Category: Community

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Apply for Monarch Garden Grants!

Forward to/share this post with your local school district, educational community and nature centers! For details, read the Society’s full announcement and click on the grant application.

If needed, the NPSOT-Williamson County Chapter has resources to help with the application (examples include plant lists and sources). Contact the chapter at wilco-chapter@npsot.org for help.

Native Plant Society of Texas News:

monarch butterfly

Bring Back the Monarchs to Texas Grant Applications Now Open

Deadline to Apply: February 10, 2025

You can help save the Monarchs!

As their number declines and the species approaches threatened status, you can help save our iconic Monarch Butterfly. Plant pollinator gardens with native plants to provide the essential nectar that will fuel their up to 3,000 mile fall migration. Include native milkweeds to support the multi-generational spring migration.

Our Bring Back the Monarch to Texas (BBMT) garden grants can help with your efforts. Applications are now open for 2025 garden grants. 

The BBMT program awards grants up to $600 to nature centers, schools, educational groups and others to help fund development of Monarch demonstration gardens or Monarch Waystations using native plants on public sites in Texas. The purpose of this program is to educate members, applicants, and the public about Monarch conservation and native plants, and to encourage restoration of Monarch habitats throughout the Texas migration flyway.

The application process must be completed by February 10th, 2025, and awardees will be announced at the beginning of March. 

Apply Today

Grants are funded by Native Plant Society of Texas, Monarch Watch and by individual and corporate donations to the BBMT program. In 2025, additional funds through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation will be used to underwrite some of the garden grants. The Native Plant Society of Texas is grateful for everyone helping provide the funds to maintain our program.

In 2024, BBMT awarded 51 grants for a total of $29,700, delivered educational talks, helped tag Monarch butterflies with Monarch Watch, and distributed milkweed plants!

Questions – bbmt@npsot.org

Carol Clark, BBMT Committee Chair
Native Plant Society of Texas

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Leave No Trace training – Williamson County Preserves

News from the Williamson County Conservation Foundation:

The Williamson County Conservation Foundation is offering a “Leave No Trace for Williamson County Preserves” training for people who want to access county preserve areas. The class will be held Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Annex, 100 WilCo Way, in Georgetown.

“Leave No Trace” is a program by the Center for Outdoor Ethics and covers seven principles emphasizing mindfulness while hiking at Williamson County Preserves.

The class is free to attend but space is limited and advance registration is required. Participants must first complete the free Leave No Trace 101 course online here, and email your certificate to the Williamson County Conservation Foundation at wccf@wilco.org. To register, click here.

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Volunteer this Fall in Round Rock

News from the City of Round Rock, Texas:

Come join a new project with the City of Round Rock Public Works department.  The City building at 3400 Sunrise Road, Round Rock, is looking for help to clean up and prepare the property’s bed areas for new native plants.  Many of the original plants have died.  Weeds are spreading, and City staff want to turn the property into a demonstration site of native plantings.  This fall, we are looking for helpers to assist with weed pulling (there’s a lot), possible compost spreading, native seed dispersal, and some shrub pruning around the perimeter of the building, as well as  the parking lot islands.  New plants will be installed in the spring.

Work days will be scheduled for every Friday morning starting October 18 thru December 6 (weather permitting and if there’s still work to do), from 8-10am.  Please bring your own gloves, sharpshooter shovels, hand trowels, and other weed pulling devices.

Please note this building is occupied by employees, so there will be people around, as well as vehicles.  The good news is that means there’s plenty of parking, restrooms, and water fountains available! 

  • Location: City of Round Rock Utilities & Transportation office at 3400 Sunrise Road, Round Rock
  • Date/Time: Fridays from 8-10am starting October 18, 2024.
  • How to Volunteer: Reach out to Jessica Woods, City of Round Rock Water Conservation Coordinator, with questions or to volunteer. jwoods@roundrocktexas.gov, 512-844-8514.