Passport to Texas

State Parks: Hiking at Lake Brownwood Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What’s the activity visitors say they enjoy most when at a state park? Bryan Frazier has the answer as well as a great place in which to do it…whatever it is.

60— Some recent visitor surveys that we did on site in state parks showed that the most popular feature and activity that people are looking for in a state park is hiking. It really fits well with our
mission, because in a lot of our parks, we’re renovating trails and making those better and bigger and flatter and more accessible.

People will be pleasantly surprised when they get there. It’s in the Hill Country area kind of where the panhandle plains meets the hill country…it’s southeast of Abilene, just outside the town of Brownwood.

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.

Stewardship: Wildlife Management Associations Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

City dwelling Texans don’t want to lose touch with their rural heritage. So, large tracts of farm and ranch land get sliced and diced to accommodate the demand.

12—More and more of our land is being fragmented and broken up. And so, small acreage land holdings are more common, especially in the eastern half of the state. You know, we’re talking fifty acres to two hundred acres.

Linda Campbell directs the private lands program at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Habitat fragmentation is like living in a house where none of the rooms connect. How long could you live like that? It’s even tougher on wildlife, which is why neighboring landowners are encouraged to manage their land together.

36–We encourage landowners to join with their neighbors in what are called landowner cooperatives, or wildlife management associations. They’re becoming much more common, and landowners working together can get a lot more done for wildlife; they impact more habitat when they work together. And they can accomplish common goals. And, so, we very much encourage and work with groups of landowners to develop these landowner driven cooperatives.

Learn more about landowner cooperatives on the parks and Wildlife website, and find out how you can receive free, confidential technical assistance.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration program.

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

Stewardship: Understanding Your Land Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The best time to get to know your land is when you first buy it.

16—Walk it; look at it carefully. Study it over the seasons. Really find out what makes it tick. And, that’s the first step – to really understand the land – and then understand the management that it takes to achieve the kind of goals you want for your recreation.

Linda Campbell directs the private lands program at Parks and Wildlife. The program helps landowners with management goals. Campbell recommends getting started by visiting the workshop calendar in the private lands section on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

07—These are workshops and field days and things of that nature that occur all over the state. And so I would suggest landowners take a look at that.

Attending these events allows landowners to get to know other like-minded people in their region. The agency also offers free on-site technical assistance in wildlife management planning.

10—And so, we look at the entire picture – all the habitats that are there, what can be done, what are the landowners goals, and then we help them develop a plan that will help them achieve that.

Tomorrow, joining with adjacent landowners to form a wildlife management association.

That’s our show. We receive support from the Wildlife Restoration program.

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

Stewardship: Recreational Landowners Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our state’s population may be mostly urban, but Texans continue to buy rural property as weekend retreats.

05—Recreational buying is the greatest motivation for exchanges in land in Texas.

Linda Campbell directs the private lands program at Parks and Wildlife. Various reasons drive the purchase of recreational land.

29—Game species are still a big driver – very important economically for landowners in Texas, and for the communities that are supported by this. But, we have a greater diversity of landowners, and so with a diversity of people , you have a diversity of interests. So, there are a lot of landowners, particularly those with smaller tracts, that are primarily interested in managing for birds and other non-game wildlife. Or, they just want to get away from the city to have a retreat. And that’s an absolutely valid goal as well. And, so, we work with all landowners in whatever their goal is.

Parks and Wildlife’s private lands program offers landowners free technical assistance managing their property.

12—Texas is over ninety percent privately owned, and so we recognized that if we’re going to have any impact at all on conservation of wildlife and habitats, we have to do it through the cooperation of private landowners.

Understanding your land…that’s tomorrow.

That’s out show…we receive support from the Wildlife restoration program.

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

Visiting Parks to Save Them Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Drought, heat and wildfires of the summer dried up water, killed vegetation and kept visitation and revenue to a minimum…which is why we need your help. Our State park guide Bryan Frazier has details.

60—The record heat wave that we had—and the drought and the wildfires combined—so that we saw for the first time in a long time a drop in visitation and corresponding revenue toward the end of the summer that’s carried over into the fall and into the months where we are now, and it’s made for a 4.6 million dollar gap in our existing budget. And what we’re wanting people to know is that there are ways they can help…and that they can go online on our website any time and make a donation. They can also as of now, donate five dollars or more when they register their vehicle with the DMV and their county tax office. But the most important way that people can help is to simply go out and visit their state parks as much as they can. The fees that we collect amount to more than half of our operating dollars ion state parks. And, when people pay the entrance fees, when people pay their camping fees, or their cabin rental fees, or even when they buy a t-short in the state park store as a souvenir—they’re helping support their parks when they’re out there visiting them.

Go to texasstateparks.org/helpnow to donate.

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.