January 23rd, 2014
Ocelot image, courtesy Texas Coop Power
This is Passport to Texas
Ocelots once roamed throughout Texas, Mexico, and into Arkansas and Louisiana. Jody Mays says today, only a few survive in the thick brush and shelters of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
:14—As far as we know, there less than 100 ocelots left in the United States. The ocelot’s range has disappeared, and now they only occur in the southern most tip of Texas, and that’s the only place in the whole United States that they occur.
Mays is a Wildlife Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service at Laguna Atascosa Natural Wildlife Refuge. She explains reasons for the population decline.
:41—Usually with an endangered species, you have multiple impacts that they get hit with. For the ocelot, the biggest one was the habitat loss. Some estimates say that over 95% of the native habitat in Texas has been altered. A lot of the thick habitats have been cleared for agriculture, and for development, and for other purposes. Another associated impact with that is habitat fragmentation, and that’s where, you say, have one large piece of thick habitat that gets cut up into smaller pieces that are farther and farther apart. Loss of genetic diversity is another big issue, and that’s as a result of this habitat loss and fragmentation.
That’s our show for today…with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas in Texas.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in Endangered, Wildlife | Comments Off on Endangered Wildlife: The Ocelot
January 22nd, 2014
Barton Warnock Education Center, Terlingua, Texas
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The Barton Warnock Environmental Educational Center in Terlingua is where the region’s 570 million year history comes alive.
11—It was first the Lajitas Museum and Desert Garden. In 1990, the state of Texas bought it and it became the eastern entrance to the Big Bend Ranch State Park system.
David Long is superintendent at Barton Warnock. While West Texas has a mystique that’s hard to define, the center takes on the challenge.
13—The exhibits focus on the geology of the area and the natural history of the Big Bend area. Geology brings together the vegetation, the biology, and all the natural resources here, and the culture in this whole area.
The cultural history of this region is just as fascinating as its geological and natural histories.
20—‘Terlingua’ – the name itself – means ‘tres linguas,’ and the three different languages, three different cultures that combine here are the Anglos, the Spanish, and the Indian cultures. These cultures have combined and created a unique border community. We call it the ‘borderlands,’ or if you’re in Mexico, you’d call it the ‘frontera.’
Whether you call it borderlands or frontera, the Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center in Terlingua is open to visitors who want to know more about this fascinating region. Find information about the center on the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.
That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram …
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti
Posted in Conservation, Education | Comments Off on Nature: Barton Warnock Center
January 21st, 2014
Women relaxing after the hunt. Image from National Shooting Sports.
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(AMB: Gunshot…”good enough…next”) [:03]
That’s how a group of ten women started a weekend hunting trip at a Hill Country ranch – by taking practice shots at targets. Ranch manager Troy Calloway explains.
08—Sometimes we get people out here who have never shot before, so we set ‘em up and assess the situation….. But everybody here is nailing it; we’re good to go it looks like.
Hunt coordinator, Tami Moore, told me that women make up less than 10% of all licensed hunters, and she thinks she may know why.
10—I think a lot of women are afraid that they’re going to fail, because they’re just scared. And going out with another group of ladies, in a situation like we are this weekend, takes a lot of that out of it.
Kathy Keller of Austin is an experienced hunter. We spoke in her deer blind.
08—Oh, this is really great. And it’s exciting to see that women are getting into this sport and learning about hunting and wildlife.
Kathy explains what it was like the first time she harvested an animal.
09—It was something that made me think. I’ve taken this life, and I had to think about why I was doing it. And I realized that it is a big responsibility.
Find hunting information and resources on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in Hunting, SFWR | Comments Off on Hunting: Women Learning to Hunt
January 20th, 2014
Getting into the field.
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Early in my tenure at Texas Parks and Wildlife I was an observer on a women only hunting trip in the Hill Country. Tami Moore was Hunt Coordinator.
09-We’re trying to get women involved in the outdoors, and to take some of the mystery out of the sport of hunting. Before it’s just been something that the guys go do.
The women’s skill levels varied from novice to pro. Each woman brought a guide with them; first time hunter, Millissa Salinas of Austin, brought her father Ralph.
10-I’ve always wanted to experience the outdoors, and I thought the perfect opportunity to bond with my father would be this event so he could show me the ropes and spend some special memories together.
Like all the women on the trip, Salinas was enthusiastic about the opportunity.
11-We’d been preparing for it for about a month. He had taken me target shooting, I had borrowed a rifle. So I’d been anticipating for some time now. So when the actual moment came, it was extremely exciting.
Salinas harvested two deer on that trip. Hunting with other women and her father made for an experience that she intends to recreate with other family members.
07-We definitely want to get involved more in the outdoors. And I have a younger sister that we’re going to try to encourage to join us.
Find hunting resources on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase hunting and shooting opportunities in Texas.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in Hunting, SFWR | Comments Off on Hunting: Girls with Guns
January 17th, 2014
Caddo Lake
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[SFX – paddling]
Gliding along the paddling trails on Caddo Lake in East Texas is at once intimate and humbling: mist dances on the water; giant, moss-covered bald cypress rise up as silent sentinels along the banks; the chorus of bird songs serenade you as you pass by; habitat teams with diverse and abundant wildlife. It’s a special place.
04— It’s beyond words to describe how wonderful this place is.
Vanessa Adams is a natural resource specialist with parks and wildlife.
13— The paddling trails here on Caddo Lake will get you back into some habitat that is just not everywhere, it’s unique. It gets you into a place that you may have never seen before.
Marshall, Texas resident, and Caddo Lake paddling enthusiast, Sandra Phillips, says she feels close to the earth when she’s on this enigmatic lake.
09 – You can’t find this well really anywhere else. All the network of canals and the swampyness of it.
Caddo Lake is different every season, says Vanessa Adams. Paddlers should return often to experience it fully. [SFX – ambience]
05— You gotta get out on the boat, you gotta get in the swamp and you really gotta sit down and you gotta sit and listen.
Caddo Lake’s Paddling trails are featured on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV series the week of January 19. Check local listings.
That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in TPWD TV | Comments Off on TPW TV: Caddo Lake Paddling Trail
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