Port Aransas debuts nature preserve

The island community of Port Aransas is home to winged, four legged, and tourist wildlife twelve months out of the year. The debut of 1,217-acre Port Aransas Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture is a chance for all of them to get closer to each other.

“It’s a chance for people to walk into nature,” said Joan Holt, the University of Texas Marine Science Institute’s director of fisheries and mariculture who helped develop the birding sites in the preserve. “People of any age and ability can get a view of an area not a lot of people could get to before. I think it will be used a lot for enjoying nature, sunsets, fishing, hiking, kayaking, and birdwatching.”

Two miles of crushed granite trails and boardwalk now wind through the terrain providing visitors with a bird’s-eye view of habitat that is home to a variety of species including alligators, birds, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, jack rabbits, feral hogs, and endangered sea turtles. The boardwalk ends on Salt Island, an upland land mass out in wetlands surrounded by tidal flats, providing a two story observation tower.

The close-by Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve also provides recreational opportunities such as boating, fishing, kayaking, and shellfish harvesting.
Camping is available at Island RV Resort, Port Aransas, from which you can walk to seafood restaurants, shopping, and the boat harbor.

The Reserve consists of coastal prairie with unique oak motte habitats, including riparian, fresh, and salt water marshes with open bays, extensive tidal flats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, and oyster reefs. And if you get lucky, you could see endangered whooping cranes.