June 2012
Saturday, June 2nd, 9am-2pm
Road Trip…AT Opportunity Hummingbird Presentation Red River Chapter (Paris, TX)
Attached is the flyer for the Red River Chapter’s Hummingbird Presentation. If you are interested, please see the contact information on the flyer.
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Pollinator Pocket Prairie – a LLELA Educational Garden
Hello Master Naturalists! We will be having many workdays coming up for the Pollinator Pocket Prairie Garden at LLELA in April. As always we will be meeting at the LLELA front entrance gate on 201 East Jones St. Lewisville, Tx 75057. We will be planting in one of the beds as well as going to dig up more plants around LLELA and replanting them in the garden. Please bring gloves, water, sunscreen, bug spray, hat, shovel, trowel, kneeling pad, etc. We will be having an hour lunch break as usual so make sure to pack a lunch or you may go to eat at the many restaurants around LLELA. You may come when you’d like or leave when you need to. Any time you can help is always appreciated and you do not have to RSVP just come and join the fun. If you plan on coming later then the set start time please call Rose so we can let you in as the gate is not open during the week.
Our workdays are as follows:
Friday, May 25th, 9:30am
Saturday, May 19 & Saturday, May 26, 9:30am
We will be meeting everyone at the LLELA gate, the address is 201 East Jones Street Lewisville, TX 75057-2658 here is a map of the location through the LLELA website: http://www.ias.unt.edu/llela/assets/documents/driving_directions.pdf
If you have any other question please contact Rose Carrizales or Michi Harper:
Rose: Email: rosemarys_email@yahoo.com
or Phone#: 940-395-7581
Michi: Email: m_harper@verizon.net or
Phone# 940-597-5141
or Landline: 940-591-8369
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Advanced Training Field trip to the LBJ Grasslands
Guided by Master Naturalist Jim Varnum
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. If you are unable to sign up at the May 17 chapter meeting, contact Peg La Point at tnplapoint@msn.com, before May 17.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 10:00 – 2:00
Saturday, June 9, 2012 10:00 – 2:00
Master Naturalist, Jim Varnum will be taking you around a small portion of the LBJ National Grasslands to experience the wonders of the local flora and fauna. He will show how grasslands are maintained and restored. Expect to see butterflies/caterpillars, birds and many wildflowers. Jim and others will help you identify the flora and fauna.
Bring water, lunch and snacks, sun protections and insect protection, cameras, binoculars, stuff for note taking, butterfly, bird and wildflower books, more water, etc. Wear a hat, long pants, and hiking footwear. This will be serious walking and some of the terrain may be moderately rough. There will be plenty of chiggers and ticks.
Members are encouraged to car pool by meeting at the northwest corner of the Albertsons grocery parking lot on West University (Hwy 380) in Denton at 9:00 am.
Field Meeting location: US Forest Service Office on US81/US 287 just north of US 380. (this is the last restroom stop). Be ready to depart at 10:00 AM. We will caravan from the office to 2 units, probably unit 31 (the mesa) and unit 39, where we will also have lunch.
There is a map at http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5302850.pdf It shows the meeting point just north of Decatur. Unit 39 is the zigzag shape just north of the center. Unit 31 is just to the east, near Tadra Point.
Jim Varnum is a self-taught student of nature where his interests range from birds to plants to prairies to land preservation. He spends much time searching for native plants in the DFW Metroplex and beyond. Jim has been a Texas Master Naturalist since 1999. He also teaches, gives programs and leads trail walks on birds, trees, wildflowers, prairies and land preservation. His current interests include chalk prairies, Hexalectris and Spiranthes orchids and Trout lilies. His repertoire is chock full of interesting nature trivia and a few bad nature jokes. When Jim is asked about his philosophy and interest on the natural world, he quotes author Ellen Parr: “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
On May 2, Jim saw about 90 plants, about 40 in bloom Some of the interesting ones were Gaillardia (firewheel), Prairie bishop, Old plainsman, Calylophus (sundrops), Bottlebrush, Texas paintbrush, Prairie mimosa (sensitive brier), White Barbara’s buttons, and White milkwort.
Jim Varnum jevarnum@aol.com
Home: 972-243-4098
Cell: 214-543-2055 smartphone, can send/receive phone calls, texts and email
Background on the Grassland:
The Lyndon B. Johnson National Grassland (of the Caddo-Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands) is located north of Decatur and covers 17,784 acres. It is the most southerly of the national grasslands and has a rich history. The LBJNG is located in a transition zone where the eastern forest becomes tallgrass prairie. The diversity of the land means 1,100 different plant species are found within the LBJNG boundaries and hundreds of animals and birds make it their homes. Winter is probably the best time for spotting the greatest variety of birds but LBJNG is on the flight path for Fall migration as well.
The land we now call LBJNG was the home of great herds of bison, antelope, deer, and elk and a favored hunting ground of the Native people. The Caddo Indians, the largest Indian culture in Northeast Texas, were the first cultivators of this land. They were forced out around the mid-1700s by the more aggressive Apache and Comanche people. The European settlers, primarily stockmen, moved into the area in the 1800s with the farmers following in the early 1900s. The land has seen great cattle drives, with an estimated ten million head of cattle driven northward. Cattle, barbed wire, and farming brought major changes to the land.
The areas now designated as “grasslands” were settled in the 1800s under a variety of “Homestead Acts” that opened the land to people, generally farmers, and helped to settle the west. A prolonged drought in the 1920s and 1930s caused some homesteads on sub-marginal farmland (a location receiving 15 or less inches of annual moisture) to literally dry up and blow away. During this time, Congress established the Land Utilization Program (LUP) which bought homesteads from bankrupt private owners and returned it to public land status. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped to stabilize the eroding soil by re-seeding it and applying other conservation techniques. In the 1950s, the LUP holdings were assigned to the USDA Forest Service which was tasked with management of these sub-marginal lands. Over the years the Forest Service has established some twenty National Grasslands. “The designation of the area as National Grassland is not a description of the area as much as a statement of policy and effort to restore the area to a multiple of uses and benefits.”
Early explorers expected to find wind-swept prairies but instead found a barrier of timber with dense, heavy undergrowth. This belt of timber ran north to south across – rather than along – the major waterways. Known as the “Cross Timbers,” it was a major landmark of the western prairies. Once called Cross Timbers National Grassland because of this unique landmark, the LBJ was renamed in 1974 after the former President. Since that time, the Forest Service has encouraged the return of the “Cross Timber” environment while following its mandate “aimed at promoting better utilization of the land, provide work in the depressed area, and to develop water oriented recreation facilities.”
Oil and gas exploration and development is an ongoing effort. Wildfire control, prescribed burning, and wildlife management is used for the healthy recovery of the land.
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Training Class 2012 Mentors Needed
Dear Elm Fork Chapter Members:
If you want to be a Mentor for students in the 2012 Training Class, now is the time to apply. We are attaching the application for you to print out or else you can pick one up at the April or May Chapter meetings. The deadline for submitting an application is the end of the May Chapter meeting.
To help you decide if being a mentor is a good fit for you in 2012 we also attaching a list of 2012 Mentor Responsibilities and a Calendar of Events for 2012 Mentors. The purpose of the application is to let the Training Committee know who in the Chapter would like to be a mentor.
Please remember that you must be certified to be a Mentor.
If you have questions, please contact either Ruth Ann Morrison at 972-317-9954 or ramorrison@juno.com or Carol Feagan at 940-64-7190 or Fegfamily@aol.com.
The application can be brought to an April or May Chapter meeting or sent to:
Ruth Ann Morrison
2440 Glen Ridge Drive
Highland Village, TX 75077.
Van Elliott
Training Committee Chairman
velliott2105@msn.com
P O Box 270998
Flower Mound, TX 75027
972-539-4350
