Passport to Texas

Javelina strolling in the park.

State Park Getaway--Choke Canyon State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

No matter what your outdoor interest, chances are you’ll find it at Choke Canyon State Park. Bryan Frazier is our guide.

Choke Canyon State Park—a great place to go in terms of catfish fishing, which turns on a little later in the spring. Crappie fishing, white bass…Choke Canyon has just risen in the ranks, if you will, in the fishing world as a place to go to really catch lots of different kinds of fish. But, right now, bass fishermen, that’s one of their hot spots to stop and visit on the way. A lot of tournament fishermen show up there.

Another thing about Choke Canyon is, it’s a complete park from a recreational standpoint. You’ve got hike and bike trails, you’ve got a gymnasium, you’ve got screen shelters that have been enclosed with air conditioning, you’ve got lots of different facilities. A group facility, fish cleaning stations—so many different things, depending on what your needs are. Hookups for RVs are good there, with 50 amp service.

It’s far enough south—you’ve got great birding—even some of the things like the green jays and chachalacas…and the wildlife viewing is unmatched. Whether you’re looking for deer, or turkeys or javelina—they’re oftentimes viewable right from the park road in your vehicle. A great place to take the kids to get them familiar with nature. So, Choke Canyon is definitely a place I recommend this time of year to people to visit.

Find more State Park Getaway information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

How do you balance the needs of wildlife and habitat, with wind energy? Find out this month and next on the TPW TV series: Producer Abe Moore.

One of the areas we go is up in the Panhandle, where wind energy is threatening tall grass prairies and the Lesser prairie Chicken, which is there; and it’s got biologists a little concerned.

They don’t do well with change on the landscape. We think that we’re displacing or moving a nesting female away from where she wants to be, and we don’t have much habitat left for her to go to.

We also do a second part on wind energy and we go down to the coast, where wind energy is being developed even faster than in the Panhandle. And, it’s a concern because it’s in the Central Flyway where millions of birds migrate through. So you have all these birds and you’re putting wind turbines in there. So there’s a balance there. We talk with Penescal Wind Farm down there. And they have a radar system set up where they can see the birds coming before they get there.

The radar itself generates a curtailment command, and in less than one minute all the turbines will be turning at less than one RPM. And in within five minutes, all of them are completely stationary.

So, both on the coast, and on the Panhandle, it comes down to habitat issues and trying to site them in the right place.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TPW TV--Wind & Wildlife Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

This month the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series plumbs the depths of Devil’s Sink Hole with high tech imaging…and also explores living arrangements between humans and alligators in Texas. Series Producer, Don Cash.

We’ve got some pretty interesting stories. In the middle of the month, we’ve got a story called New Wave Cave. And this is about a group from the University of Texas doing Lidar mapping, or laser mapping, of the Devil’s Sinkhole down at the Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area.

So, the objective of what we’re doing is we’re shooting a laser model to recreate the space digitally, where we can show people what its like to be at the bottom of this hole without having to drop down a hundred and fifty feet on a piece of rope.

A little later in march, we’re going to look at the American Alligator in Texas. Thirty years ago, the American alligator was on the endangered species list, and today the range is expanding. And that means that occasionally there’s going to be contact with humans.

The homeowners need to understand that they’re in alligator habitat. They just need to understand that if the alligator’s in his habitat—he won’t bother them if they don’t bother him.

So, in March we’ve got the usual wonderful array of stories: caves, alligators—you name it, we’ve got it. You should really watch.

Find information about the television Series on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

TPW TV--Lydar and Big Lizards Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

This month on the TPW TV series you’ll get to the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon. Producer, Ron Kabele.

It’s the second largest canyon in the country. And, it has a big advantage over the Grand Canyon, and that is you can drive down to it.

The Grand Canyon is nice to stand on the edge and go. ‘That’s a great canyon.’ Here, you can get into the canyon and you can become part of it.

I heard about this 24-hour bike race that they were doing, and it was to raise money for cancer research. And so, what better way to show off the park than to show people actually uses it.

When you’ve got a huge park like this, these are the only places where you can do these kinds of events. That’s what the parks are for.

And one of the kids, his name was Joe. I got some video of him during the race, and then afterwards I interviewed him, and that’s when I realized that he only had one arm.

They’re like you can’t bike a hundred miles. You know, I was able to do the fifty with ease; I’m sure I can bike a hundred. Yeah, they did kind of think I was crazy.

You don’t have to be crazy to visit Palo Duro State Park—just adventurous. Learn what awaits you at Texas’ Grand Canyon, when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

TPW TV--Palo Duro Canyon Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

This month the Texas parks and Wildlife Television series puts the spotlight on our fine feathered friends. Series producer, Don Cash.

A couple of things we’re going to look at early in the month of February…we’re going to look at the current situation with bobwhite quail—which is a very popular bird and a very good sporting bird. And we’re going to look at ways that landowners working with our department to manage their land for better quail populations.

We’re trying to create a situation where there’re more native grasses, and less of your introduced coastal type grasses.

We’re also going to take a look at the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trails. The department has three brochures: upper coast, central coast, lower coast… And these are really handy brochures that birders can use to decide what they want to see, where they want to see it, and when they want to go see it.

Later in the month, we’re going to take a look at the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, which was extinct, but in 2005 may have been found again in Arkansas. One of our producers followed a group of researchers in East Texas—in the Big Thicket—for six months as they looked for any signs of the extinct Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

If there was a bird out there, it would have to rely on a whole lotta luck if it happened to be where we were.

So, the television show in February has lots of birds, and maybe it will help our viewers get ready for that spring birding season.

Thanks, Don.

Find a list of stations airing the series on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

TPW-TV: Birding Play Now | Play in Popup | Download