Category: Chapter Meetings

Chapter Meetings

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On April 11: “Promoting Habitat Restoration in Urban Areas” with Cheryl Lewis

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(Please note, tonight’s meeting is at the Cedar Park Recreation Center, not at the Georgetown Library.  See info at the bottom of this post.)

image of GT library garden
Library demo garden. Photo by Agnes Plutino.

Join us at NPSOT-Wilco’s chapter meeting on April 11, 2019, for our program topic “As it was in the beginning, it shall be again:  Promoting habitat restoration in urban areas” with Cheryl Lewis. 

Cheryl Lewis, from the Brazos Valley, will explain the importance of native plant communities and the ecosystem services they provide.  The current plight of insect pollinators will be explained and information provided on how using native plants in urban landscapes can help restore their habitat, health and numbers. Cheryl will discuss ways to engage the public, including newspaper articles, social media, plant sales and demonstration gardens.

Cheryl grew up in the Pineywoods and Coastal Prairie ecoregions of Texas. She comes by her love of plants from an extended family in which at least one household always had a vegetable garden and seasonal canning was routine. She graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science in Range Science and a Master of Agriculture in Horticulture. On becoming a Texas Master Naturalist, Cheryl has focused on habitat restoration and landscaping with native plants. In addition to serving as a master naturalist, Cheryl is also president of the new Post Oak Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas in College Station.

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

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On March 14: TreeFolks, “Travis County Floodplain Reforestation Program: a natural solution to contemporary problems”

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Live oak at Garey Park
Live oak at Garey Park

Join us at NPSOT-Wilco’s chapter meeting on March 14, 2019, for our program topic by TreeFolks on “Travis County Floodplain Reforestation Program: a natural solution to contemporary problems” with Collin McMichael.  (Please note, we meet in Cedar Park this month, not at the Georgetown Library. See the bottom of this post.)

Collin McMichael is Education Coordinator at TreeFolks in Austin, a nonprofit where the mission is “… to empower Central Texans to build stronger communities through planting and caring for trees.”

From Collin:  “As Austin pushes eastward, the degraded creeks and streams of the Blackland Prairie ecoregion find themselves in developers’ cross-hairs. The goal of TreeFolk’s newest program, the Travis County Floodplain Reforestation Program, is to reforest the riparian corridors east of Austin and protect imperiled streamsides. Through our successes in previous reforestation efforts we have designed a pilot program to reforest 50 private and 5 public tracts of land with the hopes of generating carbon credits on each site. This program will improve stream quality, improve air quality, reduce energy consumption, and offset carbon emissions regionally. Carbon offsets are being sold to the Austin’s Office of Sustainability in order to help meet their 2020 goal of carbon neutrality. TreeFolks’ TCFRP is a novel, scale-able solution to global climate change that will increase resiliency at the local level while addressing global problems.”

TreeFolks and its volunteers work with communities planting trees in parks, preserves, at schools, and other places. They provide education about trees and urban forests, and restore forests in Central Texas after natural disasters.  Collin will tell us more about TreeFolks, its projects, and its regional plans. Don’t miss it!

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

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Program summary: Feb 14’s Not the Same Old Deer-Resistant Plants

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Chapter members and guests alike thoroughly enjoyed Randy Pensabene’s presentation, Not the Same Old Deer-Resistant Plants, at our meeting on February 14.

Randy’s talk was loaded with information.  We learned about the most important factors for leaves, scents, and forage value that influence whether a plant is attractive to deer in the first place — or not.  Randy’s slides and handouts showcased various plants that exhibit the desired features. Some were surprising-to-the-audience examples that we don’t usually hear about as being deer-resistant at local nurseries. Armed with tonight’s knowledge, betcha some deer out there will soon be going on a diet…

Randy’s full presentation can be found at this link.

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

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