- 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... - It is a high priority to come in and start restoring these wetlands, because without them, the future of these birds on the Texas coast will no longer exist.

- Enjoy the walk.

- This boardwalk definitely opens a door to a perspective that we don't usually see.

- The alligator.

Look!

Look!

Look!

Oh my gosh.

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

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - If you measure the success of a hunt by your duck strap, you're missing the whole point.

Whether you fire a shot or not, it's been a peaceful morning.

When you come out here to hunt, just all kinds of wildlife shows up.

And for most people that have never really gotten to witness, it's just breathtaking.

It's spiritual to a lot of people in a way, me included.

This didn't happen by accident.

The habitat is managed year round.

When the ducks come down, they got a place to land and they got a place to eat, they got food.

It's helped revitalize the area.

The whole year of preparation that went together for one hunt that day, you start appreciating everything.

[mellow music] [birds and crickets chirping] - Over the last several decades, Texas has been losing thousands and thousands of acres of our wetland habitat.

As these wetlands deteriorated and disappeared off the landscape, there's been a decline in waterfowl populations.

Through the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project, we had started restoring wetlands stretching from Orange down to Cameron County.

It is a high priority for Ducks Unlimited and for the work we do, to come in and start restoring these wetlands because without them, the future of these birds on the Texas Coast will no longer exist.

- When I bought the ranch, it had rice farming on it.

I didn't know a thing about growing rice.

I wasn't a farmer.

I grew up in the suburbs of Houston, but I had heard about the Prairie Wetlands Program and waterfowl and rice go together.

So I figured I'd better learn this stuff pretty quick.

We embarked on a lot of programs with the help of DU for land leveling, to cut our costs for water.

And without those enhancements, if I'd have just stayed the course, there wouldn't be any rice farming here.

[mellow music] We harvest about five and a half to six million pounds of rice a year.

Think about that.

That's a lot of boxes of Uncle Ben's.

You're growing a food crop that's used around the world.

And at the same time, you're producing the best waterfowl habitat you can.

- Working with private land owners through the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project is a relationship.

Oil and gas, livestock production, agricultural producers, you name it.

We are working with these landowners over a 10-year period all for one main purpose of putting this habitat on the landscape.

[birds and crickets chirping] Part of the reason why there's so much flooding and water runoff going through subdivisions is because concrete doesn't absorb water, wetlands did.

And when you look at what the prairie used to be, you've lost all that water storage.

So, at the end of the day, it's not just about waterfowl.

It's about water quality, water quantity, and storm water mitigation through the different river systems that we are working in.

Implementing these wetlands into day-to-day activities is seamless in most cases.

Helping people see the other side of conservation and how it affects their bottom line are all beneficial things in an ever-growing world.

- I just wanted a good place to duck hunt but what this has become for me is my field of dreams.

We took that block of land, literally a barren field, and we developed it into wetland habitat.

You know the saying, if you build it, they will come.

Well, ducks come every fall.

I'm kind of the steward for this land that's here.

And hopefully I leave it better than the way I found it.

It is so far, and that's my intent to leave it that way.

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [rolling waves] - LISA REZNICEK: It's a way for us to get people inspired about the outdoors and really to take that inspiration that they have about nature and channel it into some art form.

[upbeat music] I'm Lisa Reznicek, Park Interpreter from Galveston Island State Park.

Today in Galveston Island State Park, we're excited to have a sand castle contest.

Everybody in the entire family can join.

You know if the contest doesn't draw them in, the shade actually might.

It's an experience.

It's something that I remember when I was a kid and I went to the beach with my family, it was something that we all did.

[upbeat music] Are you guys building sand castles?

- GIRL: Yeah.

- LISA: Did you know we're going to have a contest?

I'd love to get you guys involved.

It's a way for us to introduce the concept of Arts in the Parks and three-dimensional art or sculpture.

Do you sand castle at all?

You got some good skills?

It looks like you guys are already working pretty hard on some sand castles.

I would love for you to join.

I also do camera phone hikes, watercoloring programs, drawing and journaling programs.

So, just a little bit of what the Texas State Parks can offer in our Arts in the Parks programs.

[upbeat music] Stemming back from some of the earliest national parks that we've had, America has had a really long history of fine arts and environmental conservation.

[gulls squawk] More than once I've heard adults, kids and families in general come up to me and say, "I had no idea "that I could do this outside, "and now it's just one more thing that gets me back outside, gets me back into the Texas state parks."

I've even had a family with young toddlers who now have watercolor sets for the entire family, and every time they go camping, they now take out their watercolor sets.

- Today we are going to do some watercolor painting...

I'm Lauren Hartwick and I am the Park Interpreter at Lockhart State Park.

...one of our dry watercolor palettes.

For me, it's just a way to relax outside, draw in people.

Now you can see right away that the wet-on-wet technique is going to give you nice blurry lines.

I try to give them enough information to get them started.

Pretty cool, right?

After that, it's all about giving them a chance to express whatever they want to express.

- Hmmm.

- It allows people to get outside and express their creativity and make observations about nature and try to translate the beauty of nature onto a page.

- WOMAN: Yeah, cool.

- What about green?

- Yeah.

- LAUREN: Are you going to do a landscape?

- GIRL: I don't know.

- LAUREN: I like having arts in the parks programs because sometimes it draws a different audience into the park.

That is really cool.

- WOMAN: That looks good.

- BOY: That is still black.

- LAUREN: It's really appealing to families... and kids, or just the young at heart.

- BOY: That's a cherry.

- LAUREN: Thank you.

It helps to have objects to draw sometimes, like an antler or a feather.

Something you can look at in front of you and translate onto the page.

- GIRL: I need brown.

- LAUREN: Some of them were drawing the wildlife that you would find here in the park.

- BOY: I see it!

- LAUREN: We do painting, we do block printing, we do origami.

We try to do an art specific program once a month, once every other month.

That's a beautiful painting.

Lots of inspiration to be had.

[laughs] Well enjoy your camping too.

- GIRL: Thank you.

- LAUREN: Sure thing.

See you guys.

Enjoy your stay.

[bird chirping] - ZACH RIGGS: You're good to go.

My name is Zach Riggs... Oh yeah!

I am the park interpreter here at Dinosaur Valley State Park.

Everyone comes down here and heads straight for the dinosaur tracks.

[camera shutter click] We just got finished with archery out here.

We've got the hiking and biking.

We've got horse riding here.

Not every park gets to claim that.

Later on tonight, we're going to do a nature photography class.

- CASEY CLICK: I've taken these pictures with my phone which is an iPhone 8.

If you've got any questions about these before we go, just let me know.

I am going to lead a nature photography hike which is utilizing smart phones, primarily, because everyone has smart phones with them all the time.

Most of the time we see something pretty and we just take a quick picture of it.

We don't really think about exactly where it is in the photograph, or think about the colors.

- ZACH: Casey is a great photographer.

So Casey is one of our volunteers here at the park.

She's helped me out with so many different programs and this nature photography hike was actually her idea.

- CASEY: We're going to walk about two miles.

I think a lot of people aren't really used to exactly what all the phones can do.

Is that an Android?

- WOMAN: I found it.

- CASEY: Okay, good.

Oh yeah, that looks good.

That looks great.

I used to carry a camera around all the time, years ago, wherever I went because I never knew what was going to strike me as beautiful.

But these smart phones, they're fantastic, and it's nice to have it with you.

That spot right there is one of my favorite spots, where the river curls right there.

We're going to visit a part of the river that's not normally seen.

People don't go down that way that much.

That's why I like it too.

I'm not saying don't look at the dinosaur tracks, but don't just look at the dinosaur tracks.

They've got great hiking trails, and there's so much more to see.

[upbeat music] I just think it's all about where you look and how you look.

If you're looking for little pieces of beauty, you will find them.

[upbeat music] We're surrounded by concrete all the time, you know, and people are always on their phones.

We're going to go this way.

But if they're using them to capture something beautiful and get out in nature, it can maybe spur them to go out and find different things outside that they would enjoy.

[upbeat music] [crickets chirp] [whistle blows] - Sand castle contest!

Some people call it like a ditch or a moat or like a little bitty river.

If you want to make a mermaid out of sand, that's totally fine, you can be as creative as you want.

Think big.

Once people get their hands in the sand, they don't want to stop.

That's looking really good.

I think that part of the experience of joining the sand castle contest is just building, being with friends, being with family, being in a beautiful setting.

I think it's fun just to participate.

- Lots of fun, all the kids on the beach coming together like this.

It's fun.

[playful music] - LISA: Looks good.

Nice.

Oh, it's like a pond, that's going to be great.

Five minutes!

The rain is coming.

Even castles made of sand fall into the sea eventually.

[laughing] - MAN: It looks really nice.

- LISA: You were inspired by the beach, I love it.

[clapping] We do give out prizes to help inspire people.

The most creative castle for the day, nice job!

So a lot of pencils, stickers, temporary tattoos for all our participants.

Best volcano!

Ow!

[applause] You guys get the best teamwork, you work so well... We're only going to cover just about this much of 2,000 acres.

We start with sand castles, but we're hoping people continue to go out and explore and continue to be inspired by nature.

[rolling waves] [rolling waves] [birds chirping] [acoustic guitar music] - NARRATOR: It's a soft opening here at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

- COLLEEN SIMPSON: So this boardwalk is the first step in a rebuilding of an entire system.

- BIRDER: Well, Magnificent Frigate Bird.

Occasionally on southeast gulf and west coast.

- BIRDER: That's a big, big bird!

- NARRATOR: Colleen Simpson's pretty proud of this unique birding destination.

- This boardwalk overlooks a freshwater wetland, it's a cattail marsh.

We've got American Alligators, Common Gallinule, Great Blue Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, there's hundreds of species here.

- Oh, look right here, look right here.

Right in front of us.

Oh, you are gorgeous!

Oh, beautiful!

[somber music] - NARRATOR: This is the old boardwalk.

[high winds] And it got hammered.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Port Aransas and tore through the birding center.

[somber music] - NARRATOR: Now, work is underway to rebuild.

- COLLEEN: It's 1,280 acres of tidal flats and salt marsh, that's all protected under the umbrella of the nature preserve.

So eventually we'll have a system of three to five miles of trail and boardwalk throughout the entire preserve system.

Hi there, welcome!

Enjoy the walk!

Yeah, we've only been open for about a month, so it's good timing.

Yeah!

Do you see that little white and black bird, that looks like he's wearing a tuxedo?

It's called a Black-necked Stilt.

- STUDENT: Do you know what that is?

The one with the red beak?

- Ya, so this boardwalk definitely opens a door to a perspective that we don't usually see, so you get to really get a closer look to how the animals interact here.

[Claudia] The alligator, look look, look, look, oh my god!

[alligator bellows] Oh my god, - STUDENT: Is that a mating call?

- COLLEEN: So that's their mating display.

- STUDENT: Eeeeeee!

[alligator bellows] Are you getting this on video?

Wait, is it growling at us?

- That's so cool, right now he's shaking, there's bubbles all around him that looks like the grounds moving.

It's exciting to see that!

- CLAUDIA: Look, look, look, oh my god that's so unreal!

- JILL DICUFFA: Ya know, the alligator growls, or the birds chirp, or they see the baby birds with their mom.

It's unbelievable to see because you hear about those kinds of things happening, but you don't get to see them five feet from your face.

It's really, it's very cool!

- CLAUDIA: Oh he's after something.

- STUDENT: He's going fishing!

- CLAUDIA: Wow!

- COLLEEN: Something that's inspiring is the resiliency of our ecosystems here.

It's all coming back and will return to how things were before the storm.

[upbeat music] - The Texas population is evolving and changing.

It's becoming more diverse.

More people are moving to urban areas.

And some of these people have no connection with the outdoors.

We want to reach all Texans of different backgrounds and abilities.

We want them to enjoy the outdoors.

We want them to appreciate conservation efforts and support the efforts of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

- I believe in our mission that the outdoors are for everybody.

And we have an amazing opportunity to use those social media platforms, as tools to educate others, providing more diversity in our images and our messaging.

Because we have such a public platform, it has been my goal to help state parks communicate this message of everybody is welcome to our parks.

- So Erika has helped us out quite a bit with our diversity and inclusion efforts here at the park.

Not only on social media, by helping us with our social media posts that are in Spanish, she also speaks Arabic.

And so we used her skills on our Arabic portion of the sign to not only make it more inclusive, but to make it gender neutral so it was welcoming for everybody.

And that knowledge that she has is very specific and the fact that she's able to share it and has such a great grasp of it, was very helpful to us.

- So you would think it'd be easy because it's like social media, right?

But I am one person and I oversee 89 state parks.

Within those 89 state parks, 287 social media administrators.

And so it's a big team so it requires a lot of organization, a lot of training and it's always an adventure and it's never a dull moment.

- Erika is great in that she's always thinking of diverse audiences and how can we reach them, how can we make sure we're respecting the history of Texas and the diverse population of Texas.

We've been able to reach new audiences and we've gotten some appreciative comments, people who were glad to see their histories represented, people who learned some things about the history of Texas and the contribution that different groups have made to conservation.

She always is making sure that we think about different audiences and new and creative ways to reach them.

- A lot of times we see, in diversity and inclusion, some efforts that are in your wheelhouse, she has no wheelhouse.

She fights for everybody, whether it's sexual orientation, whether it's a different culture, her main focus is on diversity and inclusion, not just one audience, but all of it.

And that's what makes her so successful, and what makes her such a champion for diversity and inclusion.

- We are being noticed by Texas, right?

That they do see our efforts, that they do see what we're trying to do, and that we're showcasing not just that everybody's welcome, but also our staff.

That we are diverse in our staff, that people that look like them work in this agency.

And so that to me is a huge win.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music] - Here at Cooper Lake State Park, we have a little over three miles of dedicated mountain biking trails, and that's on the Coyote Run Trail.

- Hey guys.

- What's up?

- Good to see y'all.

[upbeat music] - It's a fun, fast trail which is real flowy, it's twisty and it's turny, which is good for mountain biking, it's what you like.

- You know, basically any skill level could come out here and ride, and have a, you know, have a good time.

It's all around, it's just a fun trail.

[upbeat music] - This is a fast, flowy trail.

It's a out and back loop and about four and a half miles.

It's beautiful.

And we're having some fun on the trails.

Woo-woo!

The only wildlife I'm seeing are these hoodlums I'm riding with.

- Ow!

Get it, get it, get it!

Yes.

It's been great, yeah.

It's been smooth and flowy.

There's some cool little turns and twisties and it's been great.

- Mountain biking is a lot of fun, a good stress reliever from work and other problems in life you have, might have, but it's a good release and it's good exercise.

It's good for you.

It's all around good.

Good fun.

[upbeat music] - You go out here and you take a break and you hear the leaves rustling, you hear the birds, you hear the, all the insects.

It's kinda soothing to be out here.

Woo-woo!

But on the other end of that, you got all the exhilaration of your flying past these trees at 20 miles an hour.

It's really fun.

Think Cooper Lake State Park.

It's got some great views.

Come check it out.

And if you're not into mountain biking, you should get into it.

It's a lot of fun.

[upbeat music] [gentle wind blowing] [crickets, insects chirping] [gentle wind blowing] [gentle wind blowing] [crickets, insects chirping] [crickets, insects chirping] [crickets, insects chirping] [crickets, insects chirping] [gentle wind blowing] [gentle wind blowing] [crickets, insects chirping] [gentle wind blowing] [crickets, insects chirping] [crickets, insects chirping] 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.