Passport to Texas

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

Kiki Corry is the Project Wild Coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Project Wild is an environmental and conservation education program. It is nationally recognized and distributed internationally. And, Texas Parks and Wildlife is the sponsor here in Texas.

Corry trains the facilitators who make available Project Wild training workshops to teachers.

Some of them are teachers. Some of them work for nature preserves or camps, and they want to be qualified to train their staff. They like to contribute to the environmental literacy of the public.

Not all educators taking the workshops are classroom teachers.

Not necessarily just classroom teachers, but also people at preserves and zoos and museums—people who run summer camps. Because this is a very active curriculum, quite often the activities look like a game, but when they’re done properly, the participants in what looked like a game, come away with a much deeper understanding of different environmental concepts.

Learn about Project Wild at passporttotexas.org…and on tomorrow’s show.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Chapter of the Audubon Society unveiled its quail and grassland bird program in 2003.

Audubon became interested in getting involved in quail and quail management at the state level due to [the fact] grassland birds on the whole have been declining at an alarming rate range wide.

Kyle Brazil is leader of the Audubon Texas quail and grassland bird program, which helps landowners develop plans to manage quail habitat.

Quail like a mixture of woody, herbaceous, or grass cover—also mixed with forbs, or weeds, and bare ground. And they like that interspersed over the landscape. They like to have every component of their habitat within a stone’s throw.

For a long-term, sustainable quail population, Brazil says quail need 3 to 5thousand acres of quality habitat.

That being said, you have to work with what you have. And so managing as much area as possible for quail habitat is what you need to do. Specifically managing for nesting habitat, which is the major limiting factor across the range. Nesting habitat is made up of native bunch grasses. Here in Texas we typically think of little bluestem.

Landowners are vital to quail’s survival, and the reasons landowners have for preserving quail habitat varies.

The economic element is part of it. The other part being that quail, in Texas, are also very culturally important—it’s part of our history. And Texans, as you know, like to maintain their history.

Learn about quail management at passporttotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

[Bobwhite quail call] The bobwhite quail population in Texas is decreasing due in part to habitat fragmentation caused by development.

What happens in habitat fragmentation is that you take large pieces of habitat and you cut them up into smaller and smaller pieces of habitat that are farther and farther apart.

Kyle Brazil, leader of the Audubon Texas quail and grassland bird program, helps us understand the issue of habitat fragmentation as it pertains to quail.

They don’t fly well, and they don’t move very far, in general. So, if you have one piece of habitat that is five miles away from the next nearest piece of habitat, there’s not going to be any movement between those piece of habitat. So, if you do have a quail population that goes extinct in one of those, it’s not going to be repopulated by birds from the other. In general, habitat fragmentation makes it harder for quail to persist.

Audubon Texas works with landowners to develop management strategies to preserve quail habitat in their care. Because, says Brazil, that habitat supports more than quail.

If you manage for quail, you’re also benefiting the whole suite of grassland birds and other grassland wildlife obligate species.

Learn about quail and Texas Audubon at passporttotexas.org.

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

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

Take time this month to catch up with the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. As series producer, Alan Fisher tells us, some of the segments this month will reel in anglers.

Coming up in June, we have a story called “Where to Wade.” You know, there are a lot of different ways to catch a fish on the coast. One of the most involved ways it to wade right out into the bay or surf.

(surf/water ambience) Wade fishing you can always go most times where a boat can’t. You can walk and get to ‘em pretty easy, and you ain’t got to worry about spooking ‘em. (reel sounds and water)Is it going to be a keeper? (water) Oooo. Oh, that’s a keeper trout right there. Uh huh. Look at that. Pretty fish. Pretty fish. (water)

Later in June we’ll visit Tyler state park—lovely patch of pine forest in Northeast Texas, just an hour and a half east of Dallas, but it feels much further away. Also in June, we’ll learn where striped bass come from.

Well, the end result is that we’re producing basically seven and a half million fish that would not be here otherwise because these fish, for the most part, do not reproduce naturally in the state of Texas.

We’ll wrap up June with a look at paddling trails which are preplanned routes that are making Texas waters more accessible to canoes and kayaks.

You can catch the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series on PBS stations statewide.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…reminding Texans that June 7 is Free Fishing Day in Texas… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TP&W TV-June Highlights Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

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

Take time this month to catch up with the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. As series producer, Alan Fisher tells us, some of the segments this month will reel in anglers.

Coming up in June, we have a story called “Where to Wade.” You know, there are a lot of different ways to catch a fish on the coast. One of the most involved ways it to wade right out into the bay or surf.

(surf/water ambience) Wade fishing you can always go most times where a boat can’t. You can walk and get to ‘em pretty easy, and you ain’t got to worry about spooking ‘em. (reel sounds and water)Is it going to be a keeper? (water) Oooo. Oh, that’s a keeper trout right there. Uh huh. Look at that. Pretty fish. Pretty fish. (water)

Later in June we’ll visit Tyler state park—lovely patch of pine forest in Northeast Texas, just an hour and a half east of Dallas, but it feels much further away. Also in June, we’ll learn where striped bass come from.

Well, the end result is that we’re producing basically seven and a half million fish that would not be here otherwise because these fish, for the most part, do not reproduce naturally in the state of Texas.

We’ll wrap up June with a look at paddling trails which are preplanned routes that are making Texas waters more accessible to canoes and kayaks.

You can catch the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series on PBS stations statewide.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…reminding Texans that June 7 is Free Fishing Day in Texas… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TP&W TV-June Highlights Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download