- 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 and Wildlife... - There you go, little guy.

- This is a wonderful thing.

Zoos are really getting involved in conservation in their back yards.

- We know more and more that if people are going to care for the environment, they have to have access to nature.

- If you love trees, this is the place.

It's the land of the oaks.

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

- ANDY: These individuals will be really small.

- NARRATOR: This habitat and these ants mean everything to the survival of another animal.

- KRIS: Let's go.

Are you ready?

Go find it.

- NARRATOR: The dog is here to search for it.

- ANDY: It should be a target-rich environment.

- KRIS: Hey.

Your typical detection dogs are going to be used in law enforcement.

Obviously this is not a law enforcement context.

[whistle] Conservation dogs have been used with other species.

But we have not seen them used for the Texas Horned Lizard.

- NARRATOR: Efforts to restore Texas horned lizards where they were once common have involved years of research, captive breeding programs at zoos and so far only one lizard-sniffing dog.

- It's definitely a conversation starter.

- If we're successful in this effort, we will find horned lizards on the landscape.

[upbeat music] - A lot of Texans my age or older, they have fond memories of horned lizards in abundance.

People tell me about when they were children they would play with them in the back yards or find them in a dirt lot in the neighborhood and that they were just everywhere.

- JOHN: The Texas horned lizard really represents my childhood.

As best we can tell, the Texas horned lizard disappeared from much of its range in about the mid '70s and that coincided with a lot of things in the landscape.

- Fire ants get a lot of blame, and they deserve some blame, but they are not the only factor.

- At the time a lot of people were waging war on the harvester ants, the big red ants mounds.

And also at the time, coastal Bermuda was being planted in pastures.

And these lizards need harvester ants.

They need native bunch grasses, not a turf grass, and they need to be in areas without fire ants.

There are quite a few zoos now getting really involved in conservation of native species in the state of Texas.

The Houston Zoo is raising Houston toads and releasing them.

The Fort Worth Zoo is raising horned lizards and releasing them.

The San Antonio Zoo is raising horned lizards in what they affectionately call their lizard factory.

And so this is a wonderful thing.

Zoos are really getting involved in conservation in their back yards.

[gentle music] - KAMRYN: Our main goal here is to produced as many Texas horned lizard as we can.

I am just putting some ants in his little ant feeder.

- ANDY: Horned lizard have a very specific diet.

They feed primarily on the red harvester ant And if they don't get a sufficient number of ants or termites in their diet, they just die.

Straight up die.

A notoriously difficult animal to keep in captivity, let alone to get to breed and produce viable offspring.

It's a real challenge.

- Let's see how they're feeling.

We put the male lizard into the female lizard's tank.

With around 25 healthy breeders, we're hoping we can get a bunch more babies this year.

That licking and a signs of head bobbing are both of them kind of communicating with each other that they're interested.

A single lizard female can lay over 40 eggs in one clutch.

It's still a little bit early in the morning for them, so these guys are still warming up, so they're taking it a little slow right now.

Anything with animals, it's unpredictable.

It's kind of up to them if we are going to be successful or not, but I have a lot of hope we get to put those babies out on the wild.

- ANDY: I want to thank everyone who came here today.

Big year, big milestone for us.

Today, we are fortunate to release 84 captive-born Texas horned lizards on a ranch in Blanco County.

Our first release.

Very exciting.

All good?

The landowner has been managing for native biodiversity since he purchased the range.

This site includes about 1,000 acres of very high quality horned lizard habitat.

Several hundred harvester ants beds.

In general, one or two lizards per mound.

- BRITTANY: We can back to these for a different location, yeah?

- ANDY: Yeah.

This is a combination of three years of work when we started this project, breeding lizards in captivity until we had sufficient numbers to conduct our first release.

- NARRATOR: Though these lizards have never been outdoors before, this is a homecoming of sorts.

- ANDY: This is our first horned lizard released to the wild.

- NARRATOR: This one little lizard marks the return of a species to this landscape.

- ANDY: Y'all don't step on it.

If you step on a lizard, we're probably going to not invite you back.

[laughs] - It's wonderful opportunity to be able to return these lizards to the wild, but not just any place, to paradise for horned lizards, where we're hoping that they're going to establish a viable population.

- BRITTANY: Don't run away from me please.

- ANDY: ... that's going to grow.

- JOHN: For years we've been hearing from landowners that they want to have horned lizards back and we do too, and so, there's been a lot of research that's gone in to determining what kind of habitat these animals need, what kind of threats we need to avoid.

And today, all of the forces came together for horned lizard reintroduction.

- WOMAN: Hey little buddy.

- ANDY: Going about our daily lives, we may not notice the changes in the landscape that squeeze out certain species, but they certainly do.

The native grasses and forbs that you see in abundance around me are also key for quail habitat, and there are quail coming back on this ranch, there are other species like native pollinators and migratory birds that depend on exactly the same sort of habitat that good land management creates in this part of the state.

I'm going to let him go because he wants to go.

I really hope I see him again.

- NARRATOR: So, once you release a load of well-camouflaged lizards, how do you hope to find them again?

- KRIS: You want to go to work?

Let's go.

- NARRATOR: That's where the dog comes in.

[upbeat music] - KRIS: Sit.

Go find it.

[whistle] - ANDY: We've released 15 or so lizards between me and that stand of trees.

- KRIS: Off.

Come.

- ANDY: The goal here today is to try and find the lizards that we turned loosed a week ago.

- KRIS: Gren!

[whistle] She's starting to peter out.

- ANDY: The fact that we haven't seen any lizards yet, and Gren hasn't smelled any yet, it still doesn't mean they're not here.

They're just really good at hiding.

It's kind of windy day, so she just may not smell them.

But we'll come back in two weeks.

- KRIS: Uh-mm!

[whistle] Let's go.

Get over.

- NARRATOR: Animals and nature are never entirely predictable.

- KRIS: Ah-ah!

Come here.

- NARRATOR: But months after the first release, a small but hopeful sign.

- KRIS: Maybe?

She's indicating.

Andy!

- ANDY: Yeah?

- KRIS: Yes!

Did you see where her nose dropped?

- ANDY: Two or three of us will spend a couple of minutes looking to see if we can find what she smelled.

I'm not heartbroken that we didn't find lizards because we found scat that came from a lizard, so we know there are lizards out here.

That's definitely horned lizard.

- KRIS: Good girl, Gren!

- ANDY: The lizards that we released back in October, at least some of them, survived the winter, so that's really encouraging.

Yeah!

- KRIS: Yeah!

- BRITTANY: Hello, little guy!

- ANDY: Our strategy is to release around 100 lizards per year on this site for three years.

- NARRATOR: Ongoing releases will improve the odds of establishing a self-sustaining population.

- ANDY: My hope is that in the future we will find the offspring of the lizards that we released still on this ranch.

And my true hope is that we'll find lizard on the next ranch, and the ranch over there and the ranch over there.

Returning horned lizards to the landscape so that Texans can enjoy them forever.

- LESLIE: Huge milestone for the San Antonio Zoo.

Very exciting.

- NARRATOR: But even one release on one patch of restored habitat, can provide a lot of hope.

- JOHN: See him there?

Yeah!

I would say the horned lizard is probably the reason I'm a biologist today.

Because I could catch them.

They were the only lizard not faster than the little boy.

And they're gone now from most of our landscape, and so it's like a part of my childhood is gone.

But today my son was here.

And he held his first horned lizard and he released that horned lizard back on the landscape.

It's a glorious day.

[bright music] [Carolyn] This is the Cibolo Center for Conservation.

[Ben] Amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

- When we came along, it was really like the city's vacant lot.

You know, you could dump your garbage.

It was just shocking.

And so the Friends of the Cibolo Wilderness were formed and it was literally a handful of us that got together and started cleaning the creek.

[water trickling] One of the things that's really unique about this place is that it has four very distinct ecosystems.

When you walk through the creek here, you're seeing the riparian zone.

Up just off the bluff, we have a tall grass prairie that's fully restored.

There's less than one percent of prairies left in the state of Texas.

So to be able to see a tall grass prairie right here is pretty unique.

Then there's the marsh which is also very unique in the hill country to still have spring fed marshes.

A little bit farther you end up at the upland woods.

So in just a short two, three-mile walk, you can see all of those different habitats and the different kinds of birds and animals that live in them.

- Alright so we're coming up on two years of this restoration project.

Cibolo's got a lot of really cool habitat types in such a small, little area packaged up.

And all of this is nestled up within the City of Boerne.

We've got development all around this area, and yet this little hidden gem is nestled within that.

[Ben] Many of our education offerings and community science offerings- [Volunteer] So, we'll be quick about this.

[Ben] Focus on birds, bird populations.

[Volunteer] And there's a nest.

- We realize that birds are a wonderful indicator species for habitat quality.

So if we start to see bird populations decline, it tells us that we need to improve some aspect of our management practices.

[birds chirping] Similarly, if we start to see that we are really enhancing the bird population, we know we're doing the right thing by the land.

[bright music] [chainsaw revs] - We're down here on Manger Creek.

We are removing the very invasive wax leaf ligustrum I always say it's a giant garden, we gotta go through and weed.

It's a multi trunk ligustrum that is using up as much space as it can and shades out in the native.

These places, these riparian zones are quickly disappearing.

It's all those wild places that we need where we can slow down and take a break, 'cause water is life.

That's what it's all about.

- We know more and more that if people are going to care for the environment, they have to have access to nature.

And the Cibolo is a wonderful place for people to have an entry point into a sweet and beautiful nature experience.

[dramatic music] - My name is Rosario Martinez, a senior project manager with the Coastal Bend, Bays and Estuaries program.

We are here in Nueces Bay.

[dramatic music] Historically, Nueces Bay has supported various numbers of colonial water birds-- egrets, spoonbills, herons.

But the populations have been on the decline.

[dramatic music] That's attributed to the fact that the rookery islands which are important nesting habitat has been eroding away.

[somber music] This island has seen its better days, it's a lot smaller now due to wind, and currents, and periodic storm events, and sea level rise.

[somber music] I'm seeing some terns, some skimmers on their nests.

If they don't have suitable habitat, they come over here along the banks of the river.

[somber music] So it's a lot lower elevation.

So they are going to be prone to flooding events and they are not as protected as they would be on the islands in the bay.

Whenever there is a storm coming in, like we are in hurricane season, all this habitat here is going to be underwater.

So, all these chicks in the nest are not going to survive.

Also another threat that they have here that they wouldn't have on the islands as much is predation.

So a coyote could come in here, or a raccoon, and just decimate the entire population as well.

- BIOLOGIST: Do A-99.

- ROSARIO: We have been documenting, - BIOLOGIST: One zero six point zero.

- ROSARIO: ...the decline of the nesting colonial water birds here in Nueces bay, [dramatic music] At one point it supported over ten thousand nesting pairs.

And now it's down to a thousand.

So, we have to protect the nesting habitat that we have now and expand it and make it more productive.

[dramatic music] [upbeat music] You are looking at one of the islands that we are going to restore.

We've acquired some funding to come back and put rock.

The construction is happening as we speak.

It's very exciting.

They're putting in the fill material, the cranes are out there spreading it around raising the elevation of the island.

They've already placed all the rock.

- Wrap this up tomorrow and then we'll move to island five and that will take about a week.

- ROSARIO: OK, well it's looking really good.

- ANDY: Just a little sand bar is what started out most of em.

Some of them had a little vegetation but not very much of course.

We've expanded the footprint of the island probably anywhere from 20 to 40 times what it was.

[creaking] Immediate results, you don't have to wait for em.

Yeah, it does feel really good, especially before we even finish the island, the birds are trying to occupy.

They immediately inhabit the island once we are done, and very rewarding to see all that.

[upbeat music] - It was barely above sea level, so now we have a good, almost four feet above sea level which is great.

Whenever storm events come, it's not gonna be underwater.

It's still gonna provide protection for these birds, so it's great satisfaction to be able see it expand and just more protection for this great habitat.

[birds calling] Celebrating a century of Texas State Parks.

- STEVE: We're at Cooper Lake State Park.

We're located in northeast Texas, only about an hour and 20 minutes from downtown Dallas.

Just an easy drive from the metroplex.

We have a 20,000-acre lake as a backdrop.

The land around the lake is all publicly owned, which means when you're out on the lake and you look back to the shore, you'll see a ring of green.

It takes you to a different place and a different time.

There's just so much to see and do here at Cooper Lake State Park.

[light music] - Woo woo!

♪ ♪ - WOMAN: Glad y'all are here today at Cooper Lake State Park.

Hey, we're gonna go on a hike down Coyote Run Trail.

[clicking] And we're gonna listen, because if you're quiet, you can see and hear the squirrels.

[clicking] - STEVE: If you love trees, this is the place.

It's the land of the oaks, with the predominant species being the Post Oak, these large, majestic shade trees that you'll find in our campground, in our day use areas, that just beckon visitors to relax underneath on a hot summer day.

[light music] Cooper Lake is blessed with two really nice swimming areas.

We have a swimming beach at the South Sulfur unit and also a swimming beach at the Doctor's Creek unit.

We have added white sand to both of these swimming areas.

It's just a great place for families to enjoy a summer afternoon swimming and the cool waters of the lake.

[light music] If you love being out on the water, we have kayaks for rent.

You can actually fish off our kayaks, or just cruise and enjoy the scenery.

The Corps of Engineers built and impounded this back in the early '90s.

And it has created one of the best blue catfish fisheries in the state.

- Headed into the timber right now to go look under some birds, see if there's any fish hanging around them.

Cooper Lake is primarily a shallow lake.

It's about divided halfway in timber and halfway open water.

Lots of white bass, crappie fishing is pretty decent.

Got a lot of good catfish in there.

There's the first blue cat today.

Best thing I like about this lake is low pressure, not crowded, never too many boats around.

Makes fishing peaceful, anyway.

- We've got a monster right there.

[Chris laughs] He's mad at me.

I must have poked him.

- He's talking to you.

Good job.

[splash] - Man, the site was really good.

This is beautiful.

And we love being this close to the water.

It's been beautiful to listen to the wind and the trees and we've loved every minute of it.

We get to sit around the fire and talk without a TV screen or anything around to distract.

- STEVE: We have a wide variety of camping opportunities.

- MAN: Oh man, he's got a stick.

- STEVE: We have campsite on the water, cabins on the lake with the back decks overlooking the lake.

We have 30 amp and we have 50 amp RV hookups.

We have shelters.

We have something for everyone.

[chopping] - Tonight, we are doing bratwurst, and then we'll do some roasted vegetables.

I've got some potatoes in here.

- It's great for the family, and it's great, I think, for your personal health to get out of the city and get out here where you can relax and you know, be outside and enjoy nature and the fresh air and kind of slow down a little bit.

- They're nice, big spacious campsites and plenty of room, and we're here by the lake.

It's just beautiful.

- LEE: It's our way of changing pace for a little while.

And you kind of always go back a little refreshed and a little different perspective on life I think.

[light music] - STEVE: What I love about Cooper Lake State Park is the views.

It's the vista views over the lake.

It's the white tail deers that you see browsing on the forest edge.

It's the happy campers.

Just a short drive away from the city, and you can immerse yourself in nature.

It's a great place to recreate, relax, and recharge your soul.

[water lapping] [upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [birds chirping] [rushing water] [rushing water] [rushing water] [rushing water] [rushing water] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [water trickling] [water trickling] [birds chirping] [birds chirping] [rushing water] 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.