Passport to Texas

Fried oysters

Fish | Cook: Cooking Seafood Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rhonda Cummins, coastal marine resource agent for Texas AgriLife and Texas Sea Grant, unintentionally became the de facto Seafood Cooking maven for her agencies.

04— I’ve got to admit: I may be the current maven, but I’m not the first.

She says Annette Hagen out of Rockport was Texas Sea Grant’s original seafood consumer educator.

11—And she created thousands of [seafood] recipes and we still pass them out today, They’re legendary.

But when Annette retired, they never refilled her position. So, years later, when Rhonda came along with an idea to help promote Texas fishermen by hosting seafood cooking demos, the baton was passed.

09— Now more than ever, we need to educate the consumer on their food choices. Not just know your farmer—it needs to be know our fishermen.

Rhonda teams up with colleagues from Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Sea Grant, and members of the community to demo seafood cookery.

22— Because a lot of people are intimidated [by] seafood. They have this impression that it’s hard to cook. Some people view it as a little pricey; they think it’s only for special occasions; I don’t want to mess it up… But if you can master just a couple of quick easy [techniques] in the kitchen, you can cook seafood at home. And it’s so much cheaper [than restaurants], so much healthier, and it supports my local fishermen.

Demos are free; we’ll tell you more tomorrow. The Sport Fish Restoration supports our series and the work of Sea Center Texas… The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

He’s not heavy, he’s my hiking partner…

Parks: Hikes with Homeless Dogs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Every Thursday morning at nine, visitors to Davis Mountains State Park in west Texas meet for a guided hike…with homeless dogs.

10— We usually have more people than dogs. We usually give one dog to a family and then a third of the way through the walk we’ll stop and then we’ll switch the dogs to different people so everybody has a chance.

Ranger, Tara Poloskey, coordinates and guides the hikes with shelter dogs from the Grand Companions Humane Society in Fort Davis (http://www.grandcompanions.org/); both hikers and dogs benefit.

17—The visitors need dogs to walk when they leave their dogs at home and they’re missing their dogs. And, also, the dogs at the shelter don’t get a lot of socialization and maybe they’ve had some pretty hard histories. They need to get out and get socialized and learn how to walk on leashes to make them more adoptable.

Tara Poloskey says the program is popular with Davis Mountains SP visitors.

14—Everyone is happy to see the dogs; visitors know they’re helping the dogs. And, I do talk some about the park while we’re walking, so it’s a good mix of interpretation and dog walks. And, for the dogs, it’s a wonderful way for them to socialize and get used to different people.

Sometimes hikers even adopt the dogs.

05— In fact, today we had two. A total of five, actually, over the course of a year, but today we had two.

Find details about hikes with homeless dogs in the calendar section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Wise little owl.

Wildlife | Event: Learning from Owls Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Owls symbolize wisdom – and we can learn much from them when pick their… pellets.

09— It’s more dignified than digging through poo because you’ll be digging through vomit.

Amy Kocurek and I have different ideas about what’s dignified, but this interpretive ranger at Martin Dies Jr. State Park, in East TX does know how to keep visitors engaged.

10—The kids especially, they love it. Little furry, tin foiled wrapped up presents, that they get to unwrap and see what sort of mysterious surprises await inside.

Wrapped in foil? Yes, because you can order them online.

11— Most of them are from barn owls that people will collect from in their barns where owls just hack up these pellets; they’ll collect them and sanitize them and sell them for teachers, mostly.

Whether pellets are fresh or sanitized for your protection, those small, furry capsules have secrets to reveal.

33— Because it contains these almost perfectly preserved pieces of bones and beaks and different things the owl ate, researchers can see what their main food source is in the area that they’re living, if that food source is changing seasonally…. But also, if you’re doing population studies on small mammals, that will allow you to see how many different types of mammals are being eaten by owls. So, it can give you an all-round general idea of the population of animals in that ecosystem.

Dissect owl pellets with Amy Kocurek April 11at Martin Dies Jr. SP; details on the calendar at texasstateparks.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Conservation License Plates

Conservation: Wild For Texas License Plates Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas Parks and Wildlife recently launched two new conservation license plates to support native wildlife projects in Texas. Janis Johnson says one features a Lucifer hummingbird, while the other a diamondback rattlesnake.

09—And these two critters, if you will, join our horned lizard license plate. And together, we’re calling it the “Wild for Texas”
collection. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Janis is a marketing specialist with Parks and Wildlife. Proceeds from the sale of license plates in the Wild for Texas collection support native wildlife projects.

14—Anything from building out habitat and restoration of the Bracken Cave. Taking care of endangered or threatened species. Finding new habitat that’s suitable for our horned lizard. We’ve got some educational programs, [too].

Since its debut in1999, the horned lizard plate’s raised nearly $ 4-million dollars for native wildlife. Combined with sales from other plates, that number increases to $7-million dollars for conservation in Texas. Have a driving passion for conservation?

12—Just go to conservationplate.org, and check out all 7 of our conservation license plates. They’re only $30 and you can put one on your vehicle, trailer or motorcycle.

Twenty-two dollars from every sale goes directly toward conservation projects in Texas.

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

Girls riding bikes at Resaca de la Palma State Park

Parks: Every Kid in a Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In February 2015 the White House announced a new initiative called Every Kid in a Park.

06— It’s a very exciting initiative. It is something that really ties in with what we’re working so hard with here in Texas.

Jennifer Bristol coordinates the Texas Children and Nature Program at Parks and Wildlife. The new initiative waives national park entrance fees for every child in the fourth grade. Why fourth grade? Jessica says kids are still willing to spend time with mom and dad, and that it’s an impressionable time.

25—It is really the time when children connect probably the most with nature. It’s called the age, or development time, of joy and wonder of discovery. And it’s when kids really make that connection – especially with wildlife. They care about something; they understand that the actions that they take can have an impact either on the environment; it can have an impact on wildlife. And so, they want to care for it, and they start building up those bonds with it.

Texas currently waives state park entrance fees for children 12 and under, and the new White House initiative dovetails nicely with the Texas program.

06— This is just one more way that families can have those barriers reduced to access to the outdoors.

And as we all know: Life’s better outside. Discover ways to engage the outdoors when you visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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