Passport to Texas

The new season of TPW Television starts the week of October 15, 2017

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This is Passport to Texas

The new season of Texas Parks and Wildlife Television kicks off October 15th, marking 32 years on the air.

Yeah, it’s like older than one of the guys that works on the show, actually…

Even so, they keep it fresh. Series producer, Don Cash, says the program is not a hunting and fishing show.

We find interesting and unique people all across Texas who are into nature, who are into the outdoor, who are into wildlife – and we tell their stories.

Thirty-two years later, producers tell more stories thanks to new technology. Consider the upcoming segment about a university student who walked the 100 mile Lone Star Hiking Trail.

One of our producers took still cameras – you know, DSLRs – and was able to do a good portion of a hundred mile hike. So, it’s cool that we have the technology and the smaller cameras that allow you to go do things like a hike – of 100 miles – that maybe you couldn’t do back in the day when you had to carry a 35 pound camera.

Cash says he hopes stories like the 100 mile hike inspire people to experience the great Texas outdoors.

A lot of people are new to the state –a lot of people have been here a long time – and don’t really know what all we’ve got. And that’s what the show does. We show you all this cool stuff that you can do in the outdoors, and hopefully, maybe you’ll go out there and discover it for yourself.

Discover the new season of the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series the week of October 15. Check your local listings.

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

Map of Port O’Connor Paddling Trail

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This is Passport to Texas

Port O’Connor offers outdoor enthusiasts an enticing paddling trail opportunity.

We are in Mule Slough in the back bay system of Port O’Connor, Texas. This is an isolated flat, and it is surrounded by black mangrove and cordgrass.

On a segment airing this week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series, we follow Alan Raby with Dolphin Kayaks as he takes Xandra and Jade Alford on a tour of this unique place.

 This is my backyard. My backyard’s always been outdoors with everything. And you get to sit in a kayak and get to see pelicans, seagulls, herons – everything. You get to see it all.

Kayakers experience wildlife up close and personal.

[Alan] So, the Port O’Connor is unique in the way that it’s probably the most vast one on the Texas coast that’s easily accessible. There’s over 40 miles total of paddle trail. [Xandra] Look, Jade. Look at tht look. [Jade] That is just a camera ready loon. [Xandra] He’s getting his fifteen minutes in.

Alan Raby says the Port O’Connor trail, always feels new.

[Alan] It is an adventure almost every time you come. I mean, the saying goes, once you visit here once, you always come back a second time. [Xandra] You know, Port O’Connor has a way of bringing you back. It’s a great place to be.

Discover the Port O’Connor paddling Trail on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS through October seventh. Check your local listings.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Parks Ranch — Lone Star Land Steward Regional Award Winner for Gulf, Prairies and Marshes region.

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This is Passport to Texas

Before we domesticated livestock, the land and water belonged to wildlife. Cattle took a toll on this habitat; but thanks to the efforts of landowners like David Crow, cattle and conservation coexist.

The ranch is our factory. The cattle are a part of the factory. The wildlife’s part of the factory. And everything has to click together.

Crow operates the 5,600-acre Parks Ranch in Goliad County, and keeps the needs of wildlife top of mind.

I think one of the biggest detractors to wildlife is fragmentation of habitat. To be able to hold this ranch together is extremely important.

A 2016 Lone Star land Steward award-winner in the Gulf Prairies & Marshes region, Crow uses a variety of techniques to create greater density of native grasslands, which supports better diversity of native wildlife.

I’m pleased that my son has chosen his career in this business as well, because that means at least we’re good for another generation.

Witness the success of Parks Ranch on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series next week on PBS. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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

Wrangling blue suckers in the Colorado River.

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This is Passport to Texas

The Colorado River is home to a blue ghost: a fish called the Blue Sucker. It’s a rare and threatened species, and for Mathew Acre, it’s worth the days, weeks and months spent searching for it.

Currently the Blue Sucker status is somewhat unknown in the lower Colorado River, so we are not a hundred percent sure how the Blue Sucker is doing.

Acre is a PhD Student from Texas Tech, and works with a team – that includes Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist Dakus Geeslin – to search for this elusive fish.

So we are about ten miles east of Austin on the Colorado River, we are looking for that faster water, and some type of structure, they are really adept at swimming in fast water, they are great swimmers.

Blue suckers used to be found throughout North America, but dams and poor river quality have led to their dramatic decline.

It’s unique in that it has this really elongated body and it hangs out in these fast flowing waters, shoots, and riffles, that most fish tend to avoid because they just don’t have the energy budget to stay within that riffle.

Join the search for the blue sucker when you tune into the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS September 3-9.

Wow, finally! He was in that fast water just where we expected him to be! It just took us a couple of passes through there. You just have to be on your game. That is awesome dude!

The Wildlife and Sport Fish restoration program support our series.

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

Collecting data on Kangaroo Rat.

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This is Passport to Texas

According to Dr. Randy Simpson, kangaroo rats are…

They’re about the handsomest rodent that you can find.

The problem is, you can’t find them. At least not many of them, anyway. Simpson is Wildlife Biology Program Director at Texas State. During a Texas Parks and Wildlife TV segment airing next week on PBS, graduate students, including Silas Ott, survey the species near the Texas/Oklahoma border.

So, it does seem to be pretty rare geographically. It’s only been found in 11 counties in Texas. And within the past 20 years, it’s only been found in five of those 11 counties.

Ott and his cohorts locate fresh burrows and set traps and cameras. Dr. Simpson.

Are we seeing just the last vestiges of populations that are hanging on? We don’t know. I think that that’s the reason Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service want to find that out.

Nathan Rains is a Wildlife Diversity Biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. He’s assisting Texas State, and says the agency helped to fund the research through its grant program.

It’s obviously declining. We don’t have a lot of great information on this species, so we’re trying to learn as much as we can. But it’s a species we’re concerned about, and it’s been a concern for awhile.

Catch the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV segment Hop for the Future next week on PBS. Check your local listings.

The Wildlife restoration program supports our series funds kangaroo rat surveys and management in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti