Passport to Texas

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

For $10-dollars by mail, or $9 online, anyone can enter Big Time Texas Hunts for the chance to win one of seven exclusive hunting trips, including the popular Texas Grand Slam—an opportunity to hunt all four of Texas’ premier big game animals.

White-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and desert bighorn sheep, which is very rare to get the chance to do that.

Linda Campbell is Program Director of the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. Other packages include the Whitetail Bonanza, Premium Buck, Big Time Bird Hunt, Exotic Safari and more.

Enter as many times as you wish to for one or more packages. Most of our hunts are held on private lands—high quality ranches with great lodges. We feed people well, and they’re fully guided. And it’s a really neat opportunity.

The goal of the program is to raise money for wildlife management and research, habitat conservation and public hunting opportunities in Texas. Deadline to enter is October 15.

And that is so we can draw the hunters, get them in touch with the outfitters and people can get in the field. In certain areas the rut happens early, so we want to get the hunters in touch with the outfitters and get them going by the time deer season begins.

We have a link to the Big Time Texas Hunts web page at passporttotexas.org.

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

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Blackland Prairie once covered more than 20-million acres in Texas. Jason Spangler of the Native Prairies Assoc. of Texas says because of cropping and livestock overgrazing, less than one percent of this native habitat exists today.

It’s the most endangered large ecosystem in North America.

You can find a thriving 500-acre example of Blackland Prairie in Bell County thanks to the restoration efforts of Bob and Mickey Burleson.

I don’t think that any of our neighbors think of it as anything but Burleson’s folly. They all think that grass is for grazing to the ground.

Over four decades the Burleson’s visited remnant prairies collecting seeds they later used to restore their land.

Eventually it started working naturally to come back to a climax of what had been here. And, it’s still doing that. We haven’t gotten to the place where the Big Bluestem is the dominant—and that’s what would have been at one time—but we’re getting there.

The Burlesons won the Lone Star Land Steward Award for their dedication to land restoration and stewardship.

It’s what belongs here. This is where I live, This is my home, And this is what I love. (birds chirping)

Learn about land management at passporttotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

On August 14, Texas gets its newest paddling trail located at Lake Arlington.

We’re very excited. This will be our first lake trail. And, not only that, it will be our first urban trail.

Ron Smith, with Inland Fisheries, is part of the paddling trail team. The new 10.9 mile trail hugs the shoreline of Lake Arlington, and is a partnership between the Arlington and Fort Worth Parks and Recreations departments.

The cities actually split right there on the lake. So, it’s a neat partnership for us and for them.

Smith was part of the team that surveyed the proposed site for the Lake Arlington Paddling Trail.

You know, one of the things we do here is we’re providing and improving public access to waterways around the state. So, when we go out, we look certainly at the access point. Does it need improvement? Do we need an additional one? We like for our trails to be between four and twelve miles.

What to expect when you put in at this new trail….that’s tomorrow.

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

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

Kiki Corry is the Project Wild Coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Project Wild is an environmental and conservation education program. It is nationally recognized and distributed internationally. And, Texas Parks and Wildlife is the sponsor here in Texas.

Corry trains the facilitators who make available Project Wild training workshops to teachers.

Some of them are teachers. Some of them work for nature preserves or camps, and they want to be qualified to train their staff. They like to contribute to the environmental literacy of the public.

Not all educators taking the workshops are classroom teachers.

Not necessarily just classroom teachers, but also people at preserves and zoos and museums—people who run summer camps. Because this is a very active curriculum, quite often the activities look like a game, but when they’re done properly, the participants in what looked like a game, come away with a much deeper understanding of different environmental concepts.

Learn about Project Wild at passporttotexas.org…and on tomorrow’s show.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

If your family’s outdoor skills are rusty, you’re in luck. Texas Outdoor Family workshops are as close as a state park. Chris Holmes coordinates this new program.

It’s going to be basic outdoor camping skills. We’ll teach them about using a GPS unit (global positioning system) and exploring the trails. We’ll teach them how to fish. If there’s kayaking available, we’ll teach them how to paddle and kayak. And then the main program in the afternoon will be how to set up a camp properly.

The first workshop is August 4 at Galveston Island SP. Family size is limited to eight, and the cost for the weekend is $55. Leave No Trace developed the program’s camping component.

And so, it’s a national certification, environmentally friendly program. And the families together will have fun, and learn how to pitch a tent, place the tent properly on tent pads, use a stove correctly and cook food. And we’ll teach them how to build a fire.

Holmes says his favorite part of the workshop comes the following morning.

They’ll have an opportunity to have a coffee with a park ranger and learn about having a conservation career. And then they’ll do a service and stewardship program which is something that they can help the state park. It may be removing some invasive vegetation, it may be building bluebird boxes. It may just be simply picking up litter at the state park.

We have details about Texas Outdoor Family Workshops in State Parks at passporttotexas.org.

That our show for today…remember: life’s better outside. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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