Passport to Texas

Texas State Bison Music Festival

Bison Music Festival at Caprock Canyons State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Clear your calendar the weekend of September 17 and make plans to attend the annual Texas State Bison Music Festival.

This year’s festival is in the town of Quitaque; it’s a street dance where we close off part of the street. We have arts and craft vendors, lots of food, and some fantastic entertainment this year.

Quitaque is south of Caprock Canyons State Park, home to the state’s bison herd. Donald Beard is superintendent. The festival is a fundraiser for the Texas State Bison Herd Restoration Project.

It’s a good way to have a fundraiser and have a lot of fun. This year we’re also celebrating because the bison has recently been named as our national mammal. So, we’ve got lots of reasons to celebrate this year.

Tickets are available now; festival details and ticket prices at bisonfest.com.

The festival this year will be headlined by Robert Earl Keen. We have several other entertainers: Mark Powell, Zac Wilkerson, and Kevin Deal. You can call the park for more information, or you can check us out at our website or Facebook…Texas State Bison Music Festival. The concert starts at about 3 p.m.; vendors start at 9 a.m. Come all day and bring your lawn chairs.

The Texas State Bison Music Festival, benefiting the Texas State Bison Herd Restoration Project is Saturday September 17 in Quitaque. Plenty of food and drink–including adult beverages–available from vendors.

Be safe and have a designated driver.

You can bring a cooler when you pay a $10 cooler fee.

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

Members of the Texas State Bison Herd at Caprock Canyons State Park

Texas State Bison Herd at Caprock Canyons State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Caprock Canyons State Park is home to living history: the State Bison Herd.

The herd was started by Charles Goodnight back in the 1870s. And it’s one of the five foundation herds that all bison today pretty much come from.

Unchecked slaughter of Bison nearly brought them to extinction. Mary Goodnight, wife of legendary Texas rancher Charles Goodnight, encouraged her husband to capture calves to save the species. The 130 or so bison roaming Caprock Canyons today are direct descendants of those animals.

There is about 12-thousand acres of bison range in the park. Just about everything that’s open to the public is open to the bison. You can run into them almost everywhere in the park.

Donald Beard, Park Superintendent, says although bison roam freely, visitors must not interact with them.

We do everything we can to keep the park visitor and the animal safe. We educate the visitors as they come in. There are signs. As they come into the visitor center, they’re hand a safety message pamphlet that talks about what to do if you run into a bison on the trail. We just have to keep telling visitors that this is a bison range; of course the bison have the right-of-way. So, the best thing you can do if you run along a bison on a trail is find a shade tree, get out your camera, take some pictures, and wait for them to move on.

Tomorrow: the annual Texas Bison Music Fest.

That’s our show… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Hey! Outta my burrow, you skunk!

TPW TV - Owls Underground Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Birds don’t get much cuter than the burrowing owl. And you won’t have to stay up past your bedtime to see one.

One of the great things about these owls is [unlike most owls] they’re out during the day; they’re active day and night.

The week of July 31, get to know this small sandy colored owl with long legs during a segment of the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS. Alan Fisher produced a story that looks at how this species, threatened and endangered in some part of North America, survives its dwindling habitat in El Paso.

So, they’re a species of concern here because of habitat loss. Burrowing owls don’t tend to dig their own burrows from scratch. They will occupy burrows left from prairie dogs or ground squirrels or other burrowing animals. So, as those animals get pushed out burrowing owls lose their habitat as well.

Fisher also talks with Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Lois Balin, who creates artificial owl nest borrows fitted with video surveillance systems.

Having the cameras underground, gives the biologists a lot of new tools. It’s pretty awesome.

Not surprisingly, says Fisher, the cameras are revealing much about the hidden lives of burrowing owls, from the number of eggs and nestlings, to prey items, and even visitors.

The skunk discovery is the rather astonishing discovery. Skunks are going into the burrows and occupying them, and in some cases preying on the owls.

To find out how the burrowing owls fare, tune into the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS the week of July 31. Check your local listings.

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

Paddling where the Gulf meets the marsh: Sea Rim State Park.

Sea Rim Bounces Back from Past Hurricanes Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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At the far southeast corner of Texas lies a remote and unique coastal park. Sea Rim State Park has 5.2 miles of Gulf shoreline and 4,000 acres of marshlands…and is no stranger to the fury of hurricanes.

Sea Rim has a long history with hurricanes.

Nathan Londenberg is site superintendent at Sea Rim.

Back in the late 80s, we had Hurricane Jerry that came through—and it wiped out Highway 87. Then, we had Hurricane Rita. Hurricane Rita came out and it devastated the park. Then, after Hurricane Rita, the park was just about to reopen, and lo and behold, Hurricane Ike decided to come and visit the park.

Ike completely wiped out the infrastructure at the park in 2008, save for the Gambusia Nature Trail. But it’s not all bad.

It’s a fresh, new leaf. The park has slowly been rebuilding with all brand new facilities and amenities for the public to come and enjoy.

This coastal wonderland is open, and ready for your visit.

We have 15 water and electric campsites. We have camping out on the beach. We have a boardwalk that you can walk out to the beach if you don’t want to drive out. We do have a couple of restrooms, and a cabin that we rent out with the comforts of home with air conditioning. We also have 10 miles of canoes and paddling trails. We do rent out canoes and kayaks at the park as well.

There’s more about Sea Rim SP on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Timber Rattlesnake

Ask a Game Warden: Is it Okay to Kill Snakes? Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas’ Ask a Game Warden

Some wildlife can be alarming. Twitter follower Julie Davis-Raley sent us a tweet asking if it is legal for citizens to shoot snakes they see in the road. We turned to Game Warden Kevin Davis, chief of wildlife enforcement, for her answer.

You know, there’s a state law that prohibits discharging firearms of any type from a roadway. What’s perplexing, though, is the thought that a snake needs to be shot. There are a lot of good snakes out there. Snakes are part of our ecosystem. Some are quite fascinating. Some are quite beautiful to look at. But, we do encourage safety around homes, and around things where snakes don’t need to be. And we certainly don’t want to discourage someone from keeping themselves safe. However, most snakes are put together something like this: if you leave them alone, they’re going to leave you alone. And so, we hope that by simply leaving that animal alone, that it goes on about its business and doesn’t need human intervention.

Send us a tweet with your questions for our game wardens. Use the hashtag #askagamewarden. We’re @passporttotexas. Your question could get answered on the radio.

Until next time…for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.