memory of their school experience at Hutsell.

That’s our show for today… made possible by a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing opportunities in Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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

Fishing is about more than just catching fish.

Fishing is one of the gateway opportunities to the outdoors.

Kevin Cunningham is the aquatics education specialist for the Greater Houston area. Urbanization has changed how we relate with the natural world, and Cunningham says his job is to reacquaint urbanites with the outdoors through the Parks and Wildlife Take Me Fishing program.

Fishing is a way, in our program, to teach younger people or adults, how to fish in order to pass on our mission of conservation. The theory being, that as people learn how to fish, being connected with the outdoors will garner self-interest to protect that resources so they will be able to use it again in the future.

Among the organizations that participate in the Take Me Fishing Program is Hutsell Elementary in the Katy Independent School District. Keiko Davidson is the school principal.

I have very fond memories of being a child in the out of doors. And I felt as though it could do nothing but enhance our boys’ and girls’ educational opportunities.

And she was right. Learn how the Take Me Fishing Program at Hutsell Elementary has improved its students grades.

That’s our show for today… made possible by a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing opportunities in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

When I come here in the morning I milk cows or run a cream separator, or do all the things the men used to do, or might have done.

That’s not the typical way most of us start our days, but then, Ricky Weinheimer’s job isn’t typical. He manages the Sauer Beckmann Living History Farm in Stonewall, where he performs the daily chores of a typical turn of the [20th] century farmer.

Back then, folks worked hard, slept good. They didn’t have everything to distract them in life. They stayed put on the farm. And, they still had time on Sundays to visit with neighbors. And that’s something you don’t find much anymore—everybody’s too busy in this modern day world.

When Weinheimer leaves the historic farm, he continues his agricultural avocation at his family’s farm.

Actually I have the best of both worlds: a modern life of tractors and equipment we have; plus, once I step across the fence here, the clock gets turned back, and we farm with horses, turning plows, a machine called a garden hoe and push plow…and blacksmithing and everything else that goes along with it.

Rural life in Texas changed slowly, and many people still recall those simpler times—something that Weinheimer says is often lost on the very young.

Adults will come into our barn and they’ll just take a deep breath and they’ll say…’ahhh…smells good’. The children behind them are holding their noses.

Reconnect with your farming past at the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm…it’s never too late…learn how at passporttotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

By now, most school aged children in Texas are enjoying time off from the classroom, but still yearn to learn new skills. Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series Producer, Don Cash tells us about segments airing in June that can help keep young minds and bodies engaged.

We’ve got a series of segments running called Take Me Fishing, and it looks at very simple ways to help a young person get started.

[fishing]. Many kids are uneasy with live bate. (child squeals) Bait their hooks for them, or try alternatives for them like hot dogs, kernel corn, or cheese. What do I do now? [water].

The Take Me Fishing series has ten segments to it, and all of them can be seen on our Life’s Better Outside dot org website now. Tying in with fishing, we also hit four state parks where you can go fishing; and one of those is Atlanta State Park up in northeast Texas. .

Great white perch lake. A great catfish lake. It’s not a real big bass lake, but as far as catfish and white perch and crappie, I would say it’s one of the best in the state. I’ll put it up against any other lake

.

So, if you’re looking to do a little fishing this summer, we have you covered on the television show.

Okay, so what are we supposed to say? Look out there and talk to him. Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

That’s our show…produced with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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

I’ve seen some pigeons up close before, but that’s the only bird that I’ve seen up close.

That’s San Antonio resident Marisa Harris, before participating in the program Bird in the Hand at Guadalupe River State Park.

It’s a bird banding program. We catch the birds at a bird feeding station we set up, and bring people and the birds together in a very hands-on, kind of personal way.

Craig Hensley, a certified bird bander, oversees the program. He routinely catches, tags, and releases birds for research and monitoring purposes, and wants others to have the same opportunity to see birds up close.

They learn to identify them, and once they learn how I go about aging and determining whether it’s a male or female, I can actually hold up the bird and go, “OK, what do ya’ll think?” You see how these feathers right here have a tannish edge? And you see how their rounded, not flat? So what does that tell me? Is that an adult bird or a baby bird? An adult? An adult bird? Exactly! I try to bring the science together with the kids so that not only are they learning some scientific methodologies that are really used in terms of birds, once I band a bird and we’ve recorded all the data one of our volunteers will take that bird out with the child and the child will help let that bird go. On your hand, alright? Now let it go. [flutters] there it goes!

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden…we produce our show with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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