from the December, 2009 issue of Texas Highways
The Nature Conservancy’s Davis Mountains Preserve rises above the surrounding West Texas desert. “Sky islands” within the preserve form cooler and wetter areas covered in pinion- juniper woodlands. Every December for the past 10 years, the preserve has opened its gates on select dates (Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 this year) so families can cut one of these sturdy trees for Christmas.
Participants can enjoy an entire day at the scenic site, which offers hiking trails, great birding, and picnic areas. By taking home a tree, they also help protect a special piece of Texas, says The Nature Conservancy’s John Karges. Historically, he explains, this ecosystem contained roughly 30 trees per acre along with wildflowers and grasses. Slow-moving, low-intensity natural fires maintained that arrangement, clearing out the underbrush and most tree seedlings. After decades without such fires, though, thousands of trees now fill each acre. Efforts to restore the savannah include prescribed fire and mechanical thinning, which is where the Christmas-tree hunts come in. The events provide an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of conservation, and are lots of fun.
For more information on the 2009 hunts, call 432/302-0550; www.nature.org/texas (go to Events).
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Shopping with Heart
From December issue of Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine
Support conservation when you buy holiday gifts.
By Melissa Gaskill
Put your shopping dollars to work supporting wildlife and natural habitat around the state. Conservation commerce — the idea of selling appropriate merchandise to raise conservation funds — is catching on, and the products listed here directly support programs in Texas. We’ve provided just a sampling, so keep your eyes open for more.
Clay Turtles
Residents in the Mexican village of Tepejuahes, a community historically dependent on sea turtle poaching, now create a variety of handmade ceramics, from incense and candleholders to coin banks and wine chillers. The ceramics provide alternative income to villagers and, therefore, help protect the turtles, which also nest in Texas. Look for the items at Sea Turtle Inc. on South Padre Island and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, where the wine chillers are particularly popular. Sea Turtle Inc. also sells turtle charms carved from coconut shells that wash up on the nesting beaches. www.seaturtleinc.org or www.gpz.org
Local Honey
The LEED Gold-certified store at Trinity River Audubon Center near downtown Dallas sells Extra Virgin Zipcode Honey, produced locally by the Texas Honeybee Guild. Community gardens and wild areas supply guild owners Brandon and Susan Pollard’s bees with the flowers necessary to create honey. The Pollards even installed hives on the center grounds. All sales at the shop help support the center, part of the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States.www.trinityriveraudubon.org
Wildlife Photographs
Color photographs of Texas wildlife and landscapes fill the pages of Images for Conservation Fund Book One, The Texas Hill Country and Book Two, Coastal Bend of Texas. Sold in select bookstores and on the ICF website, the books support the organization’s efforts to promote conservation on private lands through photography contests, says ICF founder John Martin. The growth of nature photography into a $4 billion industry is changing land management, says Sally Crofutt, manager of Fennessey Ranch, a first-place winner. The ranch made more money from wildlife photography than from cattle in 2008, she adds, and no longer shoots coyotes or even rattlesnakes. www.imagesforconservation.org
Bracelets and Buttons
The Houston Zoo’s conservation bracelets support its Texas programs protecting the Houston toad, Attwater’s prairie-chicken, black bears, diamondback terrapins and sea turtles. Last year, the items raised around $25,000, says Peter Riger, director of conservation. “These make unique gifts, a keepsake that will remind you of wildlife conservation or a specific animal down the road.” All of the zoo’s gift shop sales help support conservation efforts. www.houstonzoo.org
Special Plates
Texas drivers can purchase horned lizard license plates to help fund projects under the Texas Wildlife Action plan, bluebonnet plates to support state parks, white-tailed deer plates for wildlife management and research, or largemouth bass plates to fund neighborhood fishing and world record programs. Ducks Unlimited plates benefit wetland habitat and the waterfowl that live in it.www.conservationplate.org
Join, Adopt
Many conservation organizations provide membership gift packets. Those working in Texas include The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation and Audubon Society. Some groups also offer “adoptions” of an animal. Adopt a turtle through Padre Island National Seashore’s sea turtle recovery program to net a certificate, pin and bumper sticker packaged suitably for gift giving. Order by phone, 361-949-8068 or at www.nps.gov/pais. At Sea Turtle Inc., adopt a resident turtle, a hatchling or a nest of turtle eggs, which includes a phone call invitation to the hatchlings’ release. Order at www.seaturtleinc.org; click on “adopt a hatchling.” Bat Conservation International mails bat adopters a certificate, a color photo, species information and a bumper sticker. Order at www.batcon.org
Support conservation when you buy holiday gifts.
By Melissa Gaskill
Put your shopping dollars to work supporting wildlife and natural habitat around the state. Conservation commerce — the idea of selling appropriate merchandise to raise conservation funds — is catching on, and the products listed here directly support programs in Texas. We’ve provided just a sampling, so keep your eyes open for more.
Clay Turtles
Residents in the Mexican village of Tepejuahes, a community historically dependent on sea turtle poaching, now create a variety of handmade ceramics, from incense and candleholders to coin banks and wine chillers. The ceramics provide alternative income to villagers and, therefore, help protect the turtles, which also nest in Texas. Look for the items at Sea Turtle Inc. on South Padre Island and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, where the wine chillers are particularly popular. Sea Turtle Inc. also sells turtle charms carved from coconut shells that wash up on the nesting beaches. www.seaturtleinc.org or www.gpz.org
Local Honey
The LEED Gold-certified store at Trinity River Audubon Center near downtown Dallas sells Extra Virgin Zipcode Honey, produced locally by the Texas Honeybee Guild. Community gardens and wild areas supply guild owners Brandon and Susan Pollard’s bees with the flowers necessary to create honey. The Pollards even installed hives on the center grounds. All sales at the shop help support the center, part of the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States.www.trinityriveraudubon.org
Wildlife Photographs
Color photographs of Texas wildlife and landscapes fill the pages of Images for Conservation Fund Book One, The Texas Hill Country and Book Two, Coastal Bend of Texas. Sold in select bookstores and on the ICF website, the books support the organization’s efforts to promote conservation on private lands through photography contests, says ICF founder John Martin. The growth of nature photography into a $4 billion industry is changing land management, says Sally Crofutt, manager of Fennessey Ranch, a first-place winner. The ranch made more money from wildlife photography than from cattle in 2008, she adds, and no longer shoots coyotes or even rattlesnakes. www.imagesforconservation.org
Bracelets and Buttons
The Houston Zoo’s conservation bracelets support its Texas programs protecting the Houston toad, Attwater’s prairie-chicken, black bears, diamondback terrapins and sea turtles. Last year, the items raised around $25,000, says Peter Riger, director of conservation. “These make unique gifts, a keepsake that will remind you of wildlife conservation or a specific animal down the road.” All of the zoo’s gift shop sales help support conservation efforts. www.houstonzoo.org
Special Plates
Texas drivers can purchase horned lizard license plates to help fund projects under the Texas Wildlife Action plan, bluebonnet plates to support state parks, white-tailed deer plates for wildlife management and research, or largemouth bass plates to fund neighborhood fishing and world record programs. Ducks Unlimited plates benefit wetland habitat and the waterfowl that live in it.www.conservationplate.org
Join, Adopt
Many conservation organizations provide membership gift packets. Those working in Texas include The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation and Audubon Society. Some groups also offer “adoptions” of an animal. Adopt a turtle through Padre Island National Seashore’s sea turtle recovery program to net a certificate, pin and bumper sticker packaged suitably for gift giving. Order by phone, 361-949-8068 or at www.nps.gov/pais. At Sea Turtle Inc., adopt a resident turtle, a hatchling or a nest of turtle eggs, which includes a phone call invitation to the hatchlings’ release. Order at www.seaturtleinc.org; click on “adopt a hatchling.” Bat Conservation International mails bat adopters a certificate, a color photo, species information and a bumper sticker. Order at www.batcon.org
People Power
From the Winter 2009 issue of Wildflower Magazine
For 10 days last fall, Phillippa Francq of St. Petersburg, Florida, hiked muddy hills in the Puerto Rico rainforest, taking measurements and recording data. Francq, 70, joined other volunteers on an Earthwatch expedition helping to research sustainable tropical rainforest management. A veteran of many such trips, Francq came away from this one feeling as if she had contributed to something significant. “The forest is very denuded in Puerto Rico, and this project is helping it grow back. Just look at the impact it is making and how it is changing the landscape.”
Kate Quinn, manager of volunteer programs for Earthwatch, found it exciting to observe different growth patterns in project test plots and was impressed with items made from the sustainably harvested blue maho and mahogany trees. The work can be a little rigorous, she admits. But there is a free day and recreation on-site, including evening slide shows, music and dancing. Volunteers stay in tents on a covered platform or in a bunk house and have access to flushing toilets and running water. There is a full kitchen.
Francq enjoys the work on these projects but also the other volunteers. “It is generally all ages, from people older than I am down to teenagers. I love the moment when the team first meets. There is a sense of anticipation. We’ve come halfway around the world to be in this place at this time, and we’re all interested in the same subject. It’s an immediate connection.”
In 2009, Earthwatch sponsored more than 120 research projects in 38 countries and 20 U.S. states. Since 1971, volunteers have contributed $72 million worth of time to scientific fieldwork. Those who go on an expedition often return for another, Quinn says. “They find that this is the new way they want to see the world.”
Combining volunteering with travel, dubbed “voluntourism,” has clearly caught on. In 2007, more than 3.7 million Americans volunteered at least 120 miles from home, according to a study by the Corporation for National and Community Service, while another 1 million volunteered overseas. More than half of respondents to an MSNBC and Condé Nast survey expressed interest in volunteering on vacation, and 95 percent of volunteer travelers intend to do it again. Whether they come out of a desire to give back and make a difference or because of a connection to a particular cause, volunteers like Francq say they feel a sense of satisfaction, of having done something meaningful.
With demand on the rise, David Clemmons, founder of voluntourism.org, says opportunities for volunteer travel have increased as well, perhaps as much as a hundredfold in the past five years. The types of offerings have greatly expanded, too, with a wide array of activities and everything from luxury accommodations to roughing it, in nearly every corner of the globe.
The Sierra Club offers some 90 service trips each year, many that involve removing invasive plants or planting natives. These outings contribute around 47,000 hours of labor annually, valued at $450,000. A typical project includes four work days and one day off. The club provides a trip leader, cook and accommodations, often at a campground.
The Sierra Club offers a service trip to Martha’s Vineyard, where partnering organization The Nature Conservancy owns a 90-acre farm. Trip leader Sandra Raviv says a typical work week includes a couple of days in the nursery, weeding or collecting seeds, then a few days removing non-natives around the farm or other locations there.
“I think most people who come on the outings enjoy meeting other people of like mind,” Raviv says. “Most everyone shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to preserve what we have. I have gone back a couple of times, and you can see a difference in areas where previous work was done.”
Now in its 10th year, the Vineyard trip is quite comfortable by Sierra Club standards, says volunteer trip leader Kermit Smyth, since participants stay in a farm house. Smyth believes in providing a variety of work, including chores for those less physically able. Trips come together quickly in terms of shared interests and people feeling at ease with each other, so he can often stand back and lets the group figure out how to work together.
“The finishing of good, hard work is very satisfying for people, and they enjoy that aspect,” he says. “People see this as a vehicle to give back and also to see another place. Sierra Club leaders are usually knowledgeable about a place, and that contributes to what you take away from a trip.”
Volunteers who take another Sierra Club service trip to Point Reyes, California, participate in an ongoing effort to remove ice plant and cape weed from the bluffs and European beach grass from the dunes.
“This takes a special type of person, someone willing to spend their vacation doing something to renew themselves and give back. But it can be incredibly rejuvenating,” says Didi Toaspern, who chairs the service subcommittee of Sierra Club national outings. Trip leaders recognize that people are on their vacation and so accommodate an individual’s work pace and comfort level.
For those unable to commit a week to the Sierra Club, Point Reyes has twice-monthly, staff-led workdays, says Sierra Club volunteer Harriet Dhanak, and tries to accommodate drop-in travelers. “The park lacks funds, so they need volunteers. I think it’s a wonderful way to introduce people to conservation; it’s very hands-on.”
There are many other opportunities to work for a few hours or a few days while traveling. The national park system, for example, relies heavily on volunteers. In fiscal year 2005, 137,000 volunteers system-wide provided 5.2 million hours of work worth $91.2 million.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area enjoys one of the largest and most vibrant volunteer programs and welcomes drop-ins. Last year, 22,121 volunteers put in 414,000 volunteer hours there, equivalent to more than 200 full-time employees, says Terry Kriedler, volunteer manager for the park. “Without those extra hands, our habitats would not be coming back and visitors would not be served at the level they are now. Folks can’t necessarily give us every Wednesday morning, so we let them come whenever they have time. Staff members understand the importance of working with volunteers and creating opportunities for them in the park.”
Golden Gate is a collection of sites along 60 miles of coastline near San Francisco, including Alcatraz, Muir Woods and the Presidio. According to staff member Chris Powell, many volunteer opportunities involve removal of nonnative plants, planting natives or working in park nurseries.
“For people who work in an office or live in an urban environment, this is a great way to reconnect with nature,” Powell says. “If you can drop in for a few hours, that is great. We offer a variety of chores based on people’s physical ability and desire.”
He agrees that, without volunteers, not nearly as much work could be done. “Every individual who comes out doubles or triples the work we get done in the park.”
On Sunday mornings, teams remove invasives, plant natives and collect seeds at various locations. Invasive plant patrol takes place seasonally on Wednesday mornings. While drop-ins are welcome, calling ahead is advised.
Those planning to visit other national parks or whose travels take them close to one can call the individual park about volunteer opportunities. Some, such as Golden Gate, also have volunteer information on their websites. People looking for a particular type of volunteer work can search the National Parks Service or Take Pride in America websites.
Single-day work experiences also can be found at many nature preserves. Every Saturday morning, Ives Road Fen Preserve in southern Michigan swarms with volunteers. Since 1990, they have been slowly but surely removing invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle.
“Seeing a restored section gives you a sense of what this land looked like many years ago,” says Chuck Pearson, volunteer crew chief. “You get a feeling of accomplishment.” Volunteers also get to see more than 680 species of flowering plants, 177 species of birds and countless butterflies. The preserve provides fresh cookies, too.
Work days are posted on the website, and Pearson says no particular skill is needed. Tools are provided, as are boots and gloves if necessary. Sign-up is available online, and drop-ins are welcome.
While public workdays are uncommon at The Nature Conservancy’s Clymer Meadow Preserve in northeast Texas, preserve manager Jim Eidson often works with master naturalist groups and hosts corporate workdays. These volunteers help with wetland restoration and riparian enhancement projects or work in the preserve’s container nursery and outdoor growing area.
“If anyone is traveling through and wants to volunteer on a drop-in basis, I suggest they call. We can always use help,” says Eidson. “It’s mainly field work, for someone who wants to get dirty and sweaty and worn-out.”
Some major hotels are getting in on the volunteer travel act, offering short-term projects for their guests. The short time commitment and comfortable accommodations offer an easy introduction for those new to volunteer travel.
For example, guests at the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne in Miami can help remove invasive plants and restore native vegetation in Florida’s Bill Baggs Cape State Park. The park, listed as one of the country’s best beaches in 2008, suffered damage from Hurricane Andrew.
Park staff dispense information about the area’s ecosystem and lively history, which includes shipwrecks and pirates. Post-work, volunteers climb the park lighthouse for views of Miami, the Atlantic and, sometimes, manatees.
The Mandarin Oriental Miami Hotel on Brickell Key partners with Everglades National Park, where volunteers spend the morning planting native south Florida trees or removing invasive species. After a hotel-provided box lunch, rangers lead a tour of the lush park.
Arizona’s Sonoran Desert inspired the Four Seasons Scottsdale Troon North’s Desert Preservation Hike in neighboring Pinnacle Peak Park. Park Coordinator John Loleit leads the hike, pointing out wildlife, archaeological sites, geology and native plants, including edible and medicinal ones. Participants then plant native species such as buckhorn cholla cactus in carefully chosen locations. Desert plants tend to live a long time, Loleit adds, so volunteers who come back in five or 10 years can see the one they planted.
The chance to see tangible results, say leaders and volunteers alike, is what it’s all about.
For 10 days last fall, Phillippa Francq of St. Petersburg, Florida, hiked muddy hills in the Puerto Rico rainforest, taking measurements and recording data. Francq, 70, joined other volunteers on an Earthwatch expedition helping to research sustainable tropical rainforest management. A veteran of many such trips, Francq came away from this one feeling as if she had contributed to something significant. “The forest is very denuded in Puerto Rico, and this project is helping it grow back. Just look at the impact it is making and how it is changing the landscape.”
Kate Quinn, manager of volunteer programs for Earthwatch, found it exciting to observe different growth patterns in project test plots and was impressed with items made from the sustainably harvested blue maho and mahogany trees. The work can be a little rigorous, she admits. But there is a free day and recreation on-site, including evening slide shows, music and dancing. Volunteers stay in tents on a covered platform or in a bunk house and have access to flushing toilets and running water. There is a full kitchen.
Francq enjoys the work on these projects but also the other volunteers. “It is generally all ages, from people older than I am down to teenagers. I love the moment when the team first meets. There is a sense of anticipation. We’ve come halfway around the world to be in this place at this time, and we’re all interested in the same subject. It’s an immediate connection.”
In 2009, Earthwatch sponsored more than 120 research projects in 38 countries and 20 U.S. states. Since 1971, volunteers have contributed $72 million worth of time to scientific fieldwork. Those who go on an expedition often return for another, Quinn says. “They find that this is the new way they want to see the world.”
Combining volunteering with travel, dubbed “voluntourism,” has clearly caught on. In 2007, more than 3.7 million Americans volunteered at least 120 miles from home, according to a study by the Corporation for National and Community Service, while another 1 million volunteered overseas. More than half of respondents to an MSNBC and Condé Nast survey expressed interest in volunteering on vacation, and 95 percent of volunteer travelers intend to do it again. Whether they come out of a desire to give back and make a difference or because of a connection to a particular cause, volunteers like Francq say they feel a sense of satisfaction, of having done something meaningful.
With demand on the rise, David Clemmons, founder of voluntourism.org, says opportunities for volunteer travel have increased as well, perhaps as much as a hundredfold in the past five years. The types of offerings have greatly expanded, too, with a wide array of activities and everything from luxury accommodations to roughing it, in nearly every corner of the globe.
The Sierra Club offers some 90 service trips each year, many that involve removing invasive plants or planting natives. These outings contribute around 47,000 hours of labor annually, valued at $450,000. A typical project includes four work days and one day off. The club provides a trip leader, cook and accommodations, often at a campground.
The Sierra Club offers a service trip to Martha’s Vineyard, where partnering organization The Nature Conservancy owns a 90-acre farm. Trip leader Sandra Raviv says a typical work week includes a couple of days in the nursery, weeding or collecting seeds, then a few days removing non-natives around the farm or other locations there.
“I think most people who come on the outings enjoy meeting other people of like mind,” Raviv says. “Most everyone shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to preserve what we have. I have gone back a couple of times, and you can see a difference in areas where previous work was done.”
Now in its 10th year, the Vineyard trip is quite comfortable by Sierra Club standards, says volunteer trip leader Kermit Smyth, since participants stay in a farm house. Smyth believes in providing a variety of work, including chores for those less physically able. Trips come together quickly in terms of shared interests and people feeling at ease with each other, so he can often stand back and lets the group figure out how to work together.
“The finishing of good, hard work is very satisfying for people, and they enjoy that aspect,” he says. “People see this as a vehicle to give back and also to see another place. Sierra Club leaders are usually knowledgeable about a place, and that contributes to what you take away from a trip.”
Volunteers who take another Sierra Club service trip to Point Reyes, California, participate in an ongoing effort to remove ice plant and cape weed from the bluffs and European beach grass from the dunes.
“This takes a special type of person, someone willing to spend their vacation doing something to renew themselves and give back. But it can be incredibly rejuvenating,” says Didi Toaspern, who chairs the service subcommittee of Sierra Club national outings. Trip leaders recognize that people are on their vacation and so accommodate an individual’s work pace and comfort level.
For those unable to commit a week to the Sierra Club, Point Reyes has twice-monthly, staff-led workdays, says Sierra Club volunteer Harriet Dhanak, and tries to accommodate drop-in travelers. “The park lacks funds, so they need volunteers. I think it’s a wonderful way to introduce people to conservation; it’s very hands-on.”
There are many other opportunities to work for a few hours or a few days while traveling. The national park system, for example, relies heavily on volunteers. In fiscal year 2005, 137,000 volunteers system-wide provided 5.2 million hours of work worth $91.2 million.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area enjoys one of the largest and most vibrant volunteer programs and welcomes drop-ins. Last year, 22,121 volunteers put in 414,000 volunteer hours there, equivalent to more than 200 full-time employees, says Terry Kriedler, volunteer manager for the park. “Without those extra hands, our habitats would not be coming back and visitors would not be served at the level they are now. Folks can’t necessarily give us every Wednesday morning, so we let them come whenever they have time. Staff members understand the importance of working with volunteers and creating opportunities for them in the park.”
Golden Gate is a collection of sites along 60 miles of coastline near San Francisco, including Alcatraz, Muir Woods and the Presidio. According to staff member Chris Powell, many volunteer opportunities involve removal of nonnative plants, planting natives or working in park nurseries.
“For people who work in an office or live in an urban environment, this is a great way to reconnect with nature,” Powell says. “If you can drop in for a few hours, that is great. We offer a variety of chores based on people’s physical ability and desire.”
He agrees that, without volunteers, not nearly as much work could be done. “Every individual who comes out doubles or triples the work we get done in the park.”
On Sunday mornings, teams remove invasives, plant natives and collect seeds at various locations. Invasive plant patrol takes place seasonally on Wednesday mornings. While drop-ins are welcome, calling ahead is advised.
Those planning to visit other national parks or whose travels take them close to one can call the individual park about volunteer opportunities. Some, such as Golden Gate, also have volunteer information on their websites. People looking for a particular type of volunteer work can search the National Parks Service or Take Pride in America websites.
Single-day work experiences also can be found at many nature preserves. Every Saturday morning, Ives Road Fen Preserve in southern Michigan swarms with volunteers. Since 1990, they have been slowly but surely removing invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle.
“Seeing a restored section gives you a sense of what this land looked like many years ago,” says Chuck Pearson, volunteer crew chief. “You get a feeling of accomplishment.” Volunteers also get to see more than 680 species of flowering plants, 177 species of birds and countless butterflies. The preserve provides fresh cookies, too.
Work days are posted on the website, and Pearson says no particular skill is needed. Tools are provided, as are boots and gloves if necessary. Sign-up is available online, and drop-ins are welcome.
While public workdays are uncommon at The Nature Conservancy’s Clymer Meadow Preserve in northeast Texas, preserve manager Jim Eidson often works with master naturalist groups and hosts corporate workdays. These volunteers help with wetland restoration and riparian enhancement projects or work in the preserve’s container nursery and outdoor growing area.
“If anyone is traveling through and wants to volunteer on a drop-in basis, I suggest they call. We can always use help,” says Eidson. “It’s mainly field work, for someone who wants to get dirty and sweaty and worn-out.”
Some major hotels are getting in on the volunteer travel act, offering short-term projects for their guests. The short time commitment and comfortable accommodations offer an easy introduction for those new to volunteer travel.
For example, guests at the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne in Miami can help remove invasive plants and restore native vegetation in Florida’s Bill Baggs Cape State Park. The park, listed as one of the country’s best beaches in 2008, suffered damage from Hurricane Andrew.
Park staff dispense information about the area’s ecosystem and lively history, which includes shipwrecks and pirates. Post-work, volunteers climb the park lighthouse for views of Miami, the Atlantic and, sometimes, manatees.
The Mandarin Oriental Miami Hotel on Brickell Key partners with Everglades National Park, where volunteers spend the morning planting native south Florida trees or removing invasive species. After a hotel-provided box lunch, rangers lead a tour of the lush park.
Arizona’s Sonoran Desert inspired the Four Seasons Scottsdale Troon North’s Desert Preservation Hike in neighboring Pinnacle Peak Park. Park Coordinator John Loleit leads the hike, pointing out wildlife, archaeological sites, geology and native plants, including edible and medicinal ones. Participants then plant native species such as buckhorn cholla cactus in carefully chosen locations. Desert plants tend to live a long time, Loleit adds, so volunteers who come back in five or 10 years can see the one they planted.
The chance to see tangible results, say leaders and volunteers alike, is what it’s all about.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Viva Terlingua!
Three Days in the Field, Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, Nov 09
By: Melissa Gaskill
Bring a flashlight and your hiking boots to this remote outdoor heaven.
The town of Terlingua straddles several miles of FM 170, an eclectic string of mostly odd buildings amid cactus and brush on dun-covered hills. At first glance, it doesn’t look like much, but those who look again find colorful history, inspiring views and nights dark enough that stars still put on a show. Best of all, Terlingua makes a great base from which to explore the wonders of Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park and the scenic River Road.
My family arrived on Friday night, stopping first at the no-frills Chili Pepper Café for authentic Chihuahuan beef tacos made from scratch. Down a dirt road through the Ghost Town, an envelope taped on the office door at La Posada Milagro Guest House instructed us to proceed up the rocky hillside, where our key dangled in the door. The four guest rooms, formed from the dry stacked rock ruins, enjoy wide open views that include Big Bend’s Chisos Mountains and Mule Ears, and peaks in nearby Mexico.
From the spacious gravel patio, we watched as the setting sun behind us painted the distant cliffs and peaks before us in a riot of colors, eventually fading to deep blue. Cue the clichés — stunning, jaw-dropping, breathtaking, magnificent. Darkness brought a chill to the desert air, but a ready-to-light fire pit kept us comfortable. More stars appeared as it grew darker, and I had the poignant experience of explaining to my 15-year-old city child that a hazy cloud spilled across the blackness was, in fact, the Milky Way galaxy.
The next morning, after coffee, fresh juice and handmade tacos on the ocotillo-covered patio of the guest house’s coffee shop, “Espresso ... Poco Mas,” we headed to Big Bend River Tours, one of several outfitters in Terlingua. Since we had only one day, a professional guide seemed the way to go. Jack Lowery has worked for BBRT since 1999, and even he hasn’t seen all of Big Bend’s 800,000 acres. But he’s certainly seen a lot of it, and we counted on him for a memorable experience. He combined an off-the-beaten-path hike to Ernst Tinaja with an iconic one, The Window, for our Big Bend Day.
Reaching the first required about five miles of bouncing on high-clearance, four-wheel-drive road. The actual hike covers roughly two miles round trip, ending at the eponymous tinaja (a Spanish word for water vessel), a rock-lined pool of water that seldom dries out. The hike is a scenic study in Big Bend’s complex geology, covering millions of years in its short mile.
Following a picnic lunch, we drove into the Basin, a bowl in the center of the Chisos Mountains, igneous rock exposed by eons of erosion. The Basin’s higher elevation and twice-as-abundant rainfall create a green island in a sea of desert, where temperatures can be 20 degrees cooler. Inside the ring of peaks ranging from 5,688 to 7,825 feet sit a visitor center, store, campground, picnic area and lodge. The Window, a notch formed by water erosion between Ward and Vernon Bailey peaks, drains all the rain that falls in the Basin. Starting near the visitor center, the trail follows the natural drainage for nearly three miles, through open chaparral slopes, terminating at the pour-off at 4,600 feet. The westward view from here makes the uphill return hike worth every step.
If you have another day (okay, we cheated and took one), hike the South Rim trail, where vistas of the Basin, Blue Creek Canyon and Boot Canyon and of the 2,500-foot escarpment to the Sierra Quemada, Santa Elena Canyon and Mexico’s Sierra del Carmen will have you filling up the camera memory card. The entire trail is rugged, taking hikers up and down for 14.5 miles, pushing the limits for one day, but numerous backcountry campsites make it easy to turn it into a two-day trip, and route options cut the distance to 13 miles, or nine, sans the escarpment overlook.
The trail ascends on steep switchbacks and steps through evergreen sumac, mountain mahogany, madrone, beebrush, junipers, pinyon pines and even quaking aspen. We spotted several Carmen Mountain white-tailed deer, found here in the Basin, as well as bright blue Mexican jays and wrens, rock squirrels and canyon lizards. On a rest stop at Boot Springs, we spied fresh scat likely left by a resident black bear. Mountain lions prowl the area as well, so keep a watchful eye. Pick up a Chisos Mountains Trail Map for $1 in the visitor center, or tote a copy of 100 Classic Hikes in Texas by E. Dan Klepper, which covers this and many other Big Bend area trails.
That evening, La Posada’s outdoor kitchen-with-a-view tempted us, but we opted to dine at the Starlight Theatre restaurant in the former mining camp movie theater next door. Generous portions of chicken tacos and pork medallions revived us all. We didn’t mind when our waitress requested “Amarillo by Morning” from the guitar player and took a short break to dance.
The next morning, we headed to the Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center, 12 miles west, which serves as an eastern gateway to Big Bend Ranch State Park. It would take weeks to explore this 300,000-acre park. But we got a taste at the Warnock’s indoor exhibit on 570 million years of geology and natural history, and a self-guided tour of the outdoor botanic garden, home to hundreds of plants from the Chihuahuan Desert’s five biological landscapes.
We had lunch on the spacious outdoor patio at Lajitas Resort’s Candelilla Cafe, then continued on FM 170, aka the River Road. It rises and falls, winding along the Rio Grande from Lajitas to Presidio. A picnic area featuring large fake teepees provided a stop to gaze into Mexico and ponder the work of floods of historic proportions in September 2008. The rushing water dramatically altered the river landscape, removing dense invasive brush and sculpting new gravel bars and channels in the river.
Roughly 20 miles from Lajitas, we hiked Closed Canyon, a tall, narrow slot canyon. It extends about 1.5 miles to the Rio Grande, but depending on rainfall and other conditions, water-filled tinajas can render the route impassable. While we managed to scramble around a few of them, steep walls and an impressive beehive finally stopped us, probably less than a half-mile from the end. I recommend this unusual hike, even if only for a short distance.
Fort Leaton State Historic Site anchors the western end of River Road. First built in the late 1800s as a trading post, the presidio now features both restored rooms and others revealing original adobe bricks and stucco. An indoor exhibit covers the area’s natural and archaeological history, as well as that of residents in the 15th century. Park staffers put together a notebook of impressive photographs from the 2008 floods.
From Presidio, we headed north on Highway 67 to Cibolo Creek Ranch. Luxurious guest rooms featuring fireplaces, tile floors and rustic furnishings occupy an adobe fort built by Milton Faver in the 1800s and restored by current owner John Poindexter. Some rooms look out on a spring-fed stream through a lush courtyard, others on a serene lake. Accommodations include three meals a day, served family style.
Our final day’s agenda included a tour in a modified Humvee, with open seats offering a 360-degree view. Our guide, Dugan Taylor, headed up a ridge bristling with cane cholla and brushy grass. Cibolo Creek Ranch covers 30,000 acres of the Chinati and Cienega mountains, where visitors in the 1800s described an “ocean of grass” as high as a horse’s belly. Overgrazed first by cattle, then sheep and goats, that ocean became a wasteland of invasive creosote, cedar and mesquite. The ranch is restoring the grassland with selective removal of invasives and ongoing maintenance, and has reintroduced bison and elk.
We viewed the falls, then bounced through a narrow passage between two hills to emerge at 5,200 feet with a sweeping view of the ranch and all the way to Mexico. The route descended a steep slope to the Cibolo creekbed, lined by about a dozen rock squatter’s ruins. Taylor pointed out rock paintings from 800 to 2,500 years old, and along the way we spied jackrabbits, mule deer and a variety of birds.
We headed north, reluctantly, toward home. In three days, we may have hit the highlights of Terlingua, but just barely. On the long drive back to Austin, we plotted our next visit.
DETAILS
• Big Bend National Park, nps.gov/bibe, 432-477-2251
• La Posada Milagro Guest House, laposadamilagro.net, 432-371-3044
• Lajitas Resort, lajitas.com, 432-424-5000
• Big Bend Ranch State Park, tpwd.state.tx.us/bigbendranch
• Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center, 432-424-3327
• Fort Leaton, 432-229-3613
• Cibolo Creek Ranch, cibolocreekranch.com, 432-229-3737
By: Melissa Gaskill
Bring a flashlight and your hiking boots to this remote outdoor heaven.
The town of Terlingua straddles several miles of FM 170, an eclectic string of mostly odd buildings amid cactus and brush on dun-covered hills. At first glance, it doesn’t look like much, but those who look again find colorful history, inspiring views and nights dark enough that stars still put on a show. Best of all, Terlingua makes a great base from which to explore the wonders of Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park and the scenic River Road.
My family arrived on Friday night, stopping first at the no-frills Chili Pepper Café for authentic Chihuahuan beef tacos made from scratch. Down a dirt road through the Ghost Town, an envelope taped on the office door at La Posada Milagro Guest House instructed us to proceed up the rocky hillside, where our key dangled in the door. The four guest rooms, formed from the dry stacked rock ruins, enjoy wide open views that include Big Bend’s Chisos Mountains and Mule Ears, and peaks in nearby Mexico.
From the spacious gravel patio, we watched as the setting sun behind us painted the distant cliffs and peaks before us in a riot of colors, eventually fading to deep blue. Cue the clichés — stunning, jaw-dropping, breathtaking, magnificent. Darkness brought a chill to the desert air, but a ready-to-light fire pit kept us comfortable. More stars appeared as it grew darker, and I had the poignant experience of explaining to my 15-year-old city child that a hazy cloud spilled across the blackness was, in fact, the Milky Way galaxy.
The next morning, after coffee, fresh juice and handmade tacos on the ocotillo-covered patio of the guest house’s coffee shop, “Espresso ... Poco Mas,” we headed to Big Bend River Tours, one of several outfitters in Terlingua. Since we had only one day, a professional guide seemed the way to go. Jack Lowery has worked for BBRT since 1999, and even he hasn’t seen all of Big Bend’s 800,000 acres. But he’s certainly seen a lot of it, and we counted on him for a memorable experience. He combined an off-the-beaten-path hike to Ernst Tinaja with an iconic one, The Window, for our Big Bend Day.
Reaching the first required about five miles of bouncing on high-clearance, four-wheel-drive road. The actual hike covers roughly two miles round trip, ending at the eponymous tinaja (a Spanish word for water vessel), a rock-lined pool of water that seldom dries out. The hike is a scenic study in Big Bend’s complex geology, covering millions of years in its short mile.
Following a picnic lunch, we drove into the Basin, a bowl in the center of the Chisos Mountains, igneous rock exposed by eons of erosion. The Basin’s higher elevation and twice-as-abundant rainfall create a green island in a sea of desert, where temperatures can be 20 degrees cooler. Inside the ring of peaks ranging from 5,688 to 7,825 feet sit a visitor center, store, campground, picnic area and lodge. The Window, a notch formed by water erosion between Ward and Vernon Bailey peaks, drains all the rain that falls in the Basin. Starting near the visitor center, the trail follows the natural drainage for nearly three miles, through open chaparral slopes, terminating at the pour-off at 4,600 feet. The westward view from here makes the uphill return hike worth every step.
If you have another day (okay, we cheated and took one), hike the South Rim trail, where vistas of the Basin, Blue Creek Canyon and Boot Canyon and of the 2,500-foot escarpment to the Sierra Quemada, Santa Elena Canyon and Mexico’s Sierra del Carmen will have you filling up the camera memory card. The entire trail is rugged, taking hikers up and down for 14.5 miles, pushing the limits for one day, but numerous backcountry campsites make it easy to turn it into a two-day trip, and route options cut the distance to 13 miles, or nine, sans the escarpment overlook.
The trail ascends on steep switchbacks and steps through evergreen sumac, mountain mahogany, madrone, beebrush, junipers, pinyon pines and even quaking aspen. We spotted several Carmen Mountain white-tailed deer, found here in the Basin, as well as bright blue Mexican jays and wrens, rock squirrels and canyon lizards. On a rest stop at Boot Springs, we spied fresh scat likely left by a resident black bear. Mountain lions prowl the area as well, so keep a watchful eye. Pick up a Chisos Mountains Trail Map for $1 in the visitor center, or tote a copy of 100 Classic Hikes in Texas by E. Dan Klepper, which covers this and many other Big Bend area trails.
That evening, La Posada’s outdoor kitchen-with-a-view tempted us, but we opted to dine at the Starlight Theatre restaurant in the former mining camp movie theater next door. Generous portions of chicken tacos and pork medallions revived us all. We didn’t mind when our waitress requested “Amarillo by Morning” from the guitar player and took a short break to dance.
The next morning, we headed to the Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center, 12 miles west, which serves as an eastern gateway to Big Bend Ranch State Park. It would take weeks to explore this 300,000-acre park. But we got a taste at the Warnock’s indoor exhibit on 570 million years of geology and natural history, and a self-guided tour of the outdoor botanic garden, home to hundreds of plants from the Chihuahuan Desert’s five biological landscapes.
We had lunch on the spacious outdoor patio at Lajitas Resort’s Candelilla Cafe, then continued on FM 170, aka the River Road. It rises and falls, winding along the Rio Grande from Lajitas to Presidio. A picnic area featuring large fake teepees provided a stop to gaze into Mexico and ponder the work of floods of historic proportions in September 2008. The rushing water dramatically altered the river landscape, removing dense invasive brush and sculpting new gravel bars and channels in the river.
Roughly 20 miles from Lajitas, we hiked Closed Canyon, a tall, narrow slot canyon. It extends about 1.5 miles to the Rio Grande, but depending on rainfall and other conditions, water-filled tinajas can render the route impassable. While we managed to scramble around a few of them, steep walls and an impressive beehive finally stopped us, probably less than a half-mile from the end. I recommend this unusual hike, even if only for a short distance.
Fort Leaton State Historic Site anchors the western end of River Road. First built in the late 1800s as a trading post, the presidio now features both restored rooms and others revealing original adobe bricks and stucco. An indoor exhibit covers the area’s natural and archaeological history, as well as that of residents in the 15th century. Park staffers put together a notebook of impressive photographs from the 2008 floods.
From Presidio, we headed north on Highway 67 to Cibolo Creek Ranch. Luxurious guest rooms featuring fireplaces, tile floors and rustic furnishings occupy an adobe fort built by Milton Faver in the 1800s and restored by current owner John Poindexter. Some rooms look out on a spring-fed stream through a lush courtyard, others on a serene lake. Accommodations include three meals a day, served family style.
Our final day’s agenda included a tour in a modified Humvee, with open seats offering a 360-degree view. Our guide, Dugan Taylor, headed up a ridge bristling with cane cholla and brushy grass. Cibolo Creek Ranch covers 30,000 acres of the Chinati and Cienega mountains, where visitors in the 1800s described an “ocean of grass” as high as a horse’s belly. Overgrazed first by cattle, then sheep and goats, that ocean became a wasteland of invasive creosote, cedar and mesquite. The ranch is restoring the grassland with selective removal of invasives and ongoing maintenance, and has reintroduced bison and elk.
We viewed the falls, then bounced through a narrow passage between two hills to emerge at 5,200 feet with a sweeping view of the ranch and all the way to Mexico. The route descended a steep slope to the Cibolo creekbed, lined by about a dozen rock squatter’s ruins. Taylor pointed out rock paintings from 800 to 2,500 years old, and along the way we spied jackrabbits, mule deer and a variety of birds.
We headed north, reluctantly, toward home. In three days, we may have hit the highlights of Terlingua, but just barely. On the long drive back to Austin, we plotted our next visit.
DETAILS
• Big Bend National Park, nps.gov/bibe, 432-477-2251
• La Posada Milagro Guest House, laposadamilagro.net, 432-371-3044
• Lajitas Resort, lajitas.com, 432-424-5000
• Big Bend Ranch State Park, tpwd.state.tx.us/bigbendranch
• Barton Warnock Environmental Education Center, 432-424-3327
• Fort Leaton, 432-229-3613
• Cibolo Creek Ranch, cibolocreekranch.com, 432-229-3737
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Eco-travel blog
I wrote a piece for fellow writer Tracy Barnett's eco-travel blog, Roads Less Traveled, about my Baja sea turtle experience. Slideshow included.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sea Turtle Experience
See a post about my Sea Turtle Monitoring and Kayak Expedition in Baja California on the SEE Turtles web site. (You'll have to go to 2009 posts; mine is dated 13 November 2009.)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Fellowship Announcement
I had the honor of being selected as a 2009 Ocean Science
Journalism Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
This year’s program took place September 13-18. I learned about everything from ocean acidification to how sonar affects whales, algae blooms, deep ocean volcanoes, and sea squirts. Watch for future posts of related articles.
Journalism Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
This year’s program took place September 13-18. I learned about everything from ocean acidification to how sonar affects whales, algae blooms, deep ocean volcanoes, and sea squirts. Watch for future posts of related articles.
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