Houston Native Prairies Association Monthly Newsletter
Please join us in exploring, restoring, enjoying, conserving, and learning about our local prairies!
Prairie News
Meeting Notes
Our January meeting is a Seed Cleaning Party!
We hope to see you at our Annual Seed Cleaning Party! Join us on
January 23, 2019 at the Red Cross Building at 2700 Southwest
Freeway in Houston.
When: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, From 6:30 – 8:30 PM
American Red Cross Bldg., 2700 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77098
Who: Anyone interested in learning more about seed collecting, seed preserving and prairie restoration.
What: We will be cleaning seeds collected this fall and putting them in packets to be distributed to people willing to grow them out for KPC’s Great Grow Out Program. Come and see what these native seeds look like, how to clean them, and take some home. Learn about prairie plants and seeds from KPC experts. KPC is providing pizza!
HNPAT is on Facebook! Like us to get updates on our activities. We're also on MeetUp. We have a MeetUp for our monthly meetings and one for our Deer Park Prairie workdays. Join our MeetUps for reminders about our activities! Sign up
2019 HNPAT Officer Election Results
The election results are in. We're happy to announce that the following officers have been elected to serve in their current positions on HNPAT's Board of Directors in 2019:
1. Mary Waters, President
2. Beth Clark, Vice President
3. Kelly Shields, Secretary
4. Hazel Potvin, Treasurer
Congratulations to Julie d’Ablaing, the first recipient of HNPAT’s 2018 Prairie Volunteer Julie was given this award this past November at the 2018 Prairie Stampede,
HNPAT (Houston Chapter of Native Prairies Association of Texas) board voted to present it’s first Greater Houston Prairie Volunteer Award to Julie d’Ablaing for her dedication to conserving, restoring, and learning about and teaching about our local prairies that span various conservation organizations.
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HNPAT knows Julie as a volunteer to Deer Park prairie who has collected seeds, sought prairie remnants, and participated in prairie maintenance workday and prairie surveys. She is always eager to learn about our prairie plants. Many HNPAT members remember Julie‘s presentation at an HNPAT meeting on how she was able to convince her neighbors in allowing her to install a pocket prairie in their easement and how she organized a boy scout troop to do that. Her wonderful presentation showed the progress of the pocket prairie year by year.
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The Houston Audubon Society and HAS volunteers know Julie as a tireless volunteer for their Natives Nursery, as someone who stepped up during Flo Hannah’s illness and helped as a volunteer run the nursery. Houston Audubon’s Natives Nursery grows ‘Real Deal‘ native prairie plants for gardens and prairie restorations over the Greater Houston area. Many organizations use these prairie plants to restore and conserve our local prairies.
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The Katy Prairie Conservancy knows Julie as a leading volunteer for its field nursery, seed collecting efforts, plant rescues, and other KPC activities involved in conserving and restoring our prairies. Julie is an invaluable advisor and active volunteer who helped maintain, provide plants, and organize invasive removals at the pocket prairies of Westside High School and Frostwood Elementary, two of KPC’s Prairie Builder Schools.
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To Texas Master Naturalist, Gulf Coast Chapter’s Plant Propation Program (PPP), Julie was a valuable volunteer whose organization ability while the PPP program was at Hermann Park was much appreciated.
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Julie‘s volunteerism, very diverse prairie activities, and tremendous impact on conservation, restoration, and education of our local prairies has earned her HNPAT’s first annual Greater Houston Prairie Volunteer Award.
Urban Prairie Series
Hermann Park’s first prairie exhibit, Whistlestop Prairie, is in its 9th year and growing well with little maintenance. More than 2,000 rescued and cultivated prairie plants were put in. Most of the native bunch grasses in the prairie are Eastern gamma, Switchgrass, and Indian grass. This amazing little pocket of rescued local native prairie plants provides habitat for our local wild rabbits, nesting water fowl, and an occasional visiting opossum. Spring and summer bring in an amazing line-up of crawling critters; from lady bugs to praying mantis. An Eagle Scout provided a recent addition of several colorful native solitary bee boxes to highlight the area and attract the attention of Park visitors. Regular volunteer workdays take place on Saturdays; contact Diane Kerr at dkerr@hermannpark.org for more details. Come out for a visit -- located across from the Japanese Garden (look for the prairie sign) in Hermann Park.
Photo courtesy of Don Pine
Volunteers Needed!
The Katy Prairie Conservancy has an exciting, new volunteer opportunity in Houston! While the Native Seed Nursery at Katy Prairie Conservancy's field office in Waller is being renovated this winter, the Memorial Park Conservancy has generously offered us use of their greenhouse. Volunteers will help grow plants that will be used for various Katy Prairie Conservancy spring projects and for the Great Grow Out.
We will be bumping up seedlings given back by Great Grow Out participants and growing many 9 Native plants for a 9 Natives Showcase Garden and for various Prairie Builder Schools + Parks locations.
Workdays are scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month, beginning this Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
The Memorial Park Conservancy Greenhouse is located in Memorial Park on the south side of Memorial Drive (29.762814, -95.430651), google map: https://goo.gl/maps/2kLw52yWhaM2.
All are welcome, no experience necessary! Register here.
Check This Out!
Citizen's Environmental Coalition will present a great selection of films at the fifth annual Wild & Scenic Festival On Tour, January 30 & 31, 2019!
February 27 – Madden Prairie by Pat Merkord (HNPAT) and Kristi Harms (NPAT)
March 27 - Rangeland Ecology, Plateau Wildlife by David Riley, Staff Bilogist ! with Plateau Land & Wildlife Management
Prairie Workdays
Armand Bayou Prairie Fridays
Join the volunteer team at Armand Bayou Nature Center every Friday from 8:30 a.m. until noon for stewardship work. Check their website at www.abnc.orgto become a registered volunteer.
Artist Boat Coastal Heritage Preserve Workday
Join the fun at Artist Boat Coastal Heritage Preserve’s open workdays on the first and third Thursdays of each month from 9 a.m. to noon. We will be laying down seed, “bumping up seedlings”, planting, and minor maintenance work around the greenhouse and nursery.
Contact Greg Hall for more information.
Katy Prairie Conservancy
Volunteer days every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Indiangrass Preserve, 31950 Hebert Rd, Waller, TX 77484. Work in the native plant nursery (see announcement above), participate in prairie restoration projects - there's always lots to do at Katy Prairie! Contact Allen Brymer for more information.
Sheldon Lake Prairie Restoration
Volunteer days every Tuesday morning from 8:00 a.m. - noon, 14140 Garrett Road. Contact John Egan for more information. Sheldon Lake also hosts a regular wetland restoration volunteer day every Wednesday morning from 9:00 a.m. - noon. Contact John Egan for that one too!
Texas City Prairie Preserve
Looking for a way to get your hands dirty and get back to nature? Become a Nature Conservancy volunteer! We’ve established a robust volunteer program at our Texas City Prairie Preserve, a 2,300-acre expanse of coastal prairie and marshland just south of Houston. Established in 1995, the preserve provides vital habitat for more than 280 different bird species. Its coastal grasslands also act as natural buffers during storms and hurricanes, absorbing and dispersing water from storm surges and floods, making Texas City Prairie a critical component of the Conservancy’s ongoing effort to restore and protect the Gulf Coast.
We're hosting volunteers the second Friday of every month, and welcome eager volunteers of every background and ability level. Work days will include a variety of opportunities, from removing invasive species and harvesting native seeds to planting marsh grasses and tending the butterfly garden.
Volunteers should wear jeans, closed-toe shoes, a long-sleeved shirt and hat. Please bring a refillable water bottle and work gloves (if you have them); the Conservancy will provide tools, gloves, sunscreen, water and snacks.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Adriane Arnold at adriane.arnold@tnc.org or (409) 941-9114.
