Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

A thousand families and counting learned new outdoor skills because they spent a weekend at a Texas Outdoor family workshop.

07—It’s a very basic concept where no experience is necessary, and we provide all the equipment for families to go camping in a state park.

Chris Holmes oversees the program, and says although the equipment families use is on loan, the skills they learn go home with them.

08—Our park rangers teach folks how to use a state park, how to camp properly and how to cook in the outdoors, and just have fun for the whole weekend for the whole family.

A huge benefit of the Texas Outdoor Family program is seeing family members reconnect with one another.

26—We hear instances where the children have just thanked us that their daddy is not using the Blackberry, and he’s not checking his email, and the fact that they all sat around a campfire—the first time they’ve all been together as a family for months. And so, that’s one of the wonderful things of parks—it really charges you physically, spiritually and mentally. Families get together and get to enjoy each others company, and that’s what’s really neat about this program.

Log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and find a schedule of upcoming Texas Outdoor Family workshops happening this fall. In fact there are two on September 11—one at Lost Maples State Park and the other on Galveston Island State Park.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

In 2006, a massive wildfire swept through Amarillo, covering over 900,000 acres of land.

Despite concerns of habitat loss, Texas Tech University researchers recently discovered that quail populations have rebounded quite well.

Basically what we found was in two years post fire, we had normal quail movement, normal nesting success and normal survival of hens.

Head researcher Dr. Brad Dabbert says the research shows biologists need to keep monitoring quail, but they don’t need to worry too much.

It helps us to understand that if wildfires do occur and are large scale that we don’t necessarily need to panic about long-term reductions in populations.

He says, in the some areas that have a lot of vegetation, controlled wildfires can create good quail habitat.

Quail are considered to like areas that do have some bare ground below the canopy of plants. They like the weeds that are encouraged by fire at the right time of year.

And controlled fires can also lessen the possibility of a wildfire. Still, wildfires can be hard to predict. Like much of nature, we’re constantly learning how to live with and manage them while keeping people and wildlife safe and sound.

That’s our show… we had research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Amarillo Wildfires Four Years Later Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Charlotte Von Rosenberg is the fourth generation to work the Quebe [KWEE-bee] Farm, which she took over from her mother.

14—My mother was careful to impart to me all of the history. And I embarked on a self-education process, where I’ve learned about the plants. And the more I learned, the more I want to learn.

Quebe farm is the 2010 Lone Star Land Steward Award winner for the Blackland Prairie eco-region. Using sound management practices, including prescribed burns, Von Rosenberg’s rejuvenated the land.

The awards recognize private landowners for excellence in habitat management and wildlife conservation. Larry Pierce, Washington County Agrilife Extension Agent, says the Quebe farm is unique.

13—This is one of the native prairie remnants that we still have remaining in Washington County; it’s very much a jewel, because it’s never been plowed, it’s never been farmed. There’s such a diversity of native plants here.

Parks and Wildlife biologist, Stephanie Damron, has high hopes for this pristine native prairie.

11—We can utilize this property as an education tool for other landowners in the area. And our hopes are to restore native grasses where we can.

Nominate a landowner for a Lone Star Land Steward Award. Find information at Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Lone Star land Steward: Quebe Farm Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Lee smith is a Parks and Wildlife television producer. He’s currently working on the fourth in a series of water documentaries for the agency—this one is about the Gulf of Mexico.

But it doesn’t stop at the surf. It extends into coastal issues. So, we’ll be dealing with a lot of things going on in the bays.

Like red tide…the decline in flounder populations…and damage to oyster beds from Hurricanes Ike and Rita. It takes two years to complete one of these documentaries.

And that’s one of the great things about this job and about this show. We have the time to get the right footage, to find the right people, and to consider the topics and the issues.

The documentary on the Gulf will be ready for broadcast in 2011. Until then, view segments of previous documentaries on the PBS television series.

The issues are current. And each segment will have something that pertains to what’s going on right now and in the future.

One of the segments this month comes from the most recent documentary Texas—The State of Flowing Water, and discusses the value of rivers to all living things.

Rivers really are our connection to the natural world and if we don’t protect them we lose something that cannot be replicated by humankind.

We have a list of stations that broadcast the PBS series at passporttotexas.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Where to view the PBS series from Texas Parks and Wildlife:

• Amarillo, KACV-TV, Channel 2, Sunday, 12:30 p.m.
• Austin, KLRU-TV, Channel 18, Sunday, 10 a.m.; Thursday 5:30 a.m.
• Bryan-College Station, KAMU-TV, Channel 15, Sunday, 5 p.m. & 10:30 p.m.
• Corpus Christi, KEDT-TV, Channel 16, Sunday, 12 p.m.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, KERA-TV, Channel 13, Beginning December 26, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. Also serving Abilene, Denton, Longview, Marshall, San Angelo, Texarkana, Tyler, Wichita Falls and Sherman.
• El Paso, KCOS-TV, Channel 13, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• Harlingen, KMBH-TV, Channel 60, Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving McAllen, Mission and Brownsville.
• Houston, KUHT-TV, Channel 8, Saturday, 3 p.m. Also serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Texas City and Victoria.
• Killeen, KNCT-TV, Channel 46, Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving Temple.
• Lubbock, KTXT-TV, Channel 5, Saturday, 10 a.m.
• Odessa-Midland, KPBT-TV, Channel 36, Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• San Antonio and Laredo, KLRN-TV, Channel 9, Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Waco, KWBU-TV, Channel 34, Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
• Portales, New Mexico, KENW-TV, Channel 3, Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

Cable

Texas Parks & Wildlife can also be seen on a variety of government, educational and access cable channels in the following communities: Abilene, Allen, Atlanta, Baytown, Boerne, Cedar Park, Collin County Community College, Coppell, Dallas, Deer Park, Del Mar College, Denton, Euless, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Frisco, Garland, Houston, Irving, Keller, Killeen, Lubbock, Lufkin, McKinney, North Richland Hills, Plano, Round Rock, Rogers State University, Seabrook, Temple, Texarkana College, The Colony, Trophy Club, Tyler, Victoria, Waco and Wichita Falls. Check your local listings for days and times.

TPW TV: Water Documentary Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

[Houston toad trill]

You’ll only hear that sound in a small area of Texas.

Like Gauss, or Bastrop, or places that a lot of people haven’t heard of, but those people that know them, that’s what they think of as home.

A home they share with the endangered Houston Toad… an amphibian that doesn’t have a voice when it comes to how humans alter their shared habitat… alteration of habitat is what put the toad in peril.

Mike Forstner is a biology professor at Texas State University, and for nearly two decades he’s worked to keep the toads from fading into oblivion…starting with habitat recovery. Today, with partners including the Houston Zoo, they’re raising toads—called head-starting—to supplement existing populations.

Head-starting is the last stand. It’s when your back’s to the wall, and you’ve got nowhere else to go. An ideal situation would have been that we recovered the habitat and that the populations became reinforced because we recovered the habitat. But we got caught—it stopped raining. And as soon as it stopped raining, we ran right out of room for natural recovery.

Unnatural recovery is better than no recovery at all. Tomorrow we attend a release of head-started toads in Bastrop County.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Endangered Species: Head-starting the Houston Toad Play Now | Play in Popup | Download