- 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 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.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife... - We're on a youth waterfowl hunt.

You can pretty much tell it's going to be a good morning when you're kicking up ducks walking out.

- Being out here in the water definitely calms me down.

It's just relaxing.

- A total solar eclipse happens every 18 months or so on average and it's great.

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

- JAMES: The gates open at four o'clock.

There's normally a line outside and right at 4:30, we do the draw.

- Three, twelve.

- JAMES: Depending on what number you draw, that's your spot in the pick order.

- TREY: Six.

Where'd you want to go?

Okay.

Cool, good luck.

- Thanks very much.

- TREY: 13.

- JAMES: We've been hunting with the kids since they were old enough to walk.

- There's one on your face.

Yeah, right there.

[upbeat music] - JAMES: Now they're getting big enough to help me pull the gear.

They're making my life a whole lot easier these days.

- COLTON: Duck.

- JAMES: You can pretty much tell it's gonna be a good morning when you're kickin' up ducks walkin' out.

I'll get the decoys out.

We're gonna set up right here.

Good girl.

When you have those decoys in the water, and that sun's coming up, and you can see that first group of birds movin' over, just a whole lot of fun.

Let's cross our fingers some birds show up.

[crickets chirping] [duck call clucking] Still circlin' around.

My name is James Bowman.

I'm out here with my daughter Madalynn, she's 14, and my son, Colton, he's 12.

- There's two above us.

- JAMES: Today we're out at Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area, and we're on a youth waterfowl hunt.

Kind of quit duck hunting for a little while while the kids were just being born, and up to the time they were about three or four.

But we're really lucky to have Justin Hurst just down the road from us, and the public opportunities to hunt out here.

That's made a huge difference.

Not only for me but for these kids.

Just havin' a place to go every weekend.

[birds chirping] - MADALYNN: It's really cool to hear all the different sounds of the different things that you wouldn't normally hear.

[bird squawking] I love taking pictures of the sunrises, it's my favorite thing is whenever it's, like, pink and purple in the sky.

[ducks quaking] - I got up at 2:20.

It was, it was brutal, it was...

It was extremely early.

Normally I wake up at like 10:00, but it was definitely worth it, 'cause it's a blast.

[duck quacking] - JAMES: Where is it?

Watch, watch 'em, watch 'em, watch.

Take your gun off safety and get ready.

Nope, it's on Colton's side, pull up.

[shotgun fires] All right, good shot.

- Got him.

[relaxed music] [dog whistle blows] - JAMES: You got birds movin' right at daylight, you got the sun comin' up at your back.

Shake.

It's a great way to enjoy nature with the kids.

[relaxed music] ♪ ♪ - So my name is Trey McClinton.

I'm the biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife out at the Justin Hurst WMA.

See if we can do that, spot sprayer over on that patch over there.

My role as the biologist on the property really is to help oversee all the day-to-day operations and upkeep.

This includes stuff as simple as mowing the lawn and keeping equipment up and running.

[tractor engine rumbling] As well as planning and directing the habitat management to try and keep the Justin Hurst WMA at its highest state of productivity for our native wildlife.

The Justin Hurst WMA is located in Southern Brazoria County.

We're approximately 15,000 acres of everything from Columbia bottomland hardwood forest to tidally-influenced salt marsh.

We can really support a wide variety of wildlife here on our property.

[relaxed music] Our big focus is wetlands and waterfowl.

We're talkin' ducks and geese and a ton of area for various shore birds, wading birds.

[birds chirping] We also are home to a lot of the general native Texas wildlife people think of.

We have a lot out here.

[crickets chirping] The WMA is named after Justin Hurst who was a biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife during the mid to late '90s, early 2000s.

He transitioned into the role of a Texas State Game Warden and was unfortunately killed in the line of duty.

Justin Hurst was instrumental to a lot of the early land acquisitions and creations of the wetland impoundments that are the focus of our active habitat management today.

[tractor engine rumbling] In terms of our active upkeep and management on the WMA, we employ a wide variety of techniques.

We're out here in one of our wetland impoundments discing right now.

And what we're doing here is we are promoting the growth of annual plant species that produce a lot of seed.

Barnyard grass, sprangletop, different types of sedges can be really beneficial.

Our goal for this impoundment this year is to provide as much food resource for wintering and migrating waterfowl.

[engine starts] One of our other tools of habitat management is water level manipulation.

We do this through water control structures.

This water manipulation allows us to draw down certain wetland impoundments so that we can get in and disc and we can provide that food resource.

It also allows us to provide water on a landscape for our year-round residents, such as the mottled duck.

[relaxed music] A lot of our active management has a hunting focus.

And a lot of things that we do are rooted in trying to promote a great hunting opportunity.

[duck call clucking] - COLTON: There's one behind y'all goin' down right now.

- JAMES: Get 'em, Colton.

[shotgun firing] - Oh, got 'em, good shot.

Bella.

[dog whistle blows] - MADALYNN: Good job, Colton.

- TREY: A significant amount of the funding that drives conservation is generated by hunters.

It's through the purchase of ammunition, through the purchase of hunting license.

- Pull up, pull up, take it off safety.

Shoot.

[shotgun fires] [duck quacking] Great shot, you're gonna get 'em next time, all right?

- Okay.

- Not bad.

- JAMES: We love coming out to Justin Hurst because we've had a whole lot of fun out here over the years.

- COLTON: It's a great place.

It's fun, it's got tons of birds.

Goin' to the right.

- MADALYNN: We had a really good hunt.

[shotgun fires] We got six ducks, it was really fun.

- COLTON: Good job, Madalynn.

- Thank you.

- COLTON: Goin' to the left right here.

[shotgun fires] [dog barks] - JAMES: The hunt today was fantastic, really.

We've had a lot of birds movin'.

Hey, hey.

That was a good hunt.

Y'all ready for some breakfast?

- MADALYNN: Yeah.

- JAMES: Let's go.

It's a great spot and we look forward to comin' back for seasons to come.

[relaxed music] [water splashing, birds chirping] [upbeat music] - ALAN: We are in Mule Slough in the back bay system of Port O'Connor, Texas.

[upbeat music] This is an isolated flat and it is surrounded by a black mangrove and cordgrass.

- XANDRA: I've lived here my whole life, and I've kayaked before, but just not here.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ This is my backyard.

My backyard has always been outdoors for everything.

You get to sit in a kayak and you can see pelicans, seagulls, herons, everything.

You get to see it all.

[upbeat music] [water splashes, rustling of grasses] - Being out here in the water definitely calms me down.

It's just relaxing.

Being back here in the water kind of brings me back down to Earth, 'cause this place is home.

[soft instrumental music, gurgling] I like how you can get into the smaller spots without making a whole lot of noise.

Where there's nobody, it's pretty awesome.

- Look for red fish.

So, the Port O'Connor Paddling Trail is unique in the way that it's probably the most vast one on the Texas coast that's easily accessible.

There's over 40 miles total of paddle trail.

- XANDRA: Hey Jade, look at that loon.

- JADE: That is just a camera ready loon.

He's getting his 15 minutes in.

[soft instrumental music, gurgling] [soft instrumental music] - ALAN: It is an adventure almost every time you come, because you can lost, and that's okay.

You can go into these secret bayous that no one knew existed that are mostly only accessible by a kayaker.

[soft instrumental music] - JADE: This kayaking is a whole other experience, and it's you and the water and nothing else.

- I mean the saying goes, once you visit here once, you always come back a second time.

- Port O'Connor has a way of bringing you back.

It's a great place to be.

♪ ♪ [upbeat music] - You'd want to come here with your family because it's peaceful, it's quiet, the river's always flowing.

You can hear the birds, and see the butterflies and the bees, and walk around and see some natural wildflowers.

- RYAN MCGILLICUDDY: So, this is good to see because you've got a ton of switchgrass and this is really what gets the process of healing started, because it's really deep rooted.

- NARRATOR: Biologist Ryan McGillicuddy is checking on the progress at the Jackaroo Ranch in Wimberley, Texas.

The ranch is a vacation rental property with riverfront homes a stone's throw away from the Blanco River, but... - NEWS REPORTER: Right now, there are entire neighborhoods under feet of mud and water, including here in the tiny town of Wimberley.

- NARRATOR: Just three years earlier, the Jackaroo Ranch looked a lot different.

[raging water] Historic flooding on the Blanco River claimed 13 lives, destroyed hundreds of homes, and ravaged the land along the river.

- RYAN: The flood of 2015 caused massive devastation to the Blanco River landscape.

So there was a loss of a lot of vegetation, a lot of trees, a lot of soil scour, and what we see here is an eco-system in recovery.

- NARRATOR: While recovery of this damaged eco-system is important for people who live here, it's vital to the wildlife that depend on the river.

- Healthy native stream-side vegetation provides a number of ecological functions including bank stability, because its roots are deep and strong.

It also provides a water quality function by filtering run-off and pollutants, but also, importantly, this stream-side vegetation provides a benefit for fish and wildlife.

- NARRATOR: One fish species that relies on the river is the Guadalupe Bass.

At one point, this fish had been pushed completely out of the Blanco River system by non-native small mouth bass.

When severe drought in 2011 reduced the river to a series of small pools, fisheries biologists saw an opportunity to remove non-native fish from the river.

A year later, biologists returned to the Blanco, restocking the river with thousands of native Guadalupe Bass fingerlings.

- RYAN: We've been able to document that the fish that we've stocked are now reproducing in the wild, so it's been a pretty remarkable success story.

- Guadalupe bass, 228.

- The water is at that same level underneath your feet.

- NARRATOR: In the aftermath of the flooding, biologists are encouraging landowners to consider both recreational and ecological functions when restoring their properties.

- People have managed these stream-side properties with St. Augustine going all the way down to the water's edge, but we're trying to show folks that you can have these maintained park-like areas, but you leave some natural vegetation and some room for the river and that vegetation buffer to operate naturally.

[wood clunking] - NARRATOR: After a flood, it's natural for landowners to want to clean up the riverbank.

But the wood from fallen trees can be put to good use.

- RYAN: In a post-flood environment there'll be a lot of woody debris and the initial reaction might be to remove that wood because it might look like an eyesore.

However, it plays an incredible, natural beneficial function.

That wood slows overland run-off and helps rebuild the soil bank back, so it's actually helping restore the river bank and build it back up where there was so much soil lost here from scour of the flood.

- Yeah, I would think most of the trees are going to go like along this area.

- NARRATOR: As many as 13,000 trees along the Blanco River were lost in the flood.

Volunteers and landowners are working together to replant and restore the riverbank.

- RYAN: Everyone's kind of looking towards reforesting this area and that's the eventual goal but in the meantime, we want to get some native riparian grasses and sedges in there to stabilize the soil.

These native plants hold water in the soil like a sponge and they feed creeks and rivers during the dry times of the year so there's a lot of beneficial function to some of these native plants.

You got a lot young sycamore coming up.

And this one is post-flood.

This one is only a few years old.

So, they come up real quick and start the process of stabilizing everything.

- Now what are these?

- You had to ask me that on camera.

- NARRATOR: At the Jackaroo Ranch, they've been able to keep the open, grassy, recreational areas intact, but they've also left areas of native vegetation at the river's edge, proving that you can do both.

And in the long run, that's good for everyone, fish included.

- RYAN: Really, the idea is to get landowners engaged, it's the landowners who are going to be the true stewards of this shared water resource.

So, in order to have a healthy functioning river system that's good for sport fishery, that's good for recreation, that's good for water supply, we have to have landowners on board.

We want to see if those trees are coming in here.

They are.

There are so many of them down here popping up in the grass.

- We are doing things a little differently now, so I think it's important for us to be able to set an example.

And for people to come out and see that it is useable, it's still great riverbank, it's beautiful, and that it's easy to maintain.

[splashing] [birds chirping] [upbeat music] - KATE: We are at Garner State Park, and they have set up a solar eclipse village.

A total solar eclipse happens somewhere in the world once every 18 months or so on average.

That's great.

We're just figuring out where you wanna be.

These guys will be doing a lot of little interactive stuff.

- MAN: Yes.

- Yes, cool.

So I've seen 13 total solar eclipses over a period of 24 years, but of course, that's what us eclipse chasers do, we chase eclipses.

So it's not a once in a lifetime experience for us.

We will travel anywhere and everywhere.

That's really very special.

[birds chirping] What's unique about the path here in Texas is that it goes over some really beautiful areas.

So this is a premium spot for the eclipses, and it's great.

- Ready, one, two, three, cheese.

[camera clicks] - These are 15.

What size?

- KATE: Eclipse chasing has actually become quite mainstream now, which means that so many more people are going to experience this.

[laughing] So these communities are really lucky.

- Really?!

[kid laughs] - You can definitely see this thing.

- KATE: And when we get close to it, when people start coming and arriving, and there's such a vibe in the air, they feel it and they become part of it.

The crowds bring an energy and excitement.

- GIRL: It's awesome.

The moon is covering the sun, and the sun is the shape of a croissant right now.

[crowd cheers] - Almost there!

[crowd cheers] - Oh wow!

[crowd cheers] Wow.

- KATE: Give a yell if you can see it.

[laughs] [crowd cheers] Right on time.

Definitely, definitely, you can see it now.

So the eclipse has begun.

Woo hoo!

[chuckles] A solar eclipse is when the moon moves in front of the sun, and it really is one of the most awe-inspiring things that we can see from this Earth.

It's when the moon blocks the sun, and we're cast in the moon's shadow.

It's really profound.

You are standing in the shadow of an object that's out there, and it makes you then realize that's a celestial object.

We're standing in that shadow.

How vast is this universe?

You are part of something bigger.

It's just this unity and it is beautiful and amazing.

- It kind of looks like a trick-or-treat bag.

- Oh yeah.

- A black hole concealing the sun.

- KATE: It is really a very unique and unusual experience and the most common question we hear after every eclipse is, when's the next one?

So that's how you become an eclipse chaser.

[birds chirping] [wind rustling] [horse whinnies] - GIRL: We've had our breakfast.

They seem happy.

- BILL: I enjoy working with my family.

They're extremely important.

- BOY: We can just carry it.

- Okay, if that's what you wanna do.

- Yes sir.

- BILL: We have to have internal combustion for agriculture.

It's 24/7.

[gentle music] This is called the Last Chance Ranch, and it got that name from my great-grandfather who got involved with this ranch in late 1800s.

A well driller in his infinite wisdom indicated that if we just drill right over there, we'll probably hit water.

And grandpa said, "Well, we better because we don't hit water in this one, this is our last chance 'cause I'm running outta money."

Luckily they did hit water, and the rest is history.

There's a water trough up there.

The cattle should be around it.

We oughta be able to drive them around a little bit.

What we've decided to do is to improve the land we've got so that it is able to produce more than what it has in the past.

This would really be a nice day if we had about 10 miles an hour less wind.

And in effect, it allows you to increase your stocking rate without negatively affecting the land or the crops such as grass that grow on it.

[gentle music] - JOSE: That's what we treated on last year, right?

Or two years ago.

- We went all the way past the high line, and boy, you can really see it over there.

It knocked the dobbers of dirt.

- JOSE: The Sibley ranch has been part of years and years of restoration, grassland restoration projects, the biggest one being battling brush encroachment.

Oh, you got really good grass growth coming up.

- Yeah, on this side, there's two storage tanks- - JOSE: Out in West Texas, there's a lot of brush encroachment coming into our grasslands, and the Sibley Ranch has been one of those cooperators we've been working with in trying to restore grasslands by attacking brush.

- BILL: Wait right here and let me go to the water trough.

When I get up there, I'll holler at you.

You turn that on and see if the water comes out.

- Okay.

- JOSE: One of the major factors that influence grasslands or any kind of vegetation is water.

As the drought conditions continue to intensify, we're trying to work hand in hand with ranchers and be able to work with them in rotating cattle around and promote healthy grasslands.

[gentle music] - BILL: In the desert, water is king, and if you don't have water, you're not gonna have a ranch.

The fact of the matter is, we've been in business on this ranch for 125 years.

We've got family come along behind us that seem like they are interested in the land.

We're gonna do everything we can to be able to pass it on to the next generation.

[wind blowing] [birds chirping] [water lapping] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [bird splashes] [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 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.