Texas Prairies

I can sit on the porch before my door and see miles of the most beautiful Prairie interwoven with groves of timber, surpassing, in my idea, the beauties of the sea. Think of seeing a track of land on a slight incline covered with flowers and rich meadow grass for 12 to 20 miles…

Dr. John Brooke, 1849, speaking of the Texas prairie.

I love Texas prairies. I love being out under the big Texas sky surrounded by grasses and flowers and birds and butterflies. There’s nothing else in the world like it. It makes me feel so alive and happy.

There’s not much Texas prairie left — most people who study Texas prairies agree that there is only .004% left — and I’m trying to do my part to help save what remains. That’s not a whole lot left — there’s always news about the tropical rainforest and all of the critters that depend on it — but Texas prairies are even more endangered. And they’re right here at home.

In October I gave this presentation to the Georgetown chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas — it explains all about Texas prairies and where they’ve all gone. There’s lots of photos too! This presentation started out life in Microsoft PowerPoint and I saved it as html — it needs some cleanup work which I’ll get to asap.

I took this picture of my shadow on a Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) conservation easement on October 8th — I’ve got my backpack on so that’s why the odd shape, ha ha. NPAT helps preserve Texas Prairies — if you know of any please check out their web site and contact them!

I’ll end this post with a picture of a migrating Monarch on Salvia azurea — there were so many Monarchs out that day! I’m in awe of how Monarchs can migrate, but that’s a whole other blog entry. Check out monarchwatch.org for more info on how the Monarchs are faring.