Passport to Texas

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

Borders are political demarcations, conceived of by man. Nature, meanwhile, knows no such boundaries.

The boundary to Texas and the United States doesn’t stop midway in the Rio Grande. It goes all the way to the Mexican side as far as the resources are concerned.

Smiley Nava is recently retired from Texas Parks and Wildlife where he served as its borderlands biologist. His work focused on the natural resources along the 12-hundred mile border shared between Texas and Mexico.

We are specifically looking at the state natural resources that we share with our four Mexican states. We’re right at around fifty percent of the US/Mexico border, so Texas is an important component of those shared resources.

The area Smiley oversaw is diverse.

The Tamaulipan scrub land is one of the provinces that are prominent for a good part of our border that we share with Mexico. The other part, the upper basin of the Rio Grande, as you move inland, is more typical of the Chihuahuan desert. So the species utilize those, what natural resources and components we share with Mexico in those regions, kind of drive where we’re trying to focus our work.

That’s our show for today… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program.

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

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

Acquiring outdoors knowledge and skills need not be painful or joyless. Steve Hall is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Director of Education.

One of our most popular topics is outdoor survival and first aid. And of course that can apply to a camper, a mountain biker, a boater, what have you. We have a wealth of programs in education and outreach for anybody who just wants to learn more about safety, the outdoors, shooting sports.

So we have other types of programs and other audiences that we try to reach in those cases.

Find more information about outdoor educational opportunities on our website at passporttotexas.org.

While you’re there, click on the tab for Outdoor Stories and share your favorite memory of time spent in the great Texas outdoors.

That’s our show…made possible by the Wildlife Restoration program… helping to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.

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

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

Hunting licenses go on sale next month. And if you’re a new hunter, or new to Texas, taking a hunter education class will prepare you for the seasons ahead.

Hunter education teaches hunting safety, skills and responsibility. And mandatory hunter education, taught over the course of a weekend, became law in 1988.

Steve Hall, Parks and Wildlife’s Director of Education, says hunter education is the first step in a lifelong pledge to safety and sportsmanship.

Hunter education is actually targeting those aged 12 through 16 years of age. And that’s kind of the way the law is designed. It’s to try to get them early enough in their hunting process to make a difference.

So we help them to understand safety first of all, but also their image. And that’s the kind of thing we try to teach.

Hunter education classes are ongoing statewide. Find classes near you by visiting our passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…made possible by the Wildlife Restoration program… helping to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.

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

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

J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area in Port Arthur offers the best alligator habitat in Texas. Amos Cooper is a Natural Resource Specialist at the site.

Murphree Wildlife Management Area was originally bought for waterfowl habitat, but by impounding this area, you actually created excellent habitat for the American Alligators, too. This is probably the most populated habitat that we have in the state.

There’s approximately one alligator per acre of land at J.D. Murphree WMA. And this month, the public’s invited to help census the big lizards during a nighttime count.

First, we give a little orientation and we explain to them, you know, what we do, why we do it, and basically how we do it. We take people out at night on a cruise and we go out and do a count. It’s data that we use. And they get to see first hand that this animal is not trying to jump in the boat with them. Also, we capture some so they can actually get close up to them and touch them and feel them and see what they’re about.

The Nighttime Gator Spotlight Count is Saturday, July 28th. It’s free with admission to the site – you must also have an Annual Public Hunting Permit or Limited Public Use Permit. Reservations are required, and space is limited.

Don’t forget your bug spray.

Log onto passporttotexas.org for registration information.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…which provides funds for the Private lands and Public Hunting Programs…For 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

It continues to amaze boating safety educator, Jack Dyess that so many people who boat in Texas think they know the state’s boating laws.

When they are stopped by a water safety enforcement officer for some violation, their first response is “I didn’t know that.” That’s probably true; they didn’t know that…because they don’t know the boating laws.

Dyess says people think that just because they have a license to drive a car, they know everything there is to know about driving a boat.

It’s ridiculous to think that if you know the automobile laws you also know the boating laws…you can’t obey laws that you don’t know anything about.

Texas Parks and Wildlife offers boating safety courses statewide to familiarize everyone with boating laws, navigation rules, docking, anchoring and even handling accidents and emergencies aboard a vessel.

It’s in a classroom, you may take it through the internet, or you can take it through a home study course.

To find a class near you, log on to passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…

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

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