Category: Chapter Meetings

Chapter Meetings

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Program Summary: Nov 14, Seeds for Education & Outreach

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Our program tonight was by Minnette Marr, Conservation Program Manager at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Minnette presented Seeds for Education and Outreach sharing information on collecting and saving seeds.

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Minnette has an interesting background being involved with wetland restoration at Aquarena Springs on the San Marcos River in San Marcos and the Regional Seed bank. Now she is involved with Education and Outreach at LBJWC.

She taught us how to save native seeds, how to store them and how to use them in sensitive areas. We learned to determine a plant’s conservation status by looking at www.NatureServe.org. She went on to tell us how to collect a variety of seeds from the same species to get the most diversity and how to collect seeds from Threatened (S2) or Endangered (S1) species.

Minnette is obviously passionate about her work and gives many others a desire to save seeds important to the biodiversity of our environment.   You can contact her through the LBJWC or on iNaturalist  (www.inaturalist.org/people/beeblossomseeds).

View Minnette’s presentation below.

[embeddoc url=”https://npsot.org/wp/wilco/files/2019/11/19.1114-Seeds_LBJWC-Minnette-Marr.pdf” download=”all”]

You can see the November 14, 2019 business presentation slides here.

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On November 14, learn about the LBJWC Seed Bank-NOTE OUR LOCATION

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Join us for NPSOT-Wilco’s next chapter meeting on Thursday, November 14, 7pm, when our guest speaker, Minnette Marr, will tell us about the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Seed Bank.   Minnette is the LBJWC Conservation Program Manager, responsible for curating the seed bank and more.  See this link to the LBJWC staff directory.

IMPORTANT:  In November we meet at Georgetown Parks & Recreation Administration Offices, 1101 N College St, Georgetown, TX 78626 ( map),  NOT at the Georgetown Public Library.

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Seedpods, Old Man’s Beard, Clematis drummondii. Photo by Bob Kamper.

NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public.

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Program Summary for Oct 10, “Unnatural Texas”

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Unnatural Texas

— by Nancy Pumphrey
Our program on October 10, 2019 was an engaging talk by Drs. Robin Doughty and Matt Warnock Turner, co-authors of the book Unnatural Texas? The Invasive Species Dilemma. They spoke of starlings, sparrows and their introduction into the United States. They then went on to pigs, feral felines and then to plants.  Of interest was the proliferation of water hyacinths, and how they are clogging up waterways around the world. An interesting unintended consequence is that they actually clean waterways by filtering heavy metals and contaminants when used with control.

We know about the Chinese tallow. But new to me is that the USDA actually encouraged plantings in the ‘60’s as an agricultural crop for oils, fuel and wax products like candles.

Salt cedars were introduced in Galveston to control erosion and make windbreaks, now crowding out salt marshes.

The new threat is the emerald ash borer which was noted in Michigan in 2000 and is now spreading across the US.

More info about Robin’s and Matt’s book can found be at Texas A&M University Press or on Amazon.  (Shopping at Amazon Smile? Designate the Native Plant Society of Texas as your nonprofit charitable organization of choice!)

You can see the October 10, 2019 business presentation slides here.

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