A Hike in Wildbasin Will Solve All Your Problems

There is a quote from Game of Thrones that has been rattling around in my brain lately. The religious zealot has moved into the capitol and is causing a stir in the city. The young king Tommen Baratheon is visiting the zealot and slowly becoming enthralled by his lengthy speeches and charismatic leadership. The zealot says “I imagine you have worn a year of someone’s life on your back” referring to the detailed and extravagant clothing Tommen wears.

The quote came back to me sometime recently as I was watching a YouTube video about why the quality of all our furniture sucks now. High quality things take time to make and perfect. I couldn’t help but think about how many things used to take so much longer to make and how time must have seemed so different then. Moving into a house and buying furniture could have taken a few years, while you were waiting for something to be made and shipped to you. Building a house could have taken even longer. In a world where everything is now fast, is there anything at all that is still slow? Is there anything worth waiting for?

One thing that has always moved at its own pace is nature. While some trees may take a decade to produce fruit, others bloom within a few months of planting. Humans seem to have the ability to alter this rate of change. Our involvement in nature often means a rapid decline into degradation. We move in clear out anything useful and leave a trail of invasive species in our wake. However, what if that energy was put towards something productive?

In the 1970s a group of seven women sporting matching red tennis shoes and knee length skirts decided to start a conservation movement called “Now or Never”. Their legacy is a series of protected wildlife preserves that span the 360 highway up into the hill country. They had an uphill battle attempting to do something that had never been done before. Their success created Wild Basin, 227 acres of steep hills and cedar canopies. Spending a morning in Wild Basin will leave you feeling just a little bit better about the world and the potential for positive change.

When I arrived at the preserve it looks like just about every other place in the Texas Hill country. It’s rocky, full of Cedar trees, and the whole preserve is a piece of hillside that juts downward into a ravine below. Once you enter the shade of the trees you notice a greenhouse an outdoor classroom and a collection of potted plants. This outdoor classroom was part of the original plan 50ish years ago. While the preserve seems to look no different than say the greenbelt or maybe Emma Long park, the difference is in the details.

Wild Basin was intensely altered by human activity. This activity started well before the women of Now or Never started their campaign. The land has been logged for cedar to make telephone poles, it has been grazed for cattle and also burned in a fire. While some pockets still have hundred year old cedar trees, they are few and far between. When the Now or Never crew arrived it was in a sorry state. However, there is one thing that kept them motivated. This area is native habitat for the Black Capped Vireo and the Golden Cheeked Warbler. This is their nesting habitat, one of their only nesting habitat in the entire world. Without this land, those two species and many others, will disappear.

Black Capped Vireo in the Vireo/ Wild basin preserve Austin tx. Photo by me.

The task ahead of Now or Never was to preserve the land and rehabilitate it back into a habitat a young nesting female Warbler would be happy to live in. It’s hard to imagine what was going through their minds in that moment. The seven women standing on hill looking out at bare rocks. Oaks and cedars choked by drought and erosion. A completely overgrazed and degraded hillside lay before them that was doomed to become a planned neighborhood development. I am sure they were called all sorts of things, crazy, idealistic, and most of all impossible. Yet, if you attend a guided hike in Wild basin 50 years later, you can’t tell that the land was anything but wild.

If you are planning to restore an eroded bare hillside, the first thing you want to do is collect rainwater. Volunteers, students, and some paid employees have constructed rainwater collection barrels. In addition there are physical alterations to the landscape. Deep groves have been cut into the hillside to slow down rainwater and collect soil. Branches are carefully laid into brush berms to harvest every last drop of water. Plants can now be strategically planted. Areas are chosen where they have the highest chance of survival. Volunteers come diligently each week to water the saplings for two years or more. Helping the young sprouts make it through their first two summers.

Photo of the rainwater collection system and wildflower filed in the Wild Basin Preserve.

Wild basin is a testament to human caring. Those seven women saw the destructive power of development and decided that we can do better. It can take between 100-300 years for degraded landscapes to return to their natural state without human involvement. It can also take only a few months for that same landscape to be destroyed again. The Now or Never women have successors who have taken up their cause. Their project is ongoing and many people have chosen to continue with their legacy.

Special thanks to biologist for the Vireo Preserve and Wild basin Jim O. who has been organizing volunteers for many years on the project.

Map of a portion of the protected lands west of Austin. Wild Basin and the Vireo preserve are circled in red.

A River Delta

Every drop of water that ever is, will travel to the sea. It could take a long slow meandering journey through a mud soaked river. Winding its way through the roots of trees, the mouths of fish, and drops soaking on wet grass. It separates into individual molecules of steam, gaining independence in the sunlight. Then, missing their absence, it falls back to the earth returning to its kin on the shores of a creek. This journey could take years for a small drop to see the vast stretches of ocean. Or, it could be there in an instant, a summer storm washed out to the deep. One thing however is true of all things on this planet, we have come from the sea and we long to return. Like a magnet she pulls her offspring back to her in overflowing vibrant green river deltas. Bringing with them as gifts to their mother, water takes precious nutrients and oxygen back to the sea. The first signs of these abundant gifts are the life that thrives on the edges where the two waters meet. The river delta is a place where nature exists in abundance, and visiting one always feels like returning home.

The Colorado River Delta (Texas)

As part of my chosen profession I have had now two opportunities to see large vast river deltas in person. The first was the Mississippi River delta which is only accessible by a several days boat ride from Louisiana. You can either approach it by riding down the river itself or by going around the reverse way and riding up the river from the ocean. It was a fantastic experience that I kept detailed notes about and am now motivated to re-write and publish it here on this website. This recent visit was to the Colorado River Delta in Texas not to be confused with the Colorado river which winds through the Grand Canyon and enters the Gulf of California. In contrast with its cousin, Texas is very flat and the river flows at a snails pace to the ocean. It savors each leg of the journey before entering the salty bays and seagrass beds. The Colorado river has always been a river of extremes, fierce and dangerous flooding during the fall storms and then dwindling down to a mere trickle in the summer. People have never been comfortable with the whims of nature and decided to dam the Colorado river at several points to allow for better flood control and of course water.

Unlike other rivers in Texas the Colorado brings with it large quantities of dead wood that float dangerously in the channels and canals. These wood trunks come from natural erosion along its journey and form the foundation of the ever changing marshland. The newest addition of real estate can be seen above as a new layer of logs attach themselves to the grassy edges. Over time this will accumulate debris and provide space for new grasses to grow.

Up close to one of the floating marshlands supported by dead logs

The marshy landscape is anything but permanent. A swift hurricane or a strong flood can rearrange the entire structure. So much so that fishermen may walk out one morning a not recognize the paths they previously travelled on.

A Snowy Egret on the edge of the canal.

A group of Dolphins swim in the Delta.

A Crocodile inspects our boat.

Year end review 2022

I am a big believer of new years resolutions. I keep a running list of all my new years resolutions in my journals, and at the end of the year I compare all the lists like an accountant and see how well I did over the years. For the most part I feel like I do accomplish what I set out to do. There is something to be said for where you spend your limited time and energy. If you focus on it, and the goal is somewhat achievable, then you can be successful. The trick is to make goals that don’t rely too much on outside influence.

This year was the year I posted the least in my blog. I feel like I hit a creative rut, or a wall. I have done what I set out to do. I did all the projects I had backlogged in my brain. Then I just ran out of ideas. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted the blog to look like in the future. This has always been a space for me to be creative and come up with ideas.

The national seashore at South Padre Island after a storm. Looking very MAD MAX

We decided to get out of town for thanksgiving break and go to South Padre Island. I’ve never been that far south in Texas but I was in search of good weather and even better surf. The weather didn’t participate and managed to storm all 3 days we were there. We decided to cut our trip short the last day and head home. But the moody weather provided some interesting photographs of the beach. Lots of salt and mist in the air made everything look spooky and magical.

The horizon is completely absent with the storm so close.

It wouldn’t be a beach trip without some photos of beach trash. The plastic waste on the beach is much less in the winter but instead its flooded with microplastics. Plastic bottle lids dominate as well as those little rings on bottles to keep the lid attached.

For the bird fans. We visited the coastal wetlands bird sanctuary and got some impressive photos of a tricolored Heron.

This rather unimpressive photo is quite an accomplishment. I have for the first time photographed a kingfisher. These birds are common in central and south Texas but they are difficult to capture a photo of. Most of the time you hear a kingfisher and never see one. But what a find!

After returning from south Texas and taking a much needed break I began to brainstorm what I wanted to do with my blog in the future. I have set my mind on other types of media. I am eager to record videos or sounds of nature around my neighborhood and beyond. I am hoping to hone some of my skills and focus in on some of the quiet beauty in Austin.

Below is my first video of me trying to learn how to take photos from a kayak. This whole video was a learning experience from the camera to the editing.

The turkey vulture in question from the video, doing its best impression of a bird of prey.

The end of the year is the time to reinvent yourself, if not reinvent reflect. Here is a roll of my favorite photos and my NY resolutions. Thanks for reading!

I have several of these hanging around my house. If you are interested in a print send me an email and I can get you one.

Resolutions:

1. Wear sunscreen everyday

2. Be kind to myself

3. Make time to be creative

4. Acknowledge my accomplishments

Pelicans in Central Texas?

What the heck is a large colony of white pelicans doing in Central Texas?

Flag pond in Lake Somerville state park

This large colony of American white pelicans are over-wintering in Texas and will spend a period of time at various inland lakes or on the Gulf Coast. They are avid eaters of small fish and amphibians and will eat up to 4lbs of food per day. They do not dive like grey pelicans and will forage on the surface. The information I read seems to say that these pelicans prefer saltwater over lakes but will venture into lakes seasonally. Its possible that they were simply passing through on their migration south to the coast and we happened to catch them here. This is another one of the great reasons why we need protected wetlands throughout the US so that migratory birds have a safe place to stop on their journey.

White pelican from Wikimedia Commons Image source

Lake Somerville State park is over 11,000 acres and 40 miles of trails. This park is a perfect hideaway for migrating birds and historically was a duck conservation park before becoming a state park. Flag pond is a small pond adjacent to the lake that is quite shallow and surrounded by wetlands. It is the ideal place for any waterfowl to hangout. It is open for hunting during part of the season. It also is an incredible place to see Bald Eagles and other wildlife not often seen in the more busy parks.

Do you feel more American yet?

Camping at lake Somerville is as close as entering the wilderness as you can get. However, no matter what there is always some old person that needs to get up at 6am and run a leaf blower. Honestly the stranglehold leaf blowers have on the boomer generation is unparalleled. Just mulch your leaves with a lawnmower and get on with your life.

There is a 100% chance that there is a wizard at the end of this trail so unless you brought some hornwort to trade maybe turn around.

Sam Houston National Forest

So you are thinking you want to get away from the city during a pandemy. First thing you wanna do is find some sort of activity where you have the least amount of contact with people. That would probably be hiking, boating, solo painting in a dark room with the door closed? Well hiking it is then.

Sam Houston has been on my list of places to visit forever so we packed up the volvo and headed east to the pine curtain.

Sam Houston is big, real big. Big enough that two people could go to the same trailhead and possibly never run into each other. National forests are also a bit of wild west still in the civilized world. You can hunt most of the year with a gun and the only stipulations are that you need to A. Buy a license and B. don’t shoot while standing on a trail and point away from the trail so that your bullet never crosses a marked hiking trail. I feel like the federal government is putting a lot of trust in people. You can also camp anywhere, not only designated camping sites. Even with all of that in mind only 1000 people every year are injured in hunting accidents, 75 of those result in fatalities. That seems like a lot, but get this 85% are self inflicted accidents. That means only 11 people die each year in hunting accidents where someone else was at fault. This makes hunting or hiking in a active hunting area safer than riding your bike. Now that I have convinced you to enter the forest with people carrying guns, lets checkout some stuff you might see.

Houston is swampy so most of the trails cross a water feature of some kind. Wear boots.

The most notable thing about a national forest is the silence. Its really quiet. There is a major road that cuts through Sam Houston that connects two counties. Even with this highway the sound of the road disappears within the first half mile of the hike. Once you get going you start to notice that YOU are the loudest animal in the forest. You really have to keep quiet to hear the sounds of the animals, because they hear you. We could also hear other hikers several minutes before we ran into them on the trail.

Coral tooth fungus Hericium Coralloides

Winter means that there isn’t a lot of wildlife but there is a lot of evidence of wildlife.

The trail had a hikers notebook in a mailbox that people write in as they hike by. I sat down for a while and read a few of the notes in there. Some were sweet, some mentioned things they saw, and some were quite sad. One hiker was in the midst of a serious medical battle and wasn’t sure if they would make it. It seems that many people return to the forest to seek some peace and guidance.

We could go to Mars, or just hike at Inks Lake

Pink granite is the dominant feature of Inks Lake State Park.

Wait didn’t they film an episode of the Mandalorian here?

A few shrubs, lizards and some lichens make up the dominant form of life in this moonscape. The lichens appear in many different colors and shapes. Some vying for real estate on the best looking rocks.

Are you Lichen this photo??

This is one of the “trails” up to the summit. A little rocky if you ask me. But definitely manageable.

The moon decided to come out and see what we were up to.

We visited Inks lake on Christmas eve 2020. We did a few easy hikes and picnicked by the edge of the lake. It was a little too cold to sit around without a fire but we managed to have a good time on our visit to Mars.

Photos to enjoy in Quarantine

Its 2020 and it looks like we will be in quarantine for the remainder of the year. We have managed to enjoy a lot of local nature sights and sounds, socially distanced of course. Enjoy!

One of the interesting developments during Covid is that most of the parks have been open at only a limited capacity. That means that once they get full for the day the doors close. The parks in Texas get pretty crowded during the summer, especially if it has someplace to swim. One thing I have noticed is that the parks are just far more enjoyable with less people. There is less trash, less crowds, less fighting for leg room near the river. I understand the desire to have parks open and available for as many people that want to enjoy them as possible. However, there is a carrying capacity of a place. What happens when our enjoyment of a place turns into a negative thing? Should there be limits to how many can enter a park per day?

One of the most perfect examples of crowd control is Jacobs well (pictured here). A park that regularly has 60 people allowed to swim in this small area every 2 hours. Now during Covid that number was lowered to 20. It was an awesome experience, no crowding, no issues with people getting injured, and places to sit and relax. In an area so small as Jacobs well I can not imagine 60 people crammed into this swimming hole. At the same time, the park needs to make money, it has to stay operational and it is running into a lot of community pushback as people don’t want to have to reserve a time slot to swim. Moving forward as our population in this area grows, more parks are considering moving to a reservation style for visits.

Llano River and Texas Trout

Every year for the past 40 years TPWD stocks local state park rivers with farmed trout. The event garners a following of dutiful trout fishers who follow the stocking from park to park. We were lucky to meet and talk to a few of these trout regulars and get the gist of trout fishing in Texas.

Trying our best to catch some trout

Texas has an active fish stocking program which supplies a mind blowing 40 million fish to Texas waterways each year. In the summer months this program takes the pressure off native species by providing adult catch-able fish to anglers. The program also aims to diversify the genetics of local speices, and promote breeding of fish by introducing healthy individuals. The majority of fish stocking happens in local ponds and lakes that are closed to other bodies of water. This form of fish stocking is purely for recreational benefit and provides a constant source of fishing year round. This practice also allows people of all ages and abilities to fish in a very family friendly environment. Trout stocking exists purely as a driver for recreational fishing. It turns a summer activity into a year round event. Rainbow trout, which are not native to Texas, will die as the water temperature rises. This ensures that the species doesnt have a huge impact on the ecology of the area. Rainbow trout are also a very desirable fish to catch. They taste good even with minimal seasoning and they are beautiful to look at. There is no surprise here that it is good business for TPWD to stock Rainbow Trout.

We arrived at Llano River state park on a cold Saturday afternoon. We booked the campsite only two weeks before and there were only two spots available for the weekend. The weather had been rainy and cold for a couple of days before, but most of the winter so far has been dry. The fire risk was set to EXTREME as we drove into the state park, which didn’t bode well for campfire activities. We got the ok from the on duty ranger to have a campfire that night but were told to just be extra careful at night when putting it out. We got a pile of wood from the ranger station and began setting up our campsite. Before it got dark we decided to do a sunset hike up to the scenic overlook. The hike is pretty easy and the view is incredible. You can definitely see why people fell in love with the beauty of the hill country. To the west the landscape seems unchanged after hundreds of years of human activity. The only marker of modern civilization is the power lines which supply the state park with electricity. To the east you see a few ranches and the highway but not much else. We stayed at the scenic overlook until we got too cold and began our hike back down.

We were at the park to go fishing for trout and that meant an early morning. However, you cant rush campfire cooking. One of the most enjoyable things about camping is being able to cook over an open fire and I was not going to let a little fishing get in the way of that. The rain did that instead. We started up our fire only to find out that all of our wood was soaked through during the rain. The sun had dried out the first layer, which caught fire, and then immediately went out when it met the wet interior. Campfire was a no go tonight. I have been camping enough times to know that you don’t bring only one change of underwear and you dont bet on a campfire. The coleman stove came to the rescue that night. Two steaks and a bowl of mac n cheese later we were ready for bed.

One of the best views at Llano river state park is at night. It is a registered dark sky park meaning you will find minimal lighting anywhere within park grounds. All you need to do is turn out your flashlight and look up. We saw more stars than you can count. I lost track of my bearings and it took me several minutes to find the prominent Orion constellation. His bow, which is normally hidden within city limits, was on full display that night.

The next day we cooked a quick breakfast during a brisk 32 degree morning. One of our neighbors invited us over for hot chocolate before we went out to go fish. Her and her husband are retired and now RV around to various parks throughout the season. They have been following the trout stocking all around the Texas State parks and catch their bag limit nearly every day they fish. We were pretty eager to get going so we thanked her for the hot chocolate and went on our way.

We had a good time fishing that morning. The trout were biting and we reeled two in. Without any campfire we were not prepared to cook the trout on the Coleman stove to so we decided to send them back on their way for someone else to catch later. After the morning when things calmed down by the river we hiked up and down the riverbed looking for animals and birds. We were cold and tired by the time we made it back to camp and packed up our stuff to head home.

How do we measure value?

There is a piece of land in Corpus Christi which hides a secret. It is perhaps one of the only places in in town where you can enjoy nature in its raw form, untouched for 8 years. It is a contentious piece of land that has for the past few years been under a constant battle for development. It will be developed, not now, but soon in the future. Land of that size and value does not go unnoticed. It was only a matter of time before it was sold, divided, and constructed. I am not here to choose sides in this argument, I don't live there anymore. Think of this article as a eulogy or a time capsule of my experience, a way to say goodbye.

The piece of land in question is the Pharaoh Valley Golf course. To get an idea as to why I became so attracted to this place, you have to first understand the other available options for natural beauty in Corpus Christi. During my 2 year stay in town, I visited nearly every park listed on google maps. Each one seemed to be designed specifically for one thing, to check a box marked “park”. They had everything a park needs, trash bins, grass, a tree or two. Maybe they even had a playground, baking in the sun uncovered. Some with soccer goals or baseball fields, most often unused. The one thing each park lacked was nature. It was the absence of nature in general which was their most striking feature. The two locations which had the most potential to fill this absence were the Oso Creek trails and Suter Wildlife Refuge. Both were so close to achieving their goal yet fell short.

Oso Creek trail is not open to 4x4 traffic yet is completely devastated with ruts and erosion from over use of motorized vehicles. While walking I noticed ruts so deep they came up to your knees. We even saw people on 4 wheelers drive past a clearly marked “no vehicle” sign. The second option, Suter wildlife refuge, is an amazing contrast to the rest of the Oso bay coastline. Housing developments along Oso bay extend as close as possible to the water’s edge. In some cases even walking would be challenging, as porches are nearly touching the bay. Suter refuge is a beautiful oasis along the water. Old growth native plants provide habitat for butterflies and birds. The beach is nearly untouched and an excellent sight to see. However, it is tiny, and mostly inaccessible to the public. This is not inherently a bad thing, but when it comes to availability of nature to the people, it falls short.

This leads me finally to Pharoah Valley. I found it, like I find most parks, looking in satellite view on google maps. It was unlabeled and listed as closed, but it looked interesting and I thought it would be worth a visit. As I entered the golf course for the first time I was immediately taken back by its size and beauty. It was enormous, over grown and natural. You could clearly see where nature began to take over the features that define a golf course. The quantity and variety of birds present in the park was startling. On each visit I seemed to uncover more species than the last. The man made water features were suddenly left to their own devices and returned to a somewhat marshy habitat. Ducks of all kinds took up residence in the ponds. It was an oasis in the center of a city.

For the better part of 2 years I walked in the golf course nearly every weekend. On many occasions I was alone, rarely seeing more than one person at a time on my visits. The area was quiet, and left me with a sense of calm. As a wildlife refuge the golf course could check every box. Accessibility to nature, ability for recreation, wildlife habitat. However, it lacks one thing, wildlife habitats don’t make money. They never have and never will. Their value is non-monetary. Yes some value can be measured in the value of the property around it. People will pay high prices to live in quiet near natural beauty. But the land itself loses value when left untouched. The value of untouched land is in the impression it leaves on the people who use it.

In Memphis TN a railroad was closed and turned into a bike lane called the greenbelt. It was a very contentious issue. The money came from a private donor, there were legal hiccups and property owners who didn’t want it going through their backyard. People argued that robberies would increase and the neighborhood would suddenly fall to crime. None of this happened. What did happen is suddenly a community which rarely interacted with each other, began to build relationships. People who had nowhere to ride a bike, suddenly had a place. People began to go outside and enjoy the natural beauty that the trail provided. Nature education classes sprung up in neighborhoods that never had them before. If you asked the people now how they feel about the trail, I would argue that 9/10 would say the greenbelt had a positive impact on their life. The greenbelt is free and makes no money from its use.

This is the value of natural places.

All views and opinions are my own. All photos were taken by me. 

Man-made Wetlands are the Bees Knees

People decided around the pioneer times that wetlands were wasted space and good for nothing else besides being drained and used for agriculture (1). They supposedly posed a health risk by harboring mosquitoes, and were difficult to navigate through (1).  In 1846 one of the first major wetlands altering projects began in Horicon Wisconsin. The town needed a sawmill and decided to dam a river leading out of the "Great Marsh of the Winnebagos". Over time the dam caused the water level to rise in the marsh and it turned slowly into a lake. At first this was a welcome reprieve and residents used the lake for recreational activities. However, landowners sued the sawmill in 1869 after a flood, and won. The dam was removed and water drained freely once again. The townspeople, now suddenly without a lake, sat around debating what to do with the recently drained land. As they debated, something interesting was happening in the marsh. Birds that had previously passed over the lake suddenly started landing there and staying. Ducks began to migrate through the marsh and started nesting. A few years after the dam removal, duck hunters began reporting 500,000 ducks hatching each spring and flocks of geese covering the sky (2).  Something that originally had no value now was important to a large group of people. The land was later acquired by the state and is now a wildlife refuge. Wetlands conservation has been the cornerstone of game bird protection, and vice versa.  However, it has not been until recently that cities are catching on and realizing their use for flood prevention.

In an effort to reduce flash flooding, cities build rainwater swales that collect water during high rain events. These swales have a porous bottom that allows the water to re-enter the ground slowly over the next few days time. Most of the swales are often bare looking, just a grassy bowl on the side of the road. However, taking it one step further, wetland swales can be created to solve a variety of problems. Manufactured wetlands are a huge gigantic step in the right direction for wetlands conservation. They can attempt to bring back some of the benefits of natural wetlands, as well as provide recreational opportunities.  

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Houston is uniquely located in a low lying bayou/ marsh ecosystem and has dramatically changed the landscape with urbanization. It comes as no surprise that it regularly suffers flooding events on a large scale, even in the absence of hurricanes. A notable wetland restoration project in Houston is the Sheldon Prairie (4). Filled in for agriculture use, Sheldon prairie was excavated following some historical records and allowed to fill in with water. Native plants were planted by students and volunteers from TAMU and local schools. The project was finished in 2009 and now is an excellent wetland habitat.

Image of Sheldon Prairie progress, (4)

With some grant money flowing in from the gulf oil spill only time will tell if more wetland restoration projects get funded. Luckily it seems that the policy of draining or filling wetlands has slowed or ceased in some areas. The US has operated on a “no net loss” policy of wetlands implemented by George HW Bush in 1988 (5). This policy has been in effect and maintained by every president since and acts as a barrier for farmers and developers when draining wetlands. Even with this policy in place, lack of enforcement and encroachment of development has led to a slow decline in wetlands between 2004 and 2009 (6). The biggest threat to wetlands seems to be climate change, which has damaged coastal wetlands the most (6). If we learned anything from the Horicon Marsh story it is that wetlands must be measurably valuable to people in some way. In cities they are not just habitats for birds, they exist for flood prevention and water purification. Maybe it’s time to beef up this policy to a “net gain” and reclaim some of the 100 million acres that have been lost.

Sources for this post

1. Dahl, T.E., and Johnson, C.E., 1991,Wetlands--Status and trends in the conterminous United States, mid-1970's to mid-1980's: Washington, D.C., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 22 p.

2.The History of Wetlands, USGS https://water.usgs.gov/nwsum/WSP2425/history.html

3. Why are Wetlands important, EPA https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/why-are-wetlands-important

4. Sheldon Prairie Restoration Project https://tcwp.tamu.edu/wetland-restoration/sheldon-lake-prairie-wetland-restoration-project/

5. No net loss regulations https://www.law.ufl.edu/_pdf/academics/centers-clinics/clinics/conservation/resources/no_net_loss.pdf

6. Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States 2004-2009 https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/documents/Status-and-Trends-of-Wetlands-in-the-Conterminous-United-States-2004-to-2009.pdf

Leave No Trace

If you have not read Planet or Plastic by writer Laura Parker and photographer Randy Olsen you need to get off your bum and go get a copy. The striking images will leave a lasting effect on you and make you contemplate your role as a trash producing killer of the ocean. Something that stuck out to me was one line in the article “there are no ocean trash deniers so far”. While climate change continues to be a constant battle of, is it real vs is it fake, ocean trash so far has undeniably been held up as an accepted and terrible problem.

On a very interesting infographic map within the article, the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean from various rivers all over the world is depicted. To my surprise rivers in the USA were not major contributors of plastic to the ocean. I am sure American readers are all breathing a sigh of relief, and patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Hang on there just a minute, put down your 3.99 bottle of Dasani and tiny pre-made grocery store salad. The USA recycles a measly 10% of all plastic trash (1) produced. Just because we aren’t dumping it into a river doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be a huge environmental problem. In 2016 the US sent 16 million tons of waste to china to be processed, a program that has since been discontinued (2). So yes, we are responsible for some of that trash entering the ocean from rivers in Asia, let that marinate.

Creating change in plastic use and recycling is where major strides can be made in the waste-pocylapse that is headed our way. We have little control over companies that continue to produce plastic packaging that is impossible to recycle, or not accepted by your cities’ waste management system. However, we do have control over ourselves and influence in our community.

Upon entering into my current field of employment I was startled to find that the high school I work at still uses Styrofoam cafeteria trays. Many of these trays go directly into the trash unsoiled, having a usage lifespan of mere seconds. There are recycling bins located all over the school but the waste will often not make it to the recycling dumpster and instead is put in the landfill bin. The school gets penalized (custodians bear the brunt of it) if non-recyclable trash gets put into recycling. To avoid backlash custodians will often throw out whole bags. So the question remains, how do you get 3000 teenagers to recycle better? My recent visit to an elementary school opened my eyes to how different schools can approach this problem. While elementary school kids recycle simply for the sheer joy of a high five or praise from an adult, teenagers will often do exactly the opposite just to get a reaction. Some tend to show apathy for anything you care about just for the sake of rebelling.    

Cover of the June issue of National Geographic Magazine. 

On a more fundamental note, how do we get people to increase their participation in the three R’s? All it takes is one look at the greenbelt in mid-summer, or a beach in Texas after a holiday weekend and you are left scratching your head as to who the heck would cause such a mess. Cleanliness of residents is often a cultural shift and requires a lot of political support both locally and statewide. It has to be a priority for the city and residents (3,4). The Texas supreme court has recently made it quite clear that it is not going to take the necessary steps to reduce waste and has made it illegal for any city to ban packaging, including bags(5). It will take an election and a creation of a new state law for this to be reversed.  

Sources for this post

#1 EPA plastic facts, https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/advancing-sustainable-materials-management

#2 Mosbergen, Dominique, China no longer wants your trash, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/china-recycling-waste-ban_us_5a684285e4b0dc592a0dd7b9

#3 McCarthy, Niall, America’s cleanest cities, https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/09/06/americas-cleanest-cities-infographic/#10a96ff0698e

#4 Leber, Jessica, 4 cities that are getting rid of all their garbage, https://www.fastcompany.com/3046428/4-cities-that-are-getting-rid-of-all-of-their-garbage

#5 Knight, Drew, Austin plastic bag ban sacked, https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-plastic-bag-ban-sacked-following-texas-supreme-court-ruling/269-570420457

The two fears we face sleeping outside.

I first experienced camping at a very young age. I was also one of those kids who was sent away to sleep away camp for a week or so in the summer. As a result it is hard for me to remember my very first camping experience because the memories are all mixed together. One of the oldest memories I have is waking up at night to tiptoe off to the bathroom and being confronted with the darkest darkness that only the wilderness can provide. Living in the city, I was not aware that night time could be so dark. It felt suffocating and frightening almost as if you were going blind. I remember being frozen on the steps of the cabin trying to force my mind to make a decision, to step forward or go back into safety. That early experience with darkness in a way removed my fear of the dark. Any further experiences really paled in comparison. This fear of the dark can be seen at any campsite or group camping experience. People have the impression that if they can’t see then something has the possibility to sneak up on them or attack them in the night. Hundreds of horror movies have helped this belief grow, and in a way are one reason that I shy away from them. This fear ties in nicely to the second fear experienced while camping and that is silence.

We live in a noisy busy world. Take a moment to listen to the sounds around you, refrigerator, cars, air conditioner, maybe a cat or a dog.  We listen to these sounds so much that we no longer hear them, however, we do hear an absence of sound. The first night in the woods can seem like landing on another planet. The first thing you notice is how much noise isn’t present. Depending on the season there might be insect sounds but in the fall or winter you may be faced with total and complete silence. Any noise that you do hear suddenly becomes incredibly loud and instantly dangerous. You enter a constant state of fight or flight and have trouble simply relaxing or sleeping.

It is for these two reasons that people tend to dislike camping in general. Having experienced many friendships both making and breaking on these trips, camping tends to expose fears we weren’t aware we had. It can be vulnerable and embarrassing to express these fears around people whose opinion you care about. Instead of facing these fears or abandoning camping all together, people have begun to shape their campsite to dispel their discomfort. People bring large bright lights to shine into the sky pushing back the darkness. They turn up the stereo to their favorite song, to avoid hearing a possible approaching monster. All the while pushing away an experience they could grow and learn from. The stars are not visible from your campsite under a 100 watt bulb and you can’t hear owls call to each other behind a stereo.

The photo on the far right is the moon, while the two left photos are RV lights. 

The good thing is, you can absolutely have both. You can listen to music, hangout under a light and experience nature, just not at the same time. Most campsites have a 10pm curfew which calls for lights and sounds to be out past that time. A good camp host can also help you ease nicely into enjoying the wilderness. The host will drive around introducing themselves setting to bed some fears that we are completely alone out here.  The best thing to do is take a deep breath, face your fear, and turn out that light.

Davy Crockett National Forest

I am honestly having trouble putting into words my experience at the national forest. This was my first time visiting and I also went alone. When I told people I was going alone I got mixed responses but most were in the range of “that’s dangerous”. Even my husband was skeptical as to why I needed or wanted to go alone. He responded “why don’t you wait for a weekend so I can go with you”. Going by myself was a big step for me as this would be my first solo hike. I wouldn’t be spending the night, but I would be driving and hiking alone.

The first thing you notice when you turn into the national forest is that the number of people dramatically drops to near zero. I did go on a weekday which was probably responsible for the low turnout, but during my entire visit to the 251 square mile forest I saw only 2 other people. The forest is very old and tall, the trees tower over you in a way that only old growth can. I instantly felt the urge to roll down my windows as I drove on the park road, and I was rewarded with a rich woody humid smell. As I parked and turned off my car the silence hit me. A deafening crowding silence. No cars, electrical hums, machinery, nothing. This complete silence was hard to take in and for the first 30 minutes of my visit my heart rate and blood pressure felt abnormally high. I felt the need to return to the safety of my car. Full disclosure, I did bring my dog along, but at that moment she did not bring me any real comfort.

I entered the trail at Ratcliff park which, based on information at the empty visitors center, was a tourist destination for summer. As I began to walk I started thinking about all of the things that could kill me. Every horror movie, camping disaster, and CSI episode began racing through my head. “Hiker dies in woods and isn’t found for days”, they would say “why did she hike alone, so irresponsible”.  The fear was very real and made my progress on the first mile very slow. To make matters worse I scared quite a few napping deer who found the brush near the trail a nice place to rest for the mid morning. I would turn a corner and be met face to face with a leaping frightened deer as it bucks and jumps away from me into the woods. Needless to say I was on edge.

Two miles into the trail I began to calm down, the silence was replaced with a quiet buzz of animal activity, and the forest began to feel familiar. I was able to begin to appreciate the nature around me and take it in. I started feeling excitement and enjoyment of looking, listening and smelling. There was almost too much to look at and I needed to see all of it. At the halfway point I pitched my hammock and ate lunch. I took a moment to close my eyes and be still, to feel the soft breeze and hear the sounds of the forest. It almost seems to be breathing in and out with each passing gust of wind. In-between each breath you hear birds, insects and small animals going about their day.

The return trip always feels quicker than the initial one. I was no longer walking with fear but a slight confidence that I knew not only where I was but I was happy to be there. I was almost disappointed to arrive back at my car so soon and I began to look for excuses to stay just 10 more minutes. I am incredibly happy I challenged myself to solo hike. Maybe it was the fact that I was alone which made it more impactful, the lack of conversation and distraction allowed me to see more than I normally would have. Either way I left with a new found experience and love for nature.