Blanco Workshop Recap
Our D-MAP team Blanco Workshop was a success!! With 25 attendees, the event was truly a holistic melding of minds from a wide variety of perspectives such as managed grazing, soil and lichen biology, beaver mimicry, wildlife tracking, forest fires, cave management, water movement, pattern recognition, and Native American ecological history. We are blessed to have such a passionate and dedicated team!!
There’s much work to be done. Currently, we are moving all the data sheets + input into Google Sheets so that team members can continue to add feedback and even share the data with their colleagues for additional input.
Feedback Examples
We suggested using a decision-making flowchart, but team member, Lee Burton, suggested using AI. Since the process uses the Texas A&M Forest Service online app “Map My Property” to help divide one’s land into smaller management units (LMUs), our team member, Karl Flocke, will determine how we can increase efficiency. Peggy Sechrist explained we need to use this tool to discourage all non-managed livestock. Ron Childers, with the Hill Country Master Naturalists, and James Green, are helping to expand our indicator species lists. Steve Nelle, former NRCS, just sent me more detailed feedback on the process. Brad Mechler is working on a list of Hill Country plants that are toxic to livestock. Zane, from The Watershed Association, is looking into how we can also use lichens as indicator species. Julie Lewey invited several of us to her Nueces River Ranch to witness how she’s using virtual fencing to manage livestock. Following the workshop, Texastopia owners, Pete and Elenore, took the remaining members on a tour of their land to showcase the many ways they’re keeping water on the land. We also learned more about beaver mimicry from Bryan Hummel and lichens from Zane!
Anti-Juniper Bill Defeated!!
TESTIMONIES to the House Land and Resource Committee.
This past April, a Texas Senator and a Hill Country Representative, Ellen Troxclair, proposed bills (SB 1927 and HB 3798) that would reduce the ability of home-rule Texas cities to regulate their tree cover. As we know, established tree cover helps to regulate urban pollution, heat, and flooding. Both bills targeted Ashe Juniper trees, the junipers that are a prime component of many Hill Country urban areas by proposing the trees be added to the list of dead and diseased trees. Project Bedrock was concerned since such a bill would undermine the work we’re doing to teach landowners how to work with these trees more sustainably.
We joined forces with the Audubon Society, Sierra Club, Native Plant Society, Westlake Hills, tree arborists, and landscape architects to educate politicians that these trees are part of the solution to rebuilding Texas karst country and protecting cities and ecosystems. The first round of testimonies was less coordinated and the bill passed through the Senate. Our second round of testimonies had a greater impact, especially since they included the profound testimonies of two amazing teenage girls! We worked tirelessly to delay the bills until their midnight deadlines. First SB 1927 died. Then a few days later, HB 3798 died.
Although this is as a victory, it is likely Rep. Troxclair will push this bill again (she sponsored the same bill in 2023). It is imperative to educate politicians face-to-face to teach them about the latest scientific findings regarding these trees. If you have contacts and wish to help us with this endeavor, please contact Elizabeth.