Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Maximize your time outdoors when you volunteer at a Texas State Park.

03—We basically have three different categories of volunteers.

These categories include locals who sign up for special projects, friends groups that fundraise for specific sites and—says Lori Reiley—the third category is park hosts.

13—And that is a program designed for—traditionally—retirees who travel around the state and in exchange for a campsite, they do twenty-five hours of labor in the park every week.

Reiley coordinates the state park volunteer program, and says people accepted as hosts, are required to make a time commitment.

12—The time frame is a minimum thirty-day commitment. And, the maximum is typically three months, but it can be extended depending on the park needs. The superintendent has the authority to extend that.

Most Texas State Parks offer host programs with plenty of work to help fill the twenty-five hour labor obligation.

17—We have everything from general grounds maintenance, or it could be cleaning the restrooms. What we really like is when we find people with special skills: carpentry, or graphic artists, or educators doing interpretive tours or education programs. So, it’s a variety.

Find more volunteer information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

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

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This is a Passport to Texas State Park Getaway

Recreational vehicles—better known as RVs—are like furnished homes on wheels…and the most popular way to camp in Texas State Parks. Bryan Frazier has details.

Summer is vacation time for a lot of people. And so, as we get into our busy visitation time in our parks, I want to talk about our available camping options. And the first one is RV sites that we have.

So, if you have an RV, whether it’s a motor home, a trailer, or fifth wheel, most of our parks can accommodate RVs, and we just want to encourage people to get out and enjoy not only the open road, but their camping experience in an RV in a state park.

Thanks Bryan.

Find more state park information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

The whooping crane is a favorite species among birders and among Texas Parks and Wildlife TV producers. Ron Kabele tells us about a segment coming up this month that focuses on this big bird and their human admirers.

A Journey South is it’s title, but it’s really about the whooping crane’s journey south and the people’s journey south to see them. And some of them are very, very dedicated to the preservation of the species. And then there were all the people who had never seen them before, you know, the first timers, and how excited people got to see them.

These are huge birds. You do their wingspan to one end to the other and they’re taller than a human. These are enormous birds—just the fact that they can fly is pretty much a miracle.

Who is somebody you talked to that is really memorable.

There was a couple, and she had Alzheimer’s. They’d been coming down every weekend, and they cut back brush—a lot of the heavy manual labor. It helps them, because with her progressing disease, they’re with people that they really like who care about them. And she gets out and does physical active work. And it’s worked out really good for them. It’s kind of a sweet way to deal with a catastrophic illness.

Thanks Ron.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

The Kemps’ Ridley may be the best known—and most threatened—sea turtle that occurs along the Texas coast, but it’s not the only one.

19—The ones that we hear most commonly about are the Kemp’s Ridley, and the green sea turtle—the green sea turtle is threatened in Texas and the populations are increasing. Also in Texas, there’s the Loggerhead, that’s a threatened species. What we hear about less are both endangered turtles: The Hawksbill and the Leatherback.

Dr. Donna Shaver is with the US National Park Service at Padre Island National Seashore. She says if you ever see stranded or nesting sea turtles, report your observation to officials.

17—Many of our entrances to beach access roads, signs are posted that have a telephone number to call. And then once they call, they will receive a recorded message that will tell them the proper contact number for the particular geographic area where they are located.

The number to call is 1-866-TURTLE5…And if you come across a nesting female…

17—Stay back from the nesting turtle until she’s dug her hole with her rear flippers and is remaining mostly motionless and laying eggs. At that time, without touching the turtle, look for any tags, and without piercing anything into the sand, put a designating market next to where the turtle laid her eggs.

Find more information on sea turtles when you log onto the Texas parks and Wildlife website.

Our show receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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This is Passport to Texas

The news along the TX coast during late winter and early spring was the high number of sea turtle strandings.

:12—A stranded sea turtle is one that is found washed ashore, or floating. It can be alive or dead, but if it’s alive, it’s generally in a weakened condition.

Dr. Donna Shaver is with the US National Park Service and specializes in sea turtle research and conservation at Padre Island National Seashore. Between 250 and 750 sea turtles end up stranded each year, but Dr. Shaver says 2010 got off to an alarming start.

:18—We have already started out the year at a record pace. We had the largest cold-stunning event that’s been recorded since 1980. There were about 460 green sea turtles that were located stranded, and two loggerheads, during this particular event—January into February.

When I spoke with Dr. Shaver in late April, she said 76 sea turtles had stranded from the upper to the lower coast between April 4 and 24th

:15—One of the things that’s caught the attention for the spike on the upper Texas coast is that 20 of the 21 turtles were Kemp’s Ridley; whereas, those found elsewhere in the state were more of a mixture of other species.

The cause of the strandings is under investigation, and Dr. Shaver says it could be anything from predators, to fishing nets, to boat propellers, to debris.

Our show receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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