Tag: Southwest Williamson County Regional Park

Posted on

Field Trip: Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail, May 29, 2022 at 6:00PM

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

Where: Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park  in Leander.  (Google map)
When: Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 6:00PM

Join us for a leisurely walk along this relatively flat, mulched, 1.7-mile trail and see some of our chapter’s interpretive plant signs. (Read the related blog post here.) Habitat includes oak/cedar/mesquite woods and grass fields. Restrooms available.  All ages welcome!  Our field trips are free and open to the public.

Directions to the park and where to meet: From IH-35, take Exit 256 (RM 1431, University Blvd), go west on RM 1431 for about four miles, and then turn right and go north on CR 175 for about one mile. At the next traffic light, the park entrance will be on the right. Meet at the gravel parking lot on the left just past the traffic circle (next to the disc golf course).

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

Posted on

New Plant Signs at Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

— by Kathy McCormack

The Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) Williamson County chapter recently worked with the Williamson County Parks & Recreation Department to install nine new interpretive plant signs along the eastern half of the Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park. Six signs were previously installed along the western half of the trail. Maps for these signs can be found at the bottom of our chapter’s Interpretive Plant Signs webpage.

There is ample parking for this relatively flat, mulched, 1.7-mile trail (plus an additional 0.5-mile walk along the park road back to your vehicle). You can check out the new signs any time on your own, or join us on May 29, 2022 at 6:00pm for an evening field trip on this trail. (See this field trip announcement.)

sign identifying a native plant
Honey Mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa. Photo by Nancy Pumphrey.

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

Posted on

Adopting an Orphaned Kiosk

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**

– by Belinda and John Buescher

John and Belinda Buescher like to walk along a trail that connects their neighborhood (Parkside at Mayfield Ranch) to Williamson County’s Southwest Regional Park. The path is charming – bordered with Indian Blankets in late spring, punctuated with prickly pear, and dancing with butterflies in the summer. In winter the wind whispers through stands of little blue stem.

The county had constructed an information kiosk where the neighborhood trail met the park trail. But it had been neglected in recent years and had become, well, less than inviting:

image of an info kiosk
The orphaned kiosk.

The Bueschers offered to “adopt” the orphaned kiosk and spruce it up with native plant signs that NPSOT’s Field Trip Committee had already developed. The signs would be affixed with Velcro so they could be switched out seasonally. Committee Chair Kathy Galloway arranged a meeting with the park manager, Toby Bonnet, who enthusiastically accepted their offer.

The couple compiled a list of native plants along the trail. Kathy McCormack, a fellow NPSOT Field Trip Committee member, arranged for the printing and lamination of the signs. Toby consolidated the park information that would need to remain in the kiosk, leaving half of the display area for NPSOT information. Belinda ordered Velcro squares; John bought a vinyl tablecloth and a staple gun. And the fun began!

image of an info kiosk
Work underway.
image of completed kiosk
John, Belinda, and the finished kiosk.
image of completed kiosk
Up close.

NPSOT has now been invited to update all the kiosks in the park!

Photo credits:  “Before” photo by John Buescher.   Remaining photos by Kathy McCormack.

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**