Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Help Texas celebrate its birthday February 27 & 28, where it all started: Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS.

It’s a totally free weekend for visitors that come to the park.

Janice Campbell is an interpreter at Independence Hall, where the general convention convened March 1 through 17, 174 years ago, and set the groundwork for the Republic of Texas. You can get a sense of what life was like then when you visit the site during the anniversary celebration.

We will have demonstrators demonstrating period crafts and skills here in the park; we will have political speeches, music…just a big birthday celebration for Texas.

Texas Independence Day is March, 2—but we’re celebrating early. Campbell says it’s worth the drive.

You will be driving into and visiting an area where some of the fist settlers came into Texas and settled. This event will highlight, of course, the formation of a nation.

Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS is located in a beautiful part of the state, and easy to find.

We are located off highway 105, about eight miles west of Navasota, and that would put us about 18 miles east of Brenham.

The Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS Texas Independence Day Celebration IS February 27 & 28. There’s more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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February 27–28, 2010 — Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS — Texas Independence Day Celebration — Free, two-day historic event celebrating the 174th anniversary of Texas Independence. Visit Independence Hall and hear the story of the 1836 Convention. Also visit Barrington Living History Farm, the recreated 1850s farm of Dr. Anson Jones, last President of the Republic of Texas where costumed interpreters tell the story of life on a mid 19th century cotton farm. The Star of the Republic Museum, which focuses on the times of the Republic of Texas, will also be open during this important weekend. Enjoy the work of various artisans demonstrating their crafts, and on Sunday, enjoy a slice of our Texas-sized birthday cake. Accessible for the mobility and visually impaired. 10 AM-5 PM (936) 878-2214.

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas Independence Day is March 2. And Washington on the Brazos is where it all started.

This town was chosen as the site of the general convention, which met on March 1, 1836, and adjourned on March 17.

Janice Campbell, an interpreter at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, says those seventeen days in 1836, paved the way for Texas future.

In those seventeen days, the elected delegates that came here, they declared their independence from Mexico; they wrote a constitution; and they elected some officers for a government. So, I guess you could say the groundwork of the government of the Republic of Texas was created right here in Washington.

Campbell says one cannot help but feel a deep connection to the past when visiting Washington-on-the-Brazos.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to walk out there, and walk along the main thoroughfare of the town and know that we are walking in the footsteps of history…right here in Washington.

Washington-on-the-Brazos SHS plans to celebrate Texas’ independence the last weekend in February. We’ll tell you about the festivities tomorrow.

It will mark the 174 anniversary of the signing of the Texas declaration of Independence.

Find details about this and other state park events on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

The 2009 drought left private ponds throughout Texas low or bone dry—conditions that Todd Engeling says actually presented pond owners with an opportunity.

There was an opportunity for a number of folks to really go in and renovate those facilities and prepare them for the rains when they came.

Engeling is chief of inland hatcheries for Parks and Wildlife. With luck, ponds got a needed facelift when dry, and are returning to their former glory thanks to winter rains. The down side is—fish in those ponds probably didn’t survive the drought.

So, if you’re looking for an opportunity to get fish for your private pong, although the Parks and Wildlife department raises millions of fingerlings each year, we do not provide those to the general public. But, there are a number of commercial, private fish hatcheries that can provide you with what you need for stocking—including any advice on what you need and how many would be appropriate for you to stock in those areas. And on our webpage there is a link to the Texas Aquaculture Association, which maintains a list of their members who can provide that service for you.

In fact, the parks and wildlife website offers information on creating and maintaining private ponds…

Including how you can deal with some of that unwanted vegetation.

Visit the TPW website for information on ponds, stocking, and other landowner information.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish Restoration program.

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

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This is Passport to Texas SP Getaways

Goose Island is the oldest of the Texas coastal state parks; Bryan Frazier takes us there this week for a state park getaway.

Goose Island SP is renowned and loved for lots of reasons, and a great place to go. It’s a smaller park; it’s only about 320 acres. But there’s still a lot to do. It has lots of hiking trails, there’s even biking along the roads inside the park. You’ve got a great place to see whooping cranes, right against the federal wildlife refuge there on the upper coast—and it’s beautiful as well. You’ve got this outcropping of big coastal live oak trees; and its home to the Big Tree, which is a thousand year old coastal live oak tree. It was the state champion in 1969, and it still remains to this day just a phenomenon of nature. But the fishing there…very popular species in Texas, whether you’re talking about flounder, redfish or speckled trout. Right there at the boat ramp, you can go right in. It’s also very popular with waterfowl hunters. It’s one of the few places to launch an airboat to duck hunt in that area. The camping there—even the tent camping—is really, really incredible. But you can camp right on the bay front. In fact, you can fish out of your campsite, and a lot of people do—and those campsites go fast. So, Goose Island SP is definitely a stop on the map.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show…check out State Park videos on the TPW channel on YouTube…

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

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This is Passport to Texas

When I say Texas Game Warden, what image pops into your head? Is it someone in uniform, patrolling field and forest looking for poachers? You’d be right…but it doesn’t stop there. Texas game wardens have varied jobs—all of which help protect our state’s natural resources.

Eric Howard is a 19 year veteran in the department. He currently coordinates the Operation Game Thief Program—a type of crime-stoppers for wildlife. But his career path in the force has been varied and satisfying.

I spent 12 years in the field, and in about the 12th year, I was able to become an instructor at the Game warden Academy. And when you have the opportunity to make an impression on young men and women, you know, you’re shaping and molding them. And that’s certainly a highlight. Then about a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to become the program coordinator for Operation Game Thief. It’s really been a blast. It’s totally a different avenue, from being at the academy and being a field game warden. This one, you get to meet a lot of people. It’s really been a blast.

You can find information on becoming a game warden when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…thank you for joining us… we record our series in Austin at the Production Block Studios… Joel Block engineers our program.

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

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