Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

It’s the holiday season, a time when many of us look for ways to reach out to those less fortunate. If you’re a hunter, the easiest way is by donating a deer to Hunters for the Hungry.

09—Once it’s [the deer is] donated, the meat is used by food pantries, food banks, and other food assistance providers that serve their local communities.

Anitra Hendricks oversees the program. Meat processors across the state are participating in the program. Hunters just need to bring them their legally tagged and field-dressed deer.

14—There is a reduced processing fee for those who donate to the program. They pay the fee, they do receive a receipt for a possible tax deduction. The meat processor will grind the meat, package it, and then from there it goes to the food assistance provider.

Find a list of participating processors on the Hunters for the Hungry website. Anitra says she is always on the lookout for more processors.

08— The have to be willing to do some minimal book-keeping as far as tracking donations and reporting that to us at the end of the season.

It’s a small inconvenience for the good it provides to hungry children, elderly and families during the holidays.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish restoration program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

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

This is Passport to Texas

Regular deer season continues through January 6th in the north and January 20th in the south. And with an estimated 3 to 4 million white tailed deer in Texas, hunting is necessary to manage their population. If your freezer is already full, but you still have a tag you want to use, consider donating your next deer to Hunters for the Hungry.

08—Hunters for the hungry is a statewide venison donation program that allows hunters to donate their extra venison.

Anitra Hendricks oversees the program, and says charitable food assistance providers receive the donated venison as two pound packages of ground meat. Last season Texas hunters donated more than 153-thousand pounds of venison to the program.

04—So [that comes to] just a little over 600-thusand quarter pound servings.

The average trimmed weight of a donated deer is about 40 pounds of usable meat. By that account, Texas hunters donated just over 38-hundred animals. Their generosity fed children, elderly, and families in need.

11—What we have heard from the agencies is that in many cases, the venison that they receive through Hunters for the Hungry, is the only meat –fresh meat—that they may receive on a limited basis.

More about Hunters for the hungry and how to donate to the program on tomorrow’s show.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish restoration program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Each December, Texas Parks and Wildlife makes available a delicate laser cut, gold-plated collectible Christmas ornament that celebrates the state’s parks and historic sites. Our state park guide, Bryan Frazier, talks about this year’s offering.

53— Well, this year. We’ve got three. And you can purchase them individually, or you can purchase them as a set. And they’re unique, because this year they’re carved out of wood. They’re usually a nice brass little trinket, and this year, the shape is similar but they’re laser carved with amazing detail of Lighthouse Rock from Palo Duro Canyon, and one of the Caddo Lake cabins, and the San Jacinto Monument, so they’re really some of our flagship parks and historic sites. And it’s a new look with them carved out of wood. And so, maybe people who’ve ordered them in the past and didn’t want one that looked similar – this is the year to order them. And you can only get them through the customer service center by calling 512.389.8900. And there are small shipping costs to go along with that, but check that out at texasstateparks.org. You can find out all about it, see the images; I think this is one you’re going to want to get.

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.

This is Passport to Texas

Sometimes freezes kill fish and coral in the Gulf. If researchers prove a connection between the same species in warmer Caribbean waters, they’ll have a resource for restoring losses. TV Producer Bruce Biermann says the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show examines this issue.

This is our 25th year going to Mexico.

Texas A&M University has been studying the waters off the coast of the Yucatan, and the waters off the Texas coast, and comparing down to a very small genetic level the fish and the coral.

What we’re just really looking for is trying to get genetic evidence that supports that the current that comes out of the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico is the ultimate source of populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

I followed Texas A & M to the Caribbean waters off the coast of the Yucatan. They were doing studies on a couple kinds of fish and a couple kinds of coral. Taking samples. Then they came back up here to Texas to our coral reef – the Flower Garden Bank – which is a hundred miles of the Texas Louisiana Border. And they took the exact same species of samples from there, compared them, and sure enough at a genetic level they are absolutely identical.

We have two different alleles for this gene, and it’s found in all three sites, which means that these three sites are, in fact, interconnected – that there is genetic exchange that takes place. There really is a Caribbean connection.

The Caribbean Connection airs on PBS stations this week.

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

Passport to Texas with Support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

Corporate America and sports teams depend on good recruiting…something they have in common with the endangered Attwater’s Prairie Chicken.

:07 — Historically, this bird went through periods of time when a population would be devastated, and then it would recruit from neighboring populations.

But they’ve had to change their recruiting tactics, says Mark Klym, Adopt-a-Prairie Chicken Program coordinator.

:02–Today those recruits have to come from the zoos.

Development destroyed the prairie chicken’s coastal habitat. We’ve gone from a million birds at the turn of the 20th century to fewer than 100 animals today. Currently Three small populations are maintained in the wild.

:21–The bird is being reproduced for release. We are confident that we have enough birds that we can maintain these three populations now that we have in the wild. But there’re biologists out there working with landowners every day trying to get land back in condition. And we have a number of landowners just
waiting and asking for release of the birds on their land.

Klym maintains the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken will continue to rebound, and not go quietly into that good night.

:08–We frequently get emails and calls asking when we expect this birds to go extinct. We don’t expect it to go extinct. This is going to be another good news story.

Learn about the adopt-a-prairie chicken program at passporttotexas.org. The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.