If you fancy yourself a fisherman, or think it’s time you found out what all the fuss is about, Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine has a treat this February. Editor, Louie Bond explains.

60—You know, we’re really excited this February to offer our readers something new and different.

So, this is the beginning of a new tradition for Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. We hope everybody will check in on the fishing guide this month, and then back again in the fall for our hunting guide.

Louie says the online digital guide is accessible to everyone.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series with funds from your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

For entities like Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine, it’s already the New Year. Editor Louie Bond tells us about some great reading to start your year off right.

It’s hard to believe it’s 2012 already, but we like to celebrate the New Year with some really great reads.

Two other stories we’re going to feature from two of our other best writers…E. Dan Klepper shares a journey down in alligator country, and Kat Hunter will share her experiences participating in the E-Rock duathlon, which is a bike race and run up Enchanted Rock. So, when you’re ready to get out and start exercising this spring, you can take that as some great motivation.

Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine is on newsstands now.

That’s our show for today…we record the series at The Block House in Austin…Joel Block engineers our program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Because of tough economic times, the New Year will bring significant changes to the 70-year-old Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. Editor Louie Bond explains.

When times get tough, you try to be creative and come up with the best solutions. And I think that’s what we’ve done at the magazine.

We’re also taking a few more of our own photographs, but I don’t think people are going to really see a big difference in the quality of writing and photography. We’ll continue to portray the outdoor world of Texas the same way we have since WWII, and we hope the readers will enjoy the new look of the magazine.

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

The December 2011 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine holds a variety of delights for every reader, much like a Christmas stocking filled with treats. Editor Louie Bond.

62— I think that’s what we definitely have this December. First we look at something serious, which is a retrospective photo essay on the year’s historical droughts and wildfires.

And then we’ll also take a little adventure way down deep into Good Enough Springs, which is the largest underground cave systems in the united States, and one of the most dangerous dives anywhere. And it took our photographer and writer more than a year to get access and amass this information, and get the photographs in this really difficult, dangerous place. So, I think there’s going to be something for everyone this December.

Thanks, Louie.

Find the December issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine on newsstands now.

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

This is Passport to Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine editor, Louie Bond says November may be the month when most of us are gearing up for the holidays…

But for a lot of Texans, and especially those who read our magazine, it is deer month. And we have two really unique perspectives on deer hunting, I think. One is on the conservation end, because how would we even have any deer to hunt if it hadn’t been for the great conservation programs—not only in this agency—but for ranch owners like our Leopold Conservation winners: Buddy and Ellen Temple of the Temple Ranch.

And, then on the other side of things… What a lucky editor I am to have a great guy like Carter Smith as the head of this agency. He is a fantastic writer; and so whenever I can I try to wheedle him into telling some of his own great stories. And this month he shares with us the story of his first hunt, and some of the philosophy about why he hunts, and why he loves to hunt. And I think it’s great for our readers—both for those who like to get out hunting and those who like to read about it.

Thanks Louie. Read articles online at tpwmagazine.com.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series…and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

After the brutal summer we endured, only cool fall temperatures can lure us from our homes. The October issue of TPW magazine reminds us why we love the outdoors. Editor, Louie Bond.

57— Well, we’re always interested in wild places at Texas Parks and Wildlife, and this month we’ll be taking a look at hunting camps with Henry Chappell, who I think is one of our most lyrical writers. And he talks about hunting camps as primitive as a campfire in the woods and little else, all the way to the palatial accommodations of a corrugated tin shack held together with mouse droppings and spider webs, as he describes it.

And also Larry Hodge takes a look at Texas’ two last wild rivers: The Devil’s and the Neches, and efforts to keep them as wild, undammed rivers. So, we hope that you get outdoors whether you’re enjoying hunting or just the wild places that we love in Texas.

Thanks, Louie!

Read articles online at tpwmagazine.com.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Whether it is your fiftieth or first time hunting, Texas Parks and Magazine’s September issue has something for everyone. Editor, Louie Bond.

In September we do turn our focus to hunting, And this year we’ve split our hunting forecast into two sections to give our whitetail experts a little more time to come up with more accurate predictions. So this year in September we’ll have a dove and teal forecast all by itself. We’ll also have a special feature on public hunting by Ben Reeder. I know a lot of people want to hunt but just don’t know where to go and can’t afford to get their own lease. So, we have a variety of options through Texas Parks and Wildlife public hunting program, and I think there will be a lot of good information in there for hunters. And we also have kind of an interesting take on hunting, I think, in that we’re looking at modern day flintknappers. And flinknappers, of course, they’re rock enthusiasts who go about trying to recreate Clovis and Folsom points and they get together at knap-ins. They learn from each other and, as they say, they bust a lot of rocks. And they have a lot of fun rediscovering the old ways of hunting. It’s quite a fascinating read. So, as you get ready for hunting pick up the September issue and we’ll give you all the information you need.

Thanks, Louie.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

The August issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine will be on newsstands soon, and if you’re a fan of state parks, birding and the border—this may be the perfect issue for you. Editor, Louie Bond.

I think it’s such an interesting mix this month. Our readership is so diverse sometimes it’s quite a challenge to please everybody in each issue, but I do think this is one of those issues that has something for everyone.

And one of the best places to go birding, of course, is down in South Texas along the border, and we have a special look at the border fence this month and its impact on wildlife. So, I think there’s something for everyone in the August issue.

You can read a variety of past articles online at tpwmagazine.com.

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

11—Anyone who recalls the aerial photographs of the Rio Grande not reaching the gulf of Mexico several years ago, should take that as a wake-up call.

Andrew Sansom, Director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos, contributes the article Keeping Rivers Flowing, in Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s tenth anniversary water issue, on newsstands now.

17—People tend to believe everything’s okay as long as the water comes out when they turn on the tap. So, by bringing people’s attention to the issues presented to us from the aquifers to the estuaries, we do a great service.

Sansom suggests that unless we change how we think about and use water, we could—in our lifetimes —unintentionally “dewater” some of the state’s most iconic and biologically diverse rivers.

16—Everything is connected. People don’t often grasp the reality that when we approve hundreds of new wells in the hill country we potentially adversely affect the estuaries on the rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

It is with the utmost urgency that we begin to think beyond our own faucets, says Sansom, and understand that up steam and downstream—the headwaters and the tidewaters—are all part of the same cycle…or flow…of life.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program funds our series…and supports conservation of Texas’ natural resources.

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

A lot can change in 10 years, but one constant is Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s annual water issue. Dr. Larry McKinney, Director of the Harte Research Institute, and former Director of Aquatic Resources at Parks and Wildlife, has been involved from the beginning.

14—When we wrote the first article in that series, we were in the middle of just trying to get the Texas Legislature to come up with a method for including environmental issues—and all the other concerns—for evaluating water needs in the state of Texas.

Dr. McKinney says although we’ve made progress since that first issue, we’ve further to go to solve the problem.

17—I think now, more and more people understand that we have to have water for the environment; I hear that from our political leaders. I see a commitment in our legislature to move in the right direction. So, it’s all positive. The question is: can we move quickly enough to make sure that we hit that balance before we get into a situation where the options are very, very limited.

How much time does Texas have to achieve a balance between human and environmental water needs?

14—We have to solve this within the next ten years, because by then the population will have reached such a level that our options to balance the environmental water needs with industry and agriculture and municipalities will be frankly gone. We will not have another chance.

Go to texasthestateofwater.org for more information.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program funds our series…and supports conservation of Texas’ natural resources.

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