Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Ad Hoc Outreach Committee
January 19, 2000
Commission Hearing RoomTexas Parks & Wildlife Department Headquarters Complex
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
7 BE IT REMEMBERED that heretofore on the 19th
8 day of January 2000, there came on to be heard
9 matters under the regulatory authority of the
10 Parks and Wildlife Commission of Texas, in the
11 commission hearing room of the Texas Parks and
12 Wildlife Headquarters complex, Austin, Travis
13 County, Texas, beginning at 3:38 p.m., to wit:
14
15
APPEARANCES:
16 THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION:
17 AD HOC OUTREACH COMMITTEE:
Chair: Alvin L. Henry
18 Lee M. Bass
Dick W. Heath (absent)
19 Nolan Ryan
Ernest Angelo, Jr.
20 John Avila, Jr.
Carol E. Dinkins
21 Katharine Armstrong Idsal
Mark E. Watson, Jr.
22
THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT:
23 Andrew H. Sansom, Executive Director, and other
personnel of the Parks and Wildlife Department.
24
25
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1 JANUARY 19, 2000
2 *-*-*-*-*
3 AD HOC OUTREACH COMMITTEE MEETING
4 *-*-*-*-*
5 COMMISSIONER HENRY: Next we're
6 going to discuss outreach. And this is something
7 that's relatively new to us as a formal ad hoc
8 committee. That's what it is at this point, an
9 ad hoc committee. And Larry and Bob are going to
10 lead us
11 AGENDA AGENDA NO. 2: BRIEFING - NEW EXPANDED
12 OUTREACH PROGRAM.
13 DR. McKINNEY: Thank you,
14 Mr. Chairman.
15 MR. MURPHY: Thank you,
16 Mr. Chairman.
17 DR. McKINNEY: Appreciate the
18 opportunity to address you today on a very
19 important topic to all of us. What I'm going to
20 try to do, I put together a little bit of an
21 overview, as best we can, of outreach activities
22 of the department. I know Bob will chime in here
23 and add those points. It's of key interest to
24 all of us. One thing we'll try to do is -- and
25 we talk about outreach. There's as many
.0003
1 definitions of outreach as there are opinions,
2 probably, of what we're talking about. At least
3 the way I'm kind of looking at it and do it is
4 this basically. There are any of the range of
5 activities that we do or anyone does to try to
6 enhance the appreciation and awareness of a
7 particular topic, to transmit knowledge and
8 skills about those topics, to foster critical
9 thinking, and promote behavioral changes. Those
10 are things that we do throughout this agency at
11 all levels to outreach, to deliver a message, to
12 make a change. So at least for an operational
13 kind of definition, this is how I look at it.
14 Outreach certainly is a critical
15 part of meeting our mission, as we heard all day
16 today in presentations throughout the day, to
17 manage and conserve the natural and cultural
18 resources of Texas for future and present
19 generations. I mean, those issues and what we
20 try to do in building our constituencies, the
21 users, people that pay the bills, and also
22 building a conservation base, people who
23 understand what we're trying to do and support
24 those efforts. That's the outreach effort of
25 what we try to do to meet our mission, I
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1 believe.
2 And I would say that outreach at
3 Parks and Wildlife is diverse and dispersed all
4 over the state. I mean, it's -- it is amazing
5 what we do in that realm, everything from our
6 wildlife technical biologists out in the field
7 working with landowners to Expo and others. In
8 our annual report that we give you each year, if
9 you look at our numbers, for example, we report
10 that our staff participates in some 30,000 events
11 every year in outreach. That's a hundred a day,
12 is what it amounts to.
13 And I tried to go back and look at
14 those numbers. That sounded awfully high, and
15 where did we come from? But when you think about
16 what we do across the state, it's there, at over
17 150 sites, parks, wildlife, management areas, and
18 hatcheries. And that also includes 900,000 kids
19 that are involved in activities. That's
20 eyeball-to-eyeball types of activities. Not just
21 meetings. Our staff really working with them.
22 That means one in five Texans have some contact
23 with our staff each year. And probably only
24 schools have more contact with people. And I
25 think it's very important. And so it's a vehicle
.0005
1 that we use and need to use more, at getting at
2 what we're talking about.
3 That explosion of outreach I think
4 began around ten years ago, with the direction of
5 our Executive Director and trying to make sure
6 that we use that tool. And our various divisions
7 responded to that over that period of time with
8 all of the things that we have done in talking
9 about here.
10 What we're looking at now and under
11 the guidance of this committee, I think we'll
12 look at, is that we have expanded all of that
13 activity and we're all over the place, frankly.
14 It's like a shotgun we fired off and we're
15 everywhere doing all types of things. So now is
16 the time, really, to take a look, and we have
17 been looking and will look even more intently at
18 how we can -- what we can learn from those
19 outreach efforts, how we can do better. And I
20 think some of those issues fall into, I think,
21 some categories like enhancing coordination.
22 I think a lot of what we've done is,
23 we have a lot of people out there in that forest
24 in amongst the trees, and working hard and doing
25 good. But we haven't really stepped back too
.0006
1 much from the forest and looked at how we can
2 cooperate better. Every day, frankly, when we --
3 I know Bob would share these experiences as I
4 have, as I've looked at it over the last several
5 years, is almost daily when I look at it, I find
6 another instance where we're doing things in one
7 part of the department that are very similar to
8 another, and they don't even know that they're
9 doing the same thing. And they're all doing good
10 things, but they didn't even realize maybe
11 there's some ways we could work together better
12 and coordinate. And that's a key issue we want
13 to enhance to look at.
14 Certainly we want to look at the
15 opportunity to imbed those strategic goals. I
16 think that's something that we have missed in
17 this explosion, and we need to go back and look
18 at it. It's to make sure that -- we know that
19 these activities, the activities we do in a very
20 general sense, are aiming in the direction we
21 want to go. But we need to focus those better.
22 As we were talking about in these grants
23 programs, I think, just exactly what you said
24 there, are we really hitting the strategic
25 point? I think the answer is no, not really, not
.0007
1 what we need to do, not as good as we could.
2 We look at things -- for example, I
3 work with Steve Hall in hunter education, one of
4 our largest outreach activities, thousands of
5 volunteers. And because of that program, they do
6 a very thorough evaluation. And what they find,
7 in fact, is that in one point, many of those
8 people don't even know that Parks and Wildlife
9 operates that whole program. It doesn't come
10 through in the materials. In fact, they don't
11 even recognize that we do.
12 So that's one strategic goal we
13 ought to address, that at least people recognize
14 that this is a Parks and Wildlife program.
15 Things like that, that we -- the most basic thing
16 we need to look at.
17 Optimizing staff and fiscal
18 resource. I mean, that's straightforward. We
19 have to make as good use as we can of those
20 resources from both the money side and our staff
21 side, to be effective. We have too many other
22 missions and demands on our staff of people to
23 not do that. So that's clearly an area we'll
24 look at.
25 And finally, an institutionalized
.0008
1 evaluation. I think that's an area that
2 certainly needs enhancement and is somewhat
3 spotty. We really don't look and have -- in many
4 cases whether or not we're being effective. We
5 know we're doing things but we really don't know
6 if it's working or not. And others, it's very
7 good. So we need to make sure that even on --
8 from a programmatic and from an individual basis,
9 many of our staff have, in their performance
10 plans, outreach requirements. And we need to
11 make sure that what we're doing is effective.
12 And to do that, you have to evaluate it. So we
13 need to provide those tools to make that happen.
14 To achieve that objective, our
15 director has directed us to initiate some of the
16 following actions. One, is to designate an
17 outreach coordinator and establish an outreach
18 team to accomplish a couple of missions. One is
19 to develop an outreach strategy that addresses
20 those issues that I just briefly summarized. We
21 intend to have that done and before you by your
22 next commission meeting in April, to move that
23 forward quickly.
24 We want to take a look at how we can
25 expand our existing opportunities to reach urban
.0009
1 youth as part of that strategy. Some of the
2 things that Tim talked to you about just
3 previous, as to how to take advantage of those
4 programs, that's an important focus. We want to
5 look at that in particular.
6 And certainly we want to emphasize
7 development of partnerships throughout, how we
8 can work better with other agencies, nonprofits
9 and communities to do that message. So clearly
10 an emphasis on partnerships is what we've been
11 directed at.
12 We haven't -- we're not waiting,
13 actually, to start some of this. We're moving
14 forward on it. I want to give you a little bit
15 of an update on where we are on some of those
16 initiation of some of the ideas that we're at
17 now.
18 For one, we named Bob Murphy to act
19 as our outreach coordinator, to begin to bring
20 that together. Bob is here today. Raise your
21 hand back there. He's really well suited to do
22 this, to help us build not only internal but
23 external partnerships.
24 Right now, Bob is vice-president of
25 the Texas Environmental Education Partnership.
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1 That's the new legislative mandate to develop
2 educational -- environmental education in this
3 state. He's working on that. He's vice chair of
4 the Texas Environmental Education Advisory
5 Committee that reports directly to the
6 Commissioner of Education, to advise them on
7 that. And he's the chair of the board for the
8 Texas Alliance of Science, Technology, and
9 Mathematics in Education. He's mostly a chair of
10 some of the longest acronyms you can imagine.
11 But the point is, they are key in helping us work
12 with outside partners. And he's been
13 instrumental in working those, and received those
14 acknowledgments from those people. I think that
15 stands well for us.
16 Internally Bob has coordinated our
17 natural classroom in coordination with the
18 foundation, to help us develop our student
19 interns and particularly our teacher intern
20 program, which has grown from a few teachers now
21 to over ten every year throughout the department
22 that work with our programs to enhance their
23 educational value.
24 He works with our education team,
25 leads that group, works with members from all of
.0011
1 our divisions. And in Expo he coordinates the
2 critter corner, which is bringing the kiddy
3 events together for the Expo and that type of
4 thing.
5 So I think he's going to help us
6 really aim at what we're doing and build that
7 coordination effort.
8 We put together the core of an
9 outreach strategy team. Steve Hall will lead
10 that, to help develop that. Steve is a
11 nationally recognized leader in these areas, in
12 developing, for example, becoming an outdoor
13 women's program. He's lead in that. He's a
14 national representative for the International
15 Fish and Wildlife Associations on various
16 committees for setting standards for hunter and
17 boater education and those types of things. So
18 he has that grasp.
19 But certainly, all the members of
20 our team -- and I think that's one thing that
21 you'll see as we begin to work more in these
22 outreach areas, that when we start tapping into
23 our staff, they're pretty extraordinary. What
24 they do and what they represent and how they're
25 respected throughout the country, across the
.0012
1 board. So we have a wonderful resource to really
2 focus in on and achieve what we're talking
3 about.
4 Darlene Lewis certainly heads the
5 coop program and she will be a key player there.
6 Ernie Gammage. Ernie has talents in
7 addition to putting Expo together, which I know
8 he's working on right now. But that exceed
9 that. And we want to tap into that.
10 And then Lydia Saldana from the
11 communications side, to help us work in that
12 area. They will form the core of this team that
13 will help us put this strategy together to bring
14 before you for your input and consideration.
15 Assisting them will be the education
16 team. That's been a group that's existed for
17 some time. And their help will -- their
18 associated with all of our divisions, field and
19 headquarters. And they're a group, a resource
20 that we've called on many times and will in
21 helping do all of these things.
22 One particular area that -- and
23 we're going to give you a briefing tomorrow in
24 the public session on the outdoor kids, which is
25 kind of an umbrella program that we work with,
.0013
1 Mr. Chairman, to enhance all of our programs.
2 But one particular activity that we're going to
3 develop, and I think you-all will be interested
4 in, is working with -- Darlene Lewis is the coop
5 program we talked about. And joining that with
6 outdoor kids and pilots and regional programs to
7 try to enhance our ability to reach those urban
8 areas, as we've talked about. And I think
9 there's some pretty exciting opportunities there,
10 to develop that program and go with the resources
11 we have. And so we're going to be bringing back
12 to you some opportunities to build that program
13 on a regional basis. And I think you'll be
14 excited about it. And we'll see you-all's input
15 as to how best to proceed.
16 Very quickly, knowing we were going
17 to -- very quickly, that's the broadest outline
18 of where I think we'll be going with the
19 committee. We will certainly, in our next --
20 your next meeting, be reporting back to you on
21 that strategic plan regarding coop programs and
22 other areas of outreach that you may have
23 interest in, and we think that you'll be
24 interested in to focus on it.
25 And I appreciate the opportunity to
.0014
1 be part of it. It's a big effort, important to
2 what we do, everything that we do. And I'm
3 excited about it.
4 And certainly, Bob, you -- I may
5 have been talking too fast to let you get your
6 two bits in. But I know if I ever be quiet, and
7 Bob gets started, you'll never -- but please,
8 yes, sir.
9 MR. COOK: I think it is a wonderful
10 opportunity. We've got a lot of people who --
11 this is an area that they absolutely excel in.
12 And I think the rewards, you know, from working
13 with youth, working with kids, and particularly
14 in urban areas, are such that we will have a
15 continued high interest in this. And a lot of
16 people wanting -- a lot of our staff wanting to
17 be involved.
18 As Tim pointed out and as you
19 already know, we received from the legislature an
20 additional million dollars to apply to this
21 area. We're already spending lots of time and
22 effort, as Doc pointed out to you. The need to
23 coordinate that overall and the need to, again,
24 focus on possibly some new areas, put some real
25 focus on some new areas toward inner city youth
.0015
1 and toward youth in general is there. We've got
2 a couple of FTEs that came with that funding that
3 we've got to work with, that this team that you
4 will be hearing more about from a plan standpoint
5 of how best to apply, how best to evaluate those
6 programs. And so we're looking forward to it.
7 We would appreciate your input and your help.
8 DR. McKINNEY: Mr. Chairman, with
9 that, certainly we'd respond to any questions or
10 any comments. But I think that would conclude
11 our presentation.
12 COMMISSIONER HENRY: My only comment
13 would be that -- I was going to weigh heavily on
14 Nolan on this effort. We -- talking about
15 implementing a strategy that will reach young
16 people who are potential customers of the
17 department. And although my emphasis coming from
18 Houston is on urban youth. I don't just mean
19 urban in the sense of Houston, Dallas, Fort
20 Worth, San Antonio, but the smaller communities
21 as well, where they were previously populations
22 and becoming more and more of a state itself.
23 People are living not only in the larger cities
24 but in smaller towns rather than on the farms and
25 outside the cities these days. So we have that
.0016
1 population as well to deal with, as well as those
2 kids who live in the ghettoes and the barrios of
3 the largest cities, to introduce them in many
4 cases to what the department does.
5 The department does some great
6 things. Many of them go fairly unknown to many
7 people. If we can get our message out and if we
8 can corporate internally to maximize what we do,
9 I think we can be very effective. I think we can
10 go a long way toward reaching kids who only
11 hunted or fished on one or more occasions to
12 become active participants in -- not only of
13 hunting and fishing, but also in ecology and
14 learning a lot about the land and appreciating
15 the land, as well as the water, and keeping it
16 safe for generations to come. So I'm excited
17 about it. I hope we can move forward.
18 DR. McKINNEY: We plan on it. And
19 we know you -- we appreciate that support and the
20 statements.
21 MR. COOK: I thought it was
22 interesting, the connection -- and I think it's
23 worth commenting on, the connection that
24 Commissioner Dinkins made today in discussing
25 with Tim, the possibility of additional bonus
.0017
1 points in our grants program. I mean, what
2 better way to tie in part of that community and
3 involvement of that community and a message in
4 that community than -- and there's one of those
5 areas where, I mean, like Tim said, just give me
6 some good ideas. And so we need to do -- we need
7 to do a better job of that internally, of making
8 sure that our ideas for whatever it is, butterfly
9 gardens, native prairies, nesting boxes for
10 birds, whatever it might be, that it gets
11 incorporated into all those programs in every
12 community.
13 DR. McKINNEY: And we have a real
14 opportunity in the coop program as it's really
15 expanding now and we're kind of resetting the
16 ground, that we can set a course for. Sometimes
17 it's difficult to correct a course that's been
18 going along in a direction, like some of the
19 grants, because people get used to what they
20 see. But we'll have the opportunity here to set
21 some of those courses.
22 COMMISSIONER AVILA: I think I've
23 mentioned this before but I'll throw it out
24 here. It's getting in the weeds. But when we
25 have these matching fund things for urban parks
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1 and stuff like that, I think we ought to have a
2 requirement that there's a kiosk in the center of
3 that. I've been to a couple of different
4 locations. There's a kiosk that shows, within a
5 certain radius, our parks and wildlife and
6 fishing and wildlife management areas and parks,
7 because what we're doing is, they go there to
8 play and they get some sense of conservation,
9 (inaudible) and then they see that. And it's
10 going to trigger the parent or the child to say,
11 I want to see more of this, we can go within a
12 half a day's drive or like that. And that's not
13 expensive to do.
14 DR. McKINNEY: No, but that gets at
15 that point of trying to move them past that in
16 that strategic thing. Where do we want them to
17 go? Entertainment is fine, and to have to good
18 recreation, but we need to go beyond that. We
19 need to deliver something. We need to be
20 delivering that message.
21 COMMISSIONER HENRY: That's all we
22 have.
23 CHAIRMAN BASS: Thank you all very
24 much.
25 (HEARING ADJOURNED.)
.0019
1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF TEXAS )
3 COUNTY OF TRAVIS )
4
5 I, MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, a Certified Court
6 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, do hereby
7 certify that the above and foregoing 18 pages
8 constitute a full, true and correct transcript of
9 the minutes of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
10 Commission on JANUARY 19, 2000, in the commission
11 hearing room of the Texas Parks and Wildlife
12 Headquarters Complex, Austin, Travis County,
13 Texas.
14 I FURTHER CERTIFY that a stenographic record
15 was made by me a the time of the public meeting
16 and said stenographic notes were thereafter
17 reduced to computerized transcription under my
18 supervision and control.
19 WITNESS MY HAND this the 18TH day of
20 FEBRUARY, 2000.
21
22
MELODY RENEE DeYOUNG, RPR, CSR NO. 3226
23 Expiration Date: 12-31-00
3101 Bee Caves Road
24 Centre II, Suite 220
Austin, Texas 78746
25 (512) 328-5557
EBS NO. 37595
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