September 12, 2017
Since
I received a migraine from the previous visit to the FWNC&R, I came
well-prepared with a cooling neck tie, Gatorade, water, and a hat. Because of
my chronic illness, I am fairly sensitive to Texas heat, especially cutting
town tree limbs or cutting privet in direct sunlight in the heat of the day.
During this visit, I felt we were more prepared and knew what to expect from
our volunteer work. The first visit was filled with a lot of confusion and
sweat, but this time it was just a lot more sweat. The employees out at the refuge
also gave us more direction of what they wanted. For example, they told us that
they would like the paths to be cut back two to three feet on both sides so
they are able to drive their tractor to mow the grass on the sides of the
trail. The hard part about volunteering at the refuge is, personally, I don’t
have a ton of upper body strength. It requires a lot of effort to use heavy
shears to cut off a decently thick tree limb. Luckily, with the help of the
rest of my group and Dr. Williams, we are able to make some headway on our part
of the trail.
One
of the head managers also introduced himself to us since he wasn’t there the week
prior. He is the kindest man who has expansive knowledge about native Texan
trees and plants. His previous job was working as a land manager for private
owners looking to boost their chances of landing the biggest buck of the
season. Because of his experience, he can easily tell when and where deer have
been on the trail. He pointed to some recently eaten privet that a deer had
snacked on. Just days after a deer had eaten a little bit off the top of the
privet vine, new tiny, bright green leaves were starting to sprout. Privet and
creeper vines can grow rapidly and destroy other trees and limbs, as we see on
our part of the trail. The manager was saying how it would be in his best
interest to potentially just burn all of the underbrush and dead limbs on the
trails in order to clear everything out. The privet and creeper vines have
completely overtaken parts of the trail as time has passed. Because privet can
spread so quickly, it’s also hard for the land managers out at the refuge to
keep up with the growing issue. See the cute picture below of my wonderful
group members and Dr. Williams!
At
our property in Kansas, my dad also does controlled burns on our land every one
to two years. Burning our land to complete black ash ensures that invasive
weeds are completely destroyed and the native grassland can continue to live on
in its pure beauty. Sometimes this is much easier than taking the spray bottle
of Roundup all around the property. Plus, it can be an amazing, contrasting
site to see what is usually green or honey colored all turn to black. One of my
favorite pictures of all time is a picture of my black Bernedoodle dog,
Humphrey, taking a stretch after my dad and him had spent the day burning our
property. Humphrey loves to go to Rago—if my dad brings out his truck or puts
on his work boots, Humphrey starts to go ballistic. I have also attached a
picture of this beloved picture I am speaking of below.
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