Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

The city of San Antonio recently voted to transfer three thousand acres of land to the Government Canyon State Natural Area because they didn’t have the funds to manage the land themselves.

Richard Heilbrun (High-ul-brun) is a wildlife biologist at Parks and Wildlife. He says the new land is important because it provides habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.

This is golden-cheeked warbler paradise. You’ve got these slopes, you’ve got good diversity. You’ve got old shredding bark juniper like that one right there. I just have to believe that they’re all over the place.

The land is full of a wide variety of trees, which are necessary for the warbler’s survival. But the land is also important to the Edwards Aquifer.

You can see just on the side of this road just holes in the ground, holes in the soil, and it goes directly into the aquifer. And this is why this is such a wonderful place because it has both habitat and aquifer recharge.

But as you look out over the land, you see newly built houses dotting the nearby hills. The land right outside the natural area is being developed because people want to live where there’s a nice view. But new homes only mean less habitat for the warbler and other species.

Fortunately, Parks and Wildlife will continue efforts to preserve the fragile habitat. And in five to ten years, the new land will have trails for public hiking and mountain biking, for all Texans to enjoy.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan… For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

The public hasn’t had much access to the 300-thousand acre Big Bend Ranch State Park—but that’s about to change—and we kick things off with a Fiesta!

It’s a coming out party. The big day is November 14th, Saturday. We do have some pre and post fiesta activities.

Linda Hedges is a regional interpretive specialist and fiesta organizer. This free event will introduce attendees to outdoor opportunities and natural diversity found at the park. Pre fiesta activities commence Friday the 13th.

We’re looking adversity in the face this time since we’ve had a couple of false starts with the Fiesta because of, well, flood and swine flu. We are going for the three is a charm concept on the 13th of November as a kick-off with some daylong guided hikes, and mountain biking treks, also some half priced river rafting trips on the Rio Grande, with that same program repeated on Sunday.

The big day is Saturday November 14th which features tons of activities, a free barbecue lunch and a live concert. Folks who plan to attend should RSVP.

That is, in part, for planning purposes on our end, so we can do the best job of taking care of our visitors that day. But also, a nice perk for those who also do RSVP comes in the way of some attendance prizes.

Find out how to RSVP for the Big Bend Ranch State park Fiesta at passporttotexas.org

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
_______________________________________________________
RSVP:
Let us know you’re coming & double your chances of winning by sending us an e-mail RSVP. Your RSVP will entitle you to receive 2 tickets per family/group instead of 1. Must be at least 16 years of age to win.

RSVP by calling 512/389-8908 from 9 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday or by e-mailing
Big Bend Ranch State Park.
In your e-mail please provide:

• Your name
• Phone number
• E-mail address
• City of residence
• Number of adults
• Number of children under 12 yrs

Indicate the activities you are interested in:

• Guided short hikes
• Jeep tours
• Horseback riding
• Mountain biking

Indicate if you are wanting to make required reservations & how many for:

Early Bird Tours, Saturday, November 14:

• Birdwatching
• Rock Art Tour
• Geology Tour

Pre-Fiesta Field Trips, Friday, November 13:

• Birdwatching
• Rock Art Hike
• Backcountry Tour/Hike – Madrid Falls to Fresno Canyon
• Mountain Bike Tour – All day – Mexicano Falls (will you be bringing your own bike)

Post-Fiesta Field Trips, Sunday, November 15:

• Birdwatching
• Rock Art Hike
• Backcountry Tour/Hike – Madrid Falls to Fresno Canyon
• Mountain Bike Tour – All day – Mexicano Falls (will you be bringing your own bike)

Remember, you can double your chances in the attendance prize raffle by letting us know ahead of time that you are coming – receive two tickets per family instead of one!

For free campsite reservations, phone 432-358-4444.

Thank you & we hope to see you there.

Big Bend Ranch State Park Fiesta! Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

We usually say that state parks are for everyone, right? Well…there is one exception.

Big Bend Ranch State Park is not for everybody. Not everyone is going to enjoy a visit there.

Dan Sholly is Deputy Director of Texas State Parks. By all means visit the park—it’s fantastic. Unless, of course, you need creature comforts.

If you don’t want wildness…if you don’t want desolation and desert solitude and you want to have your cell phone work—don’t go to Big Bend Ranch, because you cell phone’s not going to work there; you’re going to be on your own to figure out what it is that you want to do out in the middle of an incredibly beautiful, sacred, wild land.

The park is 300-thousand acres of diverse, rugged, unspoiled beauty. Until recently, access was tightly controlled while staff developed a visitation plan. Regional Interpretive specialist, Linda Hedges.

Now we do have a plan in place that addresses safety issues, where every visitor who goes to the ranch to go into the back country—off the beaten path—goes through an orientation session with park staff. So, we now feel we are equipped with a plan to deal with public safety so that folks can enjoy the ranch safely.

On November 13 through 15, the park hosts a Fiesta to introduce visitors to everything the park has to offer—except a cell phone signal.

We’ll have details about Fiesta tomorrow.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Geocaching involves inputting latitude and longitude coordinates into a GPS unit and using the information to locate hidden caches.

What we’re going to do is, we’re going to have a low tech version, too, where it will just be a physical description of how to get to the cache.

Chris Holmes, outdoor education coordinator for state parks, is talking about The Texas Geocache Challenge—a four month pilot program (beginning November 1), which brings geocaching into 12 Central Texas State Parks…and more people into the outdoors.

So, people—if they don’t have this technology—can still participate in the event. They’ll just have physical directions to get to the cache; and then they can still find treasure in state parks.

Don’t think the low tech version is without its challenges.

That’s what the fun part is—making these descriptions so that they are a little bit challenging. For example, it may be, make sure that you walk east on the lost pines trail for half a mile until you see the big outcropping of rocks. And the cache is within 300 feet of the outcrop.

As the pilot is successful, it will be expanded into more parks. Go to passporttotexas.org to learn how geocaching works, and how locating all 12 caches will make you eligible for additional prizes.

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

Geocaching: The Low Tech Alternative Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Technology and nature join forces in the Texas Geocache Challenge.

It’s a new program that we’re piloting in Central Texas. And really what it is is using technology and going out and finding treasure in state parks.

Chris Holmes, outdoor education coordinator for state parks, says to play…visit the 12 State parks in the pilot between November and February and find each of the hidden caches.

What they’re going to do is they’ll go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and they’ll look at the Texas Geocache Challenge site, and they’ll have an opportunity to download a PDF passport. And this passport will have the 12 sites in there, with an area where they can prove that they’ve actually been to the geocache.

There’s a stamp inside each cache unique to the site—you’ll use it to mark your passport. That’ll prove you found the goodies.

Once they’ve done the 12 sites, and they’ve got their 12 stamps in the passport, then they can send it back to us, and we will provide an additional prize for them. It’s going to be a certificate, and it’s going to be a nice poster with a map of all the caches that they’ve been to.

No GPS? No problem. You can still play—and we tell you how tomorrow.

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

Geocaching: High Tech Meets High Touch Play Now | Play in Popup | Download