- 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 is provided by Toyota.

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

Toyota--Let's Go Places.

Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - If you just take those first five steps, you're not going to be able to stop stepping because it's just so beautiful.

- There is a variety of activities that you can do here at Goose Island State Park.

- A lot of people have Texas pride in Texas, so showing them rivers and critters that are found nowhere else in the world.

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

[serene music] [crickets chirp] [footsteps] - I'm Adrian Sabom and I'm a mother of two children.

I grew up down here on a South Texas ranch.

Had wide open spaces to pretty much do whatever we wanted to outside.

Usually during quail season, every weekend we would be quail hunting.

Quail hunting and nature go kind of hand in hand.

You're outside all day long.

You see quail, you see dove, you see deer, just spending quality time with your family, your friends, enjoying just being in the wilderness.

- I'm Xochitl Rodriguez.

I'm a mother and I'm from El Paso.

I was born and raised here.

[traffic rushes by] We share a border with Ciudad Juarez.

[busy music, horns honk] A crossroads of cultures, a crossroads of peoples, in the vastness of the desert.

It's a really special place where lots of things come together.

And sometimes they collide.

Sometimes they mesh.

[laughs] We live right in the center of the city.

Calista and I are a bit of a team.

We all three love adventures.

I don't have to convince Calista to go on a hike.

I don't have to convince her to dig in the dirt.

I grew up romping here.

These are good sticks.

Where did you find them?

- Over there.

- It's never hard for kids to connect to nature.

I believe that we have built things that have gotten in the way, and they are not given the opportunities that they need to connect.

[acoustic music] - CALISTA: You have to see this.

- XOCHITL: This mountain just booms from this vast, flat landscape.

It's visually beautiful, but it's also such an incredible space to crack open and explore.

We are lucky to have the largest urban state park in North America, here in El Paso.

Tens of thousands of acres of wild space, preserved by the State of Texas.

[uplifting music] We're fortunate to have a state park in our back yard, and we're fortunate to have a mountain as the artery of our community.

[indistinct chatter] Adrian and I met at a Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation event.

- They're so awesome!

I met Xochitl at the "We Will Not Be Tamed" campaign launch party, and we were talking about, well she has never shot a gun, she couldn't fathom that, and I had never hiked the Franklin Mountains, and so it kind of evolved into, well, maybe we should each do each other's thing.

[serene music] [crickets chirp] - XOCHITL: Got to the ranch and it's just more than I ever dreamed it could be.

It's incredibly green, which is refreshing.

I don't live in a green place.

There she is.

- Hi, how are you?

- We arrived... - ADRIAN: Awesome!

- XOCHITL: ...hugged Adrian... - ADRIAN: Are you so tired?

- XOCHITL: And we got to go straight over to the horse stalls.

And then got ready to ride horses.

That will be my transport.

- Xochitl, of course, from the get-go was excited about doing something new.

[leather creaking] - XOCHITL: Today, Calista rode a horse for the first time ever, with Henrietta, cowgirl.

- ADRIAN: She was scared at first, but once she got on the horse, she grew much more comfortable.

- XOCHITL: I can't believe how emotional I was, seeing her be on that horse.

Good, Baby!

- ADRIAN: You're doing amazing, Calista.

- XOCHITL: In my life at this moment, most of my mountaintops involve Calista doing new things and doing big girl things and overcoming fears.

- ADRIAN: After horseback riding, we went to the big event... - The moment we've all been waiting for.

- Xochitl shooting a gun for the first time.

Then, your finger's never on the trigger, until you're ready to fire.

So, you go right there.

Safety is on and then you kind of get in position.

- XOCHITL: This is the craziest thing I've ever done.

I was really really scared.

I'm a hot mess with this thing.

Okay.

I feel like it's going to go off.

- ADRIAN: I know, I do too.

And it could be this pad if you want to take the vest off?

She was super nervous in the beginning.

You could tell her hands were shaking, she was sweating.

- XOCHITL: In here?

Holy!

I learned... a lot.

- ADRIAN: Safety is on, so don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready.

[shot] Oh!

[laughs] - I shook after every clay.

But then I finally got into the groove and felt a little bit better.

- ADRIAN: Pull.

[shot] Pull.

[shot] Again.

[shot] Oh, almost!

[shots] - Dang.

Oh!

- ADRIAN: Once she did it a couple of times, she really relaxed.

- XOCHITL: Did I hit that one?

- ADRIAN: Uh huh!

- I hit one!

- ADRIAN: By the end, she was having a great time.

[shot] [cheers] [laughs] Good job!

- I learned to shoot, alongside Adrian and her family.

I could not have been with more amazing people.

Wow.

[whistle] I was not raised around guns or hunting.

To see that there's a whole other way of life laced with respect for guns and respect for hunting, I really have learned a different perspective on things that I'd never had contact with.

[crickets chirping] [plane engine roars by] - XOCHITL: My friend, Adrian, is in El Paso, Texas!

[knocking] - I'm out here visiting Xochitl and Calista.

Hi!

[laughs] - XOCHITL: How are you?

- ADRIAN: Good.

Hi, Calista.

- XOCHITL: Say hi.

- ADRIAN: Look at all your fish!

- XOCHITL: We're going to hang out with Calista and just do our thing.

[doors closing] You cannot come to El Paso without taking a look at our border and gazing over into Mexico and letting that sort of rock your soul a little bit.

And, of course, we're going to eat some really good food.

[laughs] And we're going to try on some insane West Texas boots.

[uptempo music] - ADRIAN: I like it.

- XOCHITL: Oh yeah.

That is gorgeous.

[uptempo music] Here's our mountain.

I also firmly believe that you cannot come to El Paso without hiking the Franklin Mountains.

We're going to summit.

We're not just going to do a little hike, I think we're going to do a big one.

- ADRIAN: Intimidating!

I have been hiking before but I've never hiked in this environment, the arid, rocky terrain.

I'm concerned about the hydration.

How much water do you take?

- We usually take three liters plus a bottle of water.

Now that it's summertime, I'll probably carry six liters of water with us tomorrow.

- ADRIAN: Golly.

[settling music] I think we're ready.

- XOCHITL: Let's do it.

It's just before 7:00.

- ADRIAN: I'm excited!

- And we're going to take Adrian to the top of the mountain.

[laughs] There she goes.

If you just take those first five steps, you're not going to be able to stop stepping, because it's just so beautiful.

- ADRIAN: Anybody can do it.

You can go for a short amount of time, you can go on a flat surface, you can find whatever works for you.

- XOCHITL: See him?

A tiny little guy?

Black and brown.

- CALISTA: Oh yeah.

- XOCHITL: Look at that tail.

- ADRIAN: That's the great thing about hiking.

You see so much more than you do from a distance.

- XOCHITL: There's a couple of pretty steep inclines, but they're beautiful because you're surrounded in yucca and ocotillo and the ground is red, and I think it's a great way to just sort of crack right into the mountain.

[surreal music] You get a sense of how giant the world is and how little you are and you can't help but be quiet.

And just stop and be humbled in that space.

To just sort of be silent and parallel in a place that's much bigger than you are.

It's a beautiful and a really powerful thing to experience.

[surreal music] [rocks clattering] I love the sound so much.

Isn't that amazing?

Like glass.

[rocks clattering] We're about half way.

[pack rustling] Vamos.

Here we go.

Climbing!

Hiking the Franklins is basically lunges.

[laughs] All the way up the mountain.

Thousands of lunges under some pretty intense sun would be scary to most.

Um, Adrian is approaching this with some really fantastic enthusiasm.

[footsteps] The ridgeline is in sight!

[footsteps] - ADRIAN: Almost there.

[footsteps] - XOCHITL: It's breathtaking.

- Doing this with Xochitl, it's a bond that you can create.

- XOCHITL: This is the ridgeline.

- ADRIAN: The anticipation is killing me!

Doing something that you both enjoy and being outdoors, you can really have quality time where there's no distractions.

Oh my gosh--that is amazing!

You can just see forever.

- XOCHITL: Forever.

- ADRIAN: You just have to expose your children and then they have a love of being in the outdoors, but the key is exposure.

- XOCHITL: How do you feel?

[laughing] Do you feel thirsty?

- Now I've really seen El Paso, yes.

Aw, that was awesome.

- I think Adrian and I share a love of the outdoors, and some pretty deep respect for wild spaces and wild places.

And that these places need to be protected, so that our kids can have a healthy place to grow up in.

[wind] - ADRIAN: This friendship is something that will last a lifetime.

[dramatic music] You just never know what you're going to find trying something new.

You just never know what door it'll open.

[calming music] [wind] Celebrating a century of Texas State Parks.

[seagulls squawk] [waves lapping] - That's a fishy!

Hi, fishy, how you doing?

[upbeat music] - EDWIN: There is a variety of activities that you can do here at Goose Island State Park.

We have a 1600-foot pier.

Now, if fishing isn't your thing, you can always go hiking on one of our trails.

You can go visit Big Tree.

We do have camping.

We also have interpretive programs that we offer here at Goose Island State Park, which vary from year to year and from season to season.

- RANGER: Got a couple of little birds up here.

- SARA: We've got marshes and estuaries.

We've got marine life.

We've got forests and coastal prairie.

We've got live oaks and the red bays in our wooded areas.

It's definitely a good mix.

[heron honking and chirping] - The birds are wonders that they could fly that far and get here and know where the shower was.

[laughing] Maybe he was here last year and remembered.

- There are lots of birds.

The best time to see them is going to be in the spring.

There's a great migration.

It kind of funnels to the tip of South Texas.

So, you could see upwards of 300 different species of birds during that time.

[whooping cranes honking] And in the winter, we are home to the whooping crane, which is an endangered species.

They'll fly from Canada and winter down here.

- RANGER: This is where we saw two or three rose-breasted grosbeaks a couple days ago.

- EDWIN: We have birding programs and tours.

- RANGER: Here he is over here.

There he goes.

- BIRDWATCHER: There he goes, he just got something.

- RANGER: Louisiana waterthrush.

- EDWIN: You don't have to have any experience.

Our park rangers will lead you on these programs.

- RANGER: It's not an exercise, it's more of a gentle walk through the woods.

[birds chirping] - SARA: Goose Island State Park is surrounded by three bays.

We have Aransas Bay, St. Charles Bay, and Copano Bay.

We have a kayak launch from Goose Island.

We have a kayak program where you can come kayak with a ranger or with one of our wonderful volunteers.

[water bubbling] - EDWIN: You can see different oyster reefs.

You can see the national wildlife refuge, which borders our park.

Just a variety of the geographical regions within the coastal bend area.

- GUIDE: This is St. Charles Bay back this direction.

- EDWIN: You can fish pretty much anywhere that you're able go out to the shoreline.

- ANGLER: It's a black drum.

- It's a monster!

But I think we will have sausages for dinner, he's too big.

[woman laughing] - EDWIN: A lot of people like to fish off the bulkhead.

- [Kid] Got one!

Crab!

- EDWIN: Our overnight campers that stay at the bayfront area, they will just fish out of their campsite.

[line casting] A lot of our day users, they will utilize the fishing pier.

- ANGLER: This is a catfish you can eat.

- WOMAN: Oh, nice.

- ANGLER: Gafftop, this is like a sail.

- EDWIN: You can do a little bit of fishing with your family, make some memories.

- Smile!

- SARA: The fishing pier is just over 1,600 feet.

It's a very large pier.

You can catch redfish, speckled trout, flounder, black drum.

- ANGLER: Big old, big ugly!

Forty-one-inch drum.

- KID: Oh, my gosh!

- SARA: The peak seasons for those are going to be July through October.

- Kid: It's a ugly!

[water splashing] [upbeat music] - MAN: It's a nice morning.

- WOMAN: It is iconic, huh?

- EDWIN: Big Tree is the crown jewel of the Lamar Peninsula and Goose Island State Park.

- SARA: The Big Tree has been around many years.

It's very common to get your picture taken with it.

It's a great way to get the generations of families through here.

- Whoo!

Yeah!

- EDWIN: Year after year we have people coming out to Goose Island State Park and they really make these great memories with their families.

[water lapping] - 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.

[upbeat music] - A lot of our water resources are being stressed right now, whether it be drought or people pulling water out of the rivers.

It's really important to understand how that impacts our rivers and fish and aquatic resources.

I grew up as an urban youth in the DFW area and my idea of what a healthy river looked like was like a channelized river and stream.

And so I grew up not knowing that we had native fish in Texas or what our rivers were supposed to look like.

And I actually met my husband in high school and he took me on my very first fishing trip.

And you know, I'm like really nervous going into the water cause I don't know what's in there.

And being introduced into this world of the diversity of out there and what's healthy and what's not.

And our streams are beautiful across the state.

That's what really got me into fish.

- Parks and wildlife in the fishery side of things kind of has a dual mission within that we want to provide fishing and usage, but also maintain a conservation focus and maintain the diversity of fish that we have in the state.

- A lot of people have Texas pride in Texas, so showing them species and rivers and critters that are found nowhere else in the world.

Like for example, like Guadalupe bass.

- It's a little guy.

[upbeat music] - GARRETT: It's important to Texas as many other native fishes in Texas are important.

The Guadalupe bass however, is one that the public can identify with a lot more easily.

A bass is a lot more charismatic than a minnow.

It's an entree to the public to kind of understand the value and the pride of having these unique things adapted to our state.

Guadalupe bass is the only place in the world it occurs is in the streams of the Edwards Plateau, the hill country of Texas.

They exemplify some of the really beautiful things about Texas, so what a tragedy to lose that.

- Travis and Nate are gonna go down as they come this way and we'll be able to scoop 'em out right here.

The state fish of Texas is Guadalupe bass.

And in the 1970s and 1980s, smallmouth bass were introduced to some of our streams in Texas.

And Dr. Garrett and others at Parks and Wildlife noticed that there's a hybridization issue and we didn't realize that was gonna be an issue when those were stocked to begin with.

So in order to start addressing this, we started a hatchery program.

[splashing] We can tell that this is a Guadalupe bass.

If you look down the side, he's got some coloration patterns that go down the side.

We bring in Guadalupe bass from the river, from locally right here.

We've collected them from here and we put them in the hatchery.

Once they're in the hatchery, we're able to make millions of really small baby Guadalupe bass.

When we bring the Guadalupe bass out from the ponds, we bring them into here until they're ready to be stocked out into the river.

So these are our holding tanks.

It's a numbers game.

We're trying to put lots of pure Guadalupe bass back into the rivers.

So the small mouth and hybrids don't have as great of a shot as reproducing.

So we're able to use these Guadalupe bass to kind of reset the genetics of our local stream.

- We're gonna come upstream this way.

We're gonna release all the Guadalupe bass right here in this flowing water.

- Today we are gonna be stocking Guadalupe bass into the Guadalupe Basin.

This project is what we call the Guadalupe bass Restoration Initiative.

And not only is the stocking a component of it, but we also are working on a watershed basis.

So we work with private landowners, we work with local watershed groups, universities to learn more about these systems and how Guadalupe bass thrive and persist in these systems.

One of the things that's also happening very rapidly in the hill country is, you know lands being split up and divided.

And as more people develop this area, it changes the whole look and feel of our aquatic systems.

So it's really important to work with those landowners to have them realize how special it is and that they're caretakers of Texas.

- If nothing else, if you don't get anything else about it, see 'em as indicator species.

And what we call an indicator species is one that when it's healthy, that means the system it's living in is healthy.

When it starts to decline, it means the system is declining.

And this is how we've explained to a lot of say a West Texas rancher who goes, what good is that minnow?

There's plenty of minnows.

And we explained this minnow's been here for several million years and in the last two decades its numbers are going way down, which means there's something we're worried about with the river.

I don't know what it is yet, but that fish is telling me I better look.

And I guarantee you the light has come on in the eyes of so many of these skeptical people and they go, oh, okay I get it, 'cause I love the river.

There's plenty of minnows, but I love that river.

So y'all go study.

- We have several studies going on for Guadalupe bass in the Guadalupe River.

One of the ones is we're marking them to see how far and how fast they travel.

I feel like my position in the work that I do is really important to Parks and Wildlife mission and how we engage with our natural resources is because we're charged with caring for our natural resources, right?

It's not a one-person job.

This state is way too big and there's way too many species.

If we lose these species, we don't get 'em back.

So if we can take care of our rivers, we can work with our landowners, we can learn more about 'em with universities, then we keep what's here and we get to share that with our kids later.

I mean, we've only got one shot at this and we don't wanna lose what we already have and what's really special to Texas.

[gentle music] [frogs croak, birds chirp] [frogs croak, birds chirp] [insects chirp] [alligator growls] [alligators chirp] [insects chirp] [alligator breathing] [insects chirp] [alligators breathing] [birds chirp] [birds chirp] [insects chirp] [insects chirp] [insects chirp] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] - NARRATOR: 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.