Appalled by the devastation wreaked on your plants by the Valentine’s freeze? Before you run out to replace your “native” plants, here are a few excellent resources for determining what plants are truly native, and dramatically increase the survivability of your landscape. Texas is a big state with over 3,000 native plant species. With the ever-increasing popularity of planting native, big box stores have jumped on the bandwagon and frequently add “Texas native” to labeling. But “Texas native”…
Last year, several Environmental Survey Consulting (ESC) staff members decided that we wanted to learn how to monitor water quality for the Colorado River watershed. We contracted Michael Jones with the Texas Stream Team in San Marcos to travel to Austin and provide training. Michael provided in-classroom training at the Austin History Center and then an in-field training on Shoal Creek at Seiders Springs. We were also joined by several…
Plants and Phytoremediation Unlike raingardens, wet ponds are designed to capture and hold runoff from impervious cover. Urban runoff can carry pollutants such as gasoline, motor oil, heavy metals, fertilizers, pesticides, aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, synthetic organic compounds, zinc nitrates and phosphorus. Phytoremediation is the use of plants for cleaning up contaminants in soil, groundwater, surface water and air. Fortunately, the plant communities ESC establishes and…
Since 1988, Environmental Survey Consulting (ESC) has been conducting active habitat restoration of the 1200 acre Spicewood Ranch. On May 14 2016, David Mahler led a tour of almost 40 people to explore areas of management success, including prairie restoration, woody species propagation in cedar (Juniperus ashei) breaks, and balancing deer browse pressure with revegetation efforts. Prairie restoration strategies included controlled burns followed by seeding with commercial and wild-harvested native…