Passport to Texas

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

In less than a month, tens of thousands of visitors will converge on Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters in Austin for a weekend of outdoor enjoyment at the annual Expo. Ron Smith invites everyone to the Fishing FUNdamentals area.

Fishing fundamentals is a little bit of everything fishing.

Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is managing this area for Expo.

So, whether they haven’t fished before, or whether they’re going to try a new specialty type of fishing, or they want to just know where to go, or where the fish are biting, or about conservation, or safety—we’re going to have a little bit of everything at this booth. Hopefully, to provide them with the next step that they can take in enjoying fishing in Texas.

Visitors who come from urban areas may be surprised by what they learn at Fishing Fundamentals.

Many of the ones that live in urban areas have never been fishing and they don’t realize they may have a fishing hole right close to their home that they can get to very easily, and they don’t have to go many miles to get to a fishing spot. So, that’s one of the things that we’re trying to do—inform folks that they don’t have to go far to fish.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo is October 4 and 5 from 9-5 both days, and it’s free.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

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

Expo: Fishing FUNdamentals, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

We get about 20-dollars per plate. And, on average, we sell about ten thousand plates, and that generates around 200-thousand dollars a year.

Matt Wagner, program director for wildlife diversity, is talking about the horned lizard conservation license plate. The money it generates supports the projects of the wildlife action plan.

The wildlife action plan is a strategy for conserving non-game wildlife and fish.

Most wildlife in Texas is non-game and the wildlife action plan will help us to understand them better.

We’ve discovered that there’s quite a demand for our freshwater turtles in terms of their value as meat, being sold to other countries. And so we have a statewide study to look at our freshwater turtle populations. We also are putting money into the conservation of the horned lizard. We’re about the decline of the horned lizard in parts of our state. And, we have some genetic work going on, and some other population analysis going on in the state that will hopefully reveal some answers to some of those questions.

Funds also support work with landowners to restore native habitat. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife restoration program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program … For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife Action Plan, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration program

The majority of species in Texas are non-game, and the recently completed Wildlife Action Plan is for them.

Well, the wildlife action plan is really a strategy for conserving non-game wildlife—wildlife and fish.

Matt Wagner, program director for wildlife diversity, says the action plan will help prioritize the needs among non-game species.

It took experts over about two years to compile those needs and priorities within each species group so that we can manage those species through the long term.

We have dedicated funding for game animals, but funding for the management and conservation of non-game species, and their habitat, has been scant, at best. The Wildlife Action Plan changes that.

Now that the plan has been complete, there are grants that are associated with the grant that come from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. And so, Texas Parks and Wildlife gets about 3-million dollars a year. We want to take that money and it has to be matched with non-federal dollars. So, we offer it to our private partners in terms of universities and others that want to apply for grants to help address those priorities in that plan.

Find a link to a summary of the plan at our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Wildlife restoration program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program … For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Wildlife Action Plan, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Each October, Texas Parks and Wildlife HQ in Austin gets an extreme makeover when it’s transformed into EXPO, a 35-acre playground in the Great Outdoors.

Expo is a great opportunity for Texans to learn all about the things that they can do in the great Texas outdoors, and it’s free.

Ernie Gammage is Expo’s Director.

Texas is really blessed with opportunities for recreation in the outdoors. Things like camping, hunting, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, all of these things you can do in this great state—in a lot of different kinds of habitat. And, if you come to the Wildlife Expo and don’t know how to do these things, you can learn and actually do them.

Parks and Wildlife Expo is October 4th and 5th in Austin. You can go to the agency’s website and click on the Expo link to start planning your visit.

Come early stay late, because if you came all weekend you still wouldn’t get to do everything. You can paddle a kayak, you can rock climb, you can learn all about conservation, you can see wild animal shows…it is so much fun.

You’ll find additional information about Expo at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Dove season ushers in the fall hunting season. The question is: will you be ready?

Those hunters need to be thinking about some primary things that deal with safety.

Terry Erwin oversees Hunter Education programs at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

They need to make sure they have their hunter education class completed; they need to make sure those firearms are in good, operable condition; and one of the most important things is to get out there in the field and practice.

And Erwin says dove and quail hunters would do well to get in some practice with sporting clays, because nothing is more frustrating to a hunter than to spend a day in the field with only missed shots to show for it.

Sporting clays typically simulates the shooting scenarios that you’ll find in the dove field, or out in the quail fields. So, take advantage of this time and get out there an practice.

Erwin also offers some sobering advice to hunters.

And don’t forget. It’s really hot out there this time of the year. Keep hydrated. Keep the liquids flowing. But remember, don’t drink that alcohol.

That’s our show for today…supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program. Working to increase fishing and hunting in Texas.

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

Preparing for Hunting Season Play Now | Play in Popup | Download