Help needed!
Howdy all,
The organization I work for has a unique opportunity to help the owner of two large West Texas ranches to become better acquainted with his land (totaling nearly 4,000 acres) in Pecos and Crockett Counties, and to start the process of wide-ranging land restoration processes to reverse decades of cattle operations and erosion. Our first step was to do a plant survey with the intent of noting as many unique observations as possible.
Unfortunately, the person taking the photos had geolocation turned off, so the location information is generalized to each of the ranch locations.
Also, we're not West Texas plant specialists, but more focussed on Central Texas plants.
So if you have some expertise with the Trans Pecos region, can you help us out? The observations in question are under my account, https://www.inaturalist.org/people/11160 and center around September 3 and 4, 2023.
Thank you!
Comments
@nathantaylor @samlutfy would you, or any of your contacts be good for this?
Also would the land owner be willing to collect or let folks collect bees on their property? There is a whole suite of folks including myself trying to get a better understanding of the bees of Texas. Pecos and Crockett counties are poorly sampled so it would be incredibly helpful.
@shaunmichael, I will check. We are in the process of designing and eventually building about 70,000 gallons of rain capture capabilities before we do any vegetative restoration, but there may be some opportunities, esp. if they decide to convert to a wildlife ag exemption. I don't currently know if they are planning to convert, or if they'll maintain a standard one through minimal herds, etc.
Do you have an idea of the type and duration of access you'd need?
Definitely keep an eye out for rare plants like Asclepias scaposa. I've always wondered if Euphorbia jejuna could be hiding in that limestone too. The areas around bare limestone typically host a particularly large amount of plant diversity so I'd be careful around those areas if you're thinking of herbicide application.
Thank you for the heads-up @nathantaylor. We haven't gotten to that level of detail in the management plan, but that's great input to include.
It is great news that someone who owns "nearly 4000" acres is willing to restore the land. Every inch of land has something to offer to the trained eye. Thank you for helping with this project. Hopefully the project of restoration will continue in perpetuity.
I own 50 acres just north of Camp Bullis, in the San Antonio area. It was over-grazed when we bought it. The grasses are doing well, though we still have issues with KR, and we've introduced many deciduous trees.. to balance the live oak and ash juniper. My point is that, due to the deer population, the small browse is eaten before it has a chance to grow. Hopefully, this huge ranch will not have major issues with plant predation. Keep up the great work!
Bee Surveys
If the land owner is interested in bee surveys, there are a few options on intensity and access. Some of the options are below, but there are more that could be adopted.
The lowest intensity would be placing traps and collecting bees once a month in the major vegetation communities for a full year.
A medium intensity would be placing traps and collecting bees every three weeks in every vegetation community and collecting bees while traps are out.
A high intensity survey would be multi-year, placing traps and collecting bees every three weeks with targeted collecting on specific flowers. Nest surveys could also be done to find where bees are nesting.
The SARE group also has some funds available for landowners who are partnering with researchers for this sort of work.
My organization, the Rio Grande Joint Venture, has funds to assist with erosion projects. I'm a hydrologist and have been working on restoration in the Transpecos for 20 years, mostly at Big Bend National Park. Let me know if we can be helpful.
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