Outdoor news and notes
At the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas State Parks will be closed to the public effective at the close of business Tuesday, April 7 in order to maintain the safest environment for visitors, volunteers and staff. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Departmentwill continue to stay current with the latest public health recommendations and will announce when a definite reopening date has been determined.
“Given the myriad of challenges and heightened risks of operating the parks at this time, we believe this is the best course of action right now in order to meet the health and safety expectations the state has set out for the citizens of Texas,” said Carter Smith, Executive Director of TPWD. “All state parks will remain temporarily closed until public health and safety conditions improve. During the closure, staff will continue to steward and care for the parks to ensure they can be immediately reopened to visitors at the appropriate time.”
Outdoor recreational opportunities such as hunting, fishing, biking, jogging, walking, hiking, wildlife viewing, and the like are essential activities for Texas citizens. TPWD will continue to do its part to actively encourage and promote these opportunities in ways that are safe and close to home, said Smith.
Through this trying time, TPWD has worked diligently to facilitate access to the outdoors across the state, including in the state park system, which hosted nearly 740,000 day and overnight visitors throughout the month of March.
Despite the implementation of increasingly restrictive visitor use measures to help minimize the transmission of COVID-19 at parks, TPWD has reached a point where public safety considerations of those in the parks, and in the surrounding communities, must take precedence over continued operations. Difficulty in ensuring compliance with social distancing, problems in maintaining adequate supplies and keeping park facilities sufficiently sanitized are only a few of the challenges encountered by state park staff.
While parks are closed to the public, staff will be working to help maintain the standard upkeep, maintenance, stewardship, and continued regular cleaning of site facilities.
The Texas State Parks Customer Service Center is currently working toward contacting customers with upcoming overnight reservations to reimburse stays booked through the reservation system. Group and facility reservations have been cancelled until April 30. Cancelled reservations will not be charged normal administrative fees.
Day passes purchased through the reservation system, not associated to the Texas State Parks Pass, will also be refunded without penalties. The Texas State Parks Customer Service Center will automatically process cancellations of both overnight and day-use reservations. If your reservation is impacted by a facility or park closure, a Customer Service Center agent will contact you – you do not need to contact us. We are contacting customers in order of arrival date and appreciate your patience.
Questions regarding state park reservations can be emailed to customer.service@tpwd.texas.gov and general park information can be found at TexasStateParks.org.
TPWD CO-OP Awards More Than $820,000 in Grants to Texas Communities
Texas families will have an opportunity to experience the outdoors thanks to $822,444 in 20 grants awarded this year through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Community Outdoor Outreach Program (CO-OP). These grants support community-based conservation and outdoor recreation programs and activities such as archery, fishing, camping, hiking, kayaking, nature education and more.
This year’s recipients include schools, non-profits and city programs across the state developing life-long conservation and outdoor skills and reach under-represented audiences. Award winning projects include the expansion of outdoor education in schools, a year-long program of camping and paddling for blind and visually impaired youth, a city program reaching autistic youth with sensory-friendly recreational opportunities, and a program teaching fishing to special needs youth, disabled veterans and their families.
CO-OP grant recipients also help Texans develop leadership and career skills. An urban environmental education nonprofit hosts conservation camps and service projects and will hire 13 low-income youth for a seven-week paid internship providing conservation and natural resource job training.
CO-OP was established by TPWD in 1996 to help introduce under-represented audiences to environmental education, conservation and outdoor recreation programs. The program is authorized by the Texas Legislature through the department’s budget as a specialized component of the Texas Recreation and Parks Account Program. Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000 and may be used to pay for supplies, travel, training, food, personnel costs and equipment for ongoing use.
CO-OP grant funding is available to tax-exempt organizations within the State of Texas. Over the last 24 years, these grants have awarded $21,555,934 around the state to assist in this effort.
The following organizations will receive funding:
Austin
Camp Fire Central Texas — $50,000 – The Citizen Science and Stewardship Program visits five state parks and holds summer camp at local parks and centers, focusing on canoeing, archery, hiking, orienteering and nature photography. This project expands their afterschool, summer and backpacking clubs and reaches 150 female and minority participants through a variety of environmental education activities, outdoor skills and service projects for state parks.
Expedition School Fund — $50,000 – BVI Explore Outdoors! provides a year-long program of weekly and monthly outings for blind and visually impaired youth, including trips to 11 state parks, two natural areas and paddling trails across the state. These experiences build a variety of outdoor skills and include shore cleanups along Mustang Island State Park and Lady Bird Lake.
Brownsville
STEMS Alumni Association — $49,450 – STEMS Outdoor Outreach Program reaches minority and economically-disadvantaged youth through daytrips and multi-night camping trips at multiple state parks and a variety of outdoor activities in South, West and Central Texas. Youth gather data on wildlife species for a citizen scientist project and past participants have trained as mentors, learning outdoor skills and first aid.
Canutillo
Canutillo ISD — $49,983 – Wild Eagles 2020 fosters lifetime physical activity to over 2,300 Canutillo ISD students by teaching fishing and archery in their physical education classes across multiple grade levels in all district schools. In addition, they offer air rifle to their 200 Early College students who may then compete for college scholarships in university rifle programs.
Cleburne
Opportunity Resources Services — $40,092 – Restoring Native Texas, Building Leaders supports their Upward Bound program with environmental service trips for 150 underserved youth. After preparatory workshops, students provide several parks with customized service projects such as building bat habitats, installing pollinator gardens and assisting with oyster restoration at Galveston Island, with opportunities for outdoor recreation at the sites.
Conroe
Twelve Stones — $50,000 – Back to Basics Campouts host multiple skill-mastery camping trips to train twenty junior camp leaders to assist staff and then lead 100 inexperienced campers in outdoor activities at state parks. Youth and families with little to no experience will get a start on camping, fishing and other outdoor skills with the help of staff and the junior camp leaders.
Dallas
Groundwork Dallas — $50,000 – Expanding Green Team Recreation and Career Development Opportunities engages 250 Green Team youth ages 14-25 in weekly and monthly activities including service projects, outdoor recreation, and environmental education. Highlights include several weekend camping trips with TPWD’s Texas Outdoor Family and two week-long conservation camping trips to Big Bend Ranch State Park. Additionally, they hire 13 low-income and home-insecure youth for a 7-week paid experience providing conservation and natural resource job training.
Desoto
Faith Family Kids, Inc — $49,710 – Faith Family Academy EXPLORE 360: Big Bend takes 120 at-risk 8th grade students on a five-day capstone trip to Big Bend to study geology, flora, fauna, astronomy and includes hiking, guided canoeing and overnight camping. As preparation for the trip, all 7th grade students study related natural history, science, literature as well as outdoor and leadership skills in physical education and core content classes.
El Paso
El Paso ISD — $50,000 – EPISD Archery in Schools Program instructs 21,000 students during a three-week unit in archery at all 20 elementary and 10 high schools. Twenty district physical education teachers certified in TPWD’s archery program train the students. This expands a successful pilot from several elementary schools to all campuses in the district.
Fort Worth
Camp Fire First Texas — $49,773 – Texas Outdoor Education Center leads day and overnight adventure camps for elementary and high school students in Fort Worth ISD, combining outdoor skills training and nature education. Selected high school students will be trained to help lead activities for the elementary students and participate in additional camping opportunities.
Houston
Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — $36,046 – Buffalo Soldiers Inner City Youth Outdoor Exploration Program guides 300 youth ages 10 through 17 in outdoor recreation, basic survival and equestrian skills in a year-long series of monthly trainings and travel to historic sites where Buffalo Soldiers lived and fought. Participants help restore prairies and wetlands at Sheldon Lake State Park and put on a Texas wildlife exhibition at the museum.
Citizens’ Environmental Coalition — $37,199 – CEC Educator Program promotes environmental literacy by combining multiple days of teacher professional development with 27 follow-up school field trips for students to learn firsthand about watersheds and prairies, and then participate in service projects such as seed planting and invasive species removal. More than 1,100 students and 60 teachers are reached in this project. A Student Conservation Association intern is trained to assist in the program.
Nature and Eclectic Outdoors — $25.189 –Healthy Outdoor Communities partners with inner-city schools to offer field trips to parks, overnight family campouts in state parks and service projects on public lands. Creation of outdoor classrooms coupled with teacher training and career day events help 500 underserved youth gain natural science and outdoor skills.
Lewisville
City of Lewisville — $21,296 – Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area Field Day provides ten facilitated field days at a nature preserve and park for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are residents of an assisted living and transitional facility to equip them with the skills needed to live a healthy and engaged life. The sensory-friendly recreational opportunities include fishing, nature journaling, camping, kayaking and hiking. A Chance to Hike is a monthly nature walk designed for members of the special needs community to safely engage with the outdoors.
Livingston
Livingston ISD — $39,715 – Livingston ISD Under the Stars at Creekside Elementary teaches outdoor skills to all its students during grade-specific instruction in fishing, archery, camping, canoeing, outdoor cooking, stargazing and camp storytelling. Family evening stargazing and campouts on campus are offered several times during the year. Planting wildflowers and creating a monarch butterfly waystation on campus reinforces learning about nature and monarch migration. School staff are trained by TPWD to teach archery and fishing skills.
Richardson
North Dallas Adventist Academy — $22,600 – Outdoor Education Project combines three components: leading 50 urban high school freshman biology students to Big Bend to learn about nature and wildlife while camping and hiking the area; an outdoor class and club practice outdoor skills and camp out at state parks for four weekends per school year; and a group of 75-100 high school students assists Groundwork Dallas with a river improvement service project.
San Marcos
San Marcos Consolidated ISD — $49,323 – Outdoor Education Program 2020 — 2021 provides extensive outdoor skill instruction at all elementary schools and in middle and high school outdoor adventure classes. More than 4,600 students learn archery, fishing, nature photography, camping, orienteering and mountain biking. Additionally, district staff trained by the Texas Outdoor Family program offer students and families free day and overnight workshops at nearby parks. San Marcos CISD expanded its successful high school outdoor education program to all elementary, middle and high schools in the district to provide these opportunities.
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa ISD — $49,319 – Santa Rosa ISD Outdoor STEM Youth Leadership Project engages 150 at-risk minority students in a variety of outdoor activities including the Texas National Archery In Schools Program offered at all three elementary, middle school, and high school campuses. Also, students have a chance to participate in outdoor recreation day trips and overnight camping trips to multiple state parks, exposure to natural resource careers and weekend family archery academies.
South Padre Island
Fishing’s Future — $40,152 – New Adventures for All partners with local organizations serving special needs youth and disabled veterans to offer family fish camps for 500 participants and their families. Fishing skills and conservation are all part of the experience. In addition, they train 40 new volunteer instructors who continue to serve the community.
Tyler
City of Tyler — $12,597 – Outdoor Adventure Series workshops for area youth teach archery, fishing, orienteering, animal tracking, backpacking/hiking and birdwatching. The series culminates in a Texas Outdoor Family camping trip at Tyler State Park for participants who attend at least three workshops.
To find out more about the CO-OP program, visit the program’s website at http://tpwd.texas.gov/business/grants/recreation-grants/community-outdoor-outreach-program-co-op-grants.
The Texas Outdoor Family (TOF) program is leading the #TexasOutdoorFamilyCampIn, a month long online initiative encouraging families to learn outdoor skills together. This series, taking place through April, will culminate in a backyard or indoor camp-in throughout the state on Saturday, May 2.
This online series consists of more than 30 programs promoting outdoor education while social distancing. The #TexasOutdoorFamilyCampIn showcases live and pre-recorded programs through Facebook Live. Programs led by park rangers that will teach skills including:
Backyard camping ideas
Outdoor tent and indoor fort set up
Storytelling
Nature photography
Virtual and backyard fire building
Dutch oven cooking and camping snacks
Night sky
Buffalo Solider history
Fishing tips and identification
Cowboy and Native American tales
Camping with pets
The Texas Outdoor Family program typically offers ranger supported family campouts to youth groups and the public at Texas State Parks in Central Texas, the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and Houston area state parks. During a time when many Texas families are staying home, the #TexasOutdoorFamilyCampIn online program offers a way for families to spend time together learning new skills and enjoying the camping experience in their own way.
Both backyard camping and indoor camp-in ideas will be shared, with easy and fun ideas and projects encouraging families to learn new skills.
“Camping in a Texas State Park is such a treasured memory for families and the virtual camp-in is just another way for families to come together and make those same memories in a different way,” said Jessica Lagalo, Outdoor Education and Outreach Manager for Texas State Parks. “This could be the first step into the world of camping for some, and a continuation of stewardship of Texas State Parks for families that are missing out on their annual trips right now.”
Families can find a full calendar of upcoming program on the TOF Facebook page and join as many free programs as they like. Live question and answer sessions with park rangers, special programs by the Texas Buffalo Soldiers, and other Texas Parks and Wildlife Department outreach programs will also be featured.
The series will culminate in a state-wide community camp-in on Saturday, May 2nd with rangers around the state broadcasting live from some of the most popular Texas State Parks. Families will also be encouraged to submit indoor and outdoor “campsite” photos.
For more information, contact TOF coordinator John Souva at John.Souva@tpwd.texas.gov or Buffalo Solider Heritage Outreach Program Coordinator Luis Padilla at Luis.Padilla@tpwd.texas.gov .
We’re not fooling around when we tell you April 1 marks the beginning of the second season of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s podcast, Under the Texas Sky. The podcast brings the great outdoors to listeners through the experiences of everyday people, as well as experts inside and outside of the agency.
Episodes this season feature a tutorial on turkey calling for the spring, women in conservation (including a game warden and U.S. park ranger), an update on horned lizard restoration efforts, tips on fueling bodies for outdoor adventure, choosing the right outdoor footwear for any outdoor excursion and more.
In addition to going weekly, executive producer Cecilia Nasti says there’s something new this season for listeners to look forward to. This season introduces Under the Texas Sky: The Wanderlist, a collaboration with Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine and editor Louie Bond. These twice-a-month Wanderlists introduce listeners to new places to go and things to see in Texas.
“I was looking for a way for Under the Texas Sky to collaborate with the magazine, and Wanderlist seemed like the perfect choice,” said Nasti. “Wanderlist has been my personal go-to when planning outdoor getaways and taking it from print to podcast seemed like a winner.”
Once a month, listeners can participate in TPWD social media posts about upcoming episodes and ask questions about select topics, then listen for answers on the following week’s podcast.
The first podcast episode of the new season is a Wanderlist with Louie Bond and associate producer Randall Maxwell. They talk about spring in bloom. Maxwell also has Andrea DeLong-Amaya, Director of Horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, answer listeners’ wildflower questions submitted via TPWD’s Instagram account @TexasParksWildlife.
Stream or download the podcast at underthetexassky.org, or find it on popular podcast platforms.
A great 2019 nesting season for wild turkeys means more young toms (or jakes) will be seen by hunters this spring. Jakes are typically more forgiving than older toms and create a prime opportunity for new turkey hunters to bag their first bird.
The spring season for Rio Grande turkey season got under way March 14-15 with a youth-only weekend in the South Zone, followed by a general season that runs March 21-May 3 and then culminates with a youth-only weekend May 9-10. In the North Zone, the youth-only weekend seasons are March 28-29 and May 23-24. The North Zone general season opens April 4 and runs through May 17. A special one-gobbler limit season runs April 1-30 in Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Fayette, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Milam, and Wharton counties.
“If the current green conditions hold and weather does not turn hot too early, Texas can expect another year of turkey population growth,” said Jason Hardin, TPWD turkey program leader. “We currently have good soil moisture across much of Texas and just need a little more to keep us on track for another great year of recruitment.”
“With low harvest rates, most Rio Grande turkey hunters can expect to see some 4- and 5-year-old toms across most of the Rio Grande range. There are not going to be a lot of 2-3-year-old birds out there this spring,” said Hardin. “With the spring coming on strong, toms will pair with hens early in the season. But as those hens begin to initiate nesting activities around the middle of the season, the toms will turn on and readily come to calling.”
Eastern spring turkey hunting in the counties having an open season starts on April 22 and runs through May 14. Hunters are required to report harvest of eastern wild turkeys electronically to TPWD within 24 hours of harvest. Reports can be made through the TPWD My Texas Hunt Harvest App or online from the TPWD turkey page at www.tpwd.texas.gov/turkey . The app is available for free download from Google Play or the App Store. Hunters will be issued a confirmation number upon completion of the reporting process. Hunters still have to tag harvested birds.
The harvest reporting app can also be used as a tool for voluntarily reporting and tracking harvests of other resident game species, including Rio Grande turkey. With My Texas Hunt Harvest, hunters can log harvested game animals and view harvest history, including dates and locations of every hunt.