- ANNOUNCER: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - My sisters and I knew what the family priorities were: God, the family and the land.

- They are protected from the elements because they are underneath an overhang.

You can have nesting colonies that can be in the thousands.

- We're not dumping garbage in the lake, we're actually providing habitat for these fish.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Over six million acres of grassland once blanketed the Texas coast.

Today, less than one percent remains.

For 200 years, one family has protected some of the last pristine prairie left in Texas.

- I think we are passionately connected to this land.

We feel the history.

We feel the tradition.

From the time we were little girls, my sisters and I knew what the family priorities were: God, the family and the land.

- NARRATOR: In 1834, 15-year-old Thomas O'Connor immigrated from Ireland to find his fortune in the New World.

He steadily acquired land that's remained in the family ever since.

- Everybody in our family does something to contribute to managing this land.

- I grew up on the ranch, spent a lot of weekends out here with my dad riding horses and just being involved in everything, daily activities that go on out here.

[cow moos] - NARRATOR: Parke now oversees the ranch's cattle operation, using rotational grazing to preserve the grasses.

- The main goal is and something I've heard my whole entire life is, you know, the next generation, we want to leave this ranch better than we found it.

- NARRATOR: The family has done extensive brush control, battling the aggressive huisache that can choke out the grasslands.

- It's kind of the last of the prairie.

And when it's gone, there won't be any more and all the wildlife associated with the prairies will be gone also.

- NARRATOR: The ranch is giving one endangered prairie bird a fighting chance.

- KIRK FEUERBACHER: The Attwater Prairie Chickens were reestablished here starting back in 2007.

[Attwater calls] We've released over 1,000 captive-bred birds here.

- NARRATOR: On the edge of extinction, the prairie chicken's survival depends on these open grasslands, home to one of nature's most elaborate courtship rituals.

- MORGAN: When the males are booming, they do a little dance.

[feet pattering] The sacs blow up.

They make a distinctive sound.

[Attwater booming] It's quite a show.

- It's good to have these big open expanses that are gonna produce a diversity of grasses, a diversity of plants and then also to maintain a diversity of animals and insects.

It's ... it's home to me.

[gentle music] - MORGAN: All of our family history is tied up in this land.

♪ ♪ I'm hoping that it will stay in our family and that they will be able to continue to use this land for ranching and for preservation of the wildlife.

[truck passes] [birds chirping] [gentle music] - One of the best places to see cliff swallows is close to water and where there are bridges.

[birds chirping] During nesting season, you'll see these large swarms.

They can nest alone, but cliff swallows definitely like to nest together, and you can have nesting colonies that can be in the thousands.

Cliff swallows like to nest in a little mud house.

They use mud and create a cup.

[gentle music] Before there were bridges, cliff swallows nested on cliffs, and still do.

They are protected from the elements because they're underneath an overhang.

By building bridges, we essentially recreated those conditions.

Many of our bridges have really nice overhangs and these are conveniently located close to creeks or rivers.

They fly around catching insects as they fly.

There are not a lot of swallows in the wintertime because you don't have a lot of insects in the air.

Around cities and any kind of development, oftentimes you are removing habitat, but because of bridges, you have many more places that cliff swallows can nest.

[gentle music] They're amazing flyers, and they're beautiful to watch.

[gentle music, birds chirp] - NARRATOR: Wish you could spend more time with nature?

Well, every month you can have the great outdoors delivered to you.

Since 1942, Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine has been the outdoor magazine of Texas.

Every issue is packed with outstanding photography and writing about the wild things and wild places of this great state.

And now Texas' best outdoor magazine is available as an app, it's just that easy.

Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, your connection to the great outdoors.

- Since we were soldiers, unfortunately we had to get into battles from time to time and when you did engage with one of the African-American units, it was said that we fought just as brave, fierce and strong as the mighty buffalo.

[buffalo stampeding] So your buffalo soldier was your first professional African-American soldier in the U.S. Army and this is after the civil war.

That name was bestowed upon the African-American men in the army from the Native Americans for several different reasons.

Uh, most common one being the hair on top of their head reminded the Indian of the hair in between the horns on the buffalo and you can see I got a little bit of curlies going on today.

- Luis has been with the program for about 14 years and his job is to host outreach events statewide.

So he has a team of two and they travel the state to connect new audiences to buffalo soldiers history and our Texas state parks.

The history of the buffalo soldiers is important because it tells a story that's often not told in schools and this is one thing that's really awesome about Luis is he is such a phenomenal storyteller, that he can make sure that you find a way to connect with that history, you realize that history is also part of your history.

- LUIS: Our story is connected with everybody's story.

There's not one person walking this earth who did it on their own.

That's the key ingredient, if you will, for how we preserve history which is the story of people and getting that interest to other people who are not necessarily of our same background.

[indistinct chatter] - Luis has such an institutional knowledge and from there has grown into a very competent living history interpreter as well as a supervisor and coordinator of our buffalo soldier program.

- You won't see a better storyteller but when you watch him tell a story, you see those kids' eyes light up and you know that they've they're forever changed and that they're going to grow up and hopefully share that story with their kids.

- My passion really grew and matured here as I became more comfortable with the outdoors and then being able to teach my kids, wanting them to be exposed and comfortable with the outdoors just naturally led to me growing a passion for teaching other youth around the state the same principles.

- LISA: The work that he does in the community is so vital to the success of Texas state parks and just making sure that our community feels welcome and engaged in the outdoors.

- A lot of times we're the unsung heroes that are out in the trenches in the nitty-gritty, suffering through thunderstorms and lightning and rain and we're out there with those people and making a difference and trying to bring all these stories and everything to life and make sure everybody's having fun at the same time.

- JESSICA: That team travels thousands of miles every year.

They're in very high demand from schools, community groups and of course our state parks.

It is difficult at times for three people to serve the entire state so under Luis' leadership, my hope for the buffalo soldier program is growth and even a greater impact to Texas state parks.

- LISA: Luis' work is very important.

It's important to him.

It's important to our team.

It's important to our state because Luis' work leaves that lasting legacy that will keep audiences coming back forever and ever.

- The more we share the story, the more we preserve the story and share it with the others, the longer it'll last and the more impactful it'll become.

If we can inspire the younger generations to get outside, embrace the outdoors and connect to their natural heritage, then we've successfully done our job.

- NARRATOR: On a spring afternoon, Kody Corrin and Calvin Lamont are out to do some fishing.

- CALVIN: What color do you need?

- KODY: Watermelon red.

- CALVIN: I may switch up here in a second.

- NARRATOR: Serious anglers, like Calvin and Kody, work every angle to hook a nice fish.

- KODY: I got one.

- CALVIN: He ain't very big.

- No, came off.

- NARRATOR: Otherwise they might not hear the end of it.

- CALVIN: Didn't even get him in the boat, huh?

- KODY: We fish together quite a bit.

- CALVIN: Come on to daddy.

Oh, you little flipper!

That's part of fishing with Kody... - KODY: Oh man, it's a monster!

- CALVIN: Pretty normal for us to rib each other.

Little dude.

- KODY: That's huge!

[laughs] - NARRATOR: But these veterans know the key to a respectable fishing trip is finding the right location.

- CALVIN: I think we need to go hit them ones.

See what they've got to offer.

- KODY: That group that's on that point over there.

- We'll go to this one for now.

- NARRATOR: And they happen to know of some promising new spots to fish because of a project they helped with more than a year earlier.

[heroic energetic music] ♪ ♪ - Watch your head!

♪ ♪ [bubbles] [hammer tapping] [drill whirs] To the uninitiated, that project might not have looked like anything that would improve fishing.

- CALVIN: It's got enough tentacles hanging out.

- KODY: Somebody that doesn't really know would think that we're just piecing recycled garbage together and we're really not.

- LYNN: So it's going to be 24 arms for each base.

- We need three more.

We're not dumping garbage in the lake, we're actually providing good habitat for these fish.

- TIM BISTER: We are at Lake Cypress Springs to construct some artificial fish habitat structures.

[drill whirs] There is not a lot of structure for fish like largemouth bass or sunfish to relate to underneath the water.

And fish need habitat structure in general.

Even in reservoirs that left timber standing, over time that timber in the water breaks down and the habitat for fish declines, so we're at a point where we really need to start doing something with these reservoirs to improve fish habitat.

[boat engine revs] That looks good.

♪ ♪ We have done work with Christmas trees in the past, but the PVC that we're using in these structures that we are building today are going to last for many, many years.

[bubbles] I think these attractors will start working pretty much right away as soon as the algae can start growing on them, they are going to start attracting fish and really make the angling experience that much better.

Today, materials have been purchased with money from the conservation license plate program.

We're partnering with the Franklin County Water District here, we have got a couple of members with a new Bass Unlimited chapter here to volunteer and help make fishing better in Lake Cypress Springs.

- We love fishing tournaments, but we both understand that without conservation of the lakes, we are not going to be able to do that.

So, it is on our part to make sure we help take care of that, take care of the resource that provides our recreation.

- NARRATOR: Of course, artificial structures are just one way to help fish.

- Check out this little buddy right here.

This is flat stem spike rush, water star grass, wild celery, white water lily, square stem spike rush... - NARRATOR: Native aquatic plants provide natural habitat.

- The more different species we have in that plant community, the more stable that plant community is.

- NARRATOR: The man behind the old-timey mustache is Rick Ott.

- RICK: People tell me I look like Wild Bill Hickok, and if it makes people smile, I'm all for it.

Weeding my garden.

- NARRATOR: Rick manages a native aquatic plant nursery at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.

- It's not just the structure, it's also the actual food that's being produced here.

Structural habitat is very important because the fish use it as a place to hide, but the vegetation is producing food that invertebrates consume, small fish consume the invertebrates, bigger fish eat the smaller fish, and we eat the bigger fish.

That same basis to the food chain is occurring on those plastic structures as we have with the plants.

We're just growing a little teeny tiny garden on the surface of that plastic.

Here we've just got a bigger garden with a bigger type plant.

- NARRATOR: But getting that big garden started is the tough part.

- RICK: Let's go look at those pond weed cages.

- NARRATOR: On the water, Rick and his crew check on past efforts.

- RICK: We're at Purtis Creek State Park.

We're coming back to evaluate some of the native aquatic plant plantings that we've done years ago.

We would prefer that it was full of plants.

- NARRATOR: They find some failure and some success.

- I'm liking this a little bit better.

- NARRATOR: While cages can protect the plants from being eaten, they cannot protect against drought or high, muddy water.

- We just don't have optimal conditions for plant growth right now, with the water being so turbid, there's not as much sunlight getting to the bottom.

- NARRATOR: The crew can only hope conditions will improve and re-plant.

- RICK: It's kind of comfortable in the summer.

- TYREK: You got it there?

- RICK: My mom used to tell me not to get all wet and muddy but now I can.

Synchronized swimming, uh definitely.

We had our Ester Williams, Ken, going underwater and putting those plants in a little deeper water than we typically plant.

Ken is our deep water guy.

A lot of times all we can see of Ken is the bottoms of his feet, but we know he's working if we can see the bottoms of his feet.

[playful music] If we get a little bit of luck involving the kind of weather conditions that we have this summer, we should see good survival of the plants we put in today.

- NARRATOR: Nearby Lake Athens demonstrates what these desirable plants can look like when well-established.

- We've got a very diverse native plant community here.

We've got extensive coverage of a number of species, so ultimately, this is what we're trying to produce.

We're getting more and more Friends of Reservoirs groups all over the state, allowing us to fund these projects in a number of different places.

[reel whirs] - It's the key to having a great fishery, you know?

- NARRATOR: After their workday is done, the crew's intern, Tyrek Landry... - There's one on there.

- NARRATOR: ...shows what native plants can do for fishing.

- That's a good fish, guys.

You see what it produces.

Beautiful fish.

I'll go ahead and turn this guy back.

[splash] That made my day.

- NARRATOR: Whether with native plants or strange-looking artificial structures, improving fish habitat makes for better days of fishing.

- CALVIN: Here we go, there they are, see them?

- NARRATOR: Back on Lake Cypress Springs, Kody and Calvin find some fish at home, near habitats they helped install.

- Got him.

Everybody likes a home to stay in.

If you've got extra places that you can fish that you know is holding fish, that's always advantageous when you're fishing.

- KODY: If you start catching fish, that's always a bonus.

There's a good fish.

- CALVIN: Glad you finally caught one.

- KODY: Some inside information improves the odds in the fisherman's favor.

- NARRATOR: And these secret spots are really no secret.

- KODY: Most anglers probably don't know they can go on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website and get those grid coordinates for the habitats that we placed.

- CALVIN: You can do the same thing with a cell phone, absolutely.

You can punch those grids in and it will take you right to it as long as you've got cell phone service.

Get the net, get the net.

Oh, we ain't got one!

[laughs] Look out.

There's enough habitats in here that the fish are going to be on one of them.

- KODY: No it is a crappie.

It's a white perch.

Hey!

- CALVIN: So these habitats are holding crappie.

Caught some crappie and caught quite a few largemouth today.

- KODY: Great day on the water.

- CALVIN: It was a good time.

- NARRATOR: Visiting Texas State Parks just got easier.

With our new online reservation features, you can choose a specific cabin, campsite or shelter and reserve it for your next visit.

The new reservation system makes it easier to plan group getaways.

[upbeat music] Save the day.

[honk, honk] And don't get turned away with our optional day-use reservation.

- VISITOR: Good morning!

- NARRATOR: And be sure to get in.

- VISITOR: Thank you!

- NARRATOR: Plus, you can buy park passes and gift cards online.

Texas State Parks, getting better for you.

[intriguing music] - BARRETT DURST: This is an overwhelming experience when you come out here for the first time.

- MARCY STELLFOX: You just really feel as if you're on the edge of the earth.

- DAN SHOLLY: There's no other place like it in Texas.

[intriguing music] - I'm the fitness writer for the Austin American-Statesman.

I'm working on a story for my column about what it's like to mountain bike in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Ready to go?

- CHRIS LEBLANC: Ready to go.

Let's go!

- PAM: I'm a little nervous [laughs] I guess.

It's jagged and rough and just seems Wild West to me.

But it's beautiful too.

The whole route, we're doing 108 miles over four days and camping out at night.

[wind] - BARRETT: Big Bend Ranch State Park is the biggest state park that we have in the State of Texas.

It's 310,000 acres and about 388 miles of road, trail, route.

We have a lot of trails.

Big Bend Ranch State Park is a very big place and there is a whole lot of opportunities.

- BIKER: Yeehaw!

- BARRETT: Sweet, guys, look at the view of The Chisos in front of you!

[upbeat music] - KAREN BLIZZARD: It is challenging in places, it's smooth in places.

- BIKER: This is awesome!

- KAREN: What I love about Big Bend Ranch is it has a little bit of everything.

[upbeat music] - BARRETT: Oh look at that, you got it!

[laughs] [upbeat music] About a mile and a half left.

- Getting out on a mountain bike just lets you cover more ground.

[upbeat music] It's about all there is to do out here.

If you don't like the outdoor stuff, you might as well go back to the city.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - BARRETT: When you're on a mountain bike, you don't have to go but 100 yards and you can probably find something that's pretty technical.

[bike clattering] - BARRETT: Some of those spots on our main road are kind of challenging.

There's parts where I walk, and, you know, I hike my bike.

And it's okay to do that.

- BIKER: Whoa!

Oh!

You okay?

- I think so.

I'm going to go do it again.

- Okay.

Good idea.

♪ ♪ - BIKER: Woohoo!

[upbeat music] - We're gonna make it!

- PAM: We survived our first day on the trail.

It was very challenging.

Can I get a tow from here?

Now I feel pleasantly pooped out, and I'm going to sleep well tonight, I know.

[crickets chirp] - It was awesome.

[laughs] - A lot of people think it would be crazy to come bike in the desert, but it's very magical to me.

- I think in the next three to five years, this will be the mountain biking Mecca of Texas, if not the southwestern United States.

- Woohoo!

[upbeat music] - BARRETT: It's very, very beautiful.

- PAM: Prickly stuff and tarantulas everywhere- this is kind of like what I pictured Texas to be when I was a little kid.

Another day in paradise.

It's just nice to see that there're still wide open spaces.

[western horns music] [traffic moving] [traffic moving] [birds calling] [birds calling] [birds calling] [birds calling] [horn honk, dog barking] [birds calling] [lawnmower engine revving] [lawnmower engine revving] [birds calling] [birds calling] [traffic moving] [bird calling] [traffic moving, birds chirp] This series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.