- 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 great hope is that people will become more aware of this particular species and be grateful for the fact that we have them here in Texas.

- Bugs leave a unique track.

Lizards, snakes.

It is a great place to study tracks.

To study animals.

- What we do is we give an opportunity for people to get just a little taste of what it's like to be a cave explorer.

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

[acoustic guitar music] - So what we're gonna do, we'll probably try to get the easiest ones first.

- NARRATOR: Underneath all this mud... - BRETT: Try to get it pried up with these bars so you don't get bit.

- NARRATOR: ...there are some ancient wonders about to be set free.

They just don't know it yet.

- So they burrow up in the mud.

They're real camouflaged, and you have to probe for them and find them.

And you gotta make sure you grab the right end.

- I got him.

- NARRATOR: These muddy ponds have been a temporary refuge for some rare alligator snapping turtles.

And they are about to be released back into the wild.

- Thing about wildlife is when you're trying something like this, they don't know that they're going to a better place.

- NARRATOR: All these turtles are on their way back to Texas, thanks to some serious detective work.

- They are escape artists.

- Yeah, they are.

- Federal and state law enforcement agencies worked together to bust a Louisiana poaching operation.

- We discovered a market in Sulfur, Louisiana.

There was a lady and her sons that were poaching alligator snapping turtles in Texas and then selling them out of their residence in Louisiana.

- Call of the wild, we're gonna release this turtle.

I mean, we're gonna catch this turtle.

[laughing] That's a big turtle.

[phone rings] - JIM: So we made a buy in the parking lot and once we had made that buy, we had probable cause to show that these individuals were carrying on a commercial enterprise out of their residence in Louisiana.

- POACHER: Look, there he goes.

- JIM: So I figured that we would find some but I had no idea that we would find 30.

It took three days of running nets on those ponds day in and day out.

It was a good feeling.

- Alligator snapping turtles historically have been under tremendous pressure from basically people wanting to eat them.

They've been harvested in massive quantities historically across the Southeastern United States.

In the mid 1970s, recognizing that, the Texas Parks & Wildlife protected the species, they banned the personal and commercial use of that species for any reason at all.

Example in Louisiana, still today, you can take one per person per day and consume it.

In Texas, you've not been able to, you know collect any for what, like four years.

- BRETT: They're very prehistoric.

You can just tell by looking at 'em they've got a lot of armor on 'em like dinosaurs.

It's been around a long time and we don't want to be the reason that they're gone.

- BIOLOGIST: So we're just working it up.

- PAUL: We're able to get some genetic samples from across the range.

- BIOLOGIST: 50 even.

- PAUL: Through a population genetics analysis.

- BIOLOGIST: 20 point 30.

- PAUL: Especially putting these guys back in their drainages from where they came from.

Oh, it's a big one.

Look at the size of it.

- NARRATOR: This is a mature female.

- You ready?

- I'm ready.

- NARRATOR: She's labeled as Sabine River turtle number one.

- JOE: Oh yeah.

- This is a strong turtle.

It's a strong turtle.

- All right, thank you, girl.

Eyes are good.

I'd say five.

- We try and go from one to nine and five is right where we ought be so big and strong, and amazing.

- Lovely.

- NARRATOR: The team works through the night.

- That's six, right Connor?

- Yeah, I'm gonna give a little rinse first real quick.

- Behind you, man.

- NARRATOR: It's finally time to take them back home.

- Well, that one looks good, really good.

Can't wait to see this one get kick loose.

This is all coming together.

We're just about to head out.

We got the last turtle all loaded up.

Awesome man.

So super excited to get these guys back to where they belong.

So we've got three release sites across the state that we're going to.

We're gonna go then to a habitat that we've scoped out.

We've trapped.

We've evaluated.

- Good.

- NARRATOR: Connor Adams is in charge of evaluating this release site.

He's using hoop net traps to see if there are actually any alligator snapping turtles here.

- There's lots of good habitats, but we try to set these traps in places where we think alligator snapping turtles are gonna be setting up shop.

[water splashing] We're looking for places that are like have deep holes or that have a lot of structure under the water.

- Oh yeah.

This is a Razorback musk turtle, Sternotherus Carinatus.

So if you look, you can see how the shell comes up to a really sharp point.

Okay I'm gonna untie this.

- Okay.

- Nothing.

So alligator snapping turtles really like these types of environments, these old river channels and oxbows, slow-moving water bodies.

Checking this trap.

We've got a large turtle so we're gonna pull it out.

- Yeah.

- Oh and so we have a big alligator snapping turtle in this trap.

Oh it's a big one.

[grunting] She looks really, really healthy.

She's a large adult female.

This is max curve, right?

- Yeah.

- All the data that we collected on her... - 22.3.

- ...is gonna contribute to helping us understand how alligator snapping turtles are doing here.

Catching these really healthy large adult individuals is really confirming that we know that we're in good habitat.

Feels pretty good.

This site is looking like it could be a really really good release site for these alligator snapping turtles.

[engine revs] [sloshing] [dramatic music] - Think this one's ready to go.

She can smell freedom.

[inspirational music] Kind of hate to see her leave, but I'm happy to see her go.

- Oh yeah.

- My great hope is that, through this case, people will become more aware of this particular species and be grateful for the fact that we have 'em here in Texas.

It's truly a privilege to have these things in our waters.

I feel like this is gonna be a great home for 'em.

They're gonna do well here.

- So every turtle counts.

All right, time to set you free.

Very few make it to adulthood.

Those adults live a very long time and they reproduce for many years and basically help maintain a healthy population.

There goes the bubbles, she's booking it now.

So by returning these adults back to this population, we're improving the health of this population here and introducing more adult females.

- NARRATOR: And look who's here.

Sabine River turtle number one.

Remember her?

Well she's almost home.

- Come on.

- Kind of a long time in coming, being able to set 'em loose.

I feel great.

Wonderful feeling to see 'em walking out under their own power, to see 'em head into the water and not look back.

They're ready to go.

They're ready to be home.

They belong in Texas and we've done our part to, to get 'em back where they belong.

[crickets and birds chirp] [wind blowing] - MICHAEL SMITH: The dunes change visibly.

They are constantly moving, changing shape.

It is the only section of this type of dune field in all of Texas.

It is serene.

A lot of people come here over and over for the peace and quiet that you get out here.

You get away from the tracks and away from the people and it almost feels like you're the only one that's ever been here.

[dramatic music] It's a little bit surreal to be out here in middle of the dunes that are unlike anything anywhere else in Texas or most of the country for that matter.

[dramatic music] My name is Michael Smith.

I'm a superintendent and park police officer for Monahans Sandhills State Park.

We are in far West Texas, not very far from Midland-Odessa and the corner of New Mexico in the Permian Basin.

[dramatic music] This sand literally is an immigrant from northern New Mexico and Colorado.

The theory goes that it was ground very small and round under the last ice age and then settled in the Permian Basin.

The wind can't blow it back out, or doesn't often blow it out, but it does keep swirling it around down in the bowl.

There are plants and animals that exist here that don't exist anywhere in Texas.

It is a place to be able to find dunes sagebrush lizards.

The sand itself is very different than any sand, both physically and geologically.

[dramatic music] [horse whinnies] We have about an 800-acre area on the park set aside specifically for equine use.

There's three campsites and a day use area available.

They should bring plenty of water and be careful of their horses, but we would encourage people to come and ride and explore this unique area.

Tents, RVs, any camping of any sort is strongly encouraged.

[kite flapping] It's very quiet, very peaceful.

[kids shouting] The flip side of serene is duning or sledding.

We rent and sell disks and toboggans to slide down the dunes on.

Young kids love this park, and children of all ages, they love to play in the sand.

It does not matter to them that there's no beach, that there's no water.

- MAN: It's fun.

- GIRL: The snowboard was really hard to do.

- Pretty exciting times with it.

- But my favorite thing is the disk, or just rolling down.

[laughs] - MICHAEL: Water surfing we cannot provide, but we have all the sand surfing one could ever want.

[kids chatter] Most folks don't even realize when they drive from the headquarters at the front of the park to the sand dunes they come here to see, they're driving through a portion of one of the largest oak forests in the world.

It's about 50,000 acres altogether and just a little wee bit shorter than most of them.

At maturity, about 3 or 4 feet.

The shin oak provides habitat for most of the animals that live here.

It provides a place for the smaller ones to hide and provides food for both large and small.

We have a lot of flowers here.

Some of the same ones that you would see in the Hill Country and then some that are unique to a drier climate.

It is a great place to study tracks, to study animals.

When the wind comes, it can wipe all the tracks away, and so the next day you can see what passed in the night, check out the tracks.

The bugs leave a unique track, lizards, snakes.

[dramatic music] - I also like the history of this place.

It has been barrier and refuge since prehistoric man.

And after them, the Jumano Indians, and after them, the Apaches and Comanches would find refuge in these dunes, a seemingly impassable, unfriendly place, that because of the seeps, the naturally occurring water features here, actually provided everything a person needed to live.

[dramatic music] [train horn blows] If not for the railroad, there might not have ever been the town of Monahans.

Monahans is named after John Monahan who dug a well for the T and P railroad.

And it became Monahan's well and the town of Monahans.

[steam blows] It became a water stop for steam engines.

It was a rugged area, far from any development back when the railroad came through, and then eventually, Bankhead Highway, Route 1, the first all-weather coast to coast highway came through here, and right next to Bankhead Highway, Interstate 20 was created, and so it's still an area that draws people from very, very far away.

[dramatic music] Where we're standing is a mile and a half off the highway, so what most people come to see, you don't see from the highway.

You have to get off the road and take some time.

I feel like preserving this particular very, very unique ecosystem to Texas is extremely important.

There is a lot to see here.

I have been pleasantly surprised virtually every day since living here.

[dramatic music] Some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen have been right here.

They just open up.

The entire sky is full of color, it's stunningly beautiful.

There's nothing in Texas that you can compare this to.

You just have to come check it out yourself.

[dramatic music] - Here you go buddy.

[laughs] - I don't have any elbow pads so... - Is it okay?

- Yeah.

Thank you.

- JASON HAIRSTON: If you try to find the center of Texas, you're going to be very close to Colorado Bend State Park.

We're in the northern end of the hill country.

At Colorado Bend we have typical activities that you would find.

Such as camping... - Perfect weather!

- JASON: ...and fishing and hiking and biking.

[ominous music] But one of the unique things at Colorado Bend is caving.

[ominous music] - BOY: Oh whoa that's cool.

Whoa, Drew look at that!

- JASON: Usually when you're in your campsite, on a trail, you don't typically think about what is 20, 30, 40 feet beneath you.

[footsteps] But what is beneath you is another world.

And it's a world that is ready to explore.

And so on cave tours here we give people an opportunity for people to get just a little taste of what it's like to be a cave explorer.

- GUIDE: This part's a little slippery.

If you want to just sit down and use at least three points of contact.

- MAN: Clear!

- So we do get a lot of questions and concerns from potential cave tour participants about how challenging is it.

You can turn around and climb down like you would on a ladder.

Is it too tight?

Is it going to be too dark?

Is it too scary?

When you start a cave tour, it's not something you normally do.

There's going to be some discomfort.

- Whoa!

- JASON: Maybe a little anxiousness.

- GUIDE: Yeah right there people tend to kind of sit down and just scoot down.

- JASON: That's normal.

- WOMAN: Oh my god we are in a... - JASON: And that's part of this whole process.

It's working through that.

It's a challenge, right?

You'll be on your hands and knees.

You're going to get dirty, perhaps muddy.

You're going get a little tired.

You're going to have some sore muscles tomorrow.

But what you're learning along the way is not only about the history and geology of the place that we're going into.

But also you get an opportunity to stretch yourself, to do something you haven't done before.

- WOMAN: Oh!

Oh my gosh!

[laugher] This is small.

- JASON: And a lot of people hit that challenge and they come out the other side feeling a sense of accomplishment.

- WOMAN: This...is...small!

- MAN: She's alive!

Woohoo!

Good job!

[applause] [laughter] - WOMAN: Woohoo!

That's pretty awesome experience.

Thank you.

That's pretty awesome.

- MAN: Very nice job.

[laughter] - JASON: In addition to the cave tours that we offer here at Colorado Bend, we have a partnership with a cave exploration group.

The Texas Speleological Association.

The TSA Group comes out about once a month and what they're providing for us is updates on our caves.

They'll give us maps of the interiors of caves.

GPS points of new caves that they found.

This is the spreadsheet that contains all of the caves that have been documented in the park and so far we have over 500 entries.

- I keep looking at this thing.

Over the years this is washing.

We're finding caves, we're mapping caves, we're collecting information on the caves and karst that helps the park better manage the resources they have.

So we're doing inventory work basically.

There is an entrance to the cave underneath us.

Under this ledge you crawl in.

There's an entrance right back here.

This is a little collapse area.

And this is the kind of things we look for.

If we were to pull the rocks out, it would probably go right into that same fissure.

We feel like we're the stewards of the caves.

We are at the Last Gasp entrance to the Lost Petzl cave system.

It's a fissure.

We got to climb down and out at the same time.

Gotta be careful here because the floor start to disappear.

[grunts] One of the things that appeals to me as a scientist -- I like the adventure.

I like crawling and climbing and squeezing through little things.

That's great fun.

[adventurous fun music] Caving is kind of interesting because it's a team activity.

You never go caving alone, you go in with multiple people, and everybody looks out for each other and helps each other out, but it's also a highly individual activity because we can't tell you where to put your feet or what to grab when you're climbing.

Now we're going to see how flexible you really are.

We can offer suggestions but people have to figure it out for themselves.

Oooo, we've given you a challenge.

What do you think Bryce.

Any final words?

- BRYCE: Almost there.

Wooo!

- Okay give me the distance from RH15 to RH16.

We're going to map part of the cave today.

- Station RH15, light on station.

- MATT ZALDIVAR: Okay.

Distance 3.45 meters.

- Okay.

When you're ready give me that azimuth.

- Azimuth 82 degrees.

- Okay.

Eight-two-point-zero.

Great.

Thanks.

Sometimes the cave goes and goes and goes and then all of a sudden okay it's only this high, but you can look and it continues.

You can see.

Yeah yeah it looks like it might get wider down there.

[grunting] If it looks like it's humanly passable, we push through it.

This is not the place you'd want to be like during a hurricane.

- MATT: Yeah.

- This is nature's storm sewer right here.

[ominous music] A lot of the surface of the Earth has been mapped, but under the Earth, there's places where people have never seen.

And when we're the first ones to see that, even if it's some grungy little nasty crawl way, that's still a real exciting feeling.

[ominous music] - All right guys, at Colorado Bend we have over 400 caves in this single park.

Basically anywhere you look throughout the park, there's probably a cave somewhere beneath you.

[cave wind] Once you go on a cave tour like this, you start to see a new world.

[click] You never look at the world the same because you realize the world doesn't end at the grass or the pavement right below me, there's actually a beautiful amazing world beneath that.

[water slowly drips and ominous music] [grunting and rustling] [grunting and rustling] [wind blowing] [kids playing] [water lapping] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [bike on trail] [frogs croak] [frogs croak] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [crickets chirp] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] 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.