Outdoor recreation — hunting, fishing, camping, wildlife viewing, etc. — faces a great test in the near future.

As our population becomes increasingly urban, many city dwellers have little or no contact with, appreciation of, or desire to preserve nature.

Without any knowledge or love for our outdoor heritage, it’s only a step to cutting funding for these activities. Why pay for something you have no interest in?

The challenge before us is how to involve the big population centers of our state in the outdoors. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department theme “Life is Better Outside” is aimed directly at this challenge.

A very effective TPWD program that addresses the urbanite problem is the Texas Paddling Trails.

This program seeks to develop inland and coastal paddling trails throughout the state and support these trails with maps, signs and other information.

These trails provide well-mapped accessible day trips on a variety of settings and for all levels of paddling experience. There are currently eight coastal paddling trails and nine inland paddling trails, with several communities in the process of applying for participation in this program.

This program takes full advantage of the explosion of recreational kayaking in recent years.

According to the Outdoor Industry Association, kayaking participation nationwide doubled between 1998 and 2004, with recreational and sit-on-top kayaking the fastest growing segment of the sport.

Participation in canoeing also remains very strong.

Partnering with the Austin community, the TPWD launched the 18th Texas Paddling Trail May 6 on Lady Bird Lake.

Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake) is a major recreation area for the city of Austin. Its banks are bounded by the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail, and numerous local businesses offer easy access to the water via canoe, kayak, rowing and other recreational watercraft services along the trails.

The Lady Bird Lake Paddling Trail is approximately 11 miles long and features multiple public access sites and recreational opportunities. This trail provides an excellent venue for the novice and experienced paddler alike.

“The Texas Paddling Trail program is designed to create access for paddlers on waterways throughout the state,” TPWD Nature Tourism Coordinator Shelly Plante said. “We want all Texans as well as visitors to realize that life’s better outside. The Lady Bird Paddling Trail creates wonderful outdoor opportunities for everyone and it’s right here in our state capital.”

“The Lady Bird Lake Paddling Trail is 100 percent accessible to 100 percent of our population, we’re proud of that,” Sara Hensley, City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department director, said. “What a wonderful way to recreate in our beautiful city.”

Several kiosks with paddling information, a map of the paddling trail and suggested routes will be placed at access points around the lake.

Another popular paddling trail is located right in the heart of Houston.

The Buffalo Bayou Paddling Trail is a 26-mile trail through downtown Houston where paddlers can enjoy the birds, turtles, fish and other wildlife found on this otherwise urban environment.

Due to the length of the trail, it is too long to paddle in one day. Individual segments of the trail can be paddled in one-to-four hours of paddling.

The banks of Buffalo Bayou expose a beautiful geology of sand, sandstone and red Beaumont clay.

While some sections of the bayou are straight-cut with low embankments, other sections are serpentine with high cliffs. Because the bayou offers little elevation change there are few riffles along the trails.

Buffalo Bayou has a great diversity of flora and fauna along its bank. Egrets, herons, hawks, and other bird life are commonly seen. Rabbits, turtles, fishes, snakes, and even an occasional alligator might also be found along the bayou and the tributaries.

The bayou has huge numbers of trees such as black willow, box elder, cottonwood, loblolly pine and sycamore. It also has less common trees, like oaks and hickories.

Like most urban streams, Buffalo Bayou has problems with invasive exotic plants and animals.

TPWD continues to seek partnerships with communities interested in developing a paddling trail in their area.



Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show, God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the Daily Record.