Passport to Texas

Volunteer with Texas Parks and Wildlife

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Volunteers donate more than a half-million hours of service worth over $17-million dollars annually to all Texas Parks and Wildlife programs.

08— They get to work with really friendly and knowledgeable staff, and they have a great time just being outside and enjoying nature, themselves, as part of their giving back.

Audrey Muntz is the new volunteer coordinator for Texas state parks, and says anyone with an interest can find a volunteer opportunity in parks that suits them.

08— We have hundreds of opportunities throughout the state at state parks. Some of them are one time; some of them are short term. And, the majority of them are ongoing.

One of the most coveted long-term volunteer jobs is state park host. In exchange for their services, park hosts receive a campground site.

23— Those individuals serve up to 24-30 hours a week in exchange for being able to keep their RV in the campground. And so they can help with a huge variety of things, from keeping the grounds clean, to fee collection. And they are the face of the park in many ways, and help campers get to know and learn the park and keep it as beautiful and clean as they can for all of our visitors.

Park host commitments range from two to six months; and, established volunteers often move from one park to another.

Tomorrow: Short term opportunities to help flood ravaged parks.

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

Texas Drawn Hunts.

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s time to put in for drawn hunts. The drawn hunts system is online only; adult application fees are $3 per adult, except Private Lands and Guided Hunt categories, which are $10. No application or permit fees for youth applicants or supervising adults on Youth Only hunts.

16—Our applications are not all at one time; they’re actually distributed through the month of August into January. We have regular gun/deer in September, and feral hog and exotics…and some of the later hunts for feral hog and spring turkey will actually go into December and January.

Kelly Edmiston, public hunting coordinator, says selection notification will be faster than ever.

20— We will probably be able to draw one to three business days after a deadline because we’re not having to rely on data and mail and late arriving applications. Before you had to get it here by 5 o’clock the day of the deadline. Now, because it’s online, you’ll basically have until that last day – probably up until 11:59 [p.m.]—to be able to submit an application.

Preference points of the past are loyalty points today.

22— You can now apply more than once within a category. Your loyalty points will still apply to each application you submit in that category equally. So, if you have five preference points for a
gun/deer either sex category, and you submit three gun/deer either sex applications, each at a different area, you’re going to get five points on each of your three.

Find a full list of the applications deadlines on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Get yours today!

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If you love the Texas outdoors, you may wish to keep a copy of the Texas State Park Guide in your glove box.

13- I recommend picking one up and keeping it in your car or RV. There’s an index in the back. You can basically search by each activity of facility that you’re interested in, and easily find which parks meet your needs.

Thomas Wilhelm, with state parks, says they’re available at parks, TXDOT Travel centers, and many Chambers of Commerce.

18- There’s information on some of the local wildlife. There’s a section with maps for each major city, so it shows which parks are nearby. There’s a suggested packing list. There’s a whole section on softer accommodations [not tent camping], so which parks have cabins, screen shelters, yurts. That sort of thing.

Before school starts, head to a Texas State Park. And with a State Park Guide in hand, you’re ready for anything.

23- You know, a lot of times what people imagine a state park may offer is just the tip of the iceberg. You may not realize all of the other facilities and accommodations that even the park you go to all of the time may have. So, this makes it really easy to see exactly what a park offers. Plus, it’s pretty to look at. There are pictures of each park. And you really get a good feel of what makes each park unique. Just get out there and visit. We’d love to have you.

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

Take the Pledge and take Care of Texas

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If you’re a state park user, or plan to be, and don’t have a free Texas State Park Guide in your vehicle’s glove box, what are you waiting for?

12- That guide has full descriptions of each park; it includes helpful tips like where to go and what to pack, which parks have playgrounds, which parks have pools. That sort of information.

And isn’t that what we all want when planning a state park outing? Thomas Wilhelm works with parks, and says there’s more than one way to get your hands on a guide.

12-So, you can pick up a state park guide at any state park. You can also pick it up at any TXDOT Travel information center. Most Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus or Chambers of Commerce across the state also carry them.

No time to pick up a guide? You can get it in the mail.

14- Through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. If you got to takecareoftexas.org, you can take a pledge to take care of Texas, and they will mail you–free of charge–a state park guide.

When you sign the pledge, you promise to be a good steward of Texas’ water, air and land–which you already are, right? So get your hands on a Texas State Park Guide and go outside and enjoy what you treasure about the Lone Star State.

That’s our show… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Dead standing trees, or snags, serve as habitat for wildlife. Image courtesy University of Missouri Extension.

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A snag is a standing, dead tree.

08— Most homeowners don’t like them because they can be a problem if it’s about to fall on the house, or the car, or the playscape.

Texas Parks and Wildlife ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford, recommends removing snags that pose risks to safety. However…

13— If that dead tree is not going to fall on anything—it’s full of life. It’s where the woodpeckers are feeding because there are beetles therein; it could be where the owl is going to perch that is going to eat the rodents on your property.

Cliff shares how he handled two dead trees in his yard.

17— We measured how far they were from falling on anything—like the house. So, one of them was 21 feet from the house; I made them cut it down to 19 feet. So, that way, if it fell over, it wasn’t going to be able to even jump that extra two feet and hit the house.

Cliff Shackelford says his reward for sparing the snag is great wildlife viewing and extra money in his pocket.

14— When we left that trunk of the three—that 19 feet—we saved money. Because, that’s the heaviest part of the tree to haul off. So, we saved several hundred dollars by just leaving that 19 foot of the trunk; and the wildlife love it.

Plus, he chipped the broken limbs, mixed them with horse manure, and once it aged, had garden mulch. Find more wildscaping tips on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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