Passport to Texas

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

Before you set foot on a boat this summer, learn the “rules of the road.”

We teach classes. They’re available online. They’re available in person.

Brandi Bradford, state boater education coordinator, says boater education information is even available as a home study course.

It’s required for those aged thirteen to seventeen, but we recommend it for any new boater—or even if you’ve been doing it for twenty years. There’s always something new out there.

With 500-thousand registered boaters in Texas, everyone who spends time on the water benefits when boaters know the rules.

We talk about rules of the road. Which way do you turn if somebody is coming right at you? Do you go right or left? The answer is go right. You might not have known that, and the other person might not know it, is the bigger deal. We teach you about how alcohol affects you on the water; it actually affects you three times more than it does on land. So, one beer on the water equals three on the land. We teach you about proper lighting to use on your boat, proper safety equipment to have on your boat…. And just what to expect when you’re out there.

One piece of safety equipment everyone should keep close is a personal flotation device. We’ll have more on that tomorrow.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…reminding you that June first through eighth is National Fishing and Boating week…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Safe Boating: Know the Rules Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine celebrates saltwater angling. Managing editor, Louie Bond is here to tell us more.

A lot of saltwater fishermen go out for the big three fish, which are the speckled trout, the red fish and the flounder. But, as Larry Bozka points out this month, unpredictability is the essence of saltwater fishing.

And so, any of these fish put up a good fight, they’re really great eating, they’re just as much fun as the big three, and, heck, part of the fun is the mystery of what is on the end of your hook.

Thanks, Louie. Find links to saltwater fishing information at passporttotexas.org.

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

TP&W Magazine June Preview--Saltwater Issue Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

The June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine celebrates saltwater angling. Managing editor, Louie Bond is here to tell us more.

A lot of saltwater fishermen go out for the big three fish, which are the speckled trout, the red fish and the flounder. But, as Larry Bozka points out this month, unpredictability is the essence of saltwater fishing.

And so, any of these fish put up a good fight, they’re really great eating, they’re just as much fun as the big three, and, heck, part of the fun is the mystery of what is on the end of your hook.

Thanks, Louie. Find links to saltwater fishing information at passporttotexas.org.

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

TP&W Magazine June Preview--Saltwater Issue Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Cut off from the Lower Laguna Madre, the Bahia Grande, a unit of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, changed from productive tidal wetland to nuisance dust bowl. The tide started to turn for this basin with the new millennium.

It was not until 2000 when the Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the land surrounding the Bahia Grande Basin that you could start doing something—because the Fish and Wildlife Service was very supportive of restoring the area.

John Wallace is the refuge manager. Eight years later, the process of restoring Bahia Grande continues.

Restoring ten thousand acres takes quite awhile. We have had to go through an environmental assessment—public hearings—to just make sure what we were planning to do in restoring it was not going to cause some kind of impact.

Wallace says the project is at the stage of installing the main channel that will fully restore the area. He estimates the work to start in early 2009. When fully restored, humans and wildlife will benefit.

Besides just reducing the blowing dust, it’s going to increase the number of marine organisms in the area: anything from larval finfish, to shrimp, to blue crabs that are already in the area. And when we have it fully restored it’s going to do nothing more than become a nice estuarine area to benefit wildlife.

Find more information at passportotexas.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.

Wetlands Month--Bahia Grande, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

For the past seventy years, Bahia Grande, a unit of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, has been no more than a six thousand acre dust bowl. Before then, it had been a productive tidal wetland.

A tidal wetland is normally a coastal wetland that is influenced by the daily tide cycle that would basically push or pull water into that system on a daily basis.

John Wallace is the refuge manager. The construction of the Brownsville Ship Channel in the 1930s effectively cut off Bahia Grande from the Lower Laguna Madre.

The spoil from that ship channel was piled on the north side, and it blocked off those natural channels that allowed water to flow into the Bahia Grande.

Without water, the basin dried up, and eventually became a nuisance to local residents and businesses whenever prevailing winds came from the southeast.

Normally on a coastal area with prevailing winds, you would get winds ten to twenty miles an hour every day. And these winds would pick up that real fine clay dust, and blow it to the north and northwest. And the local communities north of there were suffering from this blowing dust. It was impacting people that had breathing problems. The local schools, their air-conditioning systems, it was getting into the classrooms. So, it was a major concern for the local communities.

Solving the problem…that’s tomorrow.

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.

Wetlands Month--Bahia Grande, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download