Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Outdoor Families Program is expanding. In addition to offering workshops at city parks, now families can learn outdoor skills at nearby state parks.

Every Texas Outdoor Family Program that we offer in state parks is going to be less than an hour’s drive for most people.

Chris Holmes is a regional interpretive specialist charged with coordinating the state park program, which, he says, is in response to a decline in families tent camping.

Through our research, we know that people want to go back to state parks. We really know that they want to learn how to camp, but simply just don’t know how to, or have a little bit of fear about going out to a state park. So, this is in a family friendly environment where no experience is necessary.

And neither is equipment.

We’ll be providing the basic equipment; we’ll provide tents, sleeping mats, lanterns, and stoves and cookware and plates and so, there’ll just be a list of real basic things that we think a family should need to bring like flashlights. And, we’ll provide a menu so that the families can go to the store and buy some groceries for the actual weekend, and then we’ll teach them how to make some good camp food.

The first workshop is August fourth in Galveston. We have details at passporttotexas.org.

That our show for today…remember: life’s better outside. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Hi. What’s your name? Ionie. What are you doing here today, Ionie? Um… I’m…um…camping.

Five-year-old Ionie Dalton is the reason her parents, Bill and Jenny, took part in a Texas Outdoor Family workshop.

We really wanted to get some experience going camping because I’ve wanted to take Ionie. She’s actually wanted to go fishing and camping since before she was two.

The Daltons, and other families, spent an entire weekend learning outdoor skills.

We’ve gotten to go and do fishing, and camping 101, and orienteering. And it’s been great.

While it’s important to get kids outdoors, Jenny reminds us of another reason to get outside.

Because it’s fun. Because, it’s like playing. It’s adult and kid playtime.

Bill Dalton said his family will definitely go camping, but won’t stop there.

I like the idea of going to the Expo. That sounded like a lot of fun, so just a lot of things there to try out—and with all of the experts you’d ever need on hand to help you with them.

That’s our show for today, with support from Toyota. To learn about upcoming Texas Outdoor Family workshops at local parks and state parks, visit lifesbetteroutside.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Lake Somerville Complex includes the Birch Creek Unit, Nails Creek Unit, a trailway that connects the two parks, and a wildlife management area. Kim Ochs manages the complex.

Birch Creek is on the northwest side of lake Somerville; it lies in Burleson County, but we are about twenty miles from Caldwell and about seventeen miles from Somerville. We are in a rural area, but we get a lot of visitation from the Houston area.

What city dweller would not jump at the chance to escape the urban jungle for this rural oasis with its ample camping opportunities?

Over at Birch Creek, including our water only sites, which are just for tents, we’re going to have a total of 129. Nails Creek is a little bit smaller unit, and they’re going to have about 70 sites with their water and electricity.

This area also offers year-round equestrian trails, wildlife-viewing opportunities, and, of course—water recreation, which begins in spring with fishing.

You can almost set your clocks by it—from Memorial Day through Labor Day—it’s going to be the skier, the boater and the jet skier that’s going to come out here. After labor Day, this Lake is unique in that there are hunting opportunities provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers; and then, during the winter, once again, fishing takes over.

We have a link to the Lake Somerville State Park web page at passportotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

If you want to know Texas, get to know state parks.

We have ninety-three state parks and historic sites and state natural areas, and they represent a real cross-section of what is Texas. The lands, the culture, and all kinds of things.

Walt Dabney, Director of Texas State, says the new state park guide simplifies navigation of the park system.

The guide lists all the parks. It lists the different kinds of activities and so forth that you can do in those parks. It gives you a description about each one of the parks. Of course, in conjunction with the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, you’ve got lots of information.

The guide is a great companion for your road trips.

This guide is certainly something that you could keep handy in your glove compartment. It is a great planning tool. And, I’ll tell you, that the way gas prices are going today, parks are going to be even more attractive as a great place to go to, and kind of stay put, and just have a wonderful time.

We have more information on the state park guide at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…remember: life’s better outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

This long Independence Day weekend, many state parks are celebrating as only they can…and you’re invited to join them.

The LBJ State Park and Historic site in the picturesque Texas Hill Country town of Johnson City, dedicates its July Fourth festivities to its namesake in the 100th year of his birth. Come out to the park, Friday, from 10 to 3, and enjoy old-fashioned fun like horseshoe and washer pitching, stick-horse races, watermelon seed spitting and other games.

If you like fireworks, and you live in East Texas, the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, is the place to be on July Fourth. See one of the largest fireworks shows in East Texas. Fireworks begin at dark, and admission is free after 5 p.m.

Independence Day celebrations continue on Saturday, July 5th. Pack a picnic lunch and head over to Lake Texana State Park from 2 to 4 p.m. for horseshoes, washer toss, volleyball, sack races, water balloon toss, dunking booth and other activities. Bring your tackle, too, as it’s free to fish at state parks.

Also on July fifth, visitors to Possum Kingdom State Park, outside the Metroplex, may attend a fireworks display at Hell’s Gate, put o by the Possum Kingdom Chamber of Commerce. Hell’s Gate is a massive limestone in which the lake squeezes through, and is accessible by watercraft.

For additional information about these and other state park events, visit passporttotexas.org. That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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