Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine — August 2011 Issue

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August 2011 Issue — Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine

 

Before delving into the August issue, take another look at the July issue — in digital form. TPW magazine is testing a digital replica version of the magazine, and here is a link to the July 2011 digital issue. The digital version is compatible with tablets and smart phones — as well as web browsers.

Or proceed to read the August newsletter:

  July issue cover
 

August Feature Articles

The Golden Age of Park Acquisitions

A perfect storm of money and support resulted in the purchase

of beloved state parks.

By John Jefferson
McKinney Falls  
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.”  Aldo Leopold penned that as the opening line of his classic, A Sand County Almanac. By “wild things,” he meant all of them — prairie flowers, free-ranging wildlife, stands of grass, streams, lakes and forests, and geese passing overhead. Leopold’s statement presumed there would be wild places for people to enjoy those wild things. He could not live without them. Neither can we. That’s why parks are so precious. Today, most Texans live an easy drive from one of many state parks,
natural areas and historic sites. Generations of family vacations have worn smooth the paths at iconic landmarks like Seminole Canyon and Colorado Bend, where tots discover their first tadpole and return with their children decades later.
But, before 1963, these two parks and dozens of others were privately owned parcels of land that weren’t available for public enjoyment. ... Read the story here.

Wing It: 2011 Fall/Winter Birding Calendar

Take a flight of fancy and watch for the fall migration across Texas. 

By Shelly Plante and Kinsey Junek
In addition to the events listed, Texas state parks host frequent birding activities. Check our regularly updated calendar of all events at Texas Parks and Wildlife facilities, online at calendar/birds-bats-more, to find more outdoor adventures for you and your family year-round! ... Read the story here.
  Black-crested titmouse

Wildlife and the Wall

What is the impact of the border fence on Texas animals?

 By Rob McCorkle; Photography by Earl Nottingham
turtle squeezing through the fence  
On a mild December day in the subtropical Rio Grande Valley, I’m following wildlife biologist Steve Benn along U.S. Highway 281 southeast of Weslaco toward the Hidalgo-Cameron County line. Winter crops like cabbage and onions poke from fecund Rio Grande delta soil along the narrow blacktop that heads south toward the river. An ink-black indigo snake — one of the Valley’s rare species — slithers across the road.  Pulling up behind Benn’s Texas Parks and Wildlife Department truck just north of the levee next to a large gap in the border wall,  
which rises 18 feet from the dirt, I spot two bobcats about 30 yards away on a bulldozed road that parallels the wall. Cut off to the south by the concrete and steel wall, the cats cast a furtive glance my way before wheeling and dashing north into the thin line of brush adjacent to the bare sugar cane fields just beyond. Had we not been parked next to the gap in this segment of the border wall on TPWD property, where federal government contractors will eventually install a gate, the cats might have slipped through and headed south toward the Rio Grande. ... Read the story here.

More Articles in the August Issue

DEPARTMENTS

At Issue by Carter Smith

3 Days in the Field: A Zip Through Athens

Legend, Lore & Legacy: Texas Folklore Society

SCOUT

Scientists Test Cures for Overinflated Bass

Skill Builder: Dead Wood Supports Life

Flora Fact: Mustang Grapes Make Tasty Jelly

Park Pick: Daingerfield Reopens After Face-Lift

Wild Thing: Eastern Hognose Snakes Look Deadly, But They're Not

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