Chet Garner is a familiar face to many in Texas. As the host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS show “The Daytripper,” Garner has taken audiences to towns throughout Texas, highlighting some of the hidden gems the state has to offer. This Earth Month, the Moody College of Communication Radio-Television-Film alumnus partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Texas to showcase the incredible lands and waters TNC has protected throughout the state.

“This was a bit of a dream project,” Garner said. “We’ve gone on day trips for 16 seasons now and people have connected to the stories we tell so when The Nature Conservancy approached us, they had this big accomplishment, they’ve protected a million acres of Texas land, and they needed to tell the story in a way that resonated with people.”

Garner says that he and the team at TNC created themes that turned into three 30-minute episodes. The episodes feature stories about the sky islands, dark skies and springs of West Texas, Texas’s diverse and invaluable freshwater ecosystems, the under appreciated importance of Texas grasslands and more.

“Texas is 95% privately owned so it’s important for the private landowners to set their land aside to be protected so that it remains intact into the future,” Garner said, highlighting the work of The Nature Conservancy. Though the non-profit has many priorities around the world, landowners will often entrust their properties to TNC so that it can be well-managed and maintained for generations into the future, free from the risk of new development or overuse.  

The series takes Garner to every corner of Texas and offers a deep dive into the science and beauty of places like the Davis Mountains Preserve, the Blackland Prairie and Caddo Lake.

Before Garner was a well-known Texas-centric storyteller, he was an RTF student who simply loved films.

“I was the kid running around my neighborhood with a VHS video camera making dumb movies with my friends,” Garner said. “So, when I got to UT, a lot of my friends were in biology or chemistry labs, but I was in an auditorium watching films.”

He says that RTF helped him realize how important storytelling is to the human experience. Even the stories we tell every day, like how our day at work or school was, are opportunities to connect with one another.

“Everything I learned at UT, without a doubt, set me up for what I’m doing today,” Garner said. “The art and science of storytelling is something that a lot of people dismiss but it’s critical to everything we do.”

Though Garner is a Southeast Texas native, and has a lot of nostalgia for the humid, salty air, he says that if he had to pick one place for all Texans to experience, he’d suggest the Big Bend region.

“I think most Texans have seen the Hill Country, they’ve gone to the beach at some point, but I’ve learned that too few Texans have gone to Big Bend,” he said. “I’ve gone to Big Bend a half dozen times and I will go back 2 dozen more because you just keep finding new stuff out there.”

All episodes of “Making of a Million: Daytripping with The Nature Conservancy in Texas” were underwritten by HEB and are currently available on The Nature Conservancy’s website. On April 23, the final episode in the series, “Daytripping with The Nature Conservancy in Texas: Fresh water” will air on Austin PBS stations at 8:30 p.m. Those interested can also find more information about the project and collaboration on The Nature Conservancy in Texas website.