Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

You don’t need much time or money to feel like you’re miles away from the responsibilities of life in the urban jungle. Just find a paddling trail.

Paddling trails are simply segments of the coast, or river, or in this case now a lake.

Ron Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is part of the paddling trail team. The newest paddling trail is at Lake Arlington. When you’re on this 10.9 mile shore-hugging path, the only decision you’ll have to make is where to go for refreshments when you take out.

We tell them where to put in, where to take out, where the regulations are, where the fun spots are, and some of the historic things about the area.

Moreover, you will see things you never thought you’d see in an urban setting.

You start to get into a more natural setting. And you go by the dam—most people don’t get to get that close to a dam—and then you turn, and you go past an undeveloped area along the shoreline, and you start seeing wildlife. Then you go behind an island into a little more of a riverine sort of setting. And you start seeing herons and all kinds of different wildlife that pop in and out of the trees. Really a unique paddling trail. We’re excited about this one.

So close, yet so far out. The Lake Arlington paddling trail dedication is August 14. Find more information about Texas Paddling Trails 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

On August 14, Texas gets its newest paddling trail located at Lake Arlington.

We’re very excited. This will be our first lake trail. And, not only that, it will be our first urban trail.

Ron Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is part of the paddling trail team. The new 10.9 mile trail hugs the shoreline of Lake Arlington, and is a partnership between the Arlington and Fort Worth Parks and Recreations departments.

The cities actually split right there on the lake. So, it’s a neat partnership for us and for them.

Smith was part of the team that surveyed the proposed site for the Lake Arlington Paddling Trail.

You know, one of the things we do here is we’re providing and improving public access to waterways around the state. So, when we go out, we look certainly at the access point. Does it need improvement? Do we need an additional one? We like for our trails to be between four and twelve miles.

What to expect when you put in at this new trail….that’s tomorrow.

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 River School, located in Austin takes kids in fourth through sixth grade, from under-served populations, on daylong river outings. Joe Kendall is program coordinator.

We teach them how to canoe, and we go down river to the mouth of Barton Creek, and float up the creek, and then take the kids to the Splash Exhibit so they learn how an aquifer works and why it’s so important to take care of it.

The Splash Exhibit is part of Austin’s Barton Springs Pool, named for the spring that feeds it. The school also teaches kids to snorkel to enrich the experience.

So, they hopefully can dive to the bottom of the pool and feel the source of the aquifer and understand that creates the pool, the creek, the river… So, they can get an appreciation of where the water comes from.

The program, which received a $30,000 outreach grant from TP&W is open to kids of all abilities.

We do the best we can. We took fourteen deaf students out canoeing yesterday. And then we have two trips with the blind school scheduled this summer.

Kendall says it’s not just important to get kids outside, he says it’s vital to help kids develop a life-long love affair with rivers.

There’s only one word that’s in more song titles than the word River, and that’s the word love.

Start your love affair with Texas rivers 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

About fifteen years ago, Joe Kendall and some of his friends decided to help protect Texas rivers by getting people involved in their care.

We started doing cleanups, and started the foundation with the idea of having an adoption program.

Kendall is the founder and executive director of the Austin Chautauqua Foundation.

We did festivals and Chautauquas—which is to combine entertainment and education and races. We ended up doing a program with some fifth graders, and we discovered that was probably the most rewarding thing for us; and we thought, also, for the rivers.

Rewarding for the rivers because the more people know and love rivers, the more people there will be to protect them in the future. The Texas River School, borne of Kendall and company’s original idea, gets a diverse group of kids on the water.

Fortunately, we have Texas Parks and Wildlife to thank for that. They have provided us with a grant every other year to take kids to the river that wouldn’t normally get a chance to go. They identify them as their non-traditional constituents…people that don’t use the parks. And they see that’s the minorities, economically disadvantaged, females and at-risk kids. So, we target all those areas and have taken over four thousand through our discover the source program.

The source, in this case, is the spring that feeds Barton Creek in Austin. We’ll tell you more about River School activities tomorrow.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas River School, http://www.texasrowingcenter.com/trs.htm

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

Texas offers paddlers a growing number of trails.

The paddling trail program at Texas Parks and Wildlife is mostly about the people of the state of Texas and the communities that have these wonderful rivers running through them.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Rivers Specialist Ron Smith says communities and citizens benefit from paddling trails.

Our goal is to partner with communities and people of the state to bring more people out to these recreation areas and improve the access to these recreation areas. I think most of the people who use these accesses and waterways are wonderful folks who love the environment, who support our conservation ethic, and they can help the community by bringing economic factors and bringing more awareness to the water and what we should and shouldn’t be doing in those areas.

Find Texas paddling trail information at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Alanna Jones… our series receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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