Passport to Texas

Shelter for Wildlife in the Backyard Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Wildscaping is a method of landscaping that allows urban dwellers to create sustainable wildlife habitat in their yards. The first element of a Wildscape: shelter.

07—Shelter is primarily done by structuring your landscape so that you have some plants at every level of the horizon.

Mark Klym oversees the wildscaping program at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Shelter gives wildlife places to escape or to nest.

10—A lot of people think of nests, they think tall trees. Well, most of our birds don’t nest in tall trees. They nest within five feet of the ground. And, so, if we take out all the brush at the five foot level, we’ve eliminated their habitat.

Klym says when you structure your landscape with plants at every level – including lower brush — it becomes attractive to more species.

10—At the same time, that lower vegetation serves as a great food resource usually, because that’s usually the plants that your berries, your nets, your nectar flower are going to occur on.

You can find more information about wildscaping – including a native plant database — on the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.

That’s our show for today …For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Creating Wild Spaces Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

A highly manicured landscape may attract the praise of neighbors, but it won’t attract much native wildlife. To do that, you need a wildscape.

05—Essentially, wildscaping is creating your landscape in a way that’s going to be friendly to wildlife.

Mark Klym is with wildlife diversity at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Fall is a good time to create a Wildscape.

16—So, we’re looking at providing food, shelter and water for the wildlife on the space that you have available using native plants. We ask for at least fifty-one percent native plants. And creating a habitat they feel comfortable with, while at the same time, keeping it comfortable for yourself and your neighbors.

For example, creating a wildlife attracting brush pile in your yard may seem a bit unruly for your tidy suburban neighborhood, but if done right, it can satisfy both man and beast.

20—Well, a brush pile is a wonderful thing for the wildlife to have. And if it’s properly done, it can be a very pleasing thing for us, especially when you start getting some of the field sparrows that we don’t normally see around our gardens, coming into our garden because of that brush pile. These are a wonderful resource. I’ve seen them in downtown Corpus Christi in a way that the neighbors wouldn’t even know they were there unless they looked for them.

Find more information about wildscaping on the Texas Parks and Wildlife web site.

That’s our show for today …For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Water Quality and Quantity Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Water quality in Texas has improved from last century, but increasing demand, coupled with current drought conditions, means we have less of it.

Andrew Sansom, executive director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University, leads a team of 2,000 volunteers, called the Stream Team. These concerned citizens signed on to track Texas’ water quality.

26—Our waters from a quality standpoint are much better than they were a generation ago. The waters in Texas were far more polluted in the 50s and 60s than they are today. The principle issue that we’re facing today is an issue of quantity. Because we are essentially running out of it. And the more our population grows, the worse this drought becomes, the more acute that problem will be.

If you take a look at the U.S. Geological Survey Web site, you’ll find a map of the United States—a map with dots representing current stream flow. The redder the dot, the more the stream flow is below average. Take a look at Texas and you’ll see it covered in dark, red dots.

11—Today, the hill country of Texas is in the most extreme drought conditions in the United States. You can see evidence of the drought in the hill country anywhere you look.

We’re nearing drought of record proportions. All citizens can make a difference by reducing water use in the home and landscape.

That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Toyota Texas Bass Classic Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The Fifth annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic Tournament returns to the Lone Star Convention & Expo Center in Conroe, October 28th through the 30th. Lenny Francoeur (Fran-Koor) is tournament director.

31—First and foremost, the Toyota Texas bass Classic raises funding and awareness for the Texas Parks and Wildlife.

So, you can come out with as many friends and family as you want to bring. Get your tickets in advance, and come out at the end of October and see some world class fishing and world class country music artists.

Francoeur says listeners may be able to obtain a pair of free tickets by going to the Bass Classic website and signing up for their newsletter …

08— …Until we have distributed the full quantity of tickets we have allotted.

Once the free tickets have been distributed, others will be available, says Francoeur, at a nominal charge.

06—We allow kids seventeen and under to get in free as long as they’re with a ticket adult. And we’re looking forward to seeing everyone in October.

Find a link to more information at passporttotexas.org.

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

Daingerfield State Park Re-opens Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

After one year of being closed to the public, and 5-million dollars in renovations and improvements: Daingerfield State Park in Northeast Texas has officially re-opened for visitation. Yet, our state park guide Bryan Frazier says before the official re-opening—they opened unofficially to give the renovations a type of “test drive.”

They tentatively took the lock off the gate to allow visitors in and to test out some of the things they had renovated, like the waste water treatment plant. They were able to make sure that big crowds of people—that it would handle it great—and it’s working fantastic.

And there’ll be activities for kids, park staff and park rangers will be there to show everybody what’s new, what’s great, what’s renovated. It’s a park that I wholeheartedly recommend that people get out there—and with the facilities and the new restrooms and things—it makes people’s experience that much more pleasant.

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.