Saturday's Work Party Deemed a Success

Neighbors, staff from neighborhood grocery in.gredients, our local Compost Peddlers and members of Servant Church gathered this past Saturday to help control invasive species and clean up trash.

As reported by David Boston:

"The most significant result was how little trash there was. All the other cleanups have reduced trash all along Upper Boggy Creek. From the swing to the bridge only two bags were collected. The majority of volunteers concentrated on clipping the Johnson Grass seed heads and it looks like we were able to get 80 to 90% of them. Additional invasive plant marking was done in preparation for TXCC's workday on the 24th. The efforts here have paid off too. There are significantly less woody invasive plants than previously."

All photos credit: J. Potter-Miller, Cherrywood Neighborhood Association

Meet the Contractor Meeting: June 5, 2013

City of Austin reps will be on hand to discuss and answer questions about the forthcoming wastewater pipe replacement project that is scheduled to happen between July 2013 and April 2014.

When:    Wed Jun 5, 2013 7pm – 8pm (CDT)
Where:    Genesis Presbyterian Church - 1507 Wilshire Blvd

Current Projects at the Reach

There are three big projects that are happening at the Reach that neighbors ought to be aware of:

Habitat Restoration Project Phase I

This project has been in process now for a couple of years. It covers the upper northern and western portion of the greenbelt from around the intersection of Half Penny and Sycamore northwest to where the creek crosses under Cherrywood. We are adopting Watershed Protection’s “Grow Zone” policy, which focuses on not mowing around Austin waterways in order to decrease runoff, improve wildlife habitat and decrease water pollution. In concert with Watershed and other neighbors and community groups, FLWR has planted more than 100 trees and shrubs and seeded the entire Phase I area with native grasses and perennials, such as sideoats grama (the Texas state grass) and antelope horns. There is a temporary watering system installed that has been helping the new plantings get off to a good start. It will be removed when Phase II begins (see below).

Wastewater Line Replacement

This project extends beyond the Reach greenbelt to proximal streets. It is a big project to replace aging wastewater lines involving Public Works, Watershed and Water Utility. There are three places where the wastewater lines cross the creek that are exposed to the elements. These will be removed. Other bank stabilization and tree removal will also occur to accommodate this necessary project. The project will run from Summer 2013 - Spring 2014, and will mess up our streets to be sure. This project will impact the lower south-eastern part of the greenbelt, from about Half Penny southeast to 38.5 street. (In other words, the Phase II area, see below.)

Habitat Restoration Project Phase II

This is the next phase of habitat restoration that will happen in the lower southeast portion of the greenbelt, and will begin after the wastewater line replacement project (see above). We are still in the planning phase for this restoration, but it will look much like Phase I, with tree and shrub plantings, seeding, and temporary irrigation.

Meanwhile, Upstream...

There is a separate bank stabilization project that is being planned on the creek near Wilshire Blvd. Stay tuned for more info.

Neighbors Join to Release Ducks at the Reach

On Thursday, August 23, neighbors and friends joined together to release two juvenile black-bellied whistling ducks at the Willowbrook Reach. The young ducks had been rescued from a government building as chicks and nurtured to teenage-hood at Austin Area Wildlife Rehab.

Black-bellied whistling ducks have a long neck, long legs, a black belly, and white wing patches. As adults they are very distinctive.

Cornell Ornithology Lab reports that the whistling duck used to be a rare visitor north of the Rio Grande Valley, but first rice farming and now global warming is increasing their range northward and eastwards. They are now becoming a common visitor around Austin.

It's a dangerous world out there, with cats, owls, racoons, cars and more for these two little ducks to avoid, but the Reach provides a nice permanent source of water and shelter for them. Without FLWR's years of restoration, that would not be the case, but the creek is now flush with tree cover, vines, fish, tadpoles and other things that can support such wildlife.

Thanks go out to the myriad people who pulled together to rescue the ducks, keep them healthy and then find a place for them to start their new adventures in like. Keep an eye out for our new feathered friends.

[Photos provided by Margaret Mills.]

Join Us for a Nature Walk!

On Monday, Sept 10, 2012, join FLWR and representatives from the City of Austin on a tour around the Willowbrook Reach. We will identify plants and talk about the changes that have begun to take place since the beginning of the restoration project and establishment of "grow zones."

This takes the place of FLWR's regular bi-monthly meeting. Instead of meeting at Cherrywood Coffeehouse, we'll meet at the Reach!

Meet at the swing on the corner of Willowbrook and E 40th St. 6:30pm.

And Caterpillars Too

We often see the flowers and trees first, then maybe we notice the birds, the butterflies flitting around, feral cats stalking about. Grasses and the non-flowering perennials and annuals come later. But there's even more going on that isn't immediately visible to the quick scanning eye. For example, check out this monster!

This is the larva of the white-lined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata, which can be found flying around and pollinating flowers all about the neighborhood. The adult moths look like hummingbirds hovering in front of flowers and come out at dusk. This larva was found yesterday munching on an unidentified plant near the alamo vine where the creek intersects with Cherrywood. It's about 5 inches long or so, building up energy to transform into the adult moth.

Maintenance Plan

Here's the city's maintenance map for the Reach, divided into the upper portion and lower portion. The red and black striped area denotes mowing of a 4 foot perimeter. The orange stripes are paths mown 3-4 feet wide. Click on the images below to enlarge.

Recent Views of the Reach

Great photos of the Reach this spring provided by neighbor Vince. The next few years at the Reach will be the most challenging - and rewarding - times during the restoration process. The challenging part is living with the very tall grasses (most non-native) that are loving the rain and the fact that the Reach is no longer being mown.

The rewarding part is all of the amazing wildflowers, trees and shrubs that are making an appearance, many of them seeding by neighbors years ago are now thriving because there is no mowing. The evolution begins. In the photo above, for example, you can see firewheel (Indian blanket), Engelmann's daisy, horsemint, and coneflower.

Those tall grasses will likely decline in abundance as more natives take over and as trees grow and create shade. For now, we must be patient, and perhaps find beauty in them as well!

Cleaning Up the Butterfly Garden

Neighbors gathered yesterday to weed and spruce up the butterfly garden. All sorts of plants are blooming in the garden this month: zexminia, lantana, prickly pear, antelope horns, rock rose and nightshade.

The monarch caterpillars - probably over 20 of them! - have completely devoured the two antelope horn milkweed plants.

Here's a chrysalis hanging on the cactus.

It's important to have pupating places and sunning places for butterflies in a butterfly garden. This is exactly why we put the cactus there!

An American lady sunning on the shrubby boneset.

More Plants Blooming Now

Indian blanket, Mexican hat and Purple horsemint in the Willowbrook Reach prairie

The native wildflowers are in full swing this year, aided no doubt by the extra irrigation that we're giving everything as part of the Phase I restoration project.

Mexican hat stands tall in the Willowbrook Reach prairie

We had the pleasure of hosting a field trip this past Saturday for the Native Plant Society of Texas - Austin Chapter. It was so great to have such an esteemed group of native plant lovers walking through our greenbelt. Many thanks to Matt Turner and his friends for the great conversation and helping us to identify many previously unknown plants. Here are few below (all native to Central Texas!!):

Cainagre dock

Texas vervain

Silver bluestem

Dayflower

American germander

Coma

Coma

Poverty weed or false willow

Prairie verbena

Hierba de Zizotes or Longhorn milkweed

American basketflower

Purple horsemint

Remember: Nature is all around us and all we have to do is stand still for a bit and watch it unfold before us!

Recommended reading:

Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives. Matt Turner. UT Press.
Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country. Marshall Enquist.

What's Blooming Now

Mid-spring is a great time to be walking the Reach, which is full of blooming perennials. Almost every day, there is something new to see. Here are a few of the things you can see blooming right now:

Blue-eye Grass

Indian paintbrush (red) and pink evening primrose (pink)

Indian blanket

Rain lilly

Greenthread (Thelesperma filifolium)

Texas lantana (red and yellow) blooms among the sensitive briar (purple)

Sensitive briar

Engelmann's or cutleaf daisy

Leaves of the cutleaf daisy

Columbine

Pink variety of rain lilly

Pink evening primrose

Phlox

Bordered patch butterfly (Chlosyne lacinia) on the zexmenia (Wedelia texana) in the butterfly garden. This butterfly's larvae host on ragweed (of which we have plenty) and sunflowers (of which we just planted).

Seed Sharing

There is an exciting to development and potential future partnership that is shaping up at the Willowbrook Reach. Yesterday, a few of us met with Minnette Marr from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Minnette is a plant biologist and seed conservationist, and collects seeds from native plants from around Central Texas.

Minnette has begun the process of providing us with wild, native seeds that have been collected from just around Central Texas - from within our "seed shed" - that are appropriate for a habitat like the Reach. Some of them are even relatively rare plants.

The Wildflower Center has an enormous bank of native seeds, and Minnette said they would like to begin sharing those with groups like ours that are committed to restoring native plants back to their place within our ecosystems. This is just a very beginning.

We will likely spread a few of these seeds on our forthcoming workday and Clean Sweep Day, Apr 8.

This is very exciting, and another step forward in our mission to bring even greater numbers of pollinators, birds, flowers and native fruits and plants to our neighborhood!

invasives: AYW Removes Ligustrum and Chinaberry

Austin Youth Works was out yesterday at the Reach helping to further an invasive plant removal project that we began in December at our workday. They cut down a number of ligustrum trees and seedlines, some chinaberry and others, including pyracantha (I think).

We will always be dealing with these non-native invasive species, but removing them now provides a good opportunity to replace them with similar natives. Cherry laurel, for example, is a good native alternative to ligustrum, since it provides winter berries for birds and its evergreen nature is good habitat.

So, you'll see some piles of plants that were cut down until they are removed by the City, and perhaps that the Reach looks a bit different without those evergreens dotting the banks...for now, that is...

birds: We Have an Owl!

The past couple of days, an Eastern Screech Owl has been calling our new owl box home! Check him out:

Look for him poking his head out of the box during the day, and listen for his call at night. It sounds a lot like a horse whinnying. Here's a great recording of their calls.

The box is in a high traffic area, so it's possible the owl might not make this a permanent home and raise a brood with a female, but we can cross our fingers!

Installing more owl boxes around the Reach might be a project to consider in the future. And if you've got the perfect tree, definitely think about installing an owl box at your own home. Here's an article about building and placing nest boxes.