Hawk Tower Bird Watching. This is Passport to Texas Texas Parks and Wildlife brought the nature tourism movement to Texas in the 1990’s. Madge Lindsay worked with a couple of other people and developed this idea of a birding trail. Shelly Plante is the Nature Tourism Manager. No one had ever linked together sites that were drivable distances from one another to say, here’s a marketing platform of ways that people can come to your area and enjoy nature. Wouldn’t it be great if we worked with...

Centennial Artist, Clemente Guzman This is Passport to Texas I love nature. I love being outside. Artist Clemente Guzman has a genuine affection for the outdoors. He spent twenty-nine and a half years at Texas Parks and Wildlife depicting the natural beauty of the state. I create art because it inspires me, it moves me, and being out in nature does that to me. It has that magic. You know when you have it, because you can’t sleep. You know you get up. It’s like falling in love. You know,...

Texas State Parks. This is Passport to Texas The year 2023 is the centennial anniversary of Texas State Parks, and thirty-one Texas artists have been chosen to create illustrations for a printed book about the State Park System. The whole history of conservation in the United States, particularly in the national parks, it was aided and abetted by artists. Former Texas Parks and Wildlife executive director Andy Sansom is project organizer and co-author of the centennial book. They are all...

Endangered Ocelot This is Passport to Texas The endangered Ocelot once roamed many parts of Texas. But over the years, loss of their native thorn-scrub habitat has left only a handful of Ocelots in the Rio Grande Valley. We need to restore their habitat as quickly as possible because they’re just really in dire need. Dr. Sandra Rideout-Hanzak is a restoration ecologist at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. The thornscrub is really unique and it’s highly diverse. We’re talking about...

Lesser prairie-chicken. Image courtesy USFWS This is Passport to Texas The Lesser Prairie Chicken used to roam many parts of Texas. But over the years, the wide-open grassland prairies they depend on have been greatly reduced by development and land fragmentation. Lesser Prairie Chickens are important because they are an indicator species on the health of the grasslands. Brad Simpson is a Wildlife Diversity Biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. When we look at Lesser Prairie Chicken...

Camp Wildflower, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Image courtesy of wildflower.org. This is Passport to Texas This is called the Dino Creek. Or Dinosaur Creek… The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center located in Austin is grooming the conservationists of tomorrow. Camp Wildflower is showing and demonstrating to children how they can appreciate nature at any given moment. Rosalie Kelley is Camp Director. Studies have shown that children who have three positive experiences in nature will...

Gulf of Mexico This is Passport to Texas Every year the Gulf of Mexico endures Dead Zones. Areas of low-oxygenated water where animals suffocate and die. The condition is called hypoxia, and scientists estimate this year’s dead zone could be one of the largest ever, already at nearly 8,000 square miles just off the coast of Louisiana and Texas. An abnormal number of spring rains and floods saturated the Midwest, leaving farmland unsuitable for planting. The nitrogen and phosphorus-rich...

Whooping crane pair at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge This is Passport to Texas The majestic Whooping Crane is the tallest bird in North America and has a wingspan of seven and a half feet. But even with its impressive size, the Whooping Crane nearly became extinct, and in 1970 the bird was listed as an endangered species. They are still federally listed as endangered. The population will be classified as such until they get around a thousand. Trey Barron is a Wildlife Diversity Biologist...

Steve Hall teaching a Hunter Education Class This is Passport to Texas For many, hunting is learned as a family tradition, passed down from elders to future generations. But if hunting wasn’t shared among your friends and family, and you want to hunt, how do you learn? To start hunting you really have to find a mentor. Steve Hall is the Hunter Education Coordinator at Texas Parks and Wildlife. We’re actually starting some mentor hunts and those are probably the best way to learn about...

Hunter Education Class: TPWD employee Joshua Ndegwa takes shooting instructions form Hunter Education Coordinator Steve Hall. This is Passport to Texas Deer season is fast approaching, and hunter readiness is key to experiencing a safe and successful hunt. Preparation, Practice and Planning for that upcoming hunt. Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Hunter Education Coordinator Steve Hall. The practice is the big one. I think that in our busy world we just don’t seem to carve out that time. But you...

Wild Hog Adventure winner , his hunting buddies and their harvest. This is Passport to Texas Feral Hogs are an interesting predicament we have here in Texas. Justin Dreibelbis is the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. They cause a lot of agricultural damage for people trying to run ranches and farms. However, on the other hand, they are entertaining to hunt and they are good table fare. We run the wildlife phone bank here at Parks and Wildlife...

2017 winner, Drew Lillie (on left), and friends after a successful hunt. This is Passport to Texas Would you like to go duck hunting on the Texas Gulf Coast? Or in the flooded-timber of East Texas? Well you don’t have to choose just one. You can do both hunts if you win the Big Time Texas Hunts Waterfowl Adventure. Here’s Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director Justin Dreibelbis to tell you more. One hunt is on the coastal prairies where you’re going to...

2018 Nilgai Antelope Safari winner, Craig McCallum, with his bounty. This is Passport to Texas Often times if you’re not careful, they see you or hear you long before you see them. Justin Dreibelbis is the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. He’s talking about Nilgai Antelope, an exotic game species in South Texas that’s included in one of ten premium Big Time Texas Hunts. The Nilgai Antelope Safari is a really cool opportunity. You’re hunting on a...

2018 Grand Slam winner, Greg May ,at right, with his stepson Cauy and their professional guide, Greg Horak. Greg harvested a very nice 6½ year old 11-point mule deer that gross scored 171. This is Passport to Texas It’s time to step up to the plate and see if you can win the Texas Grand Slam. Of all our Big Time Texas Hunt packages, the granddaddy of them all is the Grand Slam package. Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director Justin Dreibelbis. This is...

American Alligator This is Passport to Texas It’s hard to find a hunt that will make your eyes wider and your heart beat faster than looking for alligators in the swamps of East Texas. American Alligators are a really a conservation success story. Justin Dreibelbis [Dry-bul-bis] is the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Their populations were very low not very long ago. We now have huntable populations in a number of different places and especially...

Let’s Hunt BIG! This is Passport to Texas For just 9 dollars you can enter to win a Big Time Texas Hunts package and support wildlife conservation at the same time. Big Time Texas Hunts is a conservation fundraiser. Justin Dreibelbis is the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program Director at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Since 1996 we have brought in 14 million dollars plus of gross revenue to go directly to wildlife conservation and public hunting opportunity. We started with one single grand...

The Kraken doing its job as an artificial reef. This is Passport to Texas Early in 2017, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Artificial Reef Program created a new underwater oasis for marine life by using a 371-foot cargo ship called The Kraken; sunk about 65 miles off the coast of Galveston. Seven months after sending the Kraken to the gulf sea floor, biologists returned to investigate what has become one of the state’s largest artificial reefs. What we’re going to see, we don’t know until we get...

Mountain Biking at Big Bend Ranch State Park This is Passport to Texas Texas Parks and Wildlife’s recreational trails program develops new pathways in the state through a competitive grant program. Trails allow visitors to enjoy scenic vistas, pursue recreational sports, escape find solace and explore areas that might otherwise be inaccessible. We fund everything from natural surface single-track mountain bike trails to twelve-foot-wide concrete trails that are accessible to everyone. Erick...

Takings a perky pup for a walk with the family in a state park. This is Passport to Texas Hiking opportunities at Texas state parks are varied. There are 1100 miles of trails and dozens of daily organized treks. Some of them have added elements to intrigue and delight. Show up at the Davis Mountain State Park Interpretive Center on Thursday mornings and hike with a homeless dog. Help these hopeful rescues enjoy the trail as they await a forever home; you’ll get some puppy love and...

Mason Mountain WMA–location of the Big Time Texas Hunts Exotic Safari. This is Passport to Texas Have you ever dreamed of hunting the kind of game only found on other continents? Then Big Time Texas Hunts Exotic Safari may be for you. Janis Johnson. The winner of the Exotic Safari Package gets to hunt two animals, he gets to choose between a gemsbok, a scimitar-horned oryx, an axis deer or new this year a common waterbuck. You get to bring a hunting companion along and he or she also gets to...

Nesting chimney swift. This is Passport to Texas Chaetura [KAY-tura] Canyon… is a chimney swift sanctuary of sorts, found in the growing city of Lakeway…just west of Austin. Their numbers are declining dramatically, they’re down by probably fifty, sixty percent since the sixties here in the United States. And [in] Canada they are on the threatened and endangered list; they’ve lost ninety percent of their chimney swift population. Paul and Georgeann Kyle, who oversee KAY-tura, say chimney...

Kayak fishing at Gum Slough, part of the Hen House Ridge Unit at Martin Dies SP This is Passport to Texas Have you always wanted to learn to kayak? Then we have some great news! Ten state parks teach the basics of this paddling sport to interested park visitors. Getting out on the water is something a lot of people haven’t tried because they don’t have the equipment. Ben Horstmann is with Texas Parks and wildlife. He says each park that offers these classes provide attendees with a kayak,...

Alligator gar: What a lovely smile. This is Passport to Texas Here’s a fish story about alligator gar, a curious biologist and thermonuclear weapons testing. We’ve done a lot of work recently on the alligator gar. Being able to accurately age these fish is important. Because it tells us not only how long they live, but how they grow and in what years they were produced. Dan Daugherty is a biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. Fish have structures called otoliths that are like the bones in...

Texas Longhorn This is Passport to Texas The longhorn is a true Texas icon. This distinctive breed has played a role in Texas’ heritage. In the early 20’s Frank Dobie and a couple of other ranchers decided that the longhorn was so important that the state needed a herd. Jim Cisneros is park superintendent at San Angelo State Park where a portion of the herd lives. They took about 10 or 12 years and they went around all over Texas – down into old Mexico until they put together a good enough...

Albino Garter Snake This is Passport to Texas What should you do if you see a snake around your home? You can run into a snake anywhere. I’ve seen snakes in downtown Houston. Like all animals, snakes need food and shelter, so if you’re attracting these unwanted guests, you may need to make a few changes to your immediate environment. Paul Crump is a natural resources specialist for Texas Parks and Wildlife. We recommend that you modify your yard to minimize the attractiveness of your yard to...