Category: Announcements

Wildlife Habitat Federation Field Day
November 14 @ 8:30 am – 4:00 pm,   $20.00

http://www.whf-texas.org/nov14flyer.html

The Wildlife Habitat Federation’s (“WHF”) Third Annual Field Day will be held on Friday, November 14, 2014, at the Atwater Prairie Chicken Wildlife Reserve near Eagle Lake. Registration is slated for 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. with the program beginning at 9:00 a.m. and lasting until 4:00 p.m.  A registration fee of $20.00 per person will be charged at the door.  With the registration fee, participants will be provided with refreshments, lunch and handout materials.

The purpose of the field day is to provide landowners with a better understanding of why restoring native grasses and forbs can benefit both the livestock producer and conservationists. Following the success of its first 7-mile native habitat corridor, WHF is now helping landowners restore thousands of acres to native prairie grasses and wildflowers.  This interest has largely been due to a desire of landowners to reduce long-term input costs, like fertilizer and hay; to have more drought-tolerant plant species that attract wildlife and to better protect our natural resources, including soil, water, air and wildlife.

This meeting will be held at the Atwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Reserve, which has become the epicenter for WHF’s rapidly expanding program.  Come and learn from specialists, demonstrations and field tours how and why WHF is working with partners on sites in 12 surrounding counties to provide landowners with technical and financial assistance based on the belief that we can progress and still protect our prairies (which includes, but not limited to, wildflowers, bobwhite quail and scores of other birds, butterflies, bees, box turtles, little bluestem and other native grasses).

For more information about the field day, contact the Wildlife Habitat Federation.  To register for the event, contact Jim Willis at (713) 201-3559, or visit the website http://www.whf-texas.org.

Three CEU’s will be offered to pesticide applicators.  Two in the general category and one in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Ruth and I are very happy to be residents and property owners in Oakridge Ranch.  Being here is fulfilling a lifelong desire to have steward duties to part of God’s earth.  While I enjoy all aspects of the land and outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing and gardening, a large part of my enjoyment comes from having accepted my responsibility as a steward to the land.  No sermon here or forthcoming…I just believe that it is a privilege to be here for the time given and I’ll do my best to take care of my parcel while I’m here.

“HABITAT” is a very broad topic.  The definition includes:  the natural home of an animal, plant or other organism; a place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism; and, all living and non-living factors or conditions of the surrounding environment.

Property owners, residents and guests are certainly included in the “animal” portion of this above organism list.  So whatever affects the habitat affects us as well, not just the flora or fauna.  Our quality of “country-life” and the subsequent enjoyment received is directly related to the health of our habitat.

Here are a few of the habitat topics about which I hope to share: showcasing the Post Oak Savannah (this is the name of our ecological area); native trees, grasses, orbs and brush; habitat maintenance and development for deer, turkey, quail, dove and songbirds; control and/or eradication of non-native, non-beneficial plants; control of the pesky sand/grass burr; pond management; the benefits of brush piles; and, continuous use of the many TPWD and AgriLife resources available to us.

Please let me know of any additional habitat topics of interest.  I welcome your input and requests:

RC Lumpkin, 1154 Trails End, 512-948-5025, r.c.lump@gmail.com