Outreach & Education
o Staffing promotional booths at outdoor/nature-related events such as:
o Ducks Unlimited Convention
o Ducks Unlimited Greenwings Event
o Earth Day event at Brazos Bend State Park
o Bass Pro Shop’s Fall Hunting Classic
o Native Plant Society’s Wildscape Workshop
o Rice Harvest Festival
o Giving presentations to interested groups.
o Leading tours of preserves (additional training to be scheduled)
o Assisting with educational activities for Kids Day & Family Day events
(additional training scheduled for Saturday, September 23rd)
Coastal Prairie Native Plant Nursery (Seed Farm Project)
Laying the Foundation for Future Restoration Projects
Seed Collecting & Plant Rescue
Volunteers are needed to identify sources for plant rescues and seed collecting. From Beaumont to Victoria, coastal prairie remnants can be found in state parks, conservation lands, private properties, and even on roadsides. Workshops are provided to instruct volunteers on plant identification and determining seed viability. Once targeted species are identified, arrangements need to be made to obtain permission for volunteers to collect the seeds, so identifying the proper contacts is also of great assistance.
Seed Propagation & Cultivation
When the NRCS designates seeds to be propagated, volunteers pot them in square foot trays of 100 tiny containers each, and then tend to them at their homes until they’re ready for planting in the nursery at the KPC field office in Waller.
Nursery Maintenance
Volunteers remove weeds, take moisture readings and water the plants as needed.
Seed Bank Maintenance
The KPC’s main source of seeds for its contribution to this project is the Williams Prairie Preserve (WPP) in Brookshire (corner of Hepplewhite & FM 359 – 3.8 miles south of I-10). This ten-acre preserve is maintained primarily as a seed bank, but approximately twenty percent of it is overgrown with brush and woody species which volunteers are working to remove. (Mature trees and some yaupon will be left for wildlife habitat.) Volunteers are also working to kill and remove Japanese honeysuckle which can be found in nearly every square foot of the preserve. Removing this insidious invasive will be a long term, on-going project.
Group Workdays & Projects
o Litter Removal
o Nursery Weeding
o Brush Cutting
o Invasive Species Control – Chinese Tallow; Japanese Honeysuckle
o Projects Wish List
Projects Wish List
Ideally, each project would include solicitation of donated funds or materials.
Otherwise, it will depend on availability of KPC funds.
o Equipment Shed for Native Plant Nursery
o Greenhouse for the Native Plant Nursery
o Watering system for Native Plant Nursery
o Decorative perimeter fence on three sides of the 10-acre Williams Prairie Preserve
o Entrance signs for preserves
o Decorative perimeter fence around demo prairie on Nelson Farms Preserve
o Trail system on Nelson Farms Preserve
o Educational signage
Fill out a Volunteer Application Form
|
