Author: NPSOT-Wilco

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Meeting Reminder, November 13: “Intro to Pocket Prairies” with John Hart Asher @ GT Public Library

[Updated Nov 12, with topic and speaker details; will be recorded for YouTube.]

Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, November 13, 2025, when our featured topic will be Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM.  The guest presentation begins after a short business meeting.

About our speaker and topic: John Hart Asher is Principal and Senior Environmental Designer at Blackland Collaborative where “Our mission is to create diverse ecosystems that reconnect people and nature.”

[Added Nov 12] About our topic: It’s time to up the biodiversity in your life and grasslands are a great way to do so!

[Added Nov 12] About our speaker: John Hart Asher has over 15 years of experience designing and building functional ecosystems within urban conditions. He has conducted basic research in ecological engineering, ecological restoration, and land management, offered workshops to professionals and the general public, and provided fee-supported ecological consulting expertise to clients across Texas. As part of the consulting team at Blackland Collaborative, John Hart works with integrated design teams composed of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and developers to integrate sustainable design, practices, and philosophies into projects. He specializes in translating sustainable design into successful projects that provide varying layers of ecosystem services. His main interest is the application of ecological design, resulting in functional sustainable landscapes within urban ecologies. A few of his current projects include: Tall grass prairie restoration in an urban riparian corridor, native prairie green roof design, residential pocket prairies, sustainable roadsides, and green infrastructure.

John Hart worked on the green roof design and implementation for Bercy Chen Studio’s Edgeland House, which was featured in Dwell and Texas Architect magazines and has won several awards, including Architizer’s A+ Jury and Popular Choice Awards, the 2016 Design Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Texas Society of Architects 2016 Design Award. Edgeland House was also featured in Phaidon’s “Elemental Living: Contemporary Houses in Nature,” and most recently was documented in AppleTV’s HOME series that explores exemplary and innovative designs. He holds a bachelor’s in history from the University of Mississippi and a master’s in landscape architecture from The University of Texas at Austin, which awarded him a President’s Outstanding Staff Award in April 2018. He’s a dedicated environmental professional who specializes in bridging design concepts and ecological function and demonstrates strong project management skills with the proven ability to design, assess, and investigate landscape restoration installations, performance, and measures. He has carried out research and development of green roof technology with the aim of improving performance and application within semi-arid, sub-tropical climates, and has helped design and build numerous native prairie green roofs all over the state of Texas. In 2019 he also stepped in to serve as host of the nationally syndicated PBS show, Central Texas Gardener. You can bet he’s got a pocket prairie in his yard!

Please note:  We do not know yet whether this month’s guest presentation will be recorded for YouTube.

[Updated Nov 12] The presentation will be recorded for YouTube.

==> This month’s in-person location is the Georgetown Public Library, 2nd floor, 402 West 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626. Come early (6:30 PM) for expert advice, to check out the seed swap board, or just to visit.

==> To attend via Zoom, register at https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/VvNFIPIbTiWZqyl1gB1zqA#/registration

image of wildflowers
Southwest Williamson County Regional Park. Photo by Gary Bowers.

At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen in-person attendee!

* If we have permission from our guest speaker, we record the presentation for our YouTube channel. (See a list of past topics at this link.)

Have an idea for a speaker?  Let Program Leader Susie Hickman know via  email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org.

NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public. We hope you attend!  Meetings may be in person, virtual, or both, so be sure to check details in the meeting announcement. Meetings are announced on our website, our calendar and Facebook. See upcoming topics on our Home page or on the Calendar.

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Trip Report: On the Milkweed Trail, Berry Springs October 2025

— by Cindy Chrisler

Hikers on trail
On the trail at Berry Springs Park & Preserve, Oct 2025. Photo by Cindy Chrisler.

Eleven NPSOT-Wilco members and a guest congregated on October 26, 2025 at Berry Springs Park & Preserve, just north of Georgetown, to explore the newly opened Milkweed Trail. This trail is a three quarters of a mile loop along the outline of a 30 acre meadow and adjoining riparian habitat on the southeast side of CR 152, the road that leads to the entrance of the park. Just opened in August, the trail is accessed by taking a paved trail from the donkey compound down to the treeline by Berry Creek. The paved trail now extends under the bridge where CR 152 crosses Berry Creek, and leads to the mulched/mowed meadow trail. 

Thanks to a lucky cool front, the afternoon hike was pleasant as most of the trail was shaded. On the way to the creek/bridge undercross we encountered woody species such as Box Elder, Black Willow, mature (cultivated) and young (naturally germinated) Pecan trees, Bur and Live Oaks, Bois d’Arc, and the ever present and persistent Poison Ivy. Most shrubs and herbs were long past the flowering stage but could still be identified, including Rosinweed, Bear’s Foot, Southern Dewberry, Williamson County Winecup, and White Heath Aster. 

Once on the actual trail, we visited the site where the NPSOT-Wilco Chapter planted saplings in 2018. The saplings, planted near CR 152 and across the wooded area to prevent unauthorized hiking, consisted of Texas Ash, Beautyberry, Trifoliate Sumac, Cottonwood, Mexican Plum, and Elderberry. They were protected with mesh fences and provided with deep watering via PVC pipes for several years. Further on the trail were large stands of Frostweed just past bloom, and a stand of Turk’s Cap.

The trail meanders through the tip of the park’s historic pecan grove edged with Western Soapberry, then follows the perimeter of a large meadow. The meadow was once home to Chinaberry and Honey Mesquite, which were eliminated in the early 2020s by the efforts of chapter member Charles Newsom. Now the meadow features Silver Bluestem, Liatris, several species of milkweed, Eryngo, and other wildflowers.

The scrub brush between the meadow and Berry Creek and Dry Berry Creek is composed of Possumhaw, Cedar Elms, Elbowbush, Mexican Buckeye, and other shrubs. This area is home to flying squirrels, swamp rabbits, and the occasional river otter family and beavers, as documented by Good Water Master Naturalists with trail cams. The portion of the trail alongside Dry Berry Creek was recently seeded with Antelope-horn Milkweed courtesy of the Monarch Sanctuary Project.

The group ended the hike by visiting the pollinator gardens at the park entrance and the turnaround near the campground entrance. Both sites have numerous species of nectar plants for bees and butterflies. 

The Milkweed Trail is open to the public during normal park hours and may be enjoyed year round. 

————–
See photos from other trips in our album =>

Field Trip Photo Album
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November 13 Chapter Meeting:  “Intro to Pocket Prairies” with John Hart Asher @ GT Public Library

Photo credit Gary Bowers

[Updated Nov 12, with topic and speaker details; will be recorded for YouTube.]

Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, November 13, 2025, when our featured topic will be Pocket Prairies with John Hart Asher. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM.  The guest presentation begins after a short business meeting.

About our speaker and topic: John Hart Asher is Principal and Senior Environmental Designer at Blackland Collaborative, where “Our mission is to create diverse ecosystems that reconnect people and nature.”

[Added Nov 12] About our topic: It’s time to up the biodiversity in your life and grasslands are a great way to do so!

[Added Nov 12] About our speaker: John Hart Asher has over 15 years of experience designing and building functional ecosystems within urban conditions. He has conducted basic research in ecological engineering, ecological restoration, and land management, offered workshops to professionals and the general public, and provided fee-supported ecological consulting expertise to clients across Texas. As part of the consulting team at Blackland Collaborative, John Hart works with integrated design teams composed of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and developers to integrate sustainable design, practices, and philosophies into projects. He specializes in translating sustainable design into successful projects that provide varying layers of ecosystem services. His main interest is the application of ecological design, resulting in functional sustainable landscapes within urban ecologies. A few of his current projects include: Tall grass prairie restoration in an urban riparian corridor, native prairie green roof design, residential pocket prairies, sustainable roadsides, and green infrastructure.

John Hart worked on the green roof design and implementation for Bercy Chen Studio’s Edgeland House, which was featured in Dwell and Texas Architect magazines and has won several awards, including Architizer’s A+ Jury and Popular Choice Awards, the 2016 Design Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the Texas Society of Architects 2016 Design Award. Edgeland House was also featured in Phaidon’s “Elemental Living: Contemporary Houses in Nature,” and most recently was documented in AppleTV’s HOME series that explores exemplary and innovative designs. He holds a bachelor’s in history from the University of Mississippi and a master’s in landscape architecture from The University of Texas at Austin, which awarded him a President’s Outstanding Staff Award in April 2018. He’s a dedicated environmental professional who specializes in bridging design concepts and ecological function and demonstrates strong project management skills with the proven ability to design, assess, and investigate landscape restoration installations, performance, and measures. He has carried out research and development of green roof technology with the aim of improving performance and application within semi-arid, sub-tropical climates, and has helped design and build numerous native prairie green roofs all over the state of Texas. In 2019 he also stepped in to serve as host of the nationally syndicated PBS show, Central Texas Gardener. You can bet he’s got a pocket prairie in his yard!

Please note:  We do not know yet whether this month’s guest presentation will be recorded for YouTube.

[Updated Nov 12] The presentation will be recorded for YouTube.

==> This month’s in-person location is the Georgetown Public Library, 2nd floor, 402 West 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626. Come early (6:30 PM) for expert advice, to check out the seed swap board, or just to visit.

==> To attend via Zoom, register at https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/VvNFIPIbTiWZqyl1gB1zqA#/registration

At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen in-person attendee!

* If we have permission from our guest speaker, we record the presentation for our YouTube channel. (See a list of past topics at this link.)

Have an idea for a speaker?  Let Program Leader Susie Hickman know via  email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org.

NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public. We hope you attend!  Meetings may be in person, virtual, or both, so be sure to check details in the meeting announcement. Meetings are announced on our website, our calendar and Facebook. See upcoming topics on our Home page or on the Calendar.