Passport to Texas

Earth Day in Texas–what will you do to make it a better place?

Happy Earth Day! Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment…and thus began the annual celebration of the planet called Earth Day.

2015 marks the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day, and millions of people worldwide are gearing up for it. But a once a year celebration is useless if that’s where it ends. So I want to challenge everyone listening, to do something every day to care for Mother Earth.

What kinds of things can you do? Perhaps plant native plants that use less water and provide food and shelter for wildlife. That’s my plan. Or take a ceramic coffee mug to the office instead of using disposable cups. Perhaps when you’re out fishing you could properly dispose of monofilament fishing line so it doesn’t harm aquatic life.

In addition, when camping, leave your campsite in better shape than you found it. Or, your stewardship goal might be to spend time with your family outdoors instead of inside with the television—because you’re no good to nature with a remote in your hand.

Mix it up, and add new earth friendly activities to your list every month between now and next Earth Day. Challenge your family, friends and neighbors to do the same.

What will you do? Go to passporttotexas.org and let me know in the comments section, and start inspiring others.

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

Bat watching in Austin

Wildlife: Bats and Bridges Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When it comes to living arrangements, bats are adaptable. In Texas, for example, millions of Mexican free-tailed bats live comfortably in crevices under bridges.

06—We know from our studies of bats that there’s a very high percentage, especially in Central Texas that, if you build it they will come.

Mark Bloschock, retired from the Texas Department of Transportation as a special projects engineer with the bridge division, and earned the moniker “Batman of TxDOT” due to his passion for the mammals. He said to accommodate bats’ needs he had to “listen” to them.

18—Bats can’t speak to us in English, so they can’t tell us whether this housing that they find in the made environment – or let’s say the man-made environment – is preferred housing or whether it’s desperation housing. But when they go in there to raise their young in these nursery colonies, we think that it must be preferred housing.

It generally costs the same to construct bat friendly bridges, yet when bats colonize under these structures, especially in agricultural areas, everyone profits thanks to their voracious appetite for insect pests.

11—And that means the farmers have to spray less insecticides, or they spray significantly less insecticides. It’s good for us because we eat food with less use of insecticides and we eat food that’s produced cheaper.

You don’t have to build a bridge in your backyard to attract bats. Find information on how to build a bat house on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Web site.

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

Mexican free-tailed bats emerging from Devil’s Sinkhole.

Wildlife: Return of the Bats Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Millions of Mexican Free-tailed bats are returning to Texas where they will bear their young and eat tons of pesky insects. And that makes farmers happy.

05—The Mexican free-tailed bat in particular is really valuable for agricultural purposes.

Meg Goodman is a bat biologist.

13—Current research has shown that these bats can save farmers up to two sprays of pesticides per year because of all the insect pests that they’re eating. They’re eating things like the corn earworm moth and the cotton boll worm moth, among other crop pest species.

In addition to eating their weight in insects pests each evening, their nightly flights from inside caves and under bridges has become tourist attractions statewide.

14—Just their numbers and nightly emergences bring in a lot of tourist dollars to a lot of small communities and big communities like Austin. It’s one of our top tourist destinations right here in Austin. But they do provide a lot of dollars through nature tourism through a lot of our smaller communities throughout the state.

Bridges, like the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, boasts more than 1.5 million visiting Mexican free-tailed. And tomorrow we meet a man who builds bridges with bats in mind.

07—I would say that they type of bridges we build that would accommodate bats, we probably build about 30 of those statewide every year.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects in Texas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Whooping crane pair at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

TPW TV: Whoopers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The endangered Whooping Crane, one of the rarest birds in North America, makes its home at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge along the shallow bays of the Texas Gulf.

10— This is a species that almost went extinct. I mean, it was almost gone forever from the face of the earth.

Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez is Director of Conservation Programs at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. The species has been making a slow comeback from 16 birds in 1941 to 300 today. Watch Dr. Chavez-Ramirez and his colleagues trap adult Whoopers and fit them with GPS tracking devices during a segment of the PBS Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series. Wade Harrell, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is also on the show.

11—We’re going to learn a lot in terms of new places that they use that we didn’t know about before. So, I think there’s going to be a real paradigm shift in how we manage and conserve whooping cranes going forward.

It’s no easy task trapping these big birds, yet, once fit with trackers, team members, like Veterinarian Barry Hartup, believe the data returned to them will be eye-opening.

14— What we’re doing with capturing adult birds on the Aransas Refuge has never been done before. So, we’re learning a lot about these birds in terms of their movements, their survival, their overall health – what we can do to further their protection and conservation into the future.

Watch the segment on Whooping Cranes on the PBS Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series next week. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and funds diverse conservation projects in Texas.

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

A big pot of chili for competition.

Davis Mountains Mile High Chili Cook-off Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The First Annual Mile High Chili Cook-off is a new, CASI sanctioned, competition to take place April 25 at Davis Mountains State Park. CASI stands for Chili Appreciation Society International.

13— We are very excited about this. And these are people who have been competing in chili cook-offs throughout the year and they’re trying to get points to then go to the international chili cook-off in Terlingua, in November.

Tara Poloskey is an interpretive ranger at the park.

09—They’re very competitive; it’s pretty serious for some of these chefs. And, CASI does most of the work, but we provide the judges.

Want to put your bowl of red up against serious competitors? Then register quickly. Find information at passporttotexas.org; and if you’re going to be camping at the park anyway…

18— We’re allowing visitors to the park to pay four dollars, and with their four dollars that goes to the friend’s group, they get a cup, a napkin, a bottle of water, and they can go around to all of the different kitchens and try the chili once the chefs have submitted them to the judges.

Davis Mountains SP is giving away prizes to competitors.

11— Gift certificates to the Indian Lodge for hotel rooms overnight. We have gift certificates for camping at Davis Mountains State Park; we have a camp stove that was donated from our local true value.

Find details about the First Annual Mile High Chili Cook-off at Davis Mountains SP at passporttotexas.org.

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