- NARRATOR: 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 provided by the Toyota Tundra.

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

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.

[theme music] - ANNOUNCER: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - This is an amazing prehistoric site.

We're with the youth group and our job is to let them have some fun while they're learning.

- Alligators are part of our native wildlife here in Texas and they've been here for hundreds and hundreds of years so, long before we were here.

- There you go!

- We have the most beautiful lake.

Lake Whitney itself is just amazing.

[theme music] - ANNOUNCER: Texas Parks & Wildlife , a television series for all outdoors.

♪ ♪ [gentle music] ♪ ♪ - We are out here at an archeological site that is absolutely amazing and in the background here you see the excavation units and we have 30 kids and 30 adults working with us for the Texas Archeological Society Field School.

[gentle music] [cheering] We probably have thousands of years of continuous occupation, people coming back to this spot.

- There you go.

- Oh nice!

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Oh, that's a big one.

- DOUGLAS: Ancestral Tonkawa, Jumano and Caddo Indians.

Getting some good stuff?

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Absolutely.

- DOUGLAS: And we are excavating an earth oven feature.

- We believe this is the very edge of a flat stone cooking rock.

- This probably was a dart point at one point, but they've reworked it and so now that the edges are all rounded off and so they've made it into a little tool.

So it's had, it's been recycled and reused.

[pleasant music] - Every flake out here is potentially a tool and so we have to look at them very closely to look for evidence of use-wear or minor modification.

[metal clanging] [sand sizzling] We screen every bit of the dirt, then we find things like this.

And you look at the grooves here.

If you have an arrow shaft and you want to smooth it out, you can run it back and forth in that groove nice and even and making it the shaft that you want.

And you can look right down that and see the groove right there.

This is sandstone, so in a sense think of it as sand paper.

That's a cool tool.

[spade scraping] [participants faintly speaking] - Four one-meter squared.

It's called two by two, and you're at the top of level four, correct?

- KID: Correct.

- Okay, so you've got a long way to go.

- DOUGLAS: The Texas Archeological Society is really about educating people about archeology.

- I'm going to show you guys friction fire, which is the way that ancient people were able to do a fire.

[Neil blowing] - DOUGLAS: We teach them about the importance of preserving our past.

- NEAL: That is a hefty ember.

- DOUGLAS: We have to promote these ideas of preservation, conservation.

That's what this is all about.

- And there you go.

- Over there they found this too.

- DOUGLAS: And of course we're with the youth group and our job here is to get the kids out here and let them have some fun while they're learning.

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Okay, are you ready for some more dirt?

- KID: Yup.

- Okay here you go.

Thanks for sifting for us.

You're doing a good job.

- I found this.

- Show me.

That's a really nice flake there.

Good job.

- We've found broken off dart points and arrow heads in every level so far.

The first thing you do is usually go to somebody a little higher up who knows their points better, and then if they say it's a point, you go and ring the bell over there.

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Good job, go out there and ring it.

- Yea just, ready?

[bell ringing] [cheers and applause] - Wow, that is a big piece.

- Madison, why don't we put this right where you found it so we can map it together, okay?

- KID: Okay.

- ARCHEOLOGIST: We're looking at a large piece of pottery.

First we have to map it so we know exactly where we found it in the level.

What number is that?

- KID: Five by six.

- BARRETT: After that, you grab a bag and you label it and then all of that stuff goes to the lab.

- We know it's punctuated.

- Punctated.

And that's what we're seeing on it.

And you see how smooth this surface is?

We're talking about a vessel that's probably 16, 18 inches in diameter.

This is a good find guys.

Give me high five.

High five.

High five.

High five.

All right!

- Is this a bell-ringer though?

- What do you think?

- Yes.

- Yes [laughs] it's a bell-ringer.

This is Caddo pottery that they found, in-place, and mapped it and got an elevation on it.

So this is excellent.

Ring the bell!

[bell ringing] [cheers and applause] They're finding artifacts, they're learning how to document those and they're learning real archeology.

- KID: Perfect!

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Make sure it's tight.

Is it tight?

- KID: Yes.

- ARCHEOLOGIST: Good.

- Oh, that's a nice one.

You can see where it broke off on that one side.

So imagine it would have been quite a bit bigger and it broke off, but you can see the battering on this end.

And so... I've been doing archeology since I was about 14 years old, and that's the age of a lot of the kids that are coming out here.

This is an influence on them for a lifetime.

So yea, that's a very neat tool.

And these kids... [cheers and applause] There we go [laughs].

These kids are the future of archeology.

- So proud of y'all.

You look like you're having fun.

- DOUGLAS: It's all about learning and having fun and camaraderie, but on the bigger picture, it helps us put out an ethic of preservation and conservation for prehistoric resources and historic resources across the state of Texas.

[gentle music] - Alligators are part of our native wildlife here in Texas, and they've been here for hundreds and hundreds of years, so long before we were here.

They actually were listed as endangered in the 1970s.

Their populations were very low.

They were removed from the endangered species list in 1985.

And since, their population has really rebounded, so they're a great example of a conservation success story.

Here in Texas, you can find alligators in roughly the eastern half of the state.

They are most abundant though along the coast.

- It's hard to say that necessarily people are seeing more gators is that people are out and about more.

So I don't know necessarily if there's more gators or people are just seeing more of them.

Urban development is an issue.

Houston is the largest city in gator territory and Houston is growing, expanding on all sides.

And so with more growth, you're gonna see more of the native habitat of alligators starting to be built upon.

So there's gonna be less natural habitat for them, and there's gonna be artificial habitat is gonna be built at the same time like retention and detention ponds.

So where once these gators were able to live naturally, now they're having to take advantage of manmade ponds and lakes and places for them to stay.

Ditches are a great place for alligators, especially during storms because what are ditches designed to do?

Ditches are designed to funnel water and to hold water.

So when you have issues where maybe we've had a drought and we do get a significant rainfall or even a one or two-inch rainfall, all the water's gonna be funneled into ditches and it makes a perfect spot for alligators to hang out in.

The time you're most likely gonna see alligators is when they're coming outta brumation.

Brumation is a type of hibernation that you see in reptiles, and as the temperature starts warming up, then you'll start to see more gators coming out.

Typically, you'll see that around March, mid-March.

Right after they come out of brumation just happens to be mating season.

So you're gonna see males moving around a lot more and females moving around.

You're gonna see them a lot more during that spring to early summer.

- Alligators are part of a group known as the crocodilians that include several species of crocodiles, gharials, caimans and alligators.

Alligators can be identified by their wide and rounded snout, and also when their mouth is closed, only their top teeth will be showing.

And here in Texas, the only species that we have of crocodilian is the American alligator.

In southern Florida, you'll find the American crocodile as well, but that's the only place where we have crocodiles in the United States.

- Crocodilians are kind of unique in the reptile world in the females will actually protect the nest and will actually protect the young, sometimes up to a year after hatching.

An alligator nest, you're gonna find it usually not more than about 10 or so feet away from a body of water, a pond or a lake, and they basically look like a big pile of leaf litter and debris, and they're gonna look out of place, and a female will definitely be very close by.

So if you ever see an alligator nest, use extreme caution around them.

- Alligators and people normally can coexist without any issues, but problems can arise when people are feeding alligators.

- Feeding an alligator is actually a class C misdemeanor in the state of Texas, which can hold a fine from anywhere from 25 to $500 per infraction.

- So you wanna make sure that you never intentionally are feeding an alligator.

You also wanna make sure that you never unintentionally feed an alligator.

So some ways that you might be providing food for an alligator without realizing it is if you're fishing, you wanna make sure that you throw your scraps away and don't put them into the lake if there are alligators there.

- And so what ends up happening is alligators start associating people with food and an easy meal.

An alligator's not gonna associate you as a meal, they're gonna associate you for a meal.

- You also wanna make sure that you're not feeding other wildlife like ducks or turtles or fish because that could attract alligators as well.

- Unfortunately, when all is said done, a fed alligator is a dead alligator.

- When an alligator is labeled as a nuisance and it is removed, typically that alligator is going to be euthanized.

If it is not euthanized, they might try and relocate it, but a lot of times the end result can be the same because alligators that are relocated will often die after the relocation due to the stress associated with capture and handling.

They're also territorial animals, so they will have to compete with any other alligators that are at that new location.

Also, oftentimes, alligators will try to return to the location where they trapped because they have a really strong homing instinct and they can die in the process of that.

- As long as we are wise around alligators, then alligators don't pose a threat.

You should stay a safe, respectable distance away from them.

Think of it about the length of a school bus is what you wanna stay away from alligators.

Admire them from a distance.

- And if you have any pets with you, you wanna make sure that you keep them on a leash and keep them away from the water.

But other than that, if you see an alligator, take an opportunity to enjoy it because it's not every day that you get to see an alligator out in the wild.

So feel free to stand back and enjoy the experience and snap a few pictures if you can.

- Alligators are absolutely native Texans and they will continue to be in Texas.

Hopefully, if we can preserve some habitat for them and respect them.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ [birds chirping] [gentle music] - We have the most beautiful lake.

Lake Whitney itself is just amazing.

It is a 28,000 surface-acre lake, so that's a lot of lake.

It's just so much wild life that's out there on it.

- JAMES: Ready?

- HEATHER: Yep.

- JAMES: There you go.

[gentle music] - I love to fish and kayak.

That's kind of our thing.

Getting any bites?

- JAMES: Nope, but they're following it.

- HEATHER: I say winner cooks dinner tonight.

The lake is just a gem.

It's even better if you can throw a line into the water and catch a fish.

He's got one!

Woo!

I guess I'm cooking dinner tonight.

You can come out here and just relax.

You can ease your mind.

You forget about your worries.

We love Lake Whitney State Park.

[gentle music] [engine revving] - KATHY: We have a remote control plane club that comes out once a month.

[engine revving] [upbeat music] - It's unique in that you can have an outdoor experience and enjoy aviation at the same time.

[men laughing] Are you gonna fly that twin today?

- CLUB MEMBER: I'm gonna try.

- JIM: Have you played with the throttles?

- I played with it.

- JIM: This state park is a great facility for this hobby.

[upbeat music] I enjoy flying through the aerobatic maneuvers that they're designed for.

[upbeat music] [engine whirring] It's totally exhilarating.

[birds singing] - KATHY: The sunsets are always over the lake, and they're just phenomenal.

- I want you to take this straw, and I want you to look up into the universe.

In the diameter of this straw are a million galaxies.

- What?

Are you serious, what?

- LARRY: A million galaxies just in the diameter of this straw.

- KATHY: We've been doing star parties out here for several years now.

- There are not enough grains of sand in all the beaches in the world to equal all the stars in the universe.

Our milky way galaxy is over 300 billion stars.

[birds chirping] - JANICE: Pretty little butterflies.

- KATHY: We do nature trail walks on Sunday mornings.

There's lots of opportunities to get outside and be a part of nature.

[gentle music] [bee buzzing] Lake Whitney is a fantastic state park to explore.

It's just a beautiful spot in Texas.

[water sloshing] [gentle music] - My name is Emily Slubar.

I've been a game warden for a little over 10 years.

I was an intern in college with Parks and Wildlife game wardens, and I fell in love with everything they did, everything they stand for, the job.

- ADAM: You gonna drive or you want me to?

- EMILY: Well, if you could tell me where to go, I'll drive and it's-- - ADAM: I would stay in the water.

- EMILY: Yeah, obviously.

[water sloshing] So when we're out on the water, safety is number one priority.

We're obviously wanting to make sure people have the appropriate life jackets on their boat.

That kids are wearing their life jackets if needed.

[alert beeping] - Game warden, how you doing today?

Gonna do a quick water safety check on the boat.

Make sure you got all your safety stuff.

There's a life jacket, okay.

So our main thing today is to look for life jackets.

That's the number one priority.

I mean, all the safety stuff is important, but the life jacket is what saves more lives than the others.

- I was gonna say, just as long as each boat, there's enough life jackets for everybody that's in the water, on the boat.

And then fire extinguishers for both boats.

Do you mind if I step on board so I can test it?

- Go ahead.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Got it, Adam?

- So is this what it might be?

Something else in there?

- Nope, that's it.

All right, thank you, appreciate it.

A lot of times it's just easier to step on board and check a few things out and get a look.

Sometimes you just board on a boat and there's nothing but beer cans all over the floor.

It's a little early, but you never know.

[chuckles] - ADAM: We'll also be looking at the way the driver's operating.

You don't see a lot of alcohol out here on this lake, but it does happen.

So we're looking to make sure that they're not showing any signs of intoxication.

- You'll see it anywhere you go.

Anytime people are on the water boating on a weekend, there will always be some alcohol involved.

That's what people do sometimes, but I don't think it's as crazy here as if you look at like Lake Travis or the San Marcos River.

- Hey, do y'all mind picking up that can for us?

You're gonna have to come this way anyway.

That portage is over here.

Thank you.

I'm out here patrolling the San Marcos River.

We're out here to make sure everybody's having a safe and fun time on the river.

[water sloshing] We're also out here looking for people who might have consumed over their alcoholic limits, people who might be under the age of consuming alcohol.

Just gonna check your ID.

All right, perfect.

Thank y'all for bringing it.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

And what's your date of birth?

- 7/15/90.

- All right.

Thank you, Elinda.

We're not out here to be a buzzkill.

We wanna make sure you have fun, but we wanna make sure you do that in a safe manner.

Well, how was it?

Did you have fun?

- There's a lot of rafts.

- JOANN: A lot of times, people are just enjoying the beautiful waterway, but we wanna make sure if something were to happen down river, that we did everything we could when we made contact with that person to make sure that they were safe in the public water space.

- ADAM: Ninety-nine percent of the time, I would say there's no violation.

They haven't done anything wrong.

We're just there to make sure they have enough life jackets, all the safety equipment that they need on their boat.

When you've done this job for as long as we have, we've seen what the outcome can be when you're not wearing a life jacket.

- Sometimes a warning is the best situation, the best consequence for that situation.

Sometimes a citation is needed, and education goes a long way a lot of times versus writing a ticket.

All right, thank you, sir.

- You have a blessed day.

- You too.

Hopefully you catch some more fish.

- Well, I'll work on it.

- ADAM: This job is not just enforcing the laws.

We do a lot of community outreach, and one of the groups that we really try and focus on is kids.

You come work with us?

Yeah, we're not gonna have any fun, we're gonna work.

You wanna go on the other boat.

All right, so there's two.

That looks exactly like our badge so you can be like us out there today.

If you can educate them early about what we do, what they can do in the outdoors, then it can turn into a lifelong passion for them.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] - NARRATOR: To celebrate 40 years of our television series, we are taking a trip back in time to look at some of our earliest episodes.

[upbeat music] [film reel clicking] - NARRATOR: In April of 1986, San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park hosted a very special festival.

The Texas 150 was a celebration of the history and the future of Texas.

- You know, we don't have a monopoly on all the music in this state.

People all over the world like music and it's really amazing what the similarities between folk music in all the countries, even Japanese folk music is not that far distant from our folk music, so there's a big relation to all musicians and all music and all people everywhere, and so I'm not amazed at all that people in Texas like to listen to music also.

It's just something that makes your life a little fuller, I think.

[crowd cheering] [upbeat music] ♪ Whiskey River take my mind ♪ - NARRATOR: Willie Nelson and his friends performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in a live broadcast performance Sunday night before a crowd of more than 40,000 people.

He was one of more than 60 musical and variety entertainment groups that lent their talent and enthusiasm to the two-day festival.

From big name groups, to school children in their colorful finery, they offered everyone a wide variety of ways to say Happy Birthday to Texas.

[upbeat music] - Thank you very much.

[crowd cheering] [fireworks popping] - NARRATOR: Next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - There is not another museum devoted to the wildlife of Texas to the extent this one is.

- Texas Game Wardens received an Operation Game Thief call that there were individuals catching undersized sea trout.

Trout?

Okay.

Hey Duke!

- Two, two, two of 'em!

Oh my God, now this is what we do what we do.

- NARRATOR: That's next time on Texas Parks & Wildlife.

[light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] [light breeze] - NARRATOR: 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 provided by the Toyota Tundra.

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

Adventure-- it's what we share.

Funding also provided by Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Helping hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages get outside.

Out here, fun can't lose.