Texas Native Plant Society of Texas- Houston Chapter- Upcoming Spring Field Trips

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Lan Shen

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Feb 12, 2025, 7:16:42 PM2/12/25
to T...@listserv.tamu.edu
Going on these field trips is the best way to learn native plants! Also, the March 29th field trip is one where you can see the endangered and rare prairie dawn. It's been described as a "yellow Q-tip" 😊 - quite small but rare.

Please let Andy Newman and Bob Romero know if you will be attending - see below for details & contact info.


P.S.  Please note my new email address: Ls...@coastalprairieconservancy.org

Lan Shen
Seed Collection Manager and Great Grow Out Coordinator
Coastal Prairie Conservancy
5615 Kirby Drive, Suite 867
Houston, Texas 77005-2458
Office Phone: 713.523.6135 ext 4014




The Coastal Prairie Conservancy is a nonprofit land trust sustaining a resilient Texas by preserving coastal prairies, wetlands, farms, and ranches to benefit people and wildlife forever.



---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Andy Newman <andy....@teplp.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Subject: Texas Native Plant Society of Texas- Houston Chapter- Upcoming Spring Field Trips
To: Andy Newman <andy....@teplp.com>
Cc: Bob Romero <bobr...@gmail.com>


All,

The Native Plant Society of Texas: Houston Chapter used to have amazing field trips led by Dr. Larry Brown. Since Dr. Brown’s passing, field trips have diminished. We are working on providing the Houston community with more opportunities to connect and explore the natural richness of the region. I am sending this email to you hoping to get increased involvement from the environmental professional community to help share knowledge to other field trip participants and create an exchange of ideas of the best practices for managing, restoring, and interacting with our native flora. I had a few environmental consultants come out to last fall’s field trips and it was very helpful to have other experts assist the general public with plant identification and ecological knowledge. Please pass along to any colleagues that may find these field trips interesting and let myself and Bob Romero know if you think you will be able to attend.

Thanks in advance- Andy

Field Trip: Warren Ranch Saline Barrens

Date and Time: March 29, 2025 at 9:00am
Meeting Location: In Google Maps- Approximately 0.5 miles south of Matt Cook Memorial Wildlife Viewing Platform on Warren Ranch Road in northwestern Harris County- GPS: 29.96934, -95.84305 – The Gate for this Location is north of the intersection of Warren Ranch Road and Jack Road.
Field Trip Overview: This field trip will be focused on seeing rare species endemic to saline barrens that occur on the Texas coastal prairie. Jason Singhurst (TPWD biologist) described these habitats as pyramid dropseed (Sporobolus pyramidatus), bristle-seed sand-spurrey (Spergularia echinosperma), narrowleaf marsh elder (Iva angustifolia), and Texas prairie dawn (Hymenoxys texana) Herbaceous Vegetation community of the Houston Saline Prairie association. There are several other unique species that we may find including Texas windmill grass (Chloris texensis) and Texas Willkommia (Willkommia texana). The below talk by the field trip leader on YouTube and paper by Singhurst are suggested reference material to review prior to field trip to help participants understand these unique systems.
Field Trip Leader’s Talk About Saline Barrens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgbwKeKJwoI&t=1223s
Additional Site Information: https://www.coastalprairieconservancy.org/

Field Trip: Green Star Wetland Plant Farm

Date and Time: April 12, 2025 at 9:00am
Meeting Location: In Google Maps- Green Star Wetland Plant Farm- Address 4646 County Road 181, Alvin, TX 77511
Field Trip Overview: Mary Carol Edwards, owner, has graciously offered us to come visit Green Star Wetland Plant Farm. It will allow us to become more intimate with large scale plant grows from deciding which species to select for cultivation, propagation, and grow out. It will allow participants access to thinking about how wetland plants are used throughout the Houston area for maintaining natural communities, providing water filtration and chemical sequestration, and types of projects currently being implemented around the region. From a plant identification perspective, the farm typically has around 90 species in cultivation so we will have time to talk through plant morphology with an emphasis on adaptations plants utilize to grow in prolonged saturated or inundated environments. Additionally, we will have the opportunity to view ongoing prairie restoration on six acres adjacent to the nursery and view several old live oak mottes.
Additional Site Information: https://greenstarwetlands.com/

Field Trip: Spring Creek Parkway Trailhead at US 59

Date and Time: May 10, 2025 at 9:00am
Meeting Location:  Spring Creek Parkway Trailhead (Spring Creek Pkwy Trailhead at 59 in Google Maps) on the west side of US 59/I 69 in Humble, Texas (GPS: 30.02581, -95.263713)
Field Trip Overview: This portion of the Spring Creek trail is situated on old Spring Creek depositional feature and contains deep sands. We will walk and look for openings in the forested portions of the trail for areas that contain bluejack oak (Quercus incana), post oak (Q. stellata), tropic croton (Croton glandulosa), Reverchon’s spiderwort (Tradescantia reverchonii), slender scratch daisy (Croptilon divaricatum), viperina (Zornia bracteata) and other deep sand specialist. We will then walk off trail to seepage slopes dominated by netted chain fern (Woodwardia areolata), royal fern (Osmunda regalis), and Kunth’s maiden fern (Thelypteris kunthii). This area also contains some other interesting species such primrose-leaved violet (Viola primulifolia), greater marsh St. Johnswort (Hypericum walteri), and several uncommon sedges (Carex and Eleocharis species). We will then explore somel floodplain/bottomland forested communities dominated by bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), water oak (Quercus nigra), willow oak (Q. phellos), cherrybark oak (Q. pagoda), American elm (Ulmus americana), green ash (Fraxinus pennslyvanica), and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Two-winged silverbell (Halesia diptera) should be in full bloom in the understory. It is also one of the only places Andy knows were to find tung oil tree (Vernicia fordii) growing wild in Harris County.



Andy Newman, PWS
Chief Ecologist
The Earth Partners LP

"The philosophical study of nature endeavors, in the vicissitudes of phenomena, to connect the present with the past."
~Alexander Humboldt
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