Passport to Texas

A Plague of Pigs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You may not know this, but wild hogs aren’t from around here.

05—Hogs are an invasive, exotic species; they’re not native to anywhere in North America.

Rob Denkhaus (DANK-howz) is Natural Resource Manager for the city of Fort Worth.

Descendents of escaped domestic hogs introduced by Spanish Explorers 300 years ago, bred with runaway Eurasian wild boars that brought to Texas in the 1930s by ranchers for sport hunting. The by-product of this porcine parentage has resulted in a large, destructive, modern day wild pig population.

16—The activities that they get involved in like rooting – where they can root several feet into the soft soils – and they’re eating invertebrates, they’re consuming the bulbs and rhizomes of plants and everything. So, they’re having a negative affect on the plant community as well as the wildlife community.

These hogs, says Denkhaus, also prey on native wildlife species.

07—Ground nesting birds, reptiles and amphibians, and the like. So, their impact is far-reaching…and all negative.

More about this plague of pigs tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Drought and the Dundee Fish Hatchery Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The freshwater hatchery business is a risky one because it relies on the cooperation of nature—and it can be fickle.

Last year’s heat and drought took a devastating toll on the state’s water supplies, leaving reservoirs dangerously low.

06—This year it looks the Dundee Fish Hatchery may get to that point where we really don’t have enough water to operate.

I spoke with Todd Engeling, Chief of Inland hatcheries for Texas parks and Wildlife, in late February, and by mid-March, operations at the Dundee hatchery near Wichita Falls were suspended due to lack of sufficient water. Although many areas of the state received spring rains, Engeling said the area west of Wichita Falls around Lakes Kemp and Diversion did not.

As the hatchery is one of the state’s primary producers of striped bass and hybrid striped bass fingerlings for stocking into Texas public waters, what now?

20—We will be able to operate on a very limited basis, our spawning operations. So, we will be able to spawn our striped bass and hybrid striped bass as we have traditionally done there, because the systems we use are re-circulating systems. They don’t use a lot of water at all. So, basically the four remaining hatcheries in Texas would receive those fry and put them in their production ponds for grow out.

Find more information on the TPW website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Why We Stock Fish Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Millions sport fish found in Texas waters begin their lives at one of our state’s five freshwater hatcheries.

16—We may stock fish to start fish populations in a new or renovated reservoir or water body; we may do it to supplement populations where natural reproduction isn’t enough to sustain a population; we may do it to restore populations after some catastrophe where fish populations are diminished.

Todd Engeling, Chief of Inland hatcheries for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

05—We also do it to enhance genetic makeup of the fish, and really provide that trophy potential.

Striped bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie and largemouth bass are some of the species bred in hatcheries. Although these facilities are “enclosed” environments, it doesn’t mean they’re immune from the vagaries of nature, such as drought.

20—All industry is tied to water. So during droughts our water supplies become diminished. And in some cases we’re limited on what we can use based on some permit or contract, or an agreement with the permitting authority. In some cases, when water levels recede in reservoirs, then the amount of water we can draw for operations is reduced.

And sometimes drastic action is necessary; details tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

State Parks: We Appreciate Our Volunteers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Volunteering at a state park is as good as donating money to support them. Our state park guide, Bryan Frazier, has details.

62—We really cannot talk enough about how important our volunteers are in state parks. And that’s everything from park hosts to people who simply come in for the day and want to help on trail maintenance, or whatever. There’s lots of different ways that people can make a difference and get involved as a volunteer in state parks. In fact, last year we had the equivalent of more than 280 full time employees; that was the workforce of our volunteers. That’s equivalent to more than ¼ of our workforce, and it saved us more than $10 million dollars in value of what that labor for volunteers was able to accomplish. So, if someone’s interested in becoming a park volunteer, chances are there’s a state park near you that could really use them. We’ve got a new website that’s very user friendly that they can go and list where they may want to work and what their interests are, and the work they do, and they’ll match that up for a park that’s maybe looking for that. And you can find that at texasstateparks.org. Or, people can call Lori Reilly who coordinates all of our volunteers in state parks. And that’s 512-389-4746.

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.

Gardening with Natives Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Everyone loves instant color when planting flowers and shrubs, but plants provide more than visual appeal.

06—Usually they are producing fruits or nectar, some kind of food source that’s desirable.

Botanist, Dana Price, says our choice of plants can affect Texas wildlife that depends on them.

16—A lot of them are host plants for our native butterflies and monarchs; some of them are good hummingbird nectar sources. Many of them have berries that are good for birds. Native trees are hosts for all kinds of insects that are in turn food for our native birds.

Native plants also serve us by providing low-maintenance upkeep, even in the harshest conditions—such as last year’s heat wave and drought.

07—Our native plants are very well adapted to the climate in Texas, which yes is very extreme a lot of times.

Planting and maintaining native vegetation for wildlife is called Wildscaping. The goal is to provide places for birds, small mammals, and other wildlife to feed and drink, and escape from predators, as well as raise their young.

Find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series, and funds conservation work in Texas.

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