For an inexpensive, entry-level fishing experience the entire family can enjoy, it doesn’t get much easier than winter rainbow trout fishing in Texas.

What if you led a horse to water and it didn’t know how to drink? That odd challenge faces state parks trying to help an increasingly urban public understand nature and history. The good news is, this fall a rich array of new interpretive exhibits and facilities is available for families seeking holiday excursions close to home, thanks to increased funding from the Texas Legislature.

The views from inside Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the United States’ second largest canyon, will remain grand thanks to the addition of a 2,912-acre property known as Fortress Cliffs Ranch. The tract has been purchased by a coalition that includes The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), protecting almost six miles of scenic cliffs along the park’s northeastern edge.

The views from inside Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the United States’ second largest canyon, will remain grand thanks to the addition of a 2,912-acre property known as Fortress Cliffs Ranch. The tract has been purchased by a coalition that includes The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), protecting almost six miles of scenic cliffs along the park’s northeastern edge.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo continues to add new activities while sticking to a hands-on, expert-assisted formula that has made it the largest free event of its kind in the nation. Last year approximately 42,000 people visited Expo at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department headquarters in Austin.

Hunting and Fishing Day in Texas and across the nation is slated for Sept. 27 and every outdoors person is encouraged to extend a natural invitation to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to step outside and share the values and the fun of the outdoors.

TPWD Texas Parks & Wildlife TV Program (weekly schedule and show for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) has recently been updated.

"They advertise this as a hunt of a lifetime and I would agree," exclaimed Bridgers upon returning from three days of hunting desert bighorn sheep in the rugged mountains of West Texas. "This was probably the most physically demanding hunt I’ve ever been on, but it was also the most rewarding. I would never have the resources to buy a desert bighorn hunt, so I got mine the lucky way!"