[Update #2: Texas lost a great man when Bob passed away in April 2009. He is buried on the prairie.] Bob and Mickey Burleson are two of my prairie heroes. Decades ago, when few people talked about tallgrass prairie conservation and restoration, they went and did it: they purchased worn our crop land and an…
Nash Prairie Field Trip – June 20th
When: Saturday, June 20th (Sat.) at 9:30 am Where: West Columbia (Brazoria County, south of Houston) Come visit Nash Prairie, over 300 acres of very special coastal tallgrass prairie! Owned by the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and the West Columbia Hospital District, this prairie is a rare remnant of the coastal prairie that once covered…
To Make A Prairie… Emily Dickinson
Jackie sent this prairie quote along our way… I like it, though native bees and other pollinators are definitely needed! “To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee. One clover, and a bee. And revery. The reverie alone will do, if bees are few.” – Emily Dickinson
My Native Prairie/Plant Interview on local NPR station KUT!
Several people have told me that the interview I did with KUT (local NPR radio station) about native prairies and native plants in central Texas is airing today! Let me know if you hear it! To listen online, go to the 9:00 minute mark of this mp3 on KUT’s site. We discussed how native tallgrass…
Jenna Bush Wedding At Native Prairie Restoration
Native prairie grasses are visible in several photos released by the White House of the Jenna Bush wedding held at Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, TX. Notice the Little Bluestem in the background, and the Buffalograss growing on the ground the bride is standing upon. Both plants are important native prairie grasses, and Little Bluestem…
Prairie Chicken Dance Amazing Sight
From the Quad City Times: Just before daybreak last Sunday, I found myself huddled in a wood trailer atop a grassy knoll in northwest Missouri, squinting through a small window and waiting. Also in the trailer were a dozen other bundled-up nature lovers who had driven from across Iowa to this remote, windswept spot to…
Spring Prairie Field Trips Around Texas!
Come see spring prairie flowers, native grasses, grassland birds, butterflies, and other prairie wildlife on a native prairie field trip! Meador Prairie Field Trip – April 19th (Sat.), Saint Jo (Cooke/Montague County west of Fort Worth) Fort Worth Prairie Fest – April 26th (Sat.), Fort Worth (Tandy Hills Natural Area) Simpson Prairie Field Trip – May…
Central Texans Replant Native Grasses
From the story, "On a Holland ranch, vestiges of a sea of grass," in the Temple Daily Telegram: In about 1859, an awestruck New York journalist got his first look at the prairie grass that once blanketed much of Central Texas. “We came out suddenly, as if a curtain had risen, upon a broad prairie,…
Todd Would Save Wallace Prairie With His Big Give
In today’s Dallas Morning News Community Opinion section article, "Your very own big give," Todd White wish he had the money to protect Wallace Prairie, the well known prairie remnant in Rockwall County. "If I had a spare $10 million, I would buy the Rockwall County land known as the Wallace Prairie (if they’d sell…
ESA Advocates Prairie Ecosystem Services for Biofuel
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) released a policy statement that advocates we consider the ecosystem services and ecological sustainability of biofuel sources, and highlights native prairie and native plants as an example: "CONSERVATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. A focus on ecosystem services will provide the foundation necessary for win-win scenarios. It is easy to design…