by Ron Bamberg I recently completed a backpacking trip on The Trail Between the Lakes, a 28-mile track that connects Lakes Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend in deep east Texas. Toledo Bend straddles the Texas-Louisiana line and is formed on the Sabine River. Sam Rayburn, to the west, is formed by the Angelina…
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – After The Flood
by Laurie Sheppard May, 2017 marks two years since heavy rains caused damaging flooding at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and other parts of north Texas. By May 10, 2015, many roads on the refuge were impassable and public access was curtailed. Ultimately, 9,000 of the refuge’s 11,320 acres were under water. It was August before…
Don’t Encourage Mosquitos!
Mosquitos carry and spread diseases such as Zika, West Nile and Chikungunya They lay their eggs on surfaces of containers that fill with water and on standing water itself. Female mosquitoes rest on walls and in vegetation. Trim bushes, trees and grass. Dump standing water Keep screens on doors and windows intact to keep mosquitos…
Bird Brains – A Book Review
by Lisa Runyon This is not a book review of David Welky’s A Wretched and Precarious Situation: In search of the Last Arctic Frontier. I carried that beast to my hotel room every night on my spring break trip through south Texas’ World Birding Centers, fully intending to read and write a review for this…
The Mammoths of Texas
by Patti Tuck On July 10, 2015, President Obama signed an Executive Order designating the Waco Mammoth National Monument! A new national park in Texas and it is just down the road! The Waco Mammoth site “possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating a natural theme for scientific study and retains a high degree of…
McKinney Erwin Park Prairie Restoration
by Gwen A. Baumann High in a blackland prairie that twists like a tornado from the Red River to the Hill Country sits a little anomaly. It’s the soil found at Erwin Park in north Collin County: Austin silty clay, according to Dave Powell, and that’s a bit of a mystery. Powell, state program representative…
Heritage Farmstead in Plano, Then and Now
By Greg Hayden Under a tall, blue sky, I sit under a stately, old, oak tree amidst the historical oasis known as the Heritage Farmstead. Above me, the Titmouse’s high-pitched call, “peter, peter, peter” is joined by the Pileated Woodpecker’s syncopated drum, and then across the way by the Blue jay’s “scree.” The early September…
Bobwhite Quail Restoration Project at Connemara
by Jodi Hodak It’s been years since bobwhite quail have been spotted or heard through their distinct “bob-white” call at Connemara Meadow in Allen, TX. But that’s all about to change thanks to a group of determined BPTMNs being led by Bob Mione, a BPTMN and Connemara’s Meadow Manager. In September, the Meadow Committee approved…
Wolves and Unintended Consequences
By Ernie Stokely In spite of protests from neighboring ranchers, the grey wolf was reintroduced into Yellowstone Park in 1995. Elk and deer over-population and starvation had become a problem in the Park. Naturalists thought the presence of their natural predator might solve the herd starvation problems and bring the Park ecosystem into a more…
Hiking in North Texas
by Jerri Lipple When most naturalists think of nature preserves and conservation, they think about the native habitats and animals they are saving. Wild plants and animals, however, are not the only ones who benefit. Spending time in nature has very real, measurable effects on human physiology. Fifteen minutes is all it takes. According to…