Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Rae Nadler-Olenick traveled to Brackettville in 1994 to attend the National Speleological Convention, where she met an attractive, interesting man who later became her husband.

This is her Outdoor Story.

I happened to be talking to him on Friday, and he said, ‘Hey, are you going to the Devil’s Sinkhole tomorrow?’ Now, the Devil’s Sinkhole had just been opened after years of being closed. Well, I hadn’t made up my mind yet, but he offered me a ride. Yeah. I’ll go to the Devil’s Sinkhole with you. Yeah. That made up my mind. And the drive was substantial from Brackettville, and that gave us some opportunity to talk. When we got to the sinkhole, we geared up and went down. Anyway, we went down to the bottom. And, we found ourselves on bat guano. Spongy, spongy bat guano, so this wasn’t real romantic in a way, but (laughs), we walked around that area, just kept talking, and we found out we had a lot in common. We kind of clicked. And we climbed out side-by-side, and we’ve been together ever since.

Just goes to show you how nature brings people together.

Well, it certainly did on that occasion.

That’s our show for today…Remember: Life’s Better Outside…

Yes. Yes, that’s what this is all about.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The book Rare Plants of Texas from Texas A & M press gets up close and personal with…well…rare Texas plants.

There’s a lot of different definitions of rare.

Co-author, Jackie Poole, explains how the book’s authors defined the term “rare.”

What we basically use for the book is how many populations of those plants exist out there. So, usually, our cutoff criteria is twenty populations of fewer. And that’s on a worldwide basis—that’s not just in Texas.

Species listed as threatened or endangered by the federal and state government were also included in the 225 plants found in this illustrated field guide.

And, a lot of those plants have more than twenty populations known now—they didn’t when they were listed. But, because they get listed, lot more attention gets paid to the; a lot more people go out and find populations. So, they often end up being less rare than the plants that aren’t listed as endangered or threatened.

It’s imperative for us to know which plants are the rarest of the rare so we can protect them and their habitat.

Because they’re often indicators of something that’s going wrong in a particular habitat. And, we can pick up on this early on by noticing the rarest individuals in the community suffering first.

Find out more about rare plants in Texas at passportotexas.org.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Playa lakes, which form in shallow depressions in the earth, are common in the High Plains of Texas, but are uncommon as water bodies go.

Well, with a playa lake, when a drop of water falls, it goes into the middle of the lake basin and that’s where it stays. This water may work its way down into the Ogallala Aquifer, or it may evaporate, but each playa lake is the lowest point in its own watershed.

Bill Johnson, is a waterfowl and wetlands biologist in Canyon, Texas, and says the water you see in the playa today, may not be there in a few months’ time.

Playas tend to go wet and dry. And there’s nothing wrong at all with a dry playa. We’re a semi-arid region, and our evaporation rate is much, much higher than our rainfall rate.

In fact, if a playa were wet all the time, says Johnson, it would not be nearly as important to waterfowl.

When a playa goes dry, it causes the germination and growth of moist soil plants. These plants are generally annual plants—such as the smartweed, or barnyard grass. Now these plants are very productive, and they produce the seeds that ducks eat. If these playas didn’t dry up, then they would have an entirely different pant community that wouldn’t be as productive—they just wouldn’t produce as much food.

Information about playas is at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Have fun on the water this summer, but play it safe. That’s the message the Nobody’s Waterproof campaign is sending to everyone—especially 18 to 34 year old men.

As you can guess, those are the people who are at highest risk in this state for [boating] fatalities or accidents. Instead of asking those people to come to us, we take it to them. So, we actually have a boat, and an outreach team that’s kind of a peer-to-peer contact group.

Brandi Bradford, state boater education coordinator.

And we go out and have a great time. We play games, we have what we call water safety Jeopardy, and we pass out koozies; we have inflatable life jackets that we give away, waterproof boxes—all kinds of fun stuff to encourage people to be safe and to remind them of boating safety.

Last year the program reached five thousand people with direct, one-on-one contact, and they’re going to do it all again this year. So, keep an eye out for the Nobody’s Waterproof boat when you’re on the water this summer.

It’s bright blue with orange flames on the side of it that says Nobody’s Waterproof, Play it Safe.

We have links to more boater safety information at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase hunting, shooting, fishing and boating opportunities in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Next time you are on the water, and decide to forgo wearing a life jacket, consider this:

About eighty-five percent of the drowning fatalities, a person is not wearing a life jacket—and that’s huge.

Brandi Bradford, state boater education coordinator, says wearing life jackets can save lives.

The law says that anyone under the age of thirteen must be wearing a life jacket while the boat is underway. We recommend that everyone does.

Boaters have reasons why they don’t like wearing life jackets, but those excuses don’t hold water.

People usually don’t like to wear them because they’re heavy, they’re bulky, they make you hot. You know, it’s a hundred degrees outside in Texas. There are actually new forms of life jackets. We have belt pack inflatables, over the shoulder (they look like little harnesses) inflatables. They’re real lightweight; they won’t mess up your tan, and they don’t get in your way when you’re driving around.

Life jackets are widely available at department and sporting goods stores. Find additional information about life jackets at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase hunting, shooting, fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Boater Safety: Personal Floatation Devices Play Now | Play in Popup | Download