NPSOT-Wilco Plant Surveys

Plant surveys assist public land owners as they make decisions based on flora diversity (or lack thereof).  NPSOT-Wilco assists Williamson County communities by incorporating these requests into field trip planning.  Plant lists and photo albums below are surveys conducted by the NPSOT-Wilco chapter.

We use the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center NPIN database for binomial names and common name conventions. For common names, we generally use either the first name listed in the LBJWC NPIN database or the name that is used most frequently by our local members.

image of Commelina erecta, Widows Tears
About Our Plant Survey Photos

Links to survey photo albums are provided for personal educational purposes only and are not designed for commercial use or publication. Copyrights of individual photographs remain with the original  photographer. Please do not copy or upload these photos to other sites.

Commelina erecta, Widows Tears, at Berry Springs Park & Preserve

Berry Springs Park & Preserve Plant Survey

This project was a collaboration between the Chapter and Williamson County, officially beginning in January 2013. The field trip portion concluded on December 13, 2014, having visited the park at least once for each month in a year. Originally scheduled as a three-year project, the plant surveys finished a year ahead of schedule.  The plant survey list has been updated as we’ve found new plants on-site.

image of wildflower meadow

Garey Park Plant Survey

image of bushy bluestem grass

Beginning in 2017, our NPSOT-Williamson County Field Trip Committee, and many field trip attendees, conducted more than twelve site surveys over two years at the City of Georgetown’s Garey Park.

A full listing of the plants found can be downloaded at the link below.

Gault Archeological Site Survey

NPSOT-Williamson County conducted four quarterly surveys in 2009 at the Gault Archeological Site, located in northwest Williamson County near the Bell/Williamson County line. We do not have photos from this project. (Read about discoveries related to the earliest peoples of the Americas on the website of the Gault School of Archeological Research (GSAR).)

image of a list of plants

Hidden Springs Preserve Plant List

image of a group of people

Hidden Springs Preserve, a recent acquisition of Williamson County Parks and Recreation, has over 900 acres and is a habitat for Golden Cheek Warblers. Currently there are no plans to open the area to the public. The northern section is very rough terrain and will probably remain undeveloped.

At present (June 2021): there are informal plans to reduce the amount of scrub Ashe Junipers and restore native grasses; Good Water Master Naturalists are conducting game camera surveys; and NPSOT, along with members of GWMN, is working on providing the Parks department with a list of plants found.

The project is expected to run for several years as we visit the site in different months. Our survey trips started in 2021 and continue into the present year.

River Ranch County Park Plant Survey

In December 2012, NPSOT-Wilco completed a three year plant inventory of the flora of the thousand acre River Ranch County Park, formerly known as the Williams Tract.

image of a video frame

Southwest Williamson County Regional Park Plant Survey

image of a trail entrance

Located on County Road 175 just north of FM 1431, this park features developed recreational spaces as well as hiking and nature trails with various native (and some invasive) plants.