Passport to Texas

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

When mist cloaks Caddo Lake it’s easy to understand how the lore and legend about this east Texas destination came to pass.

Native American legend says a giant flood created Caddo Lake. Others say an earthquake was responsible.

Meanwhile, scientists believe the lake formed when floodwaters, blocked by massive log jams on the Red River, backed up into the Cypress Bayou watershed, forming the lake.

One thing that is true: Caddo Lake’s beauty. And visitors to Caddo Lake State Park/WMA not only experience nature at her most beguiling, they also have a plethora of recreational opportunities — from hiking to hunting – to choose from.

With an annual public hunting permit, hunters may harvest deer, eastern wild turkey, and quail during appropriate seasons. Licensed anglers find largemouth bass, catfish and brim plentiful in the lake.

Find more on Caddo Lake SP/WMA at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show, made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program providing funding for the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

For Texas parks and wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Caddo Lake State Park / Wildlife Management Area Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

When mist cloaks Caddo Lake it’s easy to understand how the lore and legend about this east Texas destination came to pass.

Native American legend says a giant flood created Caddo Lake. Others say an earthquake was responsible.

Meanwhile, scientists believe the lake formed when floodwaters, blocked by massive log jams on the Red River, backed up into the Cypress Bayou watershed, forming the lake.

One thing that is true: Caddo Lake’s beauty. And visitors to Caddo Lake State Park/WMA not only experience nature at her most beguiling, they also have a plethora of recreational opportunities — from hiking to hunting – to choose from.

With an annual public hunting permit, hunters may harvest deer, eastern wild turkey, and quail during appropriate seasons. Licensed anglers find largemouth bass, catfish and brim plentiful in the lake.

Find more on Caddo Lake SP/WMA at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show, made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program providing funding for the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

For Texas parks and wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Caddo Lake State Park / Wildlife Management Area Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Goose Island is shrinking. Between 1961 and 1995, approximately 17 acres of this island near Rockport ended up underwater.

Goose Island is a small island in Aransas Bay, therefore it gets all the prevailing winds from the southeast which creates pretty large waves. And those waves have eroded the southern shoreline of Goose Island State Park over the years.

Kay Jenkins, Natural Resources Coordinator for State Parks.

The erosion has lead to a reduction in the amount of estuarine marsh, or salt marsh that once was located on the island. They basically provide a lot of food, as well as protection, especially for juvenile fisheries species.

Texas Parks and Wildlife and its partners developed a plan to stabilize the shoreline and restore the marsh.

With continuing erosion, relative sea level rise, development along the coast, these marshes are becoming more and more valuable because we’re losing them. They’re slowly being converted to open water, which is exactly what happened at Goose Island. We have instigated this project to stabilize that shoreline and restore some of that salt marsh that has been eroded away.

More on that tomorrow….

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the SFWR program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Goose Island -- Losing Ground Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Shoreline erosion is a fact of nature that can be controlled by an act of man.

In 2005 the Goose Island Shoreline Stabilization and Marsh Restoration Project got underway to halt shoreline loss there. And planners looked to another project for their inspiration.

The other major park that has done this is Galveston Island State Park. They were losing habitat on their bayside of the island mainly from northers blowing across Galveston Bay. So they started a marsh restoration project. And not only was it successful, but sea grasses came back that had been missing in the Galveston Bay for over 20 years.

Kay Jenkins is Natural Resources Coordinator for State Parks.

Even though the project was successful in restoring marsh and restoring seagrasses, we just looked at it and said, ‘Well, it just isn’t quite as natural looking as we had possibly thought.’ And so adjacent to Galveston Island State Park, other marsh restoration projects started using some different methodologies. Creating mounds, which created circular marshes rather than a grid-pattern marsh. And this appeared a lot more natural and that’s the technique that we’re going to use at Goose Island.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration program…which provides funding for the Private Lands and Pubic Hunting Programs.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Galveston Island Restoration Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Parks and Wildlife television series brings the outdoors in. Series producer Don Cash says one segment on Wyler Aerial Tramway and will take viewers to new heights.

It’s really kind of an unusual state park because it’s a tramway, and not your typical, “I’m gong camping” kind of place. The history of the tramway is really interesting; it was originally there to service the television towers on the top of the mountain.

The main purpose of the tramway being built was to get his engineers up to the transmitter site to do maintenance. When they saw that the ride beautiful, they decided to open it up to the public. And it ran until 1986 when it was shut down.

And the view is just…

Breathtaking, huh? Yeah (laughter).

We’re also going to go way down in the valley to the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, which is also part of the World Birding Center.

[bird chirps] This is one of the best places in the country to see birds. We have over five hundred species just in the Lower Rio Grande Valley alone [bird chirps] Which is more than what some states have.

All year round at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, you’re going to see lots of birds… you’re going to hear lots of birds. It seems to be pretty constant down there, no matter what time of the year you’re there.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series airs on PBS stations. Check your local listings.

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

TPWD TV – Taking to the Sky Play Now | Play in Popup | Download