Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Parks and Wildlife television series features a segment in June about an underwater “flower garden” you won’t want to miss. Producer Bruce Biermann explains.

Just a hundred and ten mile, east southeast of Galveston is a national treasure.

Flower Garden Banks are one of the most unique, diverse, and healthy coral reef ecosystem habitats, the northernmost coral reef on the continental shelf of north America.

And Texas A&M Corpus Christi has the contract to go out and monitor the coral reefs.

Organized monitoring of the Flower Garden Banks has been going on since 1989, and to date, all of our findings have been positive.

One of the interesting things is that what forms the coral heads is a big salt dome. Well, oil is underneath all this salt.

It is surrounded by the most active offshore oil and gas production area of the world. And so what we do is go out on annual cruises to ensure that there are no changes—no negative changes—occurring in the reef system itself.

Coral reefs take thousands of years to grow. And it doesn’t take but one oil spill to destroy an entire coral reef.

I think it’s important that Texans realize that this is a national treasure that’s sitting in Texas’ backyard.

Find stations airing the series at passporttotexas.org.

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

TPW TV: Garden in the Gulf Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Catfish have a face only a mother and angler could love. Texas Parks and Wildlife television series producer Alan Fisher hooked up with fishermen who were catching cats.

In the story we visit Lake Buchanan in Central Texas, and then Lake Conroe in Southeast Texas. I went out with two folks who target big catfish. And, the folks on Lake Conroe actually landed a thirty-five pounder that night. And, thirty five pounds is a lot of fish when you try and lift it into a boat.

[Groaning and fish flopping] He’s not very happy about all this.

Alan says something called jug fishing is a popular among cat anglers.

[Chuckles] Well, the jug fishing is something I’ve always known about. People take an old milk jug and tie a string around it, and [put a] hook on it, and throw it out in the water.

[With a] jug, you’re increasing your odds a whole lot, because you can put up to five hooks on a jug. It’s a blast. [laughs] I love it.

Catfish are kind of a fun fish. Some people like to see them at the end of a rod, some people like to see them on the dinner plate. But they’re a fun fish any way you choose to enjoy them.

Thanks, Alan. Go to passporttotexas.org for a listing of PBS stations that air the series.

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

Times and dates are subject to change, especially during PBS membership drives.

• Amarillo, KACV-TV, Channel 2: October–March, Saturday 6 p.m.
• Austin, KLRU-TV, Channel 18: Monday, 12:30 p.m.; Friday 5:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. KLRU2, Cable 20: Tuesday, 11 p.m.
• Bryan-College Station, KAMU-TV, Channel 15: Sunday, 5 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Corpus Christi, KEDT-TV, Channel 16: Sunday, 12 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, KERA-TV, Channel 13: October–March, Saturday, 6 p.m. Also serving Abilene, Denton, Longview, Marshall, San Angelo, Texarkana, Tyler, Wichita Falls and Sherman.
• El Paso, KCOS-TV, Channel 13: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Harlingen, KMBH-TV, Channel 60: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving McAllen, Mission and Brownsville.
• Houston, KUHT-TV, Channel 8: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.; Friday 1:30 p.m. Also serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Texas City and Victoria.
• Killeen, KNCT-TV, Channel 46: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving Temple.
• Lubbock, KTXT-TV, Channel 5: Saturday, 10 a.m.
• Odessa-Midland, KPBT-TV, Channel 36: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• San Antonio and Laredo, KLRN-TV, Channel 9: Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Waco, KWBU-TV, Channel 34: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Portales, New Mexico, KENW-TV, Channel 3: Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
• The New York Network, NYN, Thursday 8:30 p.m.; Saturday 2:30 p.m. Serving the Albany area.

Cable

Texas Parks & Wildlife can also be seen on a variety of government, educational and access cable channels in the following communities: Abilene, Allen, Atlanta, Boerne, Collin County Community College, Coppell, Del Mar College, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Irving, McKinney, North Richland Hills, Plano, Rogers State University, Texarkana College, The Colony, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls. Check your local listings for days and times.

TPW TV: Catching Cats Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

At a Corpus Christi housing project, the imagination of a young boy takes wing. See his story this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series. Writer producer, Ron Kabele. [NOTE: This segment will actually air in February, not January.]

This is about a 14 year old boy who lives in a housing project, his name is Joe. I heard about Joe from Ken Rice, a coastal biologist, and he said this kid loves to look at birds, and he looks at the birds at the housing project.

One day I was walking and I looked back here and there were just birds flying inside the couch and they’ll go behind it for some shade. And they got some of this wood for their nest…some of this, too…but I think they’ll put this around their nest, inside, makes it softer.

Even though Joe has fished all of his life, he’d never seen the rookery islands. So, one of the things that Ken Rice does is he takes people out on these environmental type classes. And Joe and some of his friends from Glen Moss Village went out. Whoa.

Dude, the birds over there. Look! There’s a pink one.

An exposure like this isn’t enough to turn into wanting to become a biologist, but, when they see a bird, they understand maybe how the bird is a part of nature, and how they are a part of the environment, too.

Thanks Ron.

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

TPW-TV: Spreading His Wings Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Start off January right by spending time with the Texas Parks and Wildlife television show. Producer, Abe Moore.

Some of the stories we’re covering in January include the Guadalupe Bass, and efforts to save our state fish. We’re also profiling some fun fishing stories, like on where to go fishing on both fresh water and saltwater, and some casting tips. And then, a story I did that’s going to air towards the end of January is on Buescher State Park, which is Southeast of Bastrop, near Smithville. It’s a nice little quiet park, kind of off the beaten path a little bit, and it’s really got a nice hiking trail down there.

Buescher SP has an 8-mile hiking trail that starts out in the Post oak woodland, which is an area that consists mostly of hardwood trees [bird call], and it makes a big loop and goes up into the Lost Pines ecosystem.

Now, there’s a park Road 1C that connects Bastrop SP with Buescher SP, and it’s a really cool little bike ride if you want to do some bike riding.

[bike gear sound] It’s about 12-miles long between the two parks. Therefore, if you make a round trip, you’ve got 24-miles that you’ve cycled. So it’s a very good workout—very intense.

So whether it’s hiking or biking, those are just some of the things you can do in at this hidden gem of a State park here in Texas.

Thanks Abe.

Find out where the show airs at passporttotexas.org.

That’s out show…for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Bass and Buescher State Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Witness efforts to understand and protect the endangered Houston Toad this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. Producer, Abe Moore.

They used to be all the way from Houston to Bastrop, but now they’re just in little pockets. So, we went out with some biologists to try and find some Houston toads in some ponds.

[Frog calls] So, it’s the unicorn in the woods. I mean, this is the thing that no one can find, and yet, at the same time, this is an animal that makes three thousand eggs at a time.

What we found while we were doing the story was that the Houston Zoo is working with biologists by raising baby toads—little Houston toadlets.

Our role in the Houston Toad recovery plan is one of kind of last resort. We’re starting to form a captive assurance colony, basically, and that is a, uh, like a failsafe against the extinction of the Houston Toad in the wild.

While we were out there, I was amazed at how big these toads were. They were fat and happy.

Some are kind of larger than what you’d expect.[shakes container of crickets] We’ve probably got about three or four thousand crickets in this container right here. We go through in the moment about six thousand a week.

So that’s on Texas Parks and Wildlife television the first or second week of December.

Thanks, Abe. Better check your local listings.

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

TPW TV: Endangered Houston Toad Play Now | Play in Popup | Download