Drought

“A prolonged period of dry weather, a lack of rain” as defined by Webster Dictionary.

If you could be here today walking the land as I am, you would see verdant hills and valleys. It’s still spring and we had a quarter inch of rain earlier this week. The native grasses respond within 48 hours, brown turns green. But looks can be deceiving as the following pictures show.

I was new to Texas in 1950 when a gas station attendant noticed my Ohio license plate and asked me how I liked Texas. My response was very positive. He replied, “Well, if you like it now, you’ll really like it when it rains.” This was my first experience of a drought. But fifty-nine years later, I’ve come to learn from experience the value of every drop of rain that falls and to appreciate conservation and land management principles that allow us to have water for ourselves, for livestock and wildlife . . . But even with all the land management practices we’ve implemented, there is a limit to how long our fragile “perched or local aquifer” can meet our needs. As the dictionary definition says, we are deeply into “a prolonged period of dry weather” and this has been exacerbated by above normal temperatures and high winds.

The creek that kept Madrone Lake at a fairly constant level stopped running in late July 2008. Photograph taken by Lois Sturm.

The lack of fresh water combined with high temperatures heats the remaining water which depletes oxygen and encourages bacteria growth which most likely caused the death of this three foot triploid carp. Photograph by J. David.

The Bromfield Trail is one of my favorite trails. We used to sit on the stone outcroppings with our feet in the water. It was our thinking spot with the limestone bottom and the sight and sound of the crystal clear water flowing through it. The water disappeared in September 2008. Photograph taken by J. David.

The Bridge to Nowhere. An unusual name! Justin and Poncho built this bridge for us when water was flowing under it. They were unaware that we are designing a trail to start there. As you can see the creek is bone dry and has been since October 2008. Photograph taken by J. David.

Carter Tank. This was originally built by a previous owner of the ranch whose last name was Carter. We have worked on it a number of times because it didn’t hold water. We’ve also enlarged it. Under normal rainfall years it is 25 feet deep and backs water up the draw. The tires are not trash! They are put there to protect fish spawn. The two cement cisterns store our drinking water. Each holds 5,000 gallons piped in from one of our spring boxes unseen further up the draw. They have float valves that divert the water into Carter Tank when the tanks are full. Photograph taken by J. David.

Dependable Clay. We’ve put no name on this small tank. This is a remarkable stock tank entirely dependent on runoff water from the surrounding hillside. Leroy has cut ditches 100 feet long that direct runoff water to the pond. What’s remarkable is the bed of clay that forms the bowl – this clay is impermeable. The only draw down is from livestock and surface evaporation. Finding this kind of clay is somewhat rare. In spite of this good material, the pond will be dry if we don’t get some rain soon. Photograph taken by J. David.

Oryx Pasture. This pasture is set aside for the exclusive use of our herd of Scimitar horned Oryx. They are a sub Saharan antelope from Africa that can go as long as 90 days without water. This tank is normally kept full from runoff as well as spring water piped to it. You can tell by the green vegetation and the cracks in the earth that there hasn’t been water here for months. Not to worry. We do have a number of watering troughs throughout this pasture. Photograph taken by J. David.

Four Cypress. Once again we haven’t named this small cattle and wildlife drinking spot. There was a small seep that we discovered above it 35 years ago, as well as, a small swale in the land above that would direct water to the pond. It worked so well until this drought. As you can see, there is not more than a week’s water left. The four cypress trees might not survive the summer. These were “planted” 14 years ago by throwing the seeds on the water! Photograph taken by J. David.

Summary

These pictures are but a few that show how critical our water problem has become. Wildlife, cattle and even we who live here are threatened. I believe this to be the worst drought of the century. Our Texas Forest Service agent, Robert Edmonson, stated that we have lost over 1,000 Spanish Oaks so far and other species are showing stress. Is the current condition a harbinger of the future? Is this our first sign of climate change?

Tune in next week to see some of the unique and innovative methods we are doing to sustain all life here at Selah.

Selah, Family Picnic

Six years ago Board Members Anne Donovan and Maydelle Fason proposed that we begin holding an annual family picnic for young families and grandparents. The idea was to allow all ages to experience the ranch as a family.

On May 3rd, we held our 5th Annual Selah Family Picnic with some 200 plus attending. Here are some scenes contributed by Amanda Fulton, Helen Ballew, Kathy Wilson and Colleen Gardner. With so many people being here, I am not able to name them; but you can tell from these photos that the picnic was enjoyed by young and old.

This beautiful young girl appears eager to get involved.

What and where to do it.

Sallie Delahoussaye rehabilitates raptors, and often releases them here at Selah. She teaches about their value to the natural world.

Who can resist a kid goat?

Overcoming the fear of snakes.

Native Plant Sale. Most of these plants were raised by our biologist, Steven Fulton.

The kids made kites and now it’s time to fly them.

These birdhouses are made by students from J. J. Pickle Elementary and Metz Elementary of Austin, Johnson City Elementary, and Bonham Elementary of San Antonio Schools during their stay here last year. Each house contained a surprise gift.

Silent Auction. After all, the Picnic is our only fundraiser.

Tours were taken to other places of interest – dinosaur tracks, the chiroptorium (our man made bat cave), to Madrone Lake, and to see the endangered herd of African antelope, the scimitar horned oryx.

Our Bluebonnet is used for these tours.

With so many activities at Madrone Lake, this sign helped everyone decide which way to go.

This picnic is really for the kids, but we do need the parents. Aren’t we all kids, anyway?

With our volunteers and parents, the kids made their kites. Time for a test flight.

Well, they didn’t make this kite – a parent brought it.

At Madrone Lake, our volunteers, Susan Sander, Mary Kay Sexton, and Meg Inglis taught kids how to use binoculars and how to identify birds. We all start somewhere. Left to right: Meg Inglis' son, Meg Inglis, Mary Kay Sexton (back), Susan Sander (binoculars).

Young Sam Fason, a very accomplished birder and volunteer, is a very good role model for the young.

Fishing is always enjoyed. You can see the effects of this very serious drought. Madrone Lake has received no water since July of 2008.

Here the kids turned rocks and stones into critters.

All day long little kids were all over the ranch with this art.

Here wildflower seeds are rolled up in mud mixed with a little peat moss. The kids take them home to dry and next fall throw them out in a park or ranch or even their own backyard.

The kids and some parents painted the clay pots. They go home with the family. Maybe this is the beginning of a botanist?

Here’s the Selah staff (left to right) Steven Fulton, Ranch Biologist; Colleen Gardner, Executive Director; Scott Grote, Ranch Operations Manager; J. David Bamberger, founder; and Lois Sturm, Administrative Assistant. We regret that Justin Duke, Ranch Steward, is not in this photograph.

Music and entertainment was provided by Lucas Miller, “The Singing Zoologist” – He is such a hit with kids. His singing includes a trunk full of props that hold kids’ attention. You might call Lucas an environmental singer songwriter. I’m really sorry that we don’t have a photo with the dozens of kids listening. His website is: www.lucasmiller.net.

Bexar Grotto of San Antonio, long time friends of Selah, supplied an unbelievable lunch. Here you see the preparation and below the service.

Thank you Bob Cowell and crew!

As the picnicers came off of tours or completed some activity, they gathered on the patio. Excitement and enthusiasm was everywhere. Be sure you come next year.

Native Treasures, a rock shop in Austin, provided table decorations with their outstanding collection of minerals, fossils, geodes and rocks. Their website is: www.naturestreasurestx.com.

There are two absolutely wonderful types that make this picnic possible - our volunteers and our sponsors. As you look at the pictures, you’ll notice a lot of green t-shirts. All of these are volunteers. Once again, I’m sorry we don’t have pictures of all of them. I have said publicly that conservation and nature awareness will never be accomplished by the government with laws and regulation. No, it will be accomplished by those in our society that bring their knowledge, energy and time to projects like ours as volunteers.

Our sponsors play another role. They bring funding that supports not only this picnic, but all of our other programs. In economic times like today’s, it takes a strong commitment to continue supporting causes such as ours. I know very well how scarce funds are today, so their continued interest is a blessing.

MORE IMAGES FROM 2008

I didn't use all the pictures I'd gotten together in a folder for the post IMAGES FROM 2008 on January 8th, so I'm going to put together another post of images from last year and call it MORE IMAGES FROM 2008.

I like this picture of the Scimitar-horned oryx, that was taken last winter. Their pasture looks very dry. With their elegent horns, they really are handsome critters, and a pleasure to watch, especially when they run together.

This hairy jumping spider looks like it has a green mustache. I was pleased to get such a clear picture of a critter that was less than a centimeter across. Check out the large version by clicking on the picture. How many eyes can you see?

Even though the lake is very low, it still looked beautiful on the afternoon in November that I walked around the lake. I love the rusty red color that the Bald Cypress trees turn before their leaves fall off.

These earth balls poke their way up through the caliche soil along the road side, and it is only when they are on the surface that you can see that they are a hard fungus, with dark, very fine spores inside.
Because we had such a severe drought, we expected our maples to turn brown and drop their leaves. What a surprise to have them turn beautiful colors and remind us of trips to Lost Maples State Park.

The big-tooth Maples were stunning this year. I was sure that with the very dry year, the maple leaves would just turn brown and fall off. What we saw were beautiful colors from lemon yellow to deep red. The Maple Trail reminded me of the Lost Maples Park. When I first came to Selah in 1994 David was planting the maples on the trail, and they were all pretty small. But David knew that someday it would be magnificent, and this year was amazing.

This beautiful little "Rough green snake" is a favorite of kids. It doesn't try to bite, it calms down quickly, and tolerates a lot of handling.


One of Cory's favorite pastimes is "mouse hunting". He listens and sniffs, and if his ears or nose tell him "mouse" he leaps through the tall grass. We've always assumed that he would never catch a mouse, but the other day he was seen running across the grassy area to the south of the ranch house with something small in his mouth. He ran over to an area with soft soil, dug a hole, dropped the mouse in it, and covered it up. Wow, were we surprised!

Aiden has stolen many hearts in his 3+ years, and one of his most ardent fans is a former Selah intern, Kim Kennard.

Mary Kay Sexton has been a huge help to the ranch education programs in many ways. But perhaps her biggest contribution has been with the Bamberger Nature Adventure Camp held in the early summer each year. She leads the kids on field trips, and with her fun-loving and enthusiastic enjoyment of the outdoor world inspires us all to learn and discover more. She is a treasure! Steven gives her a hug during the Volunteer Appreciation Day party.

After the party we all went out to the new water feature and sand play area at the back of the Center. Chris Johnson had two Eastern Screech Owls to release that Sallie Delahoussaye had taken care of as they recovered from non-fatal injuries. Before being released, Sallie has them in a flight cage where she releases live mice for the owls to practice their hunting skills on. They must be able to catch prey in order to survive in the wild.

For years Chris has had a video camera in an owl box with a pair of owls that raised chicks to adulthood, which he made available to the public over the website. Because of this interest in owls, he knows a lot about them, and gave an excellent, and entertaining program about them before the release.

Chris explains that owls have huge eyes that are fixed in their head and in order to look around they have to swivel their head from side to side. They can't turn their heads around in a complete circle, but they can turn far enough that they can look behind them. Their eyes also have lots of cells that are very sensitive to low light, and that helps them to see in places that are almost dark to us. When it was time to release the owls, Chris climbed up a ladder and put them in an owl box, which they may live in at least for a while.

After the owl releases we all went to the new "Solar Toilet". It doesn't use water to flush, but instead uses heat to evaporate liquid, and sterilize the waste material. We have to be very careful not to waste water here because the amount of spring water available is limited, especially during such a dry year. The "ribbon" for the "ribbon cutting" ceremony is actually toilet paper, and Colleen planned a joke, which was that I would be inside and at some point I would come out and say,"What is all the noise around here?"

J David talked about the new "Solar Out-house" and why we had decided to build one, and remember, he didn't know I was inside. So, at the point that he opened the door, he was startled to see me and started laughing. Then we were all laughing!

Another of our regular and very important volunteers is Jessie, who is a wonderful birder, and an amature astronomer. He has built his own telescope and comes to the ranch and gives a sky and star program to 5th grade students when they are here.

Ervey belongs to the Austin Astronomy Club, and when we have a large class he is one of the members that brings out his very fine telescope and sets it up so that the students can see some of the wonderful sights in the night sky.

Our volunteers are so important for our programs. They not only teach facts, they inspire us all to share our knowledge and enthusiasm which is an invaluable gift.

I BELIEVE THAT THE GIFT OF VOLUNTEERING IS IMPORTANT FOR BOTH THE GIVER AND THE RECEIVER.