Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

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.

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This is Passport to Texas…

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.

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This is Passport to Texas

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

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This is Passport to Texas

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.

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This is Passport to Texas

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.

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