Prairie Notes #214 - Burning Desire
Prairie Notes are monthly photo/journal observations from Tandy Hills Natural Area by Founder/Director, Don Young. They include field reports, flora and fauna sightings, and more, mixed with a scoop of dry humor and a bit of philosophy.
They are available free to all who get on the FOTHNA email list.
Burning Desire
Prairie Notes #214
October 1, 2024
1) Burning Desire
2) Giving Day Report
3) Field Report - September
4) New Species Report - September
5) Newsworthy & Noteworthy x 7
6) PrairieSky / StarParty Report
7) Prairie Proverb - FW Mayor, Mattie Parker
1) Burning Desire
Can you feel the ground shifting yet? No, I’m not referring to the upcoming election. I’m referring to all the good news about prescribed burns coming from the City of Fort Worth. After years of being told, No Way! to another decade of delays and inadequate willpower from city officials, I feel change is imminent. After years of pleading with the city, we finally have a YES!
Consider these recent developments:
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker recently announced the formation of Good Natured Open Space Initiative
The City of Fort Worth has recently added a Prescribed Fire page on their website
See also this basic burn info on the City News PAGE
The City has already completed six burns in high profile areas in FW including, the BRIT campus, Botanic Garden and the FW Nature Center & Refuge
City crews and interns with help from Friends of Tandy Hills have been very busy all year prepping for the burns
A burn plan for Tandy Hills has been created and is being reviewed by city staff
Several key, city staffers understand the need for a burn at Tandy Hills and are committed to getting it done this winter
Here’s what has happened so far: The $150K+ grant received from Communities Foundation of Texas in 2022 allowed for mulching of large areas of invasive privet at Tandy Hills and Broadcast Hill. Since then crews have been removing vegetation along trails throughout the park to both keep the trails clear and also use certain trails to delineate the boundary of the areas to be burned. Work along the trails involved cutting brush back and applying herbicide to prevent it from growing back into the trails. Later work will involve mowing or weedeating areas where grass covers the trails.
According to Jared Hall, Natural Resource Specialist with Fort Worth Park & Recreation Department and burn plan author:
The goal of the work along the trails is to keep vegetation off of the trails, reduce coverage of invasive species, and also allow the trails to be used as fire breaks. The goals of the burns will be to reduce hazard fuel loading, lower wildfire risk, reduce dead plant material accumulation so more plants can grow, increase carbon sequestration, reduce invasive species coverage, and improve the plant communities, to list a few.
Prescribed burns are an essential part of prairie maintenance and the benefits to Tandy Hills prairies can be enormous. Evey time we have had an “accidental burn” from fireworks and homeless camps, the prairies come back better than ever.
From the city website:
“We have seen a large increase in the number of plant and pollinator species in the burned areas this spring,” said Jared Hall, natural resource specialist in Park & Recreation. “Many important native plants pop up after the fire that were not present before the burns. We have also seen new plant colonization in areas that lacked plants due to excessive accumulations of leaf litter and other dead plant materials that shade out new plants from growing. This has made those areas more productive and provides more resources to wildlife.”
Next steps after the plan is approved will involve getting the required permits and ramping up public outreach. Burning will be scheduled once most of the leaves have fallen, probably between December 2024 and February 2025. But it looks like we are finally going to get a much needed burn for large sections of Tandy Hills. I’ll keep you posted. After all, it’s your donations that help pay for this.
DY
> > > Click on photos to view them un-cropped. < < <
Before and after a prescribed burn at Chisholm Trail Park in early 2024.
2) Giving Day Report
3) Field Report - September
Finally, a bit of fall-ish weather helped the prairies come back alive with native grasses and a few wildflowers. A decent amount of rain and longer, cooler nights helped a lot. Fall is all about grasses and the 70+ species at Tandy Hills are thriving. Silver, Little and Big Bluestem, Sideoats Grama, Slim and White Tridens, Purple Threeawn, Indiangrass, Tall Dropseed, Seep Muhly and many others are swiftly filling in the prairies. In between the grasses, Mantis’s, Spiders, Wasps, Grasshoppers, Dragonflies and various Moths and Butterflies are competing in the web of life at Tandy Hills. Oh, there was also a Coyote sighting in late September and the rare visit from an Upland Sandpiper. It’s wild out here!
CLICK each photo for best viewing and description.
Summer is giving way to fall at Tandy Hills. False Gaura and Snow-On-the-Prairie are blooming amidst the dried Basketflowers and Prairie Broomweed.
An inviting sunset view on a hot evening hike in late September. Basketflowers are fading and Maximilian Sunflowers about to bloom.
4) New Species Report - August
After the gangbuster month of August (83 new species!), we ended the month of September with only 3 new species. The species count is now at 2,214.
There was one especially notable species: A migrating, Upland Sandpiper, dropped in for a quick visit on 9/20 and was spotted by a work crew preparing for an upcoming prescribed burn. They are one of many bird species migrating south through FW right now. Remember to keep those lights off or down during the migration through November. You can check out all the new species on the Tandy Hills iNat Project Page HERE.
5) Newsworthy & Noteworthy x 7
>>> The Native Plant Society of Texas (North Central Chapter) is having their very popular, Fall Native Plant Sale on October 6th. Don’t be late. They sell out quickly. See flier for details. Click HERE to see a full list of the species they will have available.
>>> Congratulations are in order for two close Friends of Tandy Hills: Kim Conrow and Amy Martin were two of the top honorees in the Native Plant Society of Texas 2024 Awards. Both are well-deserving of their respective awards. Other N. Texas honorees included, Barney Lipscomb and Mary Curry. Check out the NPSOT website for all the winners and details, HERE.
>>> The Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) has created, the North Texas Prairie Initiative. The purpose and goal is to conserve 2,000 acres of native prairie in the 15 county area where development is rapidly depleting our native ecosystem. They had a successful fund raising effort on NTX Giving Day, raising $20K that will be matched with another $20K. Congrats to our friends at NPAT!
The Fort Worth Report recently did a story on the initiative. Read it HERE. You can learn more at the NPAT website HERE.
>>> On September 18th, City of Fort Worth, Natural Resource Planner, Michelle Villafranca, gave a presentation to the, University of North Texas Society for Ecological Restoration. The topic: Tandy Hills Natural Resource Grant Project. Michelle gave an overview of the large-scale restoration project as well as what it is accomplishing. We hope to have a YouTube video to share soon.
>>> Bill Neiman, co-founder of Native American Seed, was the subject of a new edition of, Texas Country Reporter. Bill talks about his seed farm and how to be a “better ancestor.” Bill, who has roots in North Texas, is one of the heroes of the resurgent prairie movement in Texas. The program is well worth your time. Watch it HERE.
>>> Fast Company is a national magazine focused on business, technology, environmental and social issues. They just published an article on the recently announced, Fort Worth Texas Good Natured Initiative, with a goal of setting aside 10,000 acres in the next five years and creating a nonprofit land consultancy. Titled, “Why Sprawling Fort Worth is Doubling-down on Green Space”, the article quotes FW Mayor Mattie Parker and mentions a new report from the Trust for Public Land that shows a strong correlation between investment in parks and green space and economic vitality. I’m pretty sure she is the first FW Mayor to talk seriously about saving our local prairies. Good read HERE.
>>> The history of Friends of Tandy Hills (FOTHNA) is intimately entwined with the story of fracking in Fort Worth. A new, multi-part series in the Fort Worth Report tells the history and future of gas drilling in north Texas (and Fort Worth, specifically). It will enlighten you as to how and why FOTHNA was founded in 2004. You will also learn that an early incarnation of FOTHNA played a pivotal role in raising awareness of the dangers of fracking on the national and international stage. It also touches on the sweet irony of the City of FW acquiring Broadcast Hill that was once slated for a giant fracking operation. Well worth your time. This link takes you to Part 2 of the series. LINK
6) Prairie Sky / Star Party report
The September star party was another great success. Great weather brought out 12 astronomers and about 50 visitors. The next star party will be, Saturday, October 12th, 2024. Read the sky-watching forecast from FWAS rep, John McCrea, below. View the full 2024 PrairieSky / StarParty schedule HERE.
“For our October 12th Tandy Hills/FWAS star party, we will have some new fall constellations and a preview of some winter ones as the constellations continue their westward journey. The center of our galaxy can be found in the constellation, Sagittarius (the Archer). Some of the more familiar summer constellations remaining are Scorpius (the Scorpion), Lyra (the Lyre) and Cygnus (the Swan). Among the new fall constellations visible will be, Cassiopeia (Queen of Ethiopia), Pegasus (the Winged Horse), Andromeda (daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus), Perseus (Rescuer of Andromeda) and Pisces (the Fish). The summer triangle (Vega (25 LY), Deneb (1,411 LY), and Altair (17 LY) will still be visible. Our circumpolar friend Ursa Major (the Great Bear) will be low over the northern horizon.
The sun will set at about 7 PM on October 12th and we will have a 9.7-day old waxing gibbous moon located in Capricornus (The Sea Goat). The “Lord of the Rings” of our solar system, Saturn (♄), about 822 million miles away, will be in Aquarius (the water bearer), and will be up all evening. Jupiter (♃), about 418 million miles away, will rise around 11 PM in the constellation Taurus (the Bull). Neptune (Ψ), at 2.8 billion miles away will be between Pisces and Aquarius. Uranus (♅), 1.76 billion miles away, will be in Taurus (the Bull).”
>>> The following Saturday, September 14, was, International Observe the Moon Night. Members of FWAS set up their scopes at Tandy Hills for this special event but, the sky clouded up and spoiled the moon-watching. The event was started by NASA in 2010, with the goals of bringing people together and raising awareness of NASA moon programs. “Everyone on Earth is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon.” Learn more about this annual event at the NASA website, HERE.
9) Prairie Proverb - FW Mayor, Mattie Parker
> Note: In 2024, all Prairie Proverbs will be from inspiring women.
“Not doing this will be a detriment to our community,” says Parker. “We need to protect the North Texas prairie, the tree canopy, and the trails. It’s not all about sticks and bricks and building; we want to create a place to raise kids.”
Photo by, Keren Carrión / KERA News
Become a member here: https://www.tandyhills.org/donate
Prairie Notes© is the official newsletter of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. All content by Don Young except where otherwise noted.
