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“3rd SATURDAY WORKDAYS”ENJOY THE OUTDOORS! Celebrate our 1st Monthly Prairie Restoration Workday, Kirchoff Prairie Restoration Site (*)Sponsored by the San Antonio Chapter of NPAT.

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Wild About Houston Short Film Screening-August 23, 2017-Houston, TX

Monday, Jul 24, 2017

Wild About Houston Short Film Screening

Wednesday beginning at 6:30 pm - HNPAT Monthly Meeting

Co-presenting this event: Houston - NPAT, Katy Prairie Conservancy, and Coastal Prairie Partnership at the Cherie Flores Pavilion in Hermann Park.

The goal of this short film screening will be to “spotlight short (10 minutes or less) films” that focus on local conservation efforts or local wildlife/ecosystems.

We see this as a local complement to the Wild & Scenic Festivals that Citizens Environmental Coalition Houston and Bayou Land Conservancy are hosting.
We would love for you or your group to submit a film for consideration. If you would like to submit an entry please click here and fill out a short form.
We hope you can submit a film and make the screening!

Have You Watched Pollinators? by Barbara Keller-Willy

Tuesday, Jul 11, 2017

Have you stopped not only to smell a flower but to watch a pollinator extracting nectar from a flower?
Thanks “Strands Prairie - Follet Island,”
for allowing us to refresh our minds in your beauty and wonder!

Gratitude and photos contributed by NPAT’s Board President, Barbara Keller-Willy

Report from Executive Director, Pat Merkord

Tuesday, Jul 11, 2017

Executive Director’s Report on the Second Annual Prairie Tour, June 3, 2017

Led by their President, Leigh Ann Ellis!

• There were about 50 attendees, about 35 rode on the bus, and the rest, who followed in vehicles, came from Central and South Texas.
• The bus departed from Dallas in pouring down rain!
• But - it cleared for a beautiful day’s visit to Burleson Prairie. The owner of Burleson led the tour with information gained over many years of restoration efforts by Mickey and Bob Burleson. The prairie was beautiful with many species blooming and grasses waving in the morning breeze. It was a memorable visit.
• We next headed to Salado for a fabulous lunch.
• Then headed to Granger Lake to look at restoration efforts there and a discussion of the difficulty of maintaining restoration efforts. Visitors got to see large growths of Eastern Gama Grass and aggressive growth of Alamo Switchgrass.

After leaving Granger, the rain fell in torrents, and for a while we wondered if we would have to end the tour. We stopped for a rest at a gas station, discussed the situation; since it appeared that the weather might give us a break—

• We decided NOT to go to NPAT’s Reisel Prairie but took advantage of being near a world-famous outdoor research facility, Agricultural Research Service (“ARS”), a.k.a., Reisel Watersheds. “ARS’, is the chief scientific research agency of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory; the facility is commonly known as the Riesel Watersheds. (Established in 1937 as the Blacklands Experimental Watershed. It is operated by ARS in cooperation with Texas AgriLIFE Research.) Visitors from across the United States and around the world come to Riesel Watersheds to see the research site! Because water supply shortage, flood occurrence, and water quality degradation will increasingly affect the environment and future generations, watershed-based studies continue to be needed to solve these problems. It was agreed we should hold another field trip for a more in depth look at this valuable prairie and research site.
• The ‘frosting on the cake’ of our tour was our visit to Simpson Prairie, one of NPAT’s easements near Crawford, Texas. The storm clouds on the horizon with rays of sunshine coming out after an afternoon of rain lit up the colors of the prairie and we all took our fill of prairie pictures.
• It was a great end to a delightful day!

Congratulations, Blackland NPAT Chapter!

This Chapter, under the direction Leigh Ann Ellis, provided a delightful and very well attended Prairie Tour to Central Texas Prairies!
We all got to meet many new people to the prairie community and were inspired by comments from all on their enthusiasm and support for our Texas Prairies.

THANKS to all our PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Blackland Chapter’s 2nd Annual Prairies Tour - June 3, 2017

Tuesday, Jul 11, 2017

June 16, 2017 Account by Pat Merkord (including various photos received by that date).

RAINY DEPARTURE:
The bus departed from Dallas in pouring down rain!
But - it cleared for a beautiful day’s visit to Burleson Prairie;
next to Salado for a fabulous lunch. From there we drove to Granger Lake.
Then the rain fell in torrents, and for a while we wondered if we would have to end the tour. So, we stopped for a rest at a gas station and discussed the situation.
Then it appeared the weather might give us a break
—we decided to head on to .... USDA’s Riesel Watershed (“ARS”),
and the tour ended with a visit to Simpson Prairie with storm clouds on the horizon and rays of sunshine coming out after an afternoon of rain; it lit up the colors of the prairie, and we all took our fill of prairie pictures! It was a great end to a delightful day! Pat Merkord, Executive Director, NPAT

Beautiful Simpson Prairie! (Photo by Stalin SM)