- 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... - I don't think a lot of people think about seeds as living creatures, but that's exactly what they are.

- Really the big change for the family was when Natural Bridge Caverns was discovered in 1960.

- Their declines are indicating to us that something is going on in our grassland systems that isn't healthy.

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

[gentle music] - I don't think a lot of people think about seeds as living creatures, but that's exactly what they are.

They encapsulate a future generation.

That seed enables that plant, that plant population to persist beyond just that individual.

Collecting and banking seed is important in the context of plant conservation because it essentially retains the genetic diversity of that population that you have collected from.

The banking of seed can allow for future research to be conducted on that particular species.

Banking that seed allows for a reintroduction of populations that are destroyed.

But if we have a backup of that population in the form of the seed, then we can reintroduce that population back into the wild at some later point.

- It's the reason my knees will never be the same.

I have old seed collector knees.

I'm Minnette Marr.

I am conservation botanist and research associate for Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

In most of Texas, the rate of development is just very rapid.

And even some of the plants that would have been very common here 50 years ago are becoming more and more uncommon.

Ideally, we would be able to preserve enough habitat to have robust populations of these species.

Sometimes that is just simply not possible.

It is possible that the only way we can save that species is to seed bank it, and hopefully restore the habitat or find similar habitat where the species can be grown out.

These seeds look good.

One of the species that was a target for me was Malvastrum Aurantiacum or commonly known as Wright's false mallow.

That had been mentioned as a common species in the area about 80 years earlier.

And when we started looking for that, we simply could not find it.

So this species occurs in just a portion of Texas, three of the ecoregions: Texas Blackland Prairie, the Edwards Plateau, the Western Gulf Coastal Plain.

In some years, those three regions experience really dry times.

Most of the wildflowers will just go dormant.

But the Wright's false mallow is one of the few species that is producing pollen in the driest time of the year, and so for those solitary bees that are collecting pollen, that can make a difference for them.

So it was really important to me if we could get that species and make it available for restoration purposes.

Looks good.

If every group that is interested in native plants, whether it's a garden club or a butterfly club, if each one of them would take one species and make a seed collection this year to share with the members in their group and their local schools, we could make sure that many species that are endemic don't end up being species of greatest conservation need.

[camera clicks] - ANNA: The more we know about rare and common species in the state of Texas or in our own counties, the better prepared we can be to conserve and protect these species.

[bee buzzes] [birds chirping] [turkey gobbling] [upbeat music] - The Wuest Ranch has been in the family for five generations now.

The first family members actually came and settled here in 1883.

[upbeat music] The family has been farming and ranching the property ever since, and raised cattle and goats and sheep.

Really the big, I guess, change for the family was when Natural Bridge Caverns was discovered, the major portion of it in 1960.

Family always knew the caverns was there, just a really unique natural feature across the landscape and on the property, turned out to be the largest cave in the state of Texas.

[upbeat music] Four college kids from San Antonio got permission from my grandmother to explore below the natural bridge and what they found really changed the course of history for this family.

Really, my grandmother is one who we credit for kind of being the driving entrepreneur behind opening that to the public and choosing to showcase it.

From that point, the family became intertwined in the nature tourism and agritourism industry.

We still make our sole existence from the land and the property today, but it shifted from livestock production to agritourism, nature tourism now, with the operation of the caverns.

- Look how high it is.

[birds chirping] - The Wuest Ranch is about 2,600 acres in both Bexar and Comal counties.

Spans the Cibolo Creek and is comprised of a variety of habitats.

Yeah, this stand of soapberries is looking good.

That's the other thing is to watch out for, it can look a lot like chinaberry, so you want to make sure you're not killing off soapberry.

- We came in here a couple of years ago and treated Chinaberry through this area.

The bigger ones, we girdle cut 'em and around to kind of open the bark up.

And then sprayed them.

And I don't know, we probably did 15, 20 acres through this, along this creek right here.

[bark crunching] - That's good, yeah.

Really good kill out of this.

Excellent and when were these treated?

- TRAVIS: This was, would be two years.

- Two years.

Okay.

- Yep.

- Wow.

That's good.

As any property in the Edwards Plateau knows, you deal with drought, you deal with unpredictable weather, you deal with generally thin, poor soils.

Not to mention, there's a tremendous amount of development pressure all around them.

The challenge of keeping the land together can't be ignored.

They've done an excellent job of using a variety of conservation tools, like easements, to help ensure that this property is protected for a long time.

- God's not making any more land.

We have to take care of, you know, these amazing natural resources that we have the privilege of being, you know, stewards of.

[turkeys gobble] - We learn how to make things better for, not just the cattle, but for the wildlife as well.

So that the two, that there's a balance.

- From a young age, I, you know, and I think Travis, too, really developed an appreciation and a strong tie to the land.

- TRAVIS: Realized it was very special and it was our job to perpetuate that legacy and protect it and carry it on.

It's really just been in the last few generations that we've really come to better understand just exactly the impact we have on the property and what we can do to help along the way.

[lively music] - MIKE GRAMLEY: Everyone's very familiar with the River Walk in town, and that's very nice, has restaurants, and hotels, very good for tourism.

But this is also another section of the river, it's the very same river, but a much much different setting, a much more natural setting.

- LEON MCNEIL: We couldn't have asked for a better day to be on the river.

Sun's not shining, a little overcast, not as hot, wonderful.

- The Mission Reach Trail includes eight miles of paddling trails as well as 15 miles of hiking and biking trails.

[lively music] - It's a pretty interesting river that gives you a lot of the city, but yet it gives you an opportunity to experience kind of a natural world.

Because the grass and the vegetation has grown up around the river, it gives you the impression that you're not actually in the city, but you're right in the middle of the city.

Whoo!

We're gonna keep moving on down guys, we're gonna keep moving.

[water rushing] [screaming] - Whoo!

- Let's try to make it.

This is the first time I've been in a kayak.

Oh, we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it.

Yes, this is the first time I've kayaked.

Whoa!

Yeah, I'm always down to do new things.

It's pretty fun.

That was cool.

- Come on.

I have not paddled this, this is my first time on this river.

Whoo!

Yeah!

[screaming] It's really fun actually, the chutes that were going down.

[kayak thuds] [screams] You get stuck every now and then.

Make sure not to try to hit the side.

Oh!

There we go, we moving again.

And then when you get down, it's like whoo, we made it.

[rushing water] - It's pretty fun, like, riding on the water, and going down the chutes.

The chutes we're the best part I thought.

We did it, whoo!

Yeah, it was just a really great experience, just going down the river.

[birds chirping] - LEE CHARLES: I couldn't even tell that I was in the city because I see houses on the side and things like that, but it was completely silent.

You could hear the birds chirping, the ducks quacking, and everything like that.

[water trickling] - PADDLER: Yeah, buddy.

- Because I live in the city, and I just always see how chaotic it is, and everything is just so loud and noisy.

[frogs croaking] And it's just good to connect with nature and just be peaceful and just relax, and take everything in.

[bird squealing] - LEE CHARLES: Whoo!

Whoo!

Oh, that was good, boy.

That was the best one yet.

- LEON: It's vitally important.

If we are ever gonna capture and rekindle our youth with the natural world, we've got to be able to make it accessible.

- ERICA: Oh my God!

- LEON: It's a pure environment, and that's what we're trying to get the kids to hopefully reconnect with.

- LEE CHARLES: It's just floating.

It just takes you to a different place.

[wind blowing] - SEBASTIAN ORUE: We're ready.

Ok, let's go.

Go!

- RUSSELL MARTIN: We are at the Mimms Ranch in Marfa, Texas.

- SEBASTIAN: Let's spread out a little bit more over here.

- RUSSELL: We're studying the wintering survival of grassland birds in the Chihuahuan Desert.

[meadowlark call] We've seen a decline in grassland birds across the continent as a whole.

- FABIOLA: Bird!

Bird!

- RUSSELL: The grassland birds that winter in the Chihuahuan Desert, have seen a 70% decline, so they're declining at a faster rate than the other grassland obligate birds.

- SEBASTIAN: This is a grasshopper sparrow.

Very yellow shoulders, and a yellow, like eyebrow right in front of the eye.

- This project is trying to help us understand where in the bird's life their numbers are falling off.

- They're really cryptic.

They're very difficult to see, so, actually for a long time nobody realized that they were declining.

I don't know, I think it's just kind of sad that they would disappear just because we never knew that they were out there.

- NARRATOR: The Mimms Ranch is 11,000 acres of prime rangeland and healthy grasslands.

This Chihuahuan Desert landscape provides a home for several declining bird species, like the grasshopper sparrow, and the Baird's sparrow.

[Baird's sparrow calls] - RUSSELL: They summer up in Canada and in the Dakotas, Montana, in the grasslands up there, and then they're migrating from there down to the Chihuahuan Desert which crosses into Texas and all the way down into central Mexico and there's pockets of grasslands all scattered around the wintering grounds where these birds are found.

- Ok, so everyone's ready?

- We're ready.

- Ok, let's go!

- NARRATOR: It's late December as this team of biologists, students and volunteers set out across the Mimms Ranch.

[hammer tapping] They know there are sparrows in these grasses, they just have to find them, and catch them.

- Pat, Matt!

Go closer to the net please!

- MIEKE: The idea is to drive the birds to the net.

They prefer to walk, instead of flying, that's their way to hide from predators and us.

So, we kind of tap the grass to try to flush them out.

- SEBASTIAN: Bird, bird, bird!

- and then if a bird starts flying, we wave our arms and the sticks in the air.

- SEBASTIAN: Bird, bird, bird!

Two!

- We're trying to keep the birds from going above the net, so this is supposed to make them think it's a predator.

- MIEKE: Throw it!

- FABIOLA: We throw it above them, they go down and they fall in the net.

- Down, perfect!

- MIEKE: So, this is a Baird's sparrow.

It's a little bit different than the grasshopper sparrow.

- NARRATOR: In a week's time, the team will capture about 40 birds.

- MIEKE: So, this is a grasshopper sparrow.

- NARRATOR: They'll weigh them... - Two.

- NARRATOR: measure them... - MIEKE: Forty-one.

- NARRATOR: band them... - 14.

- NARRATOR: ...and outfit them with tiny radio transmitters.

- MIEKE: All right, he's done.

- NARRATOR: Then they let them go.

- One, two, three.

Yeah.

[laughs] [tracker beeping] - NARRATOR: Over the next three months, researchers will track the birds, every day.

- SEBASTIAN: We do track every bird every day.

Some birds get lost.

Sometimes we walk up to like, I don't know, 15, 20 kilometers a day.

The grasslands are like really nice to walk on.

You know, they're flat, I mean, you get like a nice breeze.

To me this is like beautiful.

It's like going on a hike, just looking for birds, you know.

- MIEKE: So, the different colors are different birds.

- NARRATOR: Once they have all the tagging and tracking information together, the team can map out where each bird has been.

- MIEKE: The bird was caught there, and it moved around a little bit and then it finally went there, and it stayed there for the rest of the winter.

- NARRATOR: All this work will lead to a better understanding of what kind of habitat the birds like, and don't like.

- RUSSELL: All of these grassland birds are really an indicator of ecosystem health.

Their declines are indicating to us that something's going on in our grassland systems that isn't healthy.

- MIEKE: Shrub encroachment is a big problem.

The main predator for these birds is the loggerhead shrike.

They perch on shrubs, to look for their prey and we know the survival is lower when shrub cover is higher.

- NARRATOR: Improper livestock grazing, suppression of natural fire, increasing non-native plant cover, and habitat fragmentation have all contributed to the loss of native grasslands.

But here at the Mimms Ranch the owners know that protecting the watershed, improving the grasses, and raising cattle, all go hand in hand.

- What's easy to happen in these drier environments is that you lose your ground cover.

And so, what we've been able to achieve out here with our grazing system, is getting the ground covered with these good lower grasses.

It allows the water to absorb better, you get better wildlife habitat.

It even goes on and creates better forage for the cattle.

- These grasslands here are grazed and they look great and there can be cattle and birds at the same time.

You can have both, cattle and grassland birds.

- NARRATOR: What these researchers learn will help landowners manage these vital grasslands in a way that is both sustainable and profitable.

And that's good for wildlife, and the bottom line.

- MIEKE: The main problem for these birds is that their habitat is disappearing.

There's not enough grass cover for them.

Mimms is a really good, high-quality grassland, so we get a lot of these birds here.

They're telling us this is good management what they are doing here, that this is good.

- Here we go, right now.

[gentle music] Flew right over there and lit.

That was a transmittered Baird's Sparrow that we just released.

My first one, never seen a Baird's Sparrow till I came here.

So that's kind of fun.

[Baird's sparrow chirping] [wind] Celebrating a century of Texas State Parks.

[upbeat music] - JESSICA: Huntsville State Park is located in the Piney Woods of East Texas.

- TED: And you turn down the road and you start driving through that tunnel, it's like this really cool portal that takes you away from the hustle and bustle.

It all just kinda gets left behind you as you get deeper and deeper into the woods, until you get to the park itself.

- I like to say you can do anything with an I-N-G here.

That includes fishing, camping, biking, hiking, swimming... all kinds of fun opportunities outside.

We have 187 camp sites at the park, which may seem like a lot, but with the amount of trees that we have in the campground, you don't feel like you're on top of your neighbor and you still feel pretty secluded.

[trumpets music] - We are a CCC park.

What they did here, they actually built the park itself.

We have Lake Raven, which is a man-made lake.

[water rushing] Where they built an earthen dam that blocked off the flow of three creeks and streams that go through this region of the forest.

And by building that dam, they created the lake that we have today.

And we wouldn't have it, if it wasn't for the CCC.

- JESSICA: You can swim in the lake in our designated swimming area.

[splash] - The water is like, it's just like the perfect temperature.

Oh, it's really fun, there's a lot of activities to do.

And also getting on the boats is pretty cool.

- Perfect!

So, we have a boat house here at the state park.

Awesome!

And you're a first-time boater and you'd like to try it out.

All right, see you all later.

You can rent one here, that includes canoes, paddle boats, and kayaks.

- JAMIE: Yeah, it's really pretty.

I like how everything's curved in with the trees.

And how the wind is blowing in my face, and it's so fresh.

- We're doing the Chinquapin Trail.

It's a 6.8 mile loop that covers a pretty good section of the park.

[bird squawking] That's cool.

What I really like about the trail is that it's really shaded so it's good in all weather.

It's really remote.

It gives you kind of a feel of seclusion and a really good forest-y vibe.

- This park's rarely crowded and so a lot of times you can hit the trail and especially during the week, I got it to myself, yeah, it's nice.

It can get challenging, yes.

You get a lot of gullies and draws, that go in and out.

I just love the exercise and to be this close to nature and be out where you can enjoy it.

It's a nice trail to ride.

- My name is Ranger Ted.

The alligator workshop is this really fun, hands-on activity where I'll have a baby alligator.

Yep, go ahead.

For people to actually touch and feel and see up close.

- Cool!

- This one is a boy, this one's her brother.

How often to you get a chance to say that you got to actually touch a baby alligator, you got to feel it, you got to stroke its belly.

- Its scales wiggle.

- So, it's a really great opportunity for these families, these kids, these adults.

Go ahead and feel the belly.

To go home and tell everyone, I touched and pet a baby alligator.

So, it's a really cool opportunity.

[frogs croaking] [country music] - TED: Huntsville State Park is a really awesome place because it's home to all these different memories.

And it's a great place to make new memories because of all the different things it offers.

- JESSICA: If you're looking for your classic East Texas Piney Woods lakeside getaway, Huntsville State Park is definitely where you should stop.

[turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] [turkey clucks and gobbles] - 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.