Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

How far would you travel to ensure the future of your favorite exotic aquarium fish?

We had some folks telling us that they would go as far as 50 miles to find an appropriate body of water.

You may think releasing your pet fish into Texas waters, when you can no longer care for it, is humane. Yet these exotic aquarium species disrupt natural ecosystems and out-compete native fish for resources.

Priscilla Weeks is a senior research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center, http://www.harc.edu/. Her team is using a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant to research why people release their fish into Texas waters.

I think there might be a stereotype where folks think that it is easy, emotionally, just to release a fish. But actually what we’re finding is folks are very attached to their pets.

Weeks says research shows whether a person gets rid of their fish depends on personal preference.

What we’re finding so far, but this is very preliminary, is that different individuals prefer different attributes of a fish. So it’s not necessarily that it grows too big in my tank because I may like a big fish.

…but if you don’t like big fish, you could have a problem. So what do you do?

Weeks says some people think releasing a fish is the only option, but, among the alternatives are euthanizing and the less drastic—taking it back to the pet store.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Understanding Why Pet Fish Get Dumped Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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 and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Forty years ago a soil conservation service technician told David Bamberger he’d purchased the worst piece of land in Blanco County. But Bamberger had a plan.

We were wanting to demonstrate and try to develop a model that perhaps other people could follow.

Bamberger, and his late wife Margaret, created a conservation model by dedicating themselves to restoring ecological balance… including flowing water…to their fifty-five hundred acre ranch.

Let me tell you, there wasn’t a drop of water here. There wasn’t anything in the way of wildlife. I drilled 7 water wells 500 foot deep; I never got a drop of water.

With careful land management, including the removal of 3-thousand acres of “wall-to-wall” cedars and seeding the land with native grasses, the land revived.

So, over this forty years, as the habitat was improved, we got 11 springs that started to run; after 7 years we had two creeks that were running. Today we have 22 ponds or tanks that weren’t here when I came. Two of them we call lakes because of their significant size.

This 81 year old award-winning conservationist’s latest project also involves water.

The idea behind this project is to capture all the water that falls here, and keep that little perched aquifer charged up.

We’ll learn more about that tomorrow.

That’s our show…made possible by a grant from the Wildlife Restoration Program…supporting habitat restoration in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

If cats, dogs and grackles are the only wildlife visiting your backyard—you need a wildscape. Creating one is not as tough as you might think.

You know, the hardest part is just getting started.

Kelly Bender is an urban wildlife biologist and co-author of the book Texas Wildscapes. She was instrumental in creating the new Texas Wildscapes interactive DVD, which guides users through planning an urban oasis.

The Wildscape DVD is designed to help people to get started in planning their habitat, understanding what wildlife need to succeed, or to survive, and to give them the tools that they need to start implementing wildlife habitat management principles in their own gardens and landscapes.

Just pop the DVD into your computer, and a wealth of information, including which plants will grow in your area and what wildlife they attract, is at your fingertips.

We made this product that allows us to enter in different variables. So, you can say, well, I want something that is native to Central Texas, that needs a lot of sunshine or a little bit of sunshine, or attracts hummingbirds, or attracts songbirds, or whatever it is that you really want to have in a plant. And it will give you a list of plants that are appropriate for your goals.

Texas Wildscaping DVDs are free and available now. But quantities are limited. Go to passporttotexas.org to find out how to obtain your copy.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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To obtain your copy of the free Wildscaping DVD, send an email to:nature@tpwd.state.tx.us

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

As more people move from the country to the city, large tracts of farm and ranch land are being divided into smaller parcels to accommodate urban dwellers’ desire for rural retreats.

More and more of our land is being fragmented and broken up. And so, small acreage land holdings are more common, especially in the eastern half of the state. You know, we’re talking fifty acres to two hundred acres.

Linda Campbell directs the private lands program at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Because habitat fragmentation negatively impacts wildlife, neighboring landowners are encouraged to work together to lessen the problem.

We encourage landowners to join with their neighbors in what are called landowner cooperatives, or wildlife management associations. They’re becoming much more common, and landowners working together can get a lot more done for wildlife; they impact more habitat when they work together. And they can accomplish common goals. And, so, we very much encourage and work with groups of landowners to develop these landowner driven cooperatives.

Visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site for complete details on how landowner cooperatives can receive free, confidential technical assistance.

Our show’s supported by the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Programs.

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

Recreational Landowners: Wildlife Associations Play Now | Play in Popup | Download