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River Ranch County Park, Williamson County

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— by Sue Wiseman

River Ranch County Park is currently closed while it is under construction. It opens to the public in 2021.

This summer, in addition to filming our virtual plant walk (see it on YouTube), we also updated our River Ranch County Park Plant List.  NPSOT-Wilco’s history with River Ranch County Park, Williamson County’s newest recreation area, goes back more than a decade!

The plant list for River Ranch County Park, originally called the Williams Tract, was started in late 2009.  It was the idea of the first Williamson County Parks and Recreation Director, Jim Rodgers.  Jim contacted me and asked if NPSOT would be willing to do a plant list for the future park.

The NPSOT Williamson County Chapter tackled the project by surveying at least once during each calendar month over a three-year period.  Once we had accomplished this, with the help of Marshall Johnston, co-author of the Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, we went on to do plant lists for each of the remaining Williamson County parks.  However, our mission for River Ranch is not complete; when we started this project there were 1,011 acres in the park, we have since gained around 350 more acres, so once the park opens and Covid declines we will be able to go into the newly acquired areas to complete the project.

The Friends of River Ranch County Park are now accepting memberships.  “Our mission is to advocate and support River Ranch County Park by providing information, interpretation, and assistance in the maintenance and conservation of the park.” Folks that are interested can go to The Friends of River Ranch County Park Facebook page for information.

I was able to see the Interpretive Center last week and was thrilled with the facility and to find lots of bookcases built into the new conference room.  They have a long counter and sink on one wall of the meeting room.  In normal times, it would fit about 30 people classroom style.  When things get finished, I think everyone will be pleased with results!

P.S., The chapter’s River Ranch work helped to start the field trip committee that we know today. We did have field trips previously, but this effort inspired us to plan a trip a month through the year. Also, we sometimes did two park lists at the same time but usually stuck with one park, and then went other places during the rest of the year.   These photos are of some of us at River Ranch near the end of our project in October 2010, mostly chapter members but also some Austin members.

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River Ranch Field Trip, October 2010. Left to right: Ilse Meier, Charlie Wiseman, Sue Wiseman, Sue Anderson (Austin Chapter), Beth Blankenship, Dick Galloway, LaVerne Johnston (Austin Chapter), Kathy Galloway, Marshall Johnston (Austin Chapter).
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River Ranch Field Trip, October 2010. Kathy McCormack.

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Enjoy a virtual walk at River Ranch County Park

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— by Sue Wiseman

* River Ranch County Park, in Williamson County, TX, is currently closed while under construction. **

Join us as Sue Wiseman, NPSOT-Wilco member, narrates this preview of the stunning River Ranch County Park located along the San Gabriel River. We are grateful to the Williamson County Parks and Recreation Department for allowing NPSOT to get an early glimpse of what’s to come and many thanks to our tour guide, Alejandra Urista.

When opened later in 2021, this beautiful 1,354 acres of meadowlands, woodlands, hills and escarpments that provide hill country vistas between Leander and Liberty Hill will offer park users the opportunity to camp, picnic, hike, bike, ride their horses, nature watch or just relax outside.

River Ranch will showcase an approximate 4,800 square foot Interpretive Center, where you can learn about the natural, cultural and historic resources that make this park so special. Group pavilions and classroom/meeting space can also be reserved for those family, church, civic, business and other group type gatherings you may have.

Click on the image earlier in this article to watch the video, or use this link.  Find all NPSOT-Wilco videos on our YouTube channel.

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Thanks for a Great Fall Plant Sale!

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— by Beth Erwin

Our Fall 2020 series of plant sales at the farmers markets in Georgetown was a huge success.  Big thanks go to the Georgetown, Sun City, and Wolf Ranch Farmers Markets for allowing us to be guests for a day.  Our hard-working, enthusiastic team of volunteers worked for months getting ready for the sale and followed through right to the end.  Believe or not, we are already working on the Spring 2021 sale!  We are extremely grateful for our plant producers for providing us great native plants to sell.  Between sales, check with Wright’s Nursery in Briggs if you are seeking more native plants.

Many of our customers were seeking native plants for shade, and plants with some level of deer resistance.  We are planning to have more shade tolerant plants in the next sale.  As for deer resistance, we will work on that, too.  There is an excellent article on dealing with deer in the landscape in the most recent issue of the NPSOT members newsletter, Native Plant Society of Texas News.  Check it out at this link.

Lots of customers downloaded and printed the plant availability list and brought it to the sale.  Several of you commented on how much you liked having it.  We will keep that going.

We appreciate the customer feedback and really enjoy talking and listening to you at the sales.

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