Passport to Texas

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

You get to learn a lot about Texas when you watch the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Series producer Don Cash.

One of the places we feature is San Felipe Springs in Del Rio , Texas. And people have put their algae eating catfish from their aquariums in the water. And this is an exotic species, and they do have a detrimental affect.

The sucker mouth catfish has really taken over; this population basically went exponential. Literally hundreds of thousands of fish here. More than any other fish in this creek. Maybe more than all the other fish put together.

We always hit a state park in every show. In march, one of the places we go is Purtis Creek State Park, which is near Athens, Texas. And one of the things that they’ve got going now is a canoe tour.

We had an excellent response to canoe tours. You know, you can go to the zoo and you can see snakes and different wildlife. But out here, you’re seeing nature as it really is.

One of the other parks we go to is Ray Roberts Lake State Park, which is north of Denton. And Ray Roberts Lake is a 30-thousand acre lake. And the SP is actually, two major parks and six smaller parks and a greenbelt and an equestrian trail…

I’ve been riding here for about ten years. And the trails are beyond belief in their natural beauty.

So you don’t really just go to one park. It’s like you’ve got four or five or six parks to go to.

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 - March Highlights Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

You get to learn a lot about Texas when you watch the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Series producer Don Cash.

One of the places we feature is San Felipe Springs in Del Rio , Texas. And people have put their algae eating catfish from their aquariums in the water. And this is an exotic species, and they do have a detrimental affect.

The sucker mouth catfish has really taken over; this population basically went exponential. Literally hundreds of thousands of fish here. More than any other fish in this creek. Maybe more than all the other fish put together.

We always hit a state park in every show. In march, one of the places we go is Purtis Creek State Park, which is near Athens, Texas. And one of the things that they’ve got going now is a canoe tour.

We had an excellent response to canoe tours. You know, you can go to the zoo and you can see snakes and different wildlife. But out here, you’re seeing nature as it really is.

One of the other parks we go to is Ray Roberts Lake State Park, which is north of Denton. And Ray Roberts Lake is a 30-thousand acre lake. And the SP is actually, two major parks and six smaller parks and a greenbelt and an equestrian trail…

I’ve been riding here for about ten years. And the trails are beyond belief in their natural beauty.

So you don’t really just go to one park. It’s like you’ve got four or five or six parks to go to.

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 - March Highlights Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

After whetting their appetite for the outdoors during a Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop, many women seek outdoors opportunities closer to home. The Texas Outdoor Women’s Network, or T.O.W.N., provides an outlet for nature loving women to connect.

It has increased my knowledge, my confidence and my friends.

Susan LaMere, coordinator of the Fort Worth Chapter of T.O.W.N, says women benefit when they find friends who share interest in the outdoors.

I’m a personal trainer, so in my opinion, being active period is a benefit and I think that lot of people don’t want to exercise by themselves. They may not go out and ride their bikes but they may go out with other people. One in particular, she’s 60 years old and she did not know how to ride a bike two years ago. One of the other women in the group taught her how to ride the bike and now, you know, she just loves it.

LaMere believes T.O.W.N. allows women to try new things while making close connections.

It’s a ready made group of people who are going to accept you for who you are, you know, whatever you want to do. I say over the past few years, some of these people have become very close friends of mine.

LaMere says that the group is open to any woman interested in learning.

We just want to expose people to the outdoors.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… 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 Outdoor Women's Network Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

A prescribed burn is a purposely set controlled fire.

Prescribed burns have long been recognized as a management tool.

Prescribed burns can be a cheap and effective way to manage habitats. Texas Parks and Wildlife offers free workshops to help private landowners learn more. David Synatzske is the manager of the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area

Most of ours are generally a one or two day workshop where we’re introducing landowners to the potential of fire for them. It’s more of a maintenance kind of activity rather than a restoration type of activity. Restoration fires are something that involve a lot more thought, a lot more preparation than your maintenance type fires. And we’re just trying too provide the knowledge there that this is a tool that’s available for our land managers and something for them to consider in their use of management whether it be brush management, population management, mechanical verses prescribed burning verses any of the other practices that might be out there available to them.

Parks and Wildlife will not conduct burns for landowners, but can provide biologists to assist landowners in surveying their property to see if a burn is right for them.

Find information on these free workshops at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we had research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… providing funding for the operations and management of the Chaparral WMA.

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

Prescribed Burns, Part 2 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Fires can be very healthy for habitats

If you’re just getting started in prescribed burning, it’s a very valuable tool. It’s something that was one a way of maintaining the environments that we had.

David Synatzske is the manager of the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area. He says there are two main types of burns.

Basically, there are restoration fires where you are trying to restore habitats; where you’re trying to get back to what habitats were at one time. Then you have maintenance fires, fires that maintain the existing habitat.

Those fires are used to accomplished different goals.

People burn for different reasons. Some people burn to open country up, to control brush encroachment. Other goals might be to simply create a change in under story, to create more grass or to create more forbs.

There are different ways of conducting burns.

If you have a fairly open type of habitat and you only want to control the undergrowth, you may burn it with a backfire as opposed to a head fire.

The season the burn is conducted also has a dramatic impact on the results. More on that, tomorrow.

That’s our show…we had research and writing help from Kate Lipinski… providing funding for the operations and management of the Chaparral WMA.

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

Prescribed Burns, Part 1 of 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download