Passport to Texas

Holiday Trail of Lights in La Grange Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thousands of twinkling lights illuminate a quarter mile walking trail this holiday season at the Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery State Historic Sites in La Grange.

24—The trail of lights is open to the public five nights during the first part of December. That’s December third, ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth, from 6 pm to 8 pm. And our park is decorated with lots of lights and different ornaments throughout the grounds. Kriesche house is open, it’s decorated for Christmas. We have entertainment, refreshments, and Santa Clause is there for children to tell their wishes to.

Dennis Smith is park manager.

12—[It’s] just a really pretty site here. We sit on a 200 foot bluff that overlooks the city of La Grange—and see the night lights of the city. It’s just a really spectacular opportunity for people to come out and enjoy a great Christmas celebration.

Smith says the trail of lights is the perfect family activity for the holiday season.

20—Every year we have comments from families that say we’ve been coming out here for the last 20 years. Families that come from Houston, Austin, San Antonio—just to come back to the trail of lights each year. We see more and more of that as we go by, and are just really glad to see these families keep coming back with more generations of their families to help celebrate the season.

Find complete details about the tail of lights at Monument Hill and Kriesche Brewery SHS in La Grange, including entrance fees at www.texasstateparks.org.

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

State Park Ornament Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Trim your tree with Texas pride; it’s easy with a State Park Christmas Ornament. Bryan Frazier explains.

Every year we do a commemorative state park Christmas ornament. They’re very popular, and people buy lots of them.

You can buy the ornament separate, You can buy the gift card separate, but if you buy those amounts, then you get either a free or a discounted ornament. And all of this can only be done through our customer service center in State Parks by calling 512.389.8900.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Baffling Bird Behavior Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birds are fascinating to watch, which is why so many of us hang feeders outside our windows for up close viewing.

05—There is no place better in the world for attracting birds than right here in Texas.

Mark Klym is an avid birder and oversees the Wildscaping program at Parks and Wildlife. Common feeder fare is the black oil sunflower seed, which attracts various species, including cardinals, finches, and sometimes chickadees.

06—And watch the way they feed. Some of them will actually sit and break the seed right there on the feeder and eat it.

If you’re new to feeder-watching, some of the behavior you observe may seem perplexing.

14—We get people who are frustrated all the time; they say, ‘how come that bird comes in and throws half the food out?’ Well, what they’re doing is, a bird like a chickadee or titmouse, they don’t have a bill that’s designed to crack that seed. So they’ve got to go back to the branch and bang it on the tree to break it.

But what are they doing when they hurl seed to the ground?

07—They’re actually weighing the seed to make sure there’s enough weight there to make sure it’s worth their while to fly back to that branch before they get their meal.

Now you know. Find birding information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Replacing Trees That Died in the Drought Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The summer heat and drought of 2011 killed too many trees to count. And fall is the time to start replacing them.

10— Getting the trees in the ground in the fall, they have the entire dormant season o spread roots out before the bog demands on roots and water starts in the spring.

Scott Harris is an arborist with Tree Folks of Austin.

14— you always want to plant your trees at the exact same level that they were in the pot. So, the grade with the surrounding ground is going to be the same as they were in the pot. Don’t fig a big deep hole, dig a big wide hole.

Use the soil you removed as back fill, and do not add compost to the hole—just put it around the tree instead.

22— Put your compost underneath the mulch, which you should have three or four inches of. And then all of that organic goodness will kind of dribble down, in the way nature intended. Sort of like the forest floor: you have less broken down things on the top, and more the deeper down you go.

Soil moisture is especially important during the first three years after installing your tree. Provide one inch of water each week for the first season. But if 2012 gives us another dry scorcher of a summer, you will have to water more often.

Find information on wildscaping and a Texas native plant database on the TPW website.

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

Martin Dies, Jr. State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Wildfires and drought are just two of the challenges that confronted Texas this year, changing how people spend time outdoors, and even think about the outdoors. But as our State park Guide Bryan Frazier tells us, good news stories remain.

50— Texas is so diverse from a destination standpoint, and its people so resilient. We have places like Martin Dies, Junior SP, which is north of Beaumont. And B.A. Steinhagen is the reservoir there, and it’s actually been at, and expected to be at full pool level on into the winter. They just added a bunch of new canoes for canoe rentals.

Martin Dies, Junior has a really good story to tell, and is worth the trip. Especially if you live north of Houston in the Beaumont area, over that way. It’s just someplace if you haven’t been in awhile, go back and visit, it’s something you definitely ought to check out.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.