Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
by Catherine Johnson
Do yourself a favor and visit the Master Naturalist Milam Landscape Project (a new name for the Wildscape).
See if you can name the plants in the pictures. Plans are in progress for November Nature Days, which will be each Saturday from 9am to 12pm. See you there!
by Donna Lewis
photos by Joyce Conner
On August 18th, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in Caldwell, Texas, the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District (POSGCD) held an all-day event for those living in Milam and Burleson Counties.
We were invited to have an informational booth at the Civic Center about the El Camino Real Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, and a booth for the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail.
This event covered many topics including water rights, legislation updates, well monitoring, septic practices, and many other topics.
Joyce Conner and I set up our booths the day before. Joyce also set up the Trail Association booth next to ours. Both tables looked very professional and had handouts about both organizations. Our tablecloth really looks nice.
Joyce, Scott Berger, and I arrived around 7:00 am. That was a good thing because people started to arrive then. Both our booths had many interested people asking questions and taking brochures with them. Sandra Dworaczyk arrived soon after. We missed getting her picture with us. Several of our members, including Janice Johnson, attended the talk. Probably more came, but I was too busy to catch them.
Joyce had brochures that showed where the El Camino Real Trail was in our area, which was very interesting to many who lived in our county. No doubt some did not know much about the history of the trail.
I think I talked to at least 50 people about our group. Scott and Sandra were also talking to many people and Joyce jumped in when we needed her. It took the four of us to handle the crowd. Many wished they had a chapter in Burleson County. I informed them that they could attend our talks, but most did not want to come that far at night. Many were interested in daytime events. I told them to check out our website for those events.
The President of the Lost Pines Master Naturalist Chapter was attending the event and talked to me about our events also.
This was a very successful event for our chapter. I hope we will get some new members because of it.
A good day for Nature.
by Catherine Johnson
We are gearing up for the second Nature Days event, which will be each weekend in November. There will be lots of opportunities to get volunteer hours and interact with the public.
Treat yourself and visit the Wildscape now, as the fall flowers are almost ready to bloom. Email me at cpc69earth AT gmail.com, and I will meet you there to show you some ways to get hours or to get seeds for yourself.
Now is also a great time to take pictures. The Monarch and Swallowtail butterfiles have arrived.
by Carolyn Henderson
Last Saturday morning was a busy one for a small group of El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalists. The intrepid seven started out attending some previously girdled trees and finished by photographing everything they could find for the “Hotter than Hell BioBlitz” at Wilson-Ledbetter Park in Cameron.
Original girdlers of the invasive Glossy Privet Liz Lewis, Marian Buegeler, and I did some follow-up work on the trees we originally performed girdling on back in March. Marian was armed with a hatchet and I had a tree trimmer device to remove any new growth below the girdles. Liz directed.
I was surprised to find the trees dying because an inspection a month ago didn’t really show any significant dying off. They are showing plentiful evidence of their demise now. In case you’re new to this subject, tree girdling is a method to kill trees without herbicides or chain saws. You can find directions on how to do it from the March blog if interested.
The drought and excessive heat may be hastening the death, but it’s all occurring above the girdle line, so the process works. We are now a little excited to see where they stand in late fall.
We then proceeded to photograph what was still alive in the drought/heat wave at Wilson-Ledbetter. We managed to get 208 photos of nature surviving the weather. “Birdladymilam” Ann Collins posted the most photos on the project page on iNaturalist. Eric Neubuer found the most of one species (Wolf spiders in case you weren’t sure). Organizer Linda Jo Conn, Marian, Victoria St John, Liz and I also contributed. Blooming flowers were sparse, but there were a lot of trees, vines and grasses along with spiders, and birds.
And it wasn’t hot that early in the morning.
by Catherine Johnson
The Milam Wildscape Project is stunning this summer. The Reks have kept the sprinklers going. We are starting to pot extra natives for Nature Days in the fall. Donna Lewis will be painting signs to identify plants. All Master Naturalists are welcome to visit- open and close the gate upon entering and leaving. Get hours for watering, straightening up-Nature Improvement in Public places, plus drive time. There is shade and a bathroom. Take home cut flowers- Cindy’s zinnias are spectacular! P
