PBS Show - Conservation Dog Squad & More
[Music] 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 is what we share coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife checking those boats it's just a big game they love it because it's like if I can go find this stinky zebra muscle I'm going to get my toy or I'm going to get a treat you're in a gry region when I first moved out here I didn't appreciate it like I appreciate it now salw waterer fishing from The Jetty is so much fun because there's always going to be fish here [Music] Texas Parks and Wildlife a television series for all [Music] Outdoors we are here at Lake Meredith checking boats how's it going to make sure that they're not carrying Zebra muscles to do a quick zebra muscle inspection Zebra muscles tiny uninvited guests that latch onto boats clog up water systems and wreak havoc on Texas lakes they may be small but these invasive Critters cause big problems Zebra muscles just like our native muscles they're filter feeders so they clean up the water you'd think that would be really good cuz suddenly have crystal clear water but that messes up the food chain it impacts the fish it's not good if you look at the progression of zebra muscles throughout our country you can see how quickly they've been able to spread and how quickly they've been able to establish themselves we're really just in the past decade really understanding what the negative impacts of them are because they're highly invasive you can get them in massive numbers they're very sharp they'll actually cut your feet they'll cut your hands and then they also get into your boat potentially up into your builds your drains they hurt you recreationally they hurt it environmentally and then they hurt your pocketbook in the fight against Zebra muscles Lake Meredith has Enlisted the finest detectives on four legs to keep these Invaders at Bay we had have the working dogs of conservation in this weekend they're doing our inspection for us sounds good meet the working dogs for conservation the ultimate dog Squad with a nose for muscles these canine Crusaders are here to sniff out trouble one boat at a time the dogs can inspect your boat in about 2 minutes it will take 15 to 20 minutes for me to thoroughly inspect a boat so it really speeds up the process y the dogs are really good ambassadors we use dogs that are very people friendly rain she is kind of the Star right now she's been doing this since she was 9 months old rain and her fellow detectives are specially trained to detect the scent of zebra muscles they can find even the tiniest Trace better than any human eye Zebra muscles like to be in little cracks crevices holes but with Gilly on the case no muscle is safe Gilly is a border carrier one of his strengths is we get a lot of boats like kayaks canoes so we can actually lift Gilly and do a good job without having to unload the boat good work Tully is the veteran of the team he is close to retirement this will probably be his last year he's like the Sherlock Holmes of zebra muscles but he doesn't need a magnifying glass to Snoop the scene just his nose he's good checking those boats it's just a big game they love it because it's like if I can go find this CI zeber muscle I'm going to get my toy or I'm going to get a treat to them it's just wonderful were yall checking for drugs no no drugs just the Zebra muscles good work man good work people seem to listen to us a lot more when they see the dogs here the dogs are kind of an ice breaker H look what he's got this is the this is the puppy that's looking at your boat and it really helps us to message that clean drain and dry methodology of keeping those invasive species out of this Waterway with the help of these incredible dogs Lake Meredith remains safe from the threat of zebra muscles so it's really important for clean drain and dry when you move from one body of water to another ensure that your boat has been drained completely that is clean and it's dry before you move into another body of water yall are all clean good to go appreciate it you have a good day for rain Gilly Tully and the rest of the working dogs for conservation protecting our Waters is all in a day's work and they do it with enthusiasm dedication and a wagging tail so next time you're out on the lake think of these four-legged Heroes her es and give them some praise if you see them they've earned it good work [Music] yeah what of the great things about bass drop is our location if you draw a triangle and you go between Houston San anonio and Austin kind of in the middle of that triangle in The Sweet Spot you'll find the city of Bastrop but what you'll find is historic wonderful friendly environment a community that works together and a community that enjoys Birds bestrop is blessed with the Colorado River running through so a lot of riparian birds you're always going to see great blue herand often iget there's a king fisher that always hangs out here a builted king fisher bald eagles bluebirds are almost always here in migration great numbers of Warblers within Bastrop County we have probably five different Eco regions represented there's Blackland Prairie there's the Lost Pines or the Piney Woods there's the riparian and Post Oak Savannah so each of those has different Niche birds and just within a a small area which is fun back in March of 2018 we found out that there was going to be bird City designation and we were so excited to find out that Bastrop was one of only four cities in the state that was designated a bird City in the very first year the mural behind me it was in honor of Bastrop getting the bird City designation so that was a collaboration of the bird City Coalition and local artists to honor our work that we've done and and getting it [Music] birds are are kind of bellweather species in a lot of ways so if we don't focus on conserving Birds we're also going to lose a lot of other things what happens to the birds other species follow you know so we can't ignore it for our own pleasure of having the birds but also because of their importance in the whole scheme of [Music] things Bass Shop has something to be proud of and they have something to work for in the future as far as uh building and restoring bird habitat and seeing it grow even more the bird City designation it makes conservation a priority implementing things like dark skies and you know non-reflective windows and cats IND doors and it's just going to be carried as part of the mission of Bastrop as a city the environment is a really important part of what pulls the community together you can go stand up paddle boarding you can kayak you can canoe you can go for a walk along the river and ecotourism is an opportunity that helps both the economy and it helps our environment we did a introduction to biring class we had 40 people come every week for four weeks there's an interest that's always been there that's being brought more to the Forefront it is a male one of our hot spots for birding is here at Fisher's Park in the Jun Hill P Riverwalk it borders the Colorado River and it just offers a very wide variety of birds you get a bit of everything when you're down here I think it's an exciting time for Bastrop and for Texas to be highlighting Birds cities should go for it because it will add a lot to your community not just in the in terms of Tourism but just in awareness and it will help protect the birds and the environment and just bring people a lot of [Music] pleasure you're in a droughty Rion it's droughty more than it rains when it is raining be happy because tomorrow it's not going to be raining it's going to be dry when I first moved out here I didn't appreciate it like I appreciate it now I've been blessed to have the opportunity to live out here and have this Ranch for the last 40 years it can be a very feast or famine out here for producers we're coming out of three years of drought and a lot of ranches are looking pretty rough right now but due to the management that Mr adcock's been doing on this Ranch he has plenty of cover left on the landscape he has a great diversity of grasses and and Forbes it's a cool remnant of Short Grass Prairie I've been real conservative on the amount of cows I have a lot of folks think all they need is just rain that's the only thing but the grazing management that you do on your property is going to influence how well you know your plants respond post drought whenever you do get some rain so he's had plenty of rest periods for all of his passengers after they're grazed the grass Community itself is just thriving one of the things that's unique about it is he's done a lot of work to control the salt Cedar all around the lake also one of the unique things about it is has active Springs often times on these Lakes due to Salt cedar or nearby irrigation Springs are dried up he has native intact Springs that are still providing water for wildlife in this area the Salt Lakes are what supplied the the natives and the people that were out here for years and years and years it was part of the trail of Living Water and that it'd be about a day ride apart from each area where they could get water you know I've always wanted to leave a legacy for my children I mean I have great memories of my girls being out here my oldest when she came time for her to go to college she came in and says Daddy I'm not going to go to school and I said really what are you going to do so I'm a ranch really where you going to Ranch you're Ranch whose cow are you going to run you're cast anyway I'm about ready to let her come out here [Music] [Music] now my brother got into saltwater fishing I'd follow him out to the beach and I'd fish with him and fell in love with it and decided to move out here and make it permanent saltwater fishing from The Jetty is so much fun because there's always going to be fish here this is where you want to go if you want to get on to some good fish this m looks like he already got bit by something see that okay e him wouldn't it be cool if you cast it out and got a fish on immediately I wish it was like that every day feeling the rod Bend and hearing the real scream and not knowing what's going to be on the other end is a major adrenaline rush I love it no get off that rock get off of it come on come on come on come on come on it's like Christmas morning when you you don't know what you're going to get but you're just excited to open the presents that's how it feels every time I reel in another fish me a gas off we going throw him back [Music] in a jetty is a pile of rocks that's placed at either side of a pass from the Gulf of Mexico into our base systems and that pile of rocks prevents The Jetty from silting in and and closing up with sand in between those rocks are what we call interstial spaces little holes and hiding places in the rocks and it provides hiding places for lots of little bait species and uh in turn that attracts larger predators and so you get a a really diverse mix of species that that occupy a jetty system Jetty systems in Texas are very accessible to all Anglers basically all you need is a fishing license and basic fishing equipment you can come fishing and expect to catch all kinds of fish it's really neat because it's really a great opportunity for Anglers to get a chance at both inshore and off for [Music] species I've been moving around in different states and uh just fishing around trying out different areas and there are so many fish compared to any other places that been so far daddy fishing is just you're close to the water you get more action and you can see the fish it's also the first step to exploring fishing just I love the feeling of catching fish there are so many fish here and just everywhere beautiful uh I was lucky enough to catch a a nice side and it was about a 30in black drum [Music] I like to come out here and get to meet new people while you're fishing yeah I got to fish one everybody out here is just super nice whoa we need a net does anybody have a net oh my God it's huge it may fit that whole net that's all right I'm bringing him your way I'm going to have to pull it by hand cuz it's a oh it's a drum black drum wow look at the size of that fish wooo thank you so much it was really exciting to see it it ended up being 35 in too it was a good day [Music] as a kid my dad bought me a new shotgun and uh maybe goes back to that this story I'm going to tell you I remember walking out across my dad's Ranch and u a bird a large bird flew over me and I shot it and it fail and I went and picked that bird up and it was a people are going to hate me for hearing this but it was a a large redheaded woodpecker I looked at that bird and I said you know one day I'm going to I'm going to make up for this I was an agriculturalist trying to get all I could for the land but since that time I've realized that this land is not just a resource to be used abused it's something that we have to take care of you know and look at all of it we have to go back to where it was that we going to save these precious natural resources we've been given to enjoy the messages that mother nature sends us yes I do believe that happens more often that man wants to admit my objective in buying this place was largely a selfish one of having more Quail I could hunt I was going to have more Quail on my land that anybody had ever seen just show the world it could be done needless to say it's not an easy chore to try to bring back this bird numbers have gone down since 1970 like 90% perhaps it goes back to my childhood but uh something kept telling me it was bigger than that bigger than just having quail I've realized that what you're trying to save is not above it always but below the surface my name is Jim gomo I'm the coordinator of the Oaks and prairies joint venture and we manage the grassland restoration incentive program over the past 60 years we've seen over a 90% decline in grassland habitat with massive loss of grasslands we've lost Wildlife populations including many bird species the recent calculations 3 bill billion Birds since 1970 a quarter of those birds were grassland Birds 720 million birds at the scale that the bird populations are changing it also indicates that the health of our land is changing and may eventually affect us as people going back to my childhood when water would hit the native grasses on my dad's place and surrounding area where I grew up it would go on the ground these n grasses were tall stature and when a drop of rain would hit those it would shatter and run down into the roots today because we planted all these exotic grasses the water would hit the ground and run off the top over the top and carry with it all the the toxic chemicals as well as the the commercial fertilizers all the stuff that we have on the land now into the streams so maybe that's what caused me to realize it's bigger than just having more Bob White Quail out here it was having uh better land better natural resources restoration is not an easy process just because I wanted to do it just because I understood the need for doing it didn't mean that I knew how to do it [Music] the grassland restoration incentive program or grip gives our partners and land owners a tool to address grassland loss right now we're out here counting Birds looking at the habitats that they're in most of what we do is listen for calls and sometimes we see them sometimes we don't but we can identify most of the birds by calls bottom line is the birds are telling us about the land condition and whether it's good enough for them if they're there and if their populations are growing then the habitat is in pretty good condition I'm a person of action I suppose and U grip allowed me to be that person I wanted to be with respect to conservation by being a part of grip one of the things we do is try to remove invasive grasses we have to go in and not overg graze so we have to take cattle off for a while and so we let that land rest and grow up so that we have fuel to do a prescribe burn then we burn it following that we put in uh cover crops following that we sometimes use herbicides as necessary and plant native grasses in that say winter cover crop we can tell right now by the birds that we're hearing that grip is working for Mr Willis's property when we get out here and hear the morning calls of all these birds that's the magic hour are the exciting part of the morning and to know that the quail are here because of the type of management that we're doing through grip that gives us a great feeling of satisfaction in in in a job well done when I uh look out over this land we own here before I saw a wildlife desert I Saw Grass grazed down to the ground I saw a lot of dirt today I see a land that's covered with something beneficial a land that's not baked by the Sun not washed off by The Rains a land that's uh that's healthy again grip is not just about cost sharing it's the expertise you get with it we got to be wise we got to work smart we got to save conserve as well as produce the food and fiber this nation need [Music] [Applause] woo [Music] no [Music] [Music] [Music] up for [Music] 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
2025-01-04 09:15
