West Texas project director Kaylee French joins The Daytripper host Chet Garner for a trek through the Davis Mountains Preserve. Photo by © Hogaboom Rd, Inc.
The Daytripper is going green this month.
Chet Garner, host of the popular PBS Texas travel show, has partnered with The Nature Conservancy for a nature-themed series in honor of Earth Month.
The three-part series is called Daytripping with The Nature Conservancy in Texas.
“Daytripping with The Nature Conservancy in Texas allowed us to visit some of the most amazing places in Texas and to meet people who are making a real difference for conservation,” said Garner in a statement. “Folks will love traveling with us across wildly diverse landscapes and learning the solutions shaping the future of our state’s biggest environmental challenges.”
While Garner typically focuses on restaurants and sightseeing stops in towns across Texas for his regular weekly gig, for the limited series Garner will focus on some of TNC’s protected landscapes.
Claire Everett, the communications manager for The Nature Conservancy, said this is not the first time TNC has worked with Garner.
“We’ve been mutual fans of each other for many years," Everett. "We first worked together in 2019, when Chet explored and featured TNC’s Davis Mountains Preserve on his Daytripper series."
Everett said the impetus of this series was TNC’s Million-Acre Milestone.
Since the Texas chapter of TNC launched in 1965, the nonproft has protected one million acres in the state.
“It was an achievement we were really excited about and wanted to celebrate,” said Evertt. “The underwriting by H-E-B gave us the financial support to make this series possible.”
The series will air statewide in April on all local PBS stations. It will also be available on the PBS streaming app.
While there are no plans to extend the series beyond Earth Month, Everett expects Garner to continue to explore nature centers, including those managed by TNC, on The Daytripper show.
“The Nature Conservancy in Texas has helped protect more than 30 state and national parks in Texas, so we’ve been involved in supporting many of the places Chet has visited and will feature in future episodes,” Everett said.
Dan Snodgrass, director of land protection and stewardship for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, said the Daytripper collaboration captures the spirit of TNC’s efforts to protect Texas lands and water.
“Chet’s storytelling skills spotlight our partners and projects in a unique, engaging way — we’re excited for more Texans to see why conservation matters and learn how they can get involved.”
Daytrip with The Nature Conservancy in Texas
About: PBS will air three episodes of "Making of a Million: Daytripping with The Nature Conservancy in Texas,” a three-part series featuring The Daytripper Chet Garner visiting TNC landscapes.
Episode One: West Texas. The episode focuses on TNC’s nature preserves and partner efforts in West Texas. Garner climbs up the sky island at Davis Mountains Preserve and observes an endangered fish species only found at Diamond Y Spring Preserve. Garner also visits with ranchers about their conservation efforts and astronomers about efforts to protect the area’s iconic dark skies.
Epsode Two: Grasslands. The episode focuses on grasslands, one of the most endangered ecosystems in Texas. The show highlights Blackland Prairie, coastal prairie and desert grasslands. Viewers will learn about land management with prescribed fire, an Indigenous rancher’s efforts to reintroduce bison back to grasslands and TNC’s work on private lands to reintroduce critically endangered Attwater’s prairie chickens.
Episode Three: Freshwater. The strain on the state’s water system is rising. Garner travels to many TNC preserves to see solutions in action. A few stops on his route include diving into the protection of water in the desert at Independence Creek Preserve, the flow changes implemented in the bald cypress swamps of Caddo Lake and the importance of threatened mussels found at Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary.
Watch all three edisodes on your local PBS station with the following schedule. You can also watch it on the PBS streaming app.
• Amarillo/College Station/El Paso/Lubbock/Midland: 9:30 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23
• Austin: 8:30 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23
• Corpus Christi: 7:30 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23
• Dallas-Fort Worth: 9:30 a.m. on April 5, 12 and 19
• Houston: 3:30 p.m. on April 11, 18 and 25
• San Antonio: 9:30 a.m. on April 11, 18 and 25