Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Most of us think about going to the beach on spring break—but going coastal isn’t your only option for water-focused fun. Our State Park guide, Bryan Frazier says Inks Lake SP and Cedar Hill SP, have it all—except the seagulls.

People love to go to Inks Lake—it continues to be one of our most popular parks. And for spring break, people are ready to get to those limestone and granite cliffs. And the fishing is good, and the hiking is great. And it’s just near Burnet, Texas, if you’re familiar with the Hill Country. So, it’s easy to get to, and people flock there, and for good reason—for spring break—for their canoeing, and kayaking, and water fun with their family or friends or picnics. Inks Lake is hard to beat.

Cedar Hill, too, is a fantastic place. It’s up near the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. It’s on the banks of Joe Pool reservoir; its got more than 300 campsites, it’s got great bike trails—maybe some of the best in the state—and it’s close to where so many people live. It’s in Dallas County. You can literally see downtown Dallas and the Arlington Dallas Cowboy stadium from the park. So you’re right in the middle of it all, but can get away from it all at Cedar Hill State Park.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years.

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

Spring Break: Inks Lake and Cedar Hill State Parks Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The Louisiana pine snake is so rare, it’s even hard for wildlife professionals to find.

Craig Rudolph is a research ecologist for the US Forest Service Southern Research Station. He says the US Forest Service and the zoo in Lufkin, TX, have established a new captive breeding program for the Louisiana pine snake.

There’s just one problem…

07—Over the last four years, we’ve only come up with one female, so that is obviously limiting our ability to establish this population.

The non-venomous snakes are native to East Texas and Louisiana, where they depend almost entirely on the pocket gopher. The snakes burrow into the gopher’s tunnel, then…

06—They wait in one of the feeding tunnels for the gopher to come along, and they function as ambush predators.

But, in East Texas, much of the gopher’s habitat has been destroyed. That means fewer gophers and fewer pine snakes. Rudolph says this problem isn’t new and they’ve been working to restore native habitat for decades.

12—Habitat on public land especially has been considerably improved over the last 10 to 20 years, primarily through more prescribed fire.

By the time the snakes are ready to be released in several years, researchers hope the habitat and, consequently, the gopher population will be ready for them.

That’s our show… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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This is Passport to Texas

When you sign up for free e-newsletters from Texas Parks and Wildlife, you’re signing up for multimedia outdoor adventures delivered to your inbox.

03—It’s a really fun way to find out about what’s going on.

Darcy Bontempo, Marketing Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife, says the e-newsletters give subscribers more than a list of outdoor activities.

11—Also learning about conservation, about wildlife. People love stories about animals and all the critters in Texas. So, this is a really easy way to get the information to them, but it’s also fun to read.

The free e-newsletters from Texas Parks and Wildlife can help to streamline your interactions with the agency.

21—[If you] Read a story on a state park and you’re interested in going there, you just can click right there and go right to our online reservation system [and] make a reservation. Or, if you read a fishing story, and you want to buy a fishing license, or you might see a promotion about the horned lizard license plate, or one of our other license plates; you go directly online and buy. So, it’s real convenient, and you know you even can do it from your smart phone. So, it’s pretty cool.

Look for the envelope icon on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website to sign up your e-newsletters. You decide what you want depending on what your interests.

24—Also, they can opt out at any time; they can change their profile at any time, so if they find they’re getting too much or too little information, they can just go right online to their subscription profile and change it.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

09—This is like the inside scoop that you can get. And it’s really great for us because it’s incredibly cost effective; we don’t have to spend a lot of dollars, and yet we’re able to reach thousands of people.

That’s Darcy Bontempo, Marketing Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. She’s referring to the agency’s free email newsletters that highlight a diverse array of outdoor activities throughout the state.

17—These are wonderful multimedia e-newsletters. If you’re someone who loves state parks, you can sign up for our State Parks Getaways. We’ve also got a Fish Texas newsletter, we’ve got a Hunt Texas, and we also have something that appeals to someone who loves all kinds of outdoor activities as well as conservation, and that’s called our Life’s better Outside e-newsletter.

It’s easy to sign up to receive the free e-newsletters just go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife homepage, and click the icon that says “sign up for email updates.” When you do, the great Texas outdoors comes to you.

23—For example in March we’ll be having a newsletter that will cover everything from Bighorn Sheep release in Big Bend; you’ll get to see the video of that, which is just really exciting. You’ll also see a story about the wildlife trails that were just completed. Perfect time of the year, spring migration, go out with your family or your friends and see wildlife. And also, you’ll get to see a teaser on The State of the Gulf, which is a wonderful TV documentary we just completed airing on PBS.

Texas delivered to your inbox—it doesn’t get much better than that.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

You don’t have to go to Florida for sunshine, sandy beaches and ocean waves this spring break. Our State Park guide, Bryan Frazier says just head to the Texas coast for a classic getaway.

48—I’ve got to plug Galveston Island, which is a traditional spring break favorite—it has been for decades. It’s just outside the largest city in Texas, and that’s Houston. A lot of people still think the hurricane has prevented people from using the park, or that it’s not open. Well, hurricane Ike did do some damage a couple of years ago, but the park has been open for quite some time.

There’s beach side camping a restrooms and shows, there’s bay side camping and restrooms. It’s just fantastic what the friends group and the public has done to support that park and get it back on its feet; it doesn’t look exactly like it did before the hurricane, but there’s great fishing, great birding, great hike and bike trails; there’s canoe and kayak paddling trails around Galveston Island State Park. And it’s just fun in the sun in an old-fashioned Spring Break destination that can’t be beat.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years.

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

Spring Break Fun at Galveston Play Now | Play in Popup | Download