Native Plant Society of Texas, Fredericksburg Chapter
October 25, 2016 Chapter Meeting
The October 2016 chapter meeting began at 6:30 with light refreshments. President Chris Anderson welcomed all attendees, both members and non-members, to open the official meeting at 7:00.
Chris reminded all that this was our last regular chapter meeting of the year. The annual Christmas party will be at a brand new venue, the Gilbriar Farm Event Center, on December 13 from 6-8pm. Three other opportunities were mentioned: a plant walk at Enchanted Rock on October 28; the Wild and Scenic Film Festival at Fritztown Cinema on 1 November; and a NPSOT-sponsored Twitter event on Monarchs and Milkweed on the same date. He also thanked a host of volunteers for their support of the plant sales earlier in the month, and reported on a very enjoyable Fall hike in Canyon Lake Gorge organized by Raeann Reid. All applauded the announcement that former President and current member Lonnie Childs received the NPSOT Benny Simpson Fellows Award at this year's state symposium.
The members present unanimously elected the proposed 2017 board: President – Chris Anderson; Vice President – Nancy Person; Secretary – Joyce Studer; Treasurer – Moe Saiidi; Communications Director – Paul Unger; Membership Director – Henry Haynes; Education and Outreach Director – Denise Coulter.
David Will gave a very stimulating talk about the value of native grasses: they sequester carbon very effectively, absorb rain to prevent floods and hold water in the soil, mulch themselves, need little if any fertilizer, are healthier feed for livestock, and provide habitat and food for wildlife. He discussed ways to restore grassland/prairies: one way or another, simulate the infrequent visits of bison to wild prairies. He said that native grasses will naturally out-compete most invasives if given a chance.
58 persons attended.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Anderson
Chapter President
David Will
Growing and Maintaining Native Grasses
Which is healthier, and acre of trees, or of grasses.
more efficient than trees in removing CO2 than trees.
loss of native prairie - Texas to Canada used to be prairie - not cropland.
restoration of native prairie would sequester all the CO2 created since 1800.
prairies are basically vegetation-less - could it reverse global warming?
94.7% of 11 inches of rain in Ohio was recorded as runoff.
25% from prairie land.
New Braunfels - flood would have been a trickle.
5 tons of soil over 1 acre - as thick as a dime.
Converted cropland back to prairie - had grass.
Native grasses trap soil.
Big Bluestem roots - 100 feet deep.
Native grass prairies mulch themselves. Not much fertilizer needed.
3-5 million living organisms in one teaspoon of soil.
plowing kills the living organisms in the soil.
commercial fertilizers kill even more of the organisms in the soil.
corn-fed beef have stomach problems.
grass-fed beef don't.
all kinds of human problems can be solved.
with native plants, microbes in soil break up pollution from highways
native grasses support wildlife
balance between good stuff and bad stuff.
kill foxes - rabbit population goes up.
deer are a problem.
they can only eat 10% of grasses - 11 or 12%, they start to die
the more grasses you have, the less they have to eat.
best animal - a herd of bison.
rejuvenate the land - put 60 head of cattle on 1 acre. Let them eat it all, then take them off for a year.
cut the grasses once a year - then dump a bunch of manure on it - let the
grasses come back naturally.
3 to 10 years - grass clump will die naturally, then new clumps will come up
grasses migrate.
buffalo grass - one of first to come back.
native prairie is a combination of grasses and wildflowers.
why destroy grasses -
wildfire. Put short grasses by the house.
snakes. only 4 poisonous snakes. Only 2 can be lethal.
How to fix:cut down oaks and "cedars"
ash from burned trees is a natural fertilizer.
Plant more grasses:
plant a variety.
big 4switchgrass
eastern gamma (sp.)
big bluestem
little bluestem
Indian grass
Native Prairie Association
Native Seed - Junction TX
move grasses in hot weather - roots will establish fast.
sprinkle seed over tires when mowing.
silver bluestem
KR bluestem - native grasses will out-compete it
shallow root-ball
nightshade - first year -covered
second year - some
third year - none
Mow to the ground once a year, then fertilize with manure.
Goats - don't eat a lot of grass - they'll eat the other forbs. And let the grasses come back.
Best: combination of cattle and goats.