Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

The northern bobwhite quail may have the largest range among the four quail species found in Texas, but it is also the most threatened.

07— Bobwhites are the big concern as far as our constituents go for parks and Wildlife, and its populations have been in decline range wide.

TPW biologist, Robert Perez, says population decline isn’t new for the bobwhite.

17–In recent history in the 40s, for instance – in the 1940s post WWII – bobwhites were very abundant in east Texas. But since that time they’ve all but disappeared from east Texas and other pine woodlands across the SE United States. And that big decline has continues as you go west across Texas; little by little as time goes by.

If you were to draw a line along the I-35 corridor from Dallas to San Antonio, quail habitat east of that line is highly fragmented.

13– A lot of the native types of grasses and prairies have been replaced by other things; either concrete or by exotic grasses like Mexia or Bermuda, things that quail don’t live in. So, that’s really the main reason of decline in those areas of the state.

Quail need a minimum of 1,000 acres of appropriate, un-fragmented habitat to maintain a viable population. West of I-35, plentiful habitat that includes the bunchgrasses quail need, still exists… but years of drought has taken its toll on the land and the birds.

04– Quail just don’t have that longevity where they can wait through those long drought periods.

More on that tomorrow. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and funds diverse conservation programs throughout Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

Sometimes freezes kill fish and coral in the Gulf. If researchers prove a connection between the same species in warmer Caribbean waters, they’ll have a resource for restoring losses. TV Producer Bruce Biermann says the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show examines this issue.

This is our 25th year going to Mexico.

Texas A&M University has been studying the waters off the coast of the Yucatan, and the waters off the Texas coast, and comparing down to a very small genetic level the fish and the coral.

What we’re just really looking for is trying to get genetic evidence that supports that the current that comes out of the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico is the ultimate source of populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

I followed Texas A & M to the Caribbean waters off the coast of the Yucatan. They were doing studies on a couple kinds of fish and a couple kinds of coral. Taking samples. Then they came back up here to Texas to our coral reef – the Flower Garden Bank – which is a hundred miles of the Texas Louisiana Border. And they took the exact same species of samples from there, compared them, and sure enough at a genetic level they are absolutely identical.

We have two different alleles for this gene, and it’s found in all three sites, which means that these three sites are, in fact, interconnected – that there is genetic exchange that takes place. There really is a Caribbean connection.

The Caribbean Connection airs on PBS stations this week.

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

This is Passport to Texas

Findings from research conducted at Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) provide biologists with information to guide them when developing habitat management strategies.

11—And we are continually doing research and learning more and more and adjusting our habitat management strategies so that we can accomplish the best possible strategies for managing wildlife in Texas.

Well managed, healthy habitat and wildlife is good for Texas’ environment and economy. WMA facilities coordinator, Dennis Gissell, says the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (WSFR) program has been integral in the acquisition and management of many of these sites.

14—[The] Wildlife and sport fisheries act is absolutely essential to our ability to manage and conserve wildlife habitats and wildlife populations in Texas. Not only on the wildlife management areas, but in support of our biologists who work with private landowners statewide.

A set of management tools described by Aldo Leopold in 1933, are still used today on WMAs.

16—Aldo Leopold, who was widely accepted as the father of conservation in America, outlined five different general types of habitat management practices that can be used to restore and maintain habitat. And those involve the axe, cow, plow, fire and gun.

We tell you more about those tomorrow.

The WSFR program supports our series and is celebrating 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

This is Passport to Texas

Lynne Finch is a certified NRA pistol instructor and one of the founders and organizers of National Take Your Daughter to the Range Day; the inaugural event is June 9.

06—The idea came in January of this year, reading Julie Golob’s book “Shoot.”

In the book Golob recounts a childhood that included spending time at the shooting range with her father. Lynne says most women who come to her want to learn personal defense.

23— So I hadn’t heard a lot of stories about growing up and the bonding opportunities with dads. I have a Facebook Page called Women Firearms Instructors, so I put the question out: How did you come to shooting? And I got so many wonderful responses from women who had grown up going to the rock quarry or going to the range, and shooting with their dads and the wonderful memories that they had.

Lynne conferred with a fellow instructor and queried others about creating an event where fathers could take their daughters to the range for a day of learning and bonding. The idea gained momentum, and became National Take your Daughter to the Range Day, set for June 9.

13— [When] girls learn to master a skill that’s not traditional, it helps with self-esteem, it opens up opportunities for them. Plus, shooting is fun. It’s something the whole family can do together.

Find a link to participating ranges in Texas at passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and works to increase shooting sports in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Playa lakes, which form in shallow depressions in the earth, are common in the High Plains of Texas, but are uncommon as water bodies go.

Well, with a playa lake, when a drop of water falls, it goes into the middle of the lake basin and that’s where it stays. This water may work its way down into the Ogallala Aquifer, or it may evaporate, but each playa lake is the lowest point in its own watershed.

Bill Johnson, is a waterfowl and wetlands biologist in Canyon, Texas, and says the water you see in the playa today, may not be there in a few months’ time.

Playas tend to go wet and dry. And there’s nothing wrong at all with a dry playa. We’re a semi-arid region, and our evaporation rate is much, much higher than our rainfall rate.

In fact, if a playa were wet all the time, says Johnson, it would not be nearly as important to waterfowl.

When a playa goes dry, it causes the germination and growth of moist soil plants. These plants are generally annual plants—such as the smart weed, or barnyard grass. Now these plants are very productive, and they produce the seeds that ducks eat. If these playas didn’t dry up, then they would have an entirely different pant community that wouldn’t be as productive—they just wouldn’t produce as much food.

Information about playas is at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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