Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

This school year, fourth grade teachers have a new tool—Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

Exxon Mobile generously gave us a donation to buy subscriptions for classrooms across Texas.

Managing editor, Louie Bond, says the issues will include a special section called Keep Texas Wild, which encourages curiosity about nature and conservation, using an interdisciplinary approach that goes beyond the obvious connection between nature, science and math.

How many great naturalist artists and nature photographers start out with a love of wildlife—and it’s just expressed through art. So, we want to tie in all curriculums: social studies, English, everything. In fourth grade you’re learning everything at once, so it’s really great to be interdisciplinary.

Teachers who log onto the Parks and Wildlife website will find additional resources.

Here at Texas Parks and Wildlife, we have an excellent outdoor education department, and they will be posting online some additional teacher resources for additional activities, more background information. So, if the teachers would like to expand the lesson even further, they’ll have plenty of guidance online.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation also helped make this yearlong pilot project possible.

We have additional information about Keep Texas Wild 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

Keep Texas Wild, a new section in Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, brings a multidisciplinary approach to learning about the outdoors.

We wanted to offer something special that these students could really sink their teeth into every month. So, all of the fourth grade classrooms across Texas, public and private schools, will now begin receiving the magazine for a year.

The special section is made possible by a grant from ExxonMobil through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. Managing editor, Louie Bond, says each fourth grade classroom will initially receive one subscription.

But we are making additional copies available at a very low cost, as well as additional subscriptions. Also on line, we’ll have a downloadable, printable PDF, so that teachers can print it out and hand to the class if they like.

During fourth grade, says Bond, children tend to be highly imaginative and open-minded.

Fourth grade is when reading skills become less labored and more comprehensive. They begin to really read for meaning, and explore deeper into the world. Also in Texas, the TEKS, the standards for learning, include a lot about the natural world and science in fourth grade, and getting out and investigating the natural world and learning more about it. So, it really fits into the curriculum of fourth grade.

We have additional information about Keep Texas Wild 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

The Texas Outdoor Family weekend workshops help families learn skills to enhance future outdoor excursions.

We really wanted to do something for our community that was different as far as getting people outdoors.

Deirdre Flores, recreation program coordinator for the city of Kyle, www.cityofkyle.com, says hosting a workshop benefits participating families and cities.

This is a great program for any city to host if they’re looking to get into outdoor programming. It also brings other families to your community, so you get people into your community that may not have ever come otherwise. I would recommend it to anybody.

Not only is Parks and Wildlife staff on hand to facilitate the workshop, cities can tap into other local resources, like nearby colleges.

I’m actually an alum of Texas State Recreation program, www.txstate.edu, so we’ve partnered with their recreation programming class. And the students—they are having a blast. And I think they’ve done a great job. Having Texas State as a partner—you can’t get any better.

The program was so successful in Kyle, Flores says they plan to offer it again.

We want to do it twice a year, so we’re looking to do it in the fall and the spring. We really enjoyed this program, and we’d like to continue to bring it to our citizens.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Today, Texas is chiefly urban, which is a big shift from our rural roots and connection to the natural world.

I am concerned that we are seeing a public that is becoming more detached from the natural world.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Executive Director, Carter Smith, says making nature relevant to urbanites comes down to quality of life issues.

At the end of the day, what are those thing that we need, that we want to have emotionally, economically, spiritually, and the out of doors is the answer for that. It’s our clean air; it’s our clean water; it’s our scenery; it’s our abundant fish and wildlife; it’s the opportunity to get out and recreate, and to canoe and kayak and to hike and to hunt or fish.

I think fundamentally Texans want that, and we as an agency have an obligation to provide those opportunities for them. Our state’s land and water plan calls for a couple of things. The number one goal in that plan is to provide enhanced recreational opportunities for Texans. And part of that goal is working to ensure that we have a system of parks in and around our major metropolitan areas that can provide a point of entry into the out of doors, and that is something we take very seriously and are working on.

Find a link to the Land and Water plan 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 and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

When you get a snarl in your fishing line, it’s usually not worth trying to pick it apart, so cut it off and toss it. But pitching monofilament line in the water or on shore is a bad idea.

People just don’t realize it can get caught up in boat motors, and it really has been quite a problem. There have been many animals that’ve been injured and killed with this monofilament fishing line.

Ann Miller is the Aquatic Education coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. She says you may think that disposing of monofilament line in the water or on shore isn’t a problem, because UV rays will break it down, rendering it harmless.

But…you forget that many times, if the monofilament is below the water line or in the shade, those UV rays are not there breaking it down. And so, we really do have a lot of monofilament that is in the environment for many, many years.

Circumvent future trouble by recycling that line in outdoor collection bins, or at participating bait shops. Volunteers clean the line of debris, then send it to Berkley Pure Fishing Company in Iowa for recycling.

The goal of the monofilament recycling program is to help reduce the amount of monofilament in the environment, to help protect wildlife and fish, and people’s property.

We have a list of recycling locations at passprttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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