Linda Jo Conn – Nature Along the El Camino Real

El Camino Real Chapter Members Attack! (More on Tree Girdling)

March 15, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Linda Jo Conn

While I and a couple of others watched, a group of hard-working El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist members and trainees girdled three of the large specimens of invasive Glossy Privets (Ligustrum lucidum) on the grounds of the Wilson-Ledbetter Park in Cameron. The weather cooperated. It was pleasant with a hint of a chill in the breeze.

Cliff Tyllick, known to iNaturalists as “baldeagle”, is a self-appointed eradicator of invasive species. He regularly leads volunteer groups in Austin at the Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park to remove invasive plants. Read Cliff’s profile at https://www.inaturalist.org/people/baldeagle.

First, Cliff demonstrated the technique to the group and showed the proper use of each of the tools in his girdling kit. Several members came equipped with their own tools, some newly purchased, along with an eagerness to learn.

Carolyn Henderson, ECR Chapter President and coordinator of the volunteer project, showed the determination that is necessary for the job.

Cliff was always ready and eager to share his knowledge about tree growth and structure with the folks. He explains the basics of a technique to trainee Linda Burgess.

Mike Conner, a well-seasoned warrior against invasive and aggressive species on his own property, attacked and conquered several large and difficult trunks of privet.

Mariann Buegler showed her grit and fortitude and is now at the final stages of the process using a spray bottle of 70% alcohol and a scrub pad.

Catherine Johnson and Carolyn inspect the progress on a girdle.

Debbie Sorenson and Liz Lewis are rightfully proud of their finished girdling job. Great work!

For an instructional guide on girdling of invasive species, watch “Girdling Invasive Trees with Cliff Tyllick” below (this is the same one that our other tree girdling post featured):

Not only did we learn about the technique of girdling to eliminate invasive species without the use of herbicides from Cliff, we also learned about the detrimental effects of invasive species in the natural ecology.

To view one of the Glossy Privets attacked by the group, see my iNat observation at: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108564382. The privet will be revisited several times in the future to document its demise and the success of the workday by a remarkable group of ECR volunteers.

Looking for Signs of Spring

March 8, 2022March 7, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall1 Comment

by Linda Jo Conn

Is it just me or is spring behaving erratically this year? I am so ready for some consistently warm days and swaths of colorful wildflowers brightening the roadsides!

I did find some pleasant surprises during the past week. On Monday, I had to go to Giddings, so I drove the back roads to check if the plum trees were in bloom. No, but instead, I was delighted to find a couple of Drummond’s Phlox (Phlox drummondii).

Tuesday, I observed the swelling flower buds of the volunteer Eastern Redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) near my house.

While leaving the herbarium at College Station on Wednesday, I finally spotted several specimens of Carolina Crane’s-Bill (Geranium carolinianum) I have been monitoring in the “lawn” area in bloom.

Carolina Crane’s-Bill (*Geranium carolinianum*)

Thursday evening before the new student’s class at the Episcopal Church, I did a little “belly botany” and found a large patch of Bird’s-eye Speedwell (Veronica persica) nearby.

Bird’s-eye Speedwell (*Veronica persica*)

While in Cameron on Friday helping fellow Texas Master Gardeners arrange and display the native plant offerings for the annual plant sale, I noticed non-native Redstem Stork’s-Bills (Erodium cicutarium) blooming in the cracks in the sidewalk.

Redstem Stork’s-Bills (*Erodium cicutarium*)

When I arrived home from Cameron on Saturday afternoon after the plant sale, I was elated to see my first bloom of Texas Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila phacelioides) for the year.

Texas Baby Blue Eyes (*Nemophila phacelioides*)

Sunday afternoon, I again drove to Cameron watch my eldest grandson perform at the Milam County Community Theatre. After the play, among other tiny blooms in the lawn, I found Field Madder (Sherardia arvensis).

My “Let’s Get Outside! Challenge” for last week was to enjoy the approaching spring. Despite my misgivings, I did, and am looking forward to seeing more pops of color appearing in the countryside.

Talking Trash and Texas History

January 10, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

Linda Jo Conn

The suggested “Let’s Get Outside!” ECRTMN chapter activity for the first week in January was to pick up litter at a roadside park or other public area. Granted, it is not that exciting a task but with the Covid numbers still a concern, it was an activity that could be performed in solitude at any convenient time.

Today was my day to “get outside”. It was cool and overcast but fortunately, there was not an icy wind gusting from the north.

After attending the hybrid ECR chapter board meeting in Cameron, I drove down FM 2095 to Gause and turned east on Hwy 79 toward the Brazos River and the Milam and Robertson County line. Just before the river, there is a pullover with a couple of granite monuments and a row of large crepe myrtle trees.

One of the monuments commemorates the former site of the town of Nashville surveyed in the fall of 1835 as the capital of Sterling C. Robertson’s colony and named for Nashville, Tennessee, where Robertson and many of his colonists had formerly lived. The location also commemorates the first Texas home of George C. Childress, the chairman of the committee who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence.

The other monument was erected by the Texas Society of DAR in 1991 to commemorate the DAR Centennial Park. According to the inscription: “In 1936 the Sarah McCalla Chapter DAR of Cameron created a park (about ¾ mile upriver) at the site of old Nashville to commemorate the Texas State Centennial. The red rock DAR monument to the left was in that park which is now inaccessible.” The red rock monument referred to was vandalized and is no longer on the site. The inscription continues: “Sterling C. Robertson who is buried in the old Nashville Cemetery was moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin in 1935.” The monument commemorates the Centennial of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 1890-1990.

I do not travel this highway very often, but when I do, I usually stop to check the site out. Usually, there has been plenty of litter in the area, but today, there was not an inordinate amount so my workload was light. I found nothing exciting or valuable; just the usual beer bottles, aluminum cans, cigarette butts, and some miscellaneous paper items. My haul was a Walmart bag stuffed full and a few large pieces of metal. I am intrigued by the mention of the Nashville cemetery and the former park. I plan to do some research and will return to visit the cemetery in the spring.

The area behind the monuments is now covered with rosettes of Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) and it will certainly be worth the trip.

Report from the 2021 Annual Meeting

October 25, 2021 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Carolyn Henderson

Linda Jo Conn received special recognition Saturday night at the annual meeting of Texas Master Naturalists in Dallas/Ft Worth. She has reached a milestone of 4,000 service hours. She was in very tight company. Only one other statewide member qualified.

The award included a dragonfly pin of brushed gold with a ruby in the center and a special pin and certificate from the office of the President of the United States.

In other categories, Eric Neubauer received recognition for reaching 250 service hours. All who received initial certification from the class of 2020 were also recognized (there were many statewide).

Larry Kocian was recognized for “109!” hours of service in the Texas Water Specialist program with TPWD. Kocian and Sandra Dworaczyk were both given recertification this year.

I attended a 3-hour session on this program, and it looks particularly interesting. If we can get a group of three interested, they can take the class and gain certification. I have a connection to it if anyone is interested. If you’d like to find out more information, contact Melissa Felty, conservation education manager for TPWD, at Conservation Edu@tpwd.gov or go to the web site. The class counts as advanced training hours (8) and the service, which can be education, water testing, CoCoRaHs precipitation measuring, and other things, count as service hours for Texas Master Naturalist.

The meeting had some very educational sessions. I went from water conservation, to wildscaping in the shade, to Chronic Wasting Disease, to iNaturalist advanced training, to Tarantula sex with live tarantulas in one day. That last one was particularly amusing to me, Eric, and the rest of the packed class. A few members gave play-by-play commentary. My favorite occurred on Saturday. It was an excellent program given by a fellow iNaturalist from the Blackland Prairie chapter on identifying trees. I now have a brochure to carry with me.

The meeting was educational, entertaining, and a great place to meet other TMNs. I came away with some good ideas for our chapter.

Oh, and by the way, the new TMN pin for recertification in 2022 is the Lightning Whelk.

In the Media: Citizen Scientists

August 8, 2021 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

By Sue Ann Kendall

Do you get the Texas Co-op Power magazine? It’s actually one of my favorites. The writing is great, and I’m always learning something about rural Texas on its pages.

This month, I was excited to see “citizen scientists” right on the cover. Who could they be talking about? Sure enough, when I turned to page 8, there was a lovely article all about opportunities to contribute to science around the state.

Though the article talks about many opportunities, we’re in there, too. Some of our favorite projects, like CoCoRaHS, are mentioned, along with Nature Trackers and iNaturalist. There are photos of Tania Homayoun and Craig Hensley doing their stuff for Texas Parks and Wildlife and using iNaturalist.

Of course, there has to be a tie-in to electric co-ops. Who could be better than our own Linda Jo Conn! Yep, she gets quoted! We can charitably ignore the lack of capitalization when they mention Texas Master Naturalists.

So, if you get your electricity from one of the amazing Texas rural electric co-ops, don’t throw away your monthly magazine this month! If you don’t get the magazine, never fear. It’s online right here.

It makes you proud to be a citizen scientist, even though that’s not the preferred term for many people, who now say “community scientist” instead. Well, we know who we are.