Passport to Texas

New Online Volunteer Sign Up Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

02—Volunteers are extremely important.

Volunteers save Texas Parks and Wildlife millions of dollars annually. And it’s never been easier to help the agency.

Kris Shipman, who coordinates Coastal Expos for the agency, uses up to 100 volunteers at a time for her events…and was instrumental in the development of a new online volunteer system for Parks and Wildlife.

11—Volunteers can actually now go onto our parks and Wildlife website and look up volunteer opportunities anywhere in the state for any project they would be interested in doing; they can sign up online.

The system went live in February and it’s already getting a work out. Staff that coordinate agency programs requiring volunteers may access the database and contact registrants about opportunities that fit their interests.

21—One of the great things about this systems is that it’s set up so we can go back in and search. For example, with the coastal expo, if I’m going to be in Corpus Christi doing this event, I’ll need volunteers. I can go in and do a search for all the people that have signed up that are in Corpus Christi, and I can send an email out to them letting them know that I’m going to be there and I have this event if you want to come volunteer.

Volunteering is a great way to learn something new, to get outside, and to make new friends. Access the volunteer database on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. Or find a link to it on our website: passporttotexas.org.

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

State Parks: We Appreciate Our Volunteers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Volunteering at a state park is as good as donating money to support them. Our state park guide, Bryan Frazier, has details.

62—We really cannot talk enough about how important our volunteers are in state parks. And that’s everything from park hosts to people who simply come in for the day and want to help on trail maintenance, or whatever. There’s lots of different ways that people can make a difference and get involved as a volunteer in state parks. In fact, last year we had the equivalent of more than 280 full time employees; that was the workforce of our volunteers. That’s equivalent to more than ¼ of our workforce, and it saved us more than $10 million dollars in value of what that labor for volunteers was able to accomplish. So, if someone’s interested in becoming a park volunteer, chances are there’s a state park near you that could really use them. We’ve got a new website that’s very user friendly that they can go and list where they may want to work and what their interests are, and the work they do, and they’ll match that up for a park that’s maybe looking for that. And you can find that at texasstateparks.org. Or, people can call Lori Reilly who coordinates all of our volunteers in state parks. And that’s 512-389-4746.

Thanks, Bryan.

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: Volunteers Save Parks Money Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

April is Volunteer month. And as it happens, Texas State Parks rely heavily on the work of many dedicated volunteers throughout the year.

07—Over the last several years it’s been pretty consistent; we clock about six hundred and fifty thousand hours of volunteer time.

And that’s just manual labor, says Lori Reiley, state park volunteer coordinator. Those 650-thousand volunteer hours translate into millions of dollars of savings for state parks annually.

07—Our volunteers make up about a third of our workforce. So, we really couldn’t function as well without them.

Volunteers do everything from mowing lawns and scrubbing toilets to taking entrance fees and leading interpretive programs…and so much more. Reiley says state parks encourage and welcome new volunteers.

16—We could always use their help. And while we get the occasional civic organization or nonprofit that wants to volunteer for service projects, we really could always use more individuals just on a regular basis to come out and volunteer in the parks.

Find out how you can volunteer at Texas State Parks when you visit texasstateparks.org.

That’s our show for today…we record our series at the Block House in Austin…Joel Block engineers our program.

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

State Parks: Volunteering Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Maximize your time outdoors when you volunteer at a Texas State Park.

03—We basically have three different categories of volunteers.

These categories include locals who sign up for special projects, friends groups that fund raise for specific sites and—says Lori Reiley—the third category is park hosts.

13—And that is a program designed for—traditionally—retirees who travel around the state and in exchange for a campsite, they labor in the park every week.

Reiley coordinates the state park volunteer program, and says people accepted as hosts, are required to make a time commitment.

12—The time frame is a minimum thirty-day commitment. And, the maximum is typically three months, but it can be extended depending on the park needs. The superintendent has the authority to extend that.

Most Texas State Parks offer host programs with plenty of work to help fill the 30 or so hour labor obligation.

17—We have everything from general grounds maintenance, or it could be cleaning the restrooms. What we really like is when we find people with special skills: carpentry, or graphic artists, or educators doing interpretive tours or education programs. So, it’s a variety.

Find more information on the Texas parks and Wildlife website.

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

This is Passport to Texas

Texas Nature Trackers is a citizen science program whereby Texans monitor species that biologists don’t commonly scrutinize.

05—So, we don’t have a lot of information on these species and we need to know what’s going on.

Biologist, Marsha May, oversees the program, which includes monitoring amphibians and freshwater mussels.

13—Many of these species are indicators of the health of our environment. And if we have a healthy frog population [for example] in a body of water within our community, then that’s a clean body of water.

Sound interesting? Consider attending the training on May 19 & 20 at Lake Livingston State Park, in Livingston in East Texas.

17—We’re actually doing a combination. Where, on one evening, we will do amphibian watch, because the best time to hear frog calls are at night. And then the following day—during the daytime—we’ll do mussel watch. So, people can either do both workshops, or they can do one or the other.

Complete this training and earn a scientific permit to handle either amphibians or mussels.

15—After that, they pick a site where they want to monitor, and they monitor on a regular basis, and then send us the data. If they need information, or if they need support, we are always there for them.

Find workshop details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and helps to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Texas Nature Trackers: Training Trainers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download