Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish & Wildlife Restoration Program

This month the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series airs segments from the documentary Texas: The State of Springs. Series Producer, Don Cash.

One of the things that’s pointed out in the documentary is that water conservation in Texas is going to have to happen on private lands. We’re not going to get more rain; we’ve got to deal with the water supply that we receive, and that starts on the land. One of the landowners that we feature is David Bamberger. He and his wife Margaret have a ranch in Blanco County. They’ve had to remove a lot of cedar from it, but as David points out, removing the cedar is not the end of the problem.

Without a grass system that has roots down into the earth when that rain falls, it washes off. But if it falls on the grass, you’ve got miles of root systems and that water can now penetrate down in.

Also in July, we’ll head to the Panhandle where we look at water speculators who are looking at building pipelines from the Panhandle—south—to sell what they call surplus water.

There isn’t actually any surplus water in this area. All the water that’s here is going to be needed eventually.

So, there’s a lot of information in July about the state of springs in Texas, and what we can do to help preserve them for the future.

Go to passporttotexas.org and find a link to PBS stations that air the series.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TP&W TV--State of Springs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish & Wildlife Restoration Program

This month the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series airs segments from the documentary Texas: The State of Springs. Series Producer, Don Cash.

One of the things that’s pointed out in the documentary is that water conservation in Texas is going to have to happen on private lands. We’re not going to get more rain; we’ve got to deal with the water supply that we receive, and that starts on the land. One of the landowners that we feature is David Bamberger. He and his wife Margaret have a ranch in Blanco County. They’ve had to remove a lot of cedar from it, but as David points out, removing the cedar is not the end of the problem.

Without a grass system that has roots down into the earth when that rain falls, it washes off. But if it falls on the grass, you’ve got miles of root systems and that water can now penetrate down in.

Also in July, we’ll head to the Panhandle where we look at water speculators who are looking at building pipelines from the Panhandle—south—to sell what they call surplus water.

There isn’t actually any surplus water in this area. All the water that’s here is going to be needed eventually.

So, there’s a lot of information in July about the state of springs in Texas, and what we can do to help preserve them for the future.

Go to passporttotexas.org and find a link to PBS stations that air the series.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TP&W TV--State of Springs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Alanna Jones’ mother insisted that her daughter spend time outdoors.

I was a part of some type of camping group every single summer. So, I spent a lot of time outdoors, but since I’ve been in college—not so much. But I get out when I can.

Alanna got outside when she was our Passport to Texas intern this spring. During an assignment covering the Texas River School, Alanna finally understood her mother’s wisdom.

Well, what the Texas River School does is it takes kids, fourth through sixth graders out on the river. What we did is we went up a river and had lunch; and they learned survival skills in the water. The whole time I was just thinking: Wow, you know, that was me as a kid. Not understanding what this experience is going to do for my life. Most of these kids learn their entire lives that the water is scary, that the outdoors is scary. While they were on the river, they saw everything. And because they were paddling themselves, it showed them that they could do more than they thought they could do. And, because of my experience at the Texas River School, it reaffirmed why my mom said, get outdoors, and as an adult I understand that now.

Alanna is on to her next adventure and we wish her luck.

Tell us your outdoor story at passporttotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas River School, located in Austin takes kids in fourth through sixth grade, from under-served populations, on daylong river outings. Joe Kendall is program coordinator.

We teach them how to canoe, and we go down river to the mouth of Barton Creek, and float up the creek, and then take the kids to the Splash Exhibit so they learn how an aquifer works and why it’s so important to take care of it.

The Splash Exhibit is part of Austin’s Barton Springs Pool, named for the spring that feeds it. The school also teaches kids to snorkel to enrich the experience.

So, they hopefully can dive to the bottom of the pool and feel the source of the aquifer and understand that creates the pool, the creek, the river… So, they can get an appreciation of where the water comes from.

The program, which received a $30,000 outreach grant from TP&W is open to kids of all abilities.

We do the best we can. We took fourteen deaf students out canoeing yesterday. And then we have two trips with the blind school scheduled this summer.

Kendall says it’s not just important to get kids outside, he says it’s vital to help kids develop a life-long love affair with rivers.

There’s only one word that’s in more song titles than the word River, and that’s the word love.

Start your love affair with Texas rivers at passporttotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

About fifteen years ago, Joe Kendall and some of his friends decided to help protect Texas rivers by getting people involved in their care.

We started doing cleanups, and started the foundation with the idea of having an adoption program.

Kendall is the founder and executive director of the Austin Chautauqua Foundation.

We did festivals and Chautauquas—which is to combine entertainment and education and races. We ended up doing a program with some fifth graders, and we discovered that was probably the most rewarding thing for us; and we thought, also, for the rivers.

Rewarding for the rivers because the more people know and love rivers, the more people there will be to protect them in the future. The Texas River School, borne of Kendall and company’s original idea, gets a diverse group of kids on the water.

Fortunately, we have Texas Parks and Wildlife to thank for that. They have provided us with a grant every other year to take kids to the river that wouldn’t normally get a chance to go. They identify them as their non-traditional constituents…people that don’t use the parks. And they see that’s the minorities, economically disadvantaged, females and at-risk kids. So, we target all those areas and have taken over four thousand through our discover the source program.

The source, in this case, is the spring that feeds Barton Creek in Austin. We’ll tell you more about River School activities tomorrow.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas River School, http://www.texasrowingcenter.com/trs.htm

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