Passport to Texas

State Parks: A Grant for Caprock Canyons Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Caprock Canyons State Park secured a 65-thousand dollar grant from the Ted Turner Foundation to help habitat restoration for the state bison herd. Our State Park Guide Bryan Frazier has details.

63—The Ted Turner Foundation has a history with helping restore bison nationwide. They’ve given a grant to Caprock Canyons SP, and that can go for everything from fencing to prairie restoration—things that will help that Texas State bison herd more viable, more diverse, and just more thriving and visible just so the people of Texas can enjoy it. And the superintendent there, Donald Beard, has done some really interesting things to help restore that prairie habitat there. Everything from getting some donated money to get a big machine that carves up some of the invasive red berry juniper and mesquite trees to make the prairie habitat come back even quicker. But they’re also planning to do a prairie dog town restore, where they’re relocating some black-tailed prairie dogs from Lubbock out to the park. So you should have more of a thriving prairie ecosystem that resembles what we had here in Texas before European settlement. And that’s the long range plan. And this grant from the Turner Foundation allows us to really get a jump start on that—and they’re just really doing some great things at Caprock Canyons State park.

Thanks Bryan

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

America is Your Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bastrop State Park, still recovering from the devastating Labor Day weekend wildfire, is vying for a $100,000 grant sponsored by Coca-Cola, in the third annual “America is Your Park” competition. The money from the grant would fund the park’s ongoing restoration efforts.

This is a competition in which the public decides by voting for their favorite park online using a special Facebook page set up by the Company, or by using a social media application called Four Square.

Regional Park manager, Todd Mcclanahan.

27—You can do an online [Facebook] vote, and that counts for one vote, and you can do that from anywhere an unlimited amount of times. The Four Square is the free application for Smart Phone. So, you download the Four Square app. And once you get a Four Square account, you register on the Coca-Cola Facebook website, and that registers your Four Square account with the contest. And so, then as you come to or near the park, and you check in with your Four Square account, then that counts as 100 votes.

Voting ends on July 15. If Bastrop State Park receives the most votes, it will win the $100,000 grant. The funds will keep American Youth Works members at the park, advancing the recovery of damaged infrastructure and forest landscape.

06—The $100,000 is the grand prize, but they’re also offering $50,000 for second and $25,000 for third.

To find voting information you can search for America is Your Park on Facebook. There is no limit to the number of times individuals may vote.

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

Safety: Fireworks in State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

[SFX fireworks]

You can go ahead and pack in just about anything you’ll need to enjoy your Fourth of July celebration at a state park—except fireworks.

06—It is illegal in Texas state parks…it is a Class C misdemeanor to possess fireworks in a state park.

Wes Masur is state park law enforcement coordinator at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Even the relatively benign sparklers, black cats, and bottle rockets are prohibited in state parks not only during the fourth of July…but also during the other 364 days of the year—and for good reason.

09—Within the state park system we have different types of wildlife and different types of grasses and we don’t want to get any type of forest fire started…people are there to enjoy the state parks.

And if it’s even half as dry this year as last year, the last thing anyone wants to do is cause a fire. While a few state parks do offer organized fireworks displays, such holiday pyrotechnics aren’t for everyone.

05—Some people don’t like fireworks…the noises that go along with that stuff—we just don’t allow it in the state parks.

For more information on which state parks offer public fireworks displays, log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

We record our series at the Block House in Austin, Texas, and Joel Block Engineers our show.

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

State Parks: Wyler Tramway Open for Fun Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Wyler Aerial Tramway at Franklin Mountains State Park features gondola that takes visitors a mile up Ranger Peak…for a 7-thousand square mile view of three states and two nations. Our state park guide Bryan Frazier says the tramway is ready for business again after being closed for more than a month.

51—it was closed for a number of weeks while they made some repairs and got some new cable and made some improvement. So, it’s now back open again. So, not only can people ride the tramway up and down, but you can also now do a one-way trip where you can ride the tramway up and take a beautiful hike down back to where your vehicle is parked. And you’re talking about something that is four dollars for adults on that one-way and seven dollars for adults when you ride it both ways. So it’s very reasonable, and a unique experience, that you can only do in Texas—and only in a state park. And, people can even do it in the evening when the lights are coming up from the city and it’s a breathtaking view when you’re out in that part of the world. So, don’t just enjoy the great Mexican food and things that we can find out in El Paso. Get out and see those Chihuahuan desert features. And there’s no way to see that like the Wyler Arial Tramway.

Thanks Bryan

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

State Parks: Goose Island Expansion Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

At more than a thousand years old, the Big Tree growing in Goose Island state park is the oldest coastal live oak tree in the United States. It was already five hundred years old when Columbus landed on this continent. And our State Park guide Bryan Frazier says the area around this ancient oak is expanding.

51—The Big Tree Ranch, which has historically encircled the big tree six acre property of the state park, will now become part of the state park. So, Goose Island State Park has expanded by about 70 acres. Ultimately this was the result of some dollars that became available from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and we’re putting those funds to use to not only add some more green space in and around the Big Tree, but also an area of habitat in that peninsula that goes out into the bay that’s prime whooping crane habitat, and one of the few areas where people can see those endangered whooping cranes. So, it’s a win-win for everybody. And Goose Island is historically a very popular park with Texans and Winter Texans. And so, it’s a great place to go to get along the coast for some birding and great fishing. And now, it’s even bigger and even better.

Thanks Bryan

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.