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— by Randy Pensabene
All elected NPSOT-Wilco Board positions for the term September 1, 2022-August 30, 2023, are now open for nominations. We encourage newcomers and seasoned members to consider serving. Everyone can contribute to our continued success as a chapter.
Descriptions for all Wilco board positions can be found on our website under ‘About Us’ > ’Chapter Documents’ or click on this link=> NPSOT-Wilco Board Member Duties 2/9/2021. You may also send any questions to the Nominating Committee at wilco-chapter@npsot.org.
Our election will be held by email in late June through early July and results will be announced at our July 14th chapter meeting. The final slate of elected positions will be shown in the ballot that will be emailed to chapter members in late June with instructions on how to vote.
NPSOT-Wilco Nominating Committee, Randy Pensabene, Nancy Copperman, Erin Buhl
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Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, June 9, 2022, when our featured topic will be Gardening for Bats with Erin Cord. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM.
In person, we’re at the Georgetown Public Library, 2nd floor. If you attend in person, you are giving consent to be videoed for Zoom and YouTube (if the meeting is to be posted on YouTube).
About our topic: Erin will go over some bat basics and then talk about how you can help bats right in your own backyard by creating a bat garden!
Purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
About our speaker: Erin Cord is the Community Engagement Manager for Bat Conservation International. She has been with BCI for almost 3 years and absolutely loves all things bats! Erin got her undergraduate degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Delaware and her Masters in Wildlife Management from the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M Kingsville. Erin currently lives in Austin where she works to make her own yard a native plant and wildlife oasis.
At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen meeting attendee!
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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.
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— by Erin Buhl
On April 23rd we had our field trip to Native American Seed in Junction, Texas. The area was very dry and windy, and is part of a multi-county area of Central Texas currently experiencing drought level D4 – Exceptional, the most severe. The group included around 33 people from our chapter and the Austin Chapter, as well as some from the Master Naturalists group.
Bill Neiman (top left) sharing a few words with the field trip participants. Photo by Vicky Husband.
The field trip started at the Hacienda House where Bill Neiman, the owner and founder of the company, spoke to us about his youth and how he got started in the business after initially doing a lot of landscaping work using exotics. Bill’s philosophy about the importance of native plants is summarized on the company’s website on their pages What We’re About, and Sensible People… Why Native Plants are the Right Choice, and I encourage you to read both articles.
Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida). Photo by Erin Buhl.
Next, we made our way down to see the fields. Despite the dry conditions and difficulty of irrigating the fields, the beauty of the native flowers in spring shone through as you can see in these photos. Our tour guides, George and Emily, freely shared of their knowledge and answered our many questions. Some of the plants we saw that were currently in bloom were Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida), Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea), Winecup (Callirhoe leiocarpa), and Huisache Daisy (Amblyolepis setigera). We were too early in the year to see the field of Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) in bloom, but were told it is an amazing sight.
Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea) with Winecup “interlopers” (Callirhoe leiocarpa). Photo by Erin Buhl.
Huisache Daisy (Amblyolepis setigera). Photo by Erin Buhl.
Eventually we made our way up to the equipment area and the seed collecting barn. The equipment and time needed to sort the seed from the chaff and ensure its purity and viability are surprising. The business has to take seed and farming equipment that is made for general use (corn, soybeans, etc.) and convert it to their purposes with so many different species of natives that they are growing. They are providing a unique and essential service to the entire state of Texas and I encourage everyone to support their business for your native seed needs.
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