Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Texas Outdoor Families Program is expanding. In addition to offering workshops at city parks, now families can learn outdoor skills at nearby state parks.

Every Texas Outdoor Family Program that we offer in state parks is going to be less than an hour’s drive for most people.

Chris Holmes is a regional interpretive specialist charged with coordinating the state park program, which, he says, is in response to a decline in families tent camping.

Through our research, we know that people want to go back to state parks. We really know that they want to learn how to camp, but simply just don’t know how to, or have a little bit of fear about going out to a state park. So, this is in a family friendly environment where no experience is necessary.

And neither is equipment.

We’ll be providing the basic equipment; we’ll provide tents, sleeping mats, lanterns, and stoves and cookware and plates and so, there’ll just be a list of real basic things that we think a family should need to bring like flashlights. And, we’ll provide a menu so that the families can go to the store and buy some groceries for the actual weekend, and then we’ll teach them how to make some good camp food.

The first workshop is August fourth in Galveston. We have details 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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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Hi. What’s your name? Ionie. What are you doing here today, Ionie? Um… I’m…um…camping.

Five-year-old Ionie Dalton is the reason her parents, Bill and Jenny, took part in a Texas Outdoor Family workshop.

We really wanted to get some experience going camping because I’ve wanted to take Ionie. She’s actually wanted to go fishing and camping since before she was two.

The Daltons, and other families, spent an entire weekend learning outdoor skills.

We’ve gotten to go and do fishing, and camping 101, and orienteering. And it’s been great.

While it’s important to get kids outdoors, Jenny reminds us of another reason to get outside.

Because it’s fun. Because, it’s like playing. It’s adult and kid playtime.

Bill Dalton said his family will definitely go camping, but won’t stop there.

I like the idea of going to the Expo. That sounded like a lot of fun, so just a lot of things there to try out—and with all of the experts you’d ever need on hand to help you with them.

That’s our show for today, with support from Toyota. To learn about upcoming Texas Outdoor Family workshops at local parks and state parks, visit lifesbetteroutside.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Lake Somerville Complex includes the Birch Creek Unit, Nails Creek Unit, a trailway that connects the two parks, and a wildlife management area. Kim Ochs manages the complex.

Birch Creek is on the northwest side of lake Somerville; it lies in Burleson County, but we are about twenty miles from Caldwell and about seventeen miles from Somerville. We are in a rural area, but we get a lot of visitation from the Houston area.

What city dweller would not jump at the chance to escape the urban jungle for this rural oasis with its ample camping opportunities?

Over at Birch Creek, including our water only sites, which are just for tents, we’re going to have a total of 129. Nails Creek is a little bit smaller unit, and they’re going to have about 70 sites with their water and electricity.

This area also offers year-round equestrian trails, wildlife-viewing opportunities, and, of course—water recreation, which begins in spring with fishing.

You can almost set your clocks by it—from Memorial Day through Labor Day—it’s going to be the skier, the boater and the jet skier that’s going to come out here. After labor Day, this Lake is unique in that there are hunting opportunities provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers; and then, during the winter, once again, fishing takes over.

We have a link to the Lake Somerville State Park web page at passportotexas.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

Camping is a great way to spend time outdoors [Crackling Flames from a Campfire] and building a campfire adds a little ‘spark’ to the experience. But before you light a match, you need a proper site and materials.

When you want to build a fire you certainly have to find a location to build it. You have to gather the material and make sure that it’s not wet. You want the ground or the level where you’re going to build the fire to be dry. You clear the leaves away and if possible, gather some rocks to make a fire ring that will contain that fire.

Terry Erwin is Hunter Education Coordinator, and says there’s a certain order to building a good campfire.

Start with a bird’s nest of material so if you put your spark in there, gather some cedar bowls or cedar bark and when you spark it, you can blow on the spark and that will enhance the fire. Start with little sticks and graduate to bigger sticks until you add twigs, grass and bark shavings and things like that on the fire to get it started. Then you can add the larger sticks and get it going at that point.

Extinguish your campfire by drenching it with water, repeating this step until all embers are dead. If an ample supply of water is not available, cover the embers with a thick layer of soil.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Alanna Jones… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

High Island took a beating from Hurricane Humberto in September 2007. The storm destroyed habitat important to migratory bird species.

We lost a lot of trees. And some of them were uprooted, and some of them were twisted off and broken. So, we’ve had a lot of changes in our habitat at High Island.

Winnie Burkett is sanctuaries manager for Houston Audubon. Despite the habitat upheaval, the birds that visit High Island are fine.

They don’t mind the fact some of the trees are gone. There are plenty of mulberries, even though some of the mulberry trees are laying on the ground. There are plenty of bugs in the leaves; there are plenty of caterpillars around. So, as long as they have the food and water, they’re fine.

Birders who won competitions in the Great Texas Birding Classic—the biggest birding event in Texas—wanted to ensure the birds remain fine by selecting High Island to receive prize monies to improve habitat.

In the last couple of years, we’ve gotten prize money from the Birding Classic for diversifying the under-story in the woods. And, what we’ve been doing is the volunteers cut out the invasive exotics, like privet mostly, and then we replant with native trees and shrubs that we’ve purchased with funds that we’ve gotten from the birding classic prizes.

Diversification is important if birds are going to have a wide variety of food throughout the year, and the work of volunteers and prize money from the Great Texas Birding Classic is making that possible on High Island.

That’s our show… we had help today from Tom Harvey…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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