September 15th, 2009
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
If you’re already in the habit of admiring migrating monarchs, then consider taking part in a citizen science project called Texas Monarch Watch.
People can get involved with that by reporting their sightings. And they can go to the Texas Parks and Wildlife department website. Go under Texas Nature Trackers—and there’s a whole page with lots of information about it.
Michael Warriner, an invertebrate biologist at Parks and Wildlife, says there’s also a national Monarch Watch program that’s more hands on.
They want people to basically tag monarchs. You can order a tagging kit. And as you see monarchs, you can capture them with a butterfly net, and take one of these little tags and place it on the wing—there’s instructions and everything. What they’re trying to do is track where the monarchs were tagged and then when they come back, to kind of get an idea of how long the migration was and how long these things live.
Monarchwatch.org has more information and tagging kits. Warriner advises when catching monarchs or any butterfly to grasp only the outer edge of the front wing.
Because the wings are covered in scales, and if they lose those scales it would maybe become harder to fly and so on.
They need those scales to make that long migration. Visit passporttotexas.org for links to more monarch information, as well as tips on what to plant in your garden to attract these winged travelers.
That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in Conservation, Education | Comments Off on Monarch Migration, 2
September 14th, 2009
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
Texans are in for a treat this month and next because monarch butterflies are on the move.
Yeah, monarchs, in the insect world, have the longest migration. Basically, they spend the winter down in Mexico, and they come up to the US, spend their summer up here, feeding, laying eggs, and then they go back to Mexico.
Michael Warriner is an invertebrate biologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife. He says monarchs that head north in springtime are not the same monarchs that return to Mexico in the fall.
The Monarch that comes from Mexico, pretty much ends its life in Texas. It comes here, it lays its eggs, and the next generation is the one that moves further north
It’s only a few weeks from egg to butterfly. And you might be surprised by the number of generations it takes to complete this lengthy migration.
Oh, wow. You could probably have anywhere from three to six generations. So, the ones that come up from Mexico to Texas, it’s probably their great, great, great grandchildren that are coming back down at the end of the summer.
Tomorrow we talk about a citizen science project called Monarch Watch.
People can get involved in that by reporting their sightings.
That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
Posted in Education | Comments Off on Monarch Migration, 1
September 11th, 2009
Passport to Texas Outdoor stories from Texas parks and Wildlife
When Scooter Cheatham convinced his anthropology professor to let him and a friend conduct an experiment—instead of writing a research paper—he had no idea it would lead to his lifelong passion.
What we proposed was that we go down to my grandmother’s ranch on the Guadalupe river near Concrete, Texas, and take with us replicas of some of these early cultures we’d been studying. We had mostly stone tools, deerskin clothing—we did the whole thing.
Uh, basically we got down there, and uh for about a week we didn’t have much to eat. I think we had a possum and an armadillo—and I didn’t eat all of the possum, it was too greasy for me. But in that time frame, we had an awful lot of time to spend in that setting. And so we began talking a lot about how civilization came to be. Asking ourselves a lot of “what if” questions, like: what if we went back and there was no back—it was all gone, and you had to start over—how would you do it?
And you start looking around and the great diversity, the thing that supplies us all of our organic needs is rooted in the plant kingdom. It just became very obvious to me that this was very important. And I was sure that some group of scientists had already done studies all over the world and that there was a body of information about this. So, I came back to Austin expecting to find that and to tap into it—it didn’t exist.
So, he created it—a 12 volume encyclopedia of Useful Wild Plants of Texas and beyond. Volume three is at the printers now.
That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Visit the website Useful Wild Plants, http://usefulwildplants.org/encyclopedia.htm, and see what Scooter’s been up to all these years. [Just copy and paste the URL into your browser]
Posted in Conservation, Education, Outdoor Stories | Comments Off on Texas Outdoor Story–Scooter Cheatham
September 10th, 2009
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, spoke to a group of educators in San Antonio this summer. He told them, as a child, he felt ownership of the woods near his home. But today’s kids may lack connection to the land.
I owned those woods to the extent that as an 8 year old—I’m sorry to tell you—I pulled out, I think, hundreds of survey stakes that I knew had something to do with the bulldozers that were taking out other woods. A developer told me a couple years ago I would have been a lot more effective if I’d simply moved the stakes around.
In any case, I was telling the story about pulling out stakes at the Cuevera Coalition. And afterward in the discussion period a rancher stood up, and he was sunburned, he was in his sixties, white handlebar mustache…And he said, you know that story you told about pulling out survey stakes? And he said, I did that when I was a boy.
And then he began to cry in front of five hundred people. And despite his deep sense of embarrassment, he continued to speak about his sense of grief that his might be one of the last generations to have that kind of sense of ownership of land that has nothing to do with money—it goes deeper than that.
Help children connect with the land. Learn more at passportotexas.org.
For Texas parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Visit the Life’s Better Outside website.
Posted in Conservation, Education, Land/Water Plan | Comments Off on Richard Louv: Owning the Land
September 9th, 2009
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
With the arrival of cooler fall weather, you may be inspired to get outside and stretch your legs. Hiking is a simple low cost way to engage the out of doors.
State parks offer a variety of trails no matter what your skill level or interest. The seasoned hiker may opt for a challenging rocky trail, whereas a beginner or family may prefer something a relaxing winding pathway.
Most of parks have multiple trails to explore. Take a guided tour to become familiar with the locale and nature.
While on your hike, be sure to notice your surroundings. Many trails parallel streams, or are in wooded areas that attract wildlife.
When hiking, be sure to dress accordingly for weather and exercise. Always wear comfortable shoes and protective footwear. A hat, as well as sunscreen, should be used for protection from outdoor elements. Insect repellent might be helpful in heavily wooded areas. Most importantly, bring along a bottle of water on your journey.
Details about hiking and state parks can be found on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.
That’s our show for today…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti
Posted in Land/Water Plan, State Parks | 1 Comment »
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