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Westcave Welcomes New Educators
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Help give a warm welcome to our new education staff as we approach fall field trip season! They are all excited to get kids outside to explore the wonders of Westcave.
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Meagan Marie Whitehouse has always shown a passion for the outdoors from playing in the mud to catching anoles and toads throughout her childhood. Her childhood passion became a reality during an undergrad summer internship that took her to the Appalachian Mountains where she studied reptile and amphibian populations. She has received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Masters in Wildlife Ecology and Management at Texas State University. Her thesis focused on the ecological requirements of the Gulf Coast kangaroo rat, a small rodent found only in south Texas. Meagan has worked at various Texas Parks and Wildlife parks as a natural resource management and education intern during her early career and is an active member of Hays County Master Naturalists.
Meagan started her journey at Westcave in 2017 as the Weekend Manager/Natural Science Educator, sharing her passion for the outdoors and making nature come alive for visitors of all ages. In 2022, she became the Education Manager. Meagan continues to share her passion to get kids and adults alike outside and take a closer look at their surroundings through field trips, public tours, and specialty programs.
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Mara Alcantara is an Environmental Educator that is passionate about sharing her knowledge of the natural world with any who will listen. She is excited to learn and absorb all that she can, especially in an environment as interesting as Westcave’s. Mara’s curiosity for ecology grew from her father’s love of gardening, kayaking, and hiking; hobbies that have now been passed down to Mara and her siblings.
Mara graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Ecology. She hopes to be able to continue her education for many years, with specific interests in conservation botany and mycology.
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Joe Burns had an appreciation for nature and the great outdoors starting from a very young age. He roamed the natural history museum in Waco at three years old while his mom worked. Family vacations were always built around a camping trip, usually to a National or State Park.
While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Joe received a bachelor of science degree in education and later a Masters in Education degree from Sul Ross State University. Joe retired after a thirty-two year career in public education as both a teacher and administrator.
The retired life was not for him, however, so the search for a new opportunity began! Joe was thrilled when he discovered an opening at Westcave Preserve. Joe joined the Team as an Environmental Educator where he can merge his passion for nature and the environment with his skill set as an educator.
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The Pedernales River at Hammett's Crossing, the historic low water crossing located right before arriving at Westcave Preserve, is currently at the lowest known level in the last 50 years.
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Current drought conditions are worsening as the summer progresses with increasing wildfire frequency. Recently, three different wildfires have burned over 2,700 acres of land in Central Texas alone. It does not take much to start a wildlife with all the dried vegetation serving as fuel.
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During and after a prescribed burn at Westcave in October, 2019. Prescribed burns can be a crucial part of managing native landscapes but must be supervised by trained professionals. You can learn more about prescribed burns on the Texas A&M Forest Service website.
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Please be conscious of your surroundings. If you see a fire call 911 and report the fire immediately. The Texas A&M Forest Service provides current updates on active wildfires and drought conditions. You can learn proactive ways to protect your property at the National Fire Protection Association.
Despite other local Hill Country springs, creeks, and rivers drying up this summer, Westcave’s waterfall has not been affected thanks to the Middle Trinity Aquifer that feeds it! Westcave is an oasis in the drought -- visit today and see for yourself.
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Book your Special Occasion Photography or Elopement Hike at Westcave
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Dream of taking your special occasion photos or even tying the knot in the most beautiful spot in Texas? Consider Westcave! We offer private photography and elopement packages for photo shoots and intimate ceremonies to commemorate your special occasion. Prices start at $600 for up to 5 people, with the option to add more for an additional fee. Click here for more details. |
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If you have been out to the preserve lately you will likely have noticed a few de-barked shin oaks along our trails that look like they might have oak wilt or some related disease. This de-barking is thanks to our nocturnal rodent friends, the porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum). Latin for “the animal with the irritating back”, the predators that have a run-in with these will have a good understanding of this name.
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The anatomy of a porcupine is a unique combination of different animal features. Some people say that they have teeth like a beaver, feet like a bear, underfur as thick as sheep’s wool, badger-like claws, and the unique barbed spines all over its body except for on the nose, legs, and underside. Contrary to popular belief, porcupines do not aim and shoot their quills at a nearby threat. Instead, they lift their quills when threatened and shake their tails and advance backwards towards the threat. The myth likely stemmed from this shaking motion combined with quills that were ready to be shed. Similar to a hair on your head porcupines grow new quills continuously throughout the year at a rate of one millimeter every two days. Once grown, the follicle around the quill will close, making the release of the quill easy.
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Well-camouflaged porcupine spotted by Westcave visitors on the trail to the Grotto, 8/13/2022.
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The herbivorous porcupine is defined as a grazer when, in reality, they instead prefer a diet of more woody vegetation. During the spring and through the summer here in the Texas Hill Country, they prefer eating low-growing vegetation such as young trees or shrubs. Carefully sniffing and chewing thoroughly, their craving for salt is what can lead these porcupines to eat so carefully. While we do not know entirely why our particular rodents prefer the bark on these Shin Oaks (Quercus havardii), we do know that they eat the inner bark of trees to make up for lost nutrients in their usual diet. Thankfully, this bark-feast is not a year long occurrence. In other parts of the country porcupines like to dine on trees in the fall as a delicacy, but here it seems to also include the late summer months as well as still supplementing with ground vegetation.
This foraging tactic can often kill the tree if there is enough bark removed. Also called ring-barking, girdling is the complete removal of the bark around the circumference of a tree. Death will occur above the girdled area, and if it is a main trunk of the tree, it will kill the tree. As far as the health of our trees goes, we can only hope that they survive until next spring when they will be able to regenerate their bark. If these trees are girdled, the chances of that specific limb or the tree entirely, if the main trunk is girdled, will likely die. As we continue to monitor the “damages” of their nocturnal feast, we can’t help but continue to be amazed by the many roles that take place in our own ecosystem at Westcave Preserve. For more information about porcupines, feel free to check out the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department article about the spiny rodents here.
--Jered Davenport, Conservation Specialist |
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If you have any questions, comments, or fun stories to share please email us at info@westcave.org.
Best,
Your Westcave Family
info@westcave.org
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