Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Garner State Park, about an hour and a half west and north of San Antonio, has been a favorite outdoor destination for generations…and it shows; or did. Newly renovated cabins are ready for visitors. Our State Park Guide, Bryan Frasier has details.

54—We’re so proud to be able to announce the CCC built Cabins have been fully restored—all 17 of them. They’ve been closed for several months—we’re approaching about a year where they’ve been closed. Well, now—as of Memorial Day—they’re going to be open. And they received a total facelift from new roofs to new fixtures, to restrooms…and people are going to love what they find in these cabins. And they accommodate about six people. And we want to encourage people to make reservations there as far in advance as they can, because these have been popular, and they’re going to be even more popular now that they have a real spiffy new coat of paint and renovations. And these are full service cabins…and to be at Garner, which is traditionally our most visited state park…people have been waiting. And it’s so good to be able to tell people that the CCC build cabins at gardener State Park are open for business.

Thanks Bryan. Make reservations when you log onto texasstateparks.org.

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: Garner Open for Business Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Virtues of Mother Neff State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

While your mother may have many virtues, something she probably doesn’t have is three distinct ecosystems; but our mother does.

11—As you move from one ecosystem to the other, seeing the different plants and animals that live in each one of those ecosystems, just really shows you how varied the state of Texas is.

Leah Huth is Superintendent of Mother Neff State Park. The ecosystems are a river bottom, where you can fish free along the banks of the Leon River, as well as a limestone escarpment and prairie.

24—We have over three miles of hiking trails that go up through a natural limestone escarpment; and the hiking trails take you through where the golden cheeked warbler likes to make their home. Then, if you take the trail all the way to the top of the park, which is over 250 acres, is a natural prairie. And right now the wildflowers are coming out, so spring is here and it’s just absolutely beautiful.

The park, in north Central Texas, is a one-stop family weekend vacation destination.

18—We have enough diversity here to where every member of the family could find something that they enjoy. There’s road biking, they could also do hiking, we have birding, we’ve got butterflies. Of course, there’s fishing in the Leon River. And if you desire just to put up a hammock, there’s opportunity to do that as well.

Learn more about this gem of a destination at texasstateparks.org.

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

First State Park in Texas: Mother Neff Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Governor Pat Neff may have named Mother Neff park for his mother, but Isabella Neff got the ball rolling by willing several acres of the family homestead to “the people.”

11—She put it in her will in 1916 that she wanted part of the homestead to be a park to the pubic for religious, educational, fraternal and political purposes.

Leah Huth is Mother Neff State Park Superintendent. Even before Neff’s passing, Huth says people living near Waco and Temple used the land.

23—The people in the area were used to going there and meeting up with all of their neighbors. And she wanted that tradition to continue after she passed away. So, she instructed her son Pat to erect a fence around the plot and to construct a substantial building in the nature of a pavilion, and wanted it to be called something like the Neff Park; and of course, they ended up calling it Mother Neff.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, which in the 1930s built several structures at the park still in use today, started a tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day there.

13—People from all over came. And we have pictures of all of the CCC boys lined up in a star around the flagpole. It was just a very special time. It was often that Mother’s Day was celebrated here at the park.

We extol the virtues of our mother on tomorrow’s show.

We record our series at the Block House in Austin.

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

Mother's Day in State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A card and breakfast in bed is a nice way to show mom your appreciation on Mother’s Day; but what about changing things up this year?

07—We would love for folks to take their mom out to a healthier and happier kind of mother’s day and have a picnic at a state park.

Glenda Beasley is marketing manager at Parks and Wildlife. She says with more than ninety Texas State Parks, there’s one close to you and with plenty of recreational opportunities for every family member.

11—You can go on a hike…There’s wildlife nature viewing. Some parks have boats that you can rent. There’s obviously picnicking. We’re even going to have some special recipes online [that you can cook up at the park].

Those recipes are courtesy of the Texas Beef Council. It doesn’t get much better than a hearty, healthy picnic lunch, surrounded by nature’s beauty. And when you take mom to a state park park, you aren’t just doing something nice for her—you’re also doing something nice for parks, which were badly hurt last year due to extreme weather.

18—Approximately half of the fees that are paid through visitation are what funds state parks. And so, we’re still trying to recover from the recent drought and weather issues that we had. It’s a beautiful time to be at a state park, and this [increased park visitation] is really helpful for us to recover from those issues that we’ve had.

Find more information at texasstateparks.org.

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

State Parks: Outdoor Store Helps Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Recreational Equipment, INC—commonly known as REI—has been a valued partner of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s for years. And now they’ve gone above and beyond. Bryan Frazier has details.

66—The first thing they did was with our Texas Outdoor Family Program, one of the most popular programs that we’ve done over the last few years. They replaced the sleeping bags and the tents for that program because all of those tents that we had for that program were lost in the Bastrop Fire. What they also did in December was—at the cashier’s counter there when they check out with their merchandise—for the month of December in five stores, they simply asked people if they wanted to make a donation to parks. And by doing that for that month, they raised more than 11-thousand dollars for state parks. And all that went to Texas outdoor families to help them with that program. Most recently, they gave us 25-thousand dollars from REI Corporate to print—for the first time ever—a Texas State park Guide in Spanish. So now it’s available to a whole group of people who might have had a language barrier, but were really interested in getting out and seeing the wonderful beauty and diverse recreation tht we have in Texas. All of that made possible by REI’s involvement. Helping us do things that we otherwise simply couldn’t do, and saving taxpayers’ dollars—that we’re also stewards of. It helps us use those for other projects so that when people get to parks, their park experience is better.

Thanks, Bryan.

Funding for our show comes from Chevrolet: supporting outdoor recreation in Texas because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.