- ANNOUNCER: 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: it's what we share.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife... - With this Gear Up for Game Wardens program, we have received some great equipment, some advanced equipment.

- White Spot is a very deadly disease.

It can kill shrimp within 24 hours.

- You have to work for something like this.

You can't just walk out your front door and see this.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[upbeat music] - WARDEN: State game warden, how you doing today?

- DUSTYN: Texas game wardens are peace officers.

Our main focus is conservation.

[whistle shrill] We were founded in 1895 and traditionally focused on conservation law enforcement.

[water splashing] - LOGAN: We are fully commissioned state peace officers.

It allows us to wear so many different hats.

It also keeps us very, very busy.

- WARDEN: You're good, we got you.

- That's what I love about the job, it is different every day.

- It's the hunting and fishing and what people like to do outside.

- WARDEN: Just gonna check your ID.

- LOGAN: That has evolved into water safety.

- A quick compliance check.

- HERSHELL: They do much more than just protect our wildlife.

- WARDEN: Looks like you had a pretty good morning.

- SHAUN: We see the bad side of things too as part of any law enforcement job and with hurricane, tornado, floods, natural disasters.

We're always prepared for that and we're always ready to go.

[energetic music] [engine revving] - AUSTIN: Gear Up for Game Wardens provides specialty gear for our Texas game wardens that is up and beyond their standard issue gear.

[engine cranking] We provide anything from snake boots all the way up to now, our third air boat.

[engine whirring] - But this water here is really shallow.

It's got some deeper spots in it.

I'm gonna come around this corner.

We're gonna be in about three inches of water, just as smooth as ever.

This is a packed horse man.

It's a mule, it'll carry it.

It'll do it, it'll go.

It's well put together, it's well made.

I love this boat.

I love the capabilities of it.

As you can see, this is all very shallow.

[upbeat music] Stuff like that, you can't run a normal boat through it.

However, we can go right over the top of it.

This is invaluable.

You know, we've used it in every situation you can imagine.

Our search and rescue folks, you get into situations like that, it gives us a kind of a jump start on getting in there and getting people out.

- RANDY: The game wardens during Harvey, they did over 12,000 rescue missions.

They're one of the first lines of defense in a, in a crisis situation.

[engine whirring] - SHAUN: The resource that it is second to none, if you ask me.

Aside from the helicopter, I guess, and if you turn this thing the right way, it just might fly.

[engine whirring] - AUSTIN: Gear up for Game Warden started as a little idea or maybe a big idea at a little taco shop in Port O'Connor.

- Vince Petronella and I created what became Gear Up as we wanted to help our local game wardens get some specialized equipment.

We bought 'em a four wheeler and we said, you know, there's probably other people like us that would like to do the same thing as we have done.

We came to the Foundation at the advice of Commissioner Morian, as they say, the rest is history.

- With this gear Up for Game Warden program, we have received some great equipment, some advanced equipment.

They have provided every game warden in our district thermal night vision and regular night vision.

- HERSHELL: Our world is completely technological now.

You have to have the latest equipment just to keep up with the bad guys.

- JOHN: Having these thermal technology, ATVs, drones, side-scan sonar, there's all kind of things that have been brought in by this program that really make us much more effective and efficient.

[door slams] [gentle music] - DUSTYN: It's a great tool for us because we are first responders.

Whenever we get a phone call that a missing person out in the woods, we keep the equipment with us at all times.

So whenever we respond and we can throw the drone up in the sky and get us real time images of what's going on right then and there, it helps our response time.

It helps us get, get there on scene faster, find the victim sooner, and hopefully save lives.

So we can send the live feed of what this drone sees to any officer on scene.

We can also send it to dispatch.

Pre-flight check, good to go.

- LOGAN: In a lot of our rural areas, game wardens are depended upon from our local agencies to support and back them up on any call.

- Rotors on.

Taking off.

[rotors whirring] Around 300 feet right now and I can see for miles.

So we can probably survey about three miles of this river right now, without ever leaving this one spot.

We can expand our search area so much faster versus just walking around on foot.

I can switch screens here to a thermal and now we can populate all kinds of hotspots.

If we can identify something in the brush moving around, then we can actually direct our searchers into that area.

After the February freeze event, we actually use the drone for mapping out fish kills on the coast and also searching for cold-stunned sea turtles and get them rehabilitated.

So it was a great tool for us to conduct our core mission.

Wildlife conservation.

We do overwatch for quite a few different things.

Getting eyes in the sky so other first responders can have a little bit better idea of what they're dealing with.

Helping firefighters get eyes on a big wildfire where they can direct their resources through the brush.

That thermal capability on that drone helps us with search and rescue.

We also do suspect apprehension.

It's a tool that is invaluable.

Now we can get eyes on the bad guy first versus them seeing us come in.

A lot safer that way.

[electronic beeping] - LOGAN: Thank y'all for coming out here.

We're out here to share stories and just make those connections, right?

Obviously we are showcasing some specific pieces of equipment.

Today, we've got a meet and greet event for Gear Up for Game Wardens.

That's our kind of our primary ask, right?

- BILL: The Big Easy has been kind enough to offer us a venue to do a fundraiser.

We're real excited about hosting this tonight.

I think it's a wonderful program.

It's something that, you know, we totally support.

- SHAUN: We can launch it on wet pavement, we can launch it on the grass.

- BILL: A hundred percent of the money goes towards things they need the most, and that's what I love about it.

- I use it a bunch.

- PHIL: As soon as we get the word out about having one of these events, folks start registering, eager to sign up and come support our game wardens.

These events are geared towards helping game wardens and those specific communities.

- SHAUN: The hospitality of that ranch, the landowners that showed up, the appreciation that those folks have for us.

I was blown away.

- JOHN: People actually get to see where their money's going to when they donate.

- LEANNE: It was really great to see all the landowners come together and we explained the gear and equipment to them.

It's gonna show the heat.

Had many donations.

It was a great event.

- And tonight I think we have a great opportunity.

- SHAUN: They provide that equipment for us.

They're not looking for recognition.

All they want to do is help.

[guests applaud] - DUSTYN: Gear Up has provided over $5 million worth of equipment to Texas game wardens.

That's an amazing number and we are very appreciative.

[upbeat music] - Randy would tell you when we started this, it was maybe we can raise 40 or 50,000 and 5 million in seven years, it's been amazing.

I really do think it's the, it's the tip of the iceberg.

- SHAUN: Hats off to the Gear Up for Game Wardens.

[upbeat music] It means the world to us.

[engine whirring] [engine whirring] - BIOLOGIST: It's a good day for sampling.

- JILLIAN SWINFORD: It is a good day for sampling.

- NARRATOR: It's early summer and shrimp are the hot topic along the Texas coast.

Biologists are worried about some nasty shrimp bugs, Black Gill disease... - JILLIAN: Black Gill, it actually weakens them.

- NARRATOR: ...and White Spot Virus.

Harmless to humans, but scary for shrimp.

- White Spot is a very deadly disease.

It can kill shrimp within 24 hours.

- Shrimp look good!

If you had White Spot, ya know, if it was very prevalent, you'd see it right in here in the shell area.

- NARRATOR: For those that rely on shrimp for their livelihood... - A quart of shrimp.

- NARRATOR: A virus that wipes out their bread and butter-- that's a real concern.

- It's a domino effect, ya know, our grocery stores, the people that sell shrimp, the people that eat shrimp.

Ya know, the people that catch shrimp.

I really hope that doesn't infect our waters, ya know.

Get her out there!

And it is scary!

- NARRATOR: Shrimp are worth millions to the Texas economy, so protecting the resource and all who depend on it calls for some serious shrimp science.

- So, I'm hoping for some slightly bigger ones.

It's a lot easier to dissect a bigger shrimp than it is to dissect one that's this small.

- NARRATOR: Jillian Swinford is checking bays up and down the Texas coast, taking samples.

- JILLIAN: This big statewide survey that we are doing is very new to Texas, and this is the first time that we've really been looking for Black Gill and it's been a while since we've been looking at White Spot disease, so I think it's time to take another look.

- We'll run a little shallower water this time.

- JILLIAN: Ok. - White Spot disease has been found in Wild Prawn stocks off Morton Bay.

It's another major blow to Queensland's $300 million dollar seafood industry after the harmful virus devastated prawn farms in the southeast.

- NARRATOR: White Spot hit Australia in 2016.

- JILLIAN: White Spot is a disease that came from shrimp farms.

You'll have 100% mortality.

- BIOLOGIST: Let's go ahead and pull it in!

- JILLIAN: We're worried about it getting into the ecosystem, either through runoff from the farms or by using bait shrimp that's been imported.

- NARRATOR: While White Spot hasn't been detected in Texas yet... - BIOLOGIST: That's a much better trawl!

- NARRATOR: ...Black Gill is here.

- What we're looking for in these shrimp are clinical signs of disease.

They would have darkened gills, but just because they don't have any discoloration, doesn't mean that the disease isn't present in their system.

So that's why we gotta take these guys back to the lab.

Right now, I am removing the gill tissue.

It just likes to stick!

And with this gill tissue, we're going to extract DNA, and if the diseases that we are looking for are present, hopefully we can find them in the gill tissue.

[intriguing music] Ultimately, I mean, the work I'm doing is to try to help the populations we have and kind of monitor, ya know, how much disease we're getting each year.

- NARRATOR: Linked to changes in water temperature or salinity, Black Gill is a parasite that weakens the shrimp's immune system.

- So, it is a concern, because these shrimp are ultimately weaker, and so they may be more susceptible to dying because they have this.

- NARRATOR: While Black Gill has been here for a while... - See what we got here.

- NARRATOR: ...the deadly White Spot virus is a relatively new threat.

- ROBERT: Ah, looking real healthy, good.

We've never had this happen ever, ya know, in the Gulf Coast or Texas.

- NARRATOR: The easiest way to keep White Spot out of our bays... - How you doing, can I get one pound of shrimp please?

- NARRATOR: If you need bait shrimp, shop local.

- ROBERT: The best thing for the anglers to do is just make sure they're using Texas or Gulf of Mexico shrimp, any of our native shrimp are great to be used, the browns, the pinks, the whites.

Just want to make sure you're not using any kind of foreign or imported shrimp whatsoever.

- Appreciate it, thank you!

- NARRATOR: Foreign farm-raised shrimp bought from the store are often not tested for White Spot.

- ROBERT: In other countries, they are not regulated like we are here in the U.S., and when they get shipped into the U.S., very little get checked, ya know, to see what's going on with them.

- NARRATOR: So that foreign shrimp should be cooked, not put on a hook.

- It doesn't affect humans.

We can eat it all day long.

But somebody's going to use that shrimp for bait and when they use that shrimp for bait, then it infects our waters and so now we've got it.

Pop it a couple times and let it sit.

- NARRATOR: Sterling Branscum has been a fishing guide for close to a decade.

- You make friends for life!

Ya know, fishing with people, and I really enjoy it.

- ANGLER: Ohhhh!

Got em!

- STERLING: Fish on!

For all that to go away, over a virus that could be controlled, ya know.

if something like that did happen, it would just be terrible.

That's probably a 18,19.

I would just like to see that not happen, ya know!

- NARRATOR: So that's why Jillian's out on the water.

- JILLIAN: Yeah, we got plenty!

- NARRATOR: Getting a baseline, working to protect a resource we all enjoy!

- The main takeaway is that this can have a very real environmental impact.

The shrimp are important commercially, recreationally, but they are also important to the ecosystem as well.

So, we're trying to get ahead of this while we can!

[boat motor rumbles] [phone vibrating] [phone vibrating] [phone vibrating] [phone vibrating] [phone vibrating] [phone vibrating] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Out here, the first two hours of my day, I don't have to worry about all the stress and the hustle and bustle of the city.

I just wake up [gas hissing] and I'll go fix myself some breakfast, and just pack up my gear, and then wait and see how the day hold.

So I'm not like in a rush.

[uplifting music] - BIKER 1: Hope, you gonna go.

- BIKER 2: Yeah.

- BIKER 1: All right.

- BIKER 2: Yeah.

[gravel crackles] - Bike parking is absolutely the perfect speed to experience nature, because you're going slow enough to where you can enjoy everything around you, you can look up, and look at the mountains and the vistas, but you can look down right in front of your tire and look at the rocks, or you can look at the cacti, and you know, little animals that are scurrying by.

You have the opportunity to like experience all of that.

[mellow music] - So, I just found a fossil.

Um, I was just biking along right back there and I looked down and it was right to the left of my tire.

I like really love learning natural history of places.

So this is cool cause like all of this used to be underwater.

So I get excited when I find stuff like this cause it's like, you know, relics of that different time period when Big Bend looked a lot different than it does now.

[wind howling] [mellow music] ♪ ♪ - We started off with the blue bonnets were alongside the highway, like we saw them before we were even entering into Big Bend State Park.

And so it's really cool to start, you know, off the highway, just like where the blue bonnets did and we see what they go through.

Like, we follow the river down and we know where they land.

♪ ♪ - I mean, I can sit down and write about the copper colored jagged rock that meets the earth where it crumbles into the runoff from Madrid falls.

And I mean, that's been written and you can over the top, and nobody really wants to read that at this point.

I'm more interested in how the land affects the people and the people that love it and what it means to them.

- On Monday, I fell 17 times.

[gravel crackles] Ow.

And on Tuesday, I felt eight times.

- Oh.

[bicycle smacks ground] - MAN: Woah!

- And on Wednesday, I fell six times.

Oh, I didn't know that it was there -- blood.

Then today, we got through and I've fallen once.

So, I'm pretty proud of myself.

And it was on gravel so it was a nice soft landing like feathers.

[mellow music] - A year from now, I think I definitely will remember the friendships I've made here.

- It's just crazy like how much fun for this whole group is.

- MAN: Also this is a super hard.

[laughing] - Third time's a charm.

- It was like here is the trail, here is Cody.

It was like zoom.

[indistinct chatter] - Yes, the pain of the riding and the exhaustion of the riding will go and fade away into memory.

But the thing that'll stick the most is, I think the people and the stories and the friends you meet on the way.

[mellow music] ♪ ♪ - This morning, we were all the way over there on the other side of that mountain, right there.

We've gone a little over 20 of the worst miles that we've done the whole trip.

- Sick nasty!

- Sick nasty bro.

- But man, it was a lot of fun.

And this view right here is just, this is the best one that I've had so far.

I'm tearing up right now.

This is just huge and like, oh, this is awesome.

It's fantastic.

[guitar music] ♪ ♪ - When I look out into this, that's when I kind of realize like, this is what we've been given and this is something that you have to go out and seek, like, you have to work for something like this.

You can't, you can't just walk out your front door and see this.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [wind blowing] There are more ways than ever to help Texas Parks and Wildlife protect the outdoors through the Conservation License Plate program.

More than nine million dollars has been generated from the sale of these plates, funding wildlife research and big game restoration, protecting native species and their habitats, studying fish populations to improve Texas fishing... - GUIDE: How ya like that?!

...improving state parks through reforestation and other projects.

- VOLUNTEER: We got one!

- WOMAN: Yes, yes!

[honk, honk] Every plate on a car, truck, trailer or motorcycle means more money to support wild things and wild places in Texas.

[wind blowing] [wind blowing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [waves crashing] [wind blowing] [waves crashing] [birds chirping] [splash] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] 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.