Rotary Club Rocks Shoal Creek

Or at least a part of it, 25 volunteers from the Rotary Club Service Committee came out on Sat, June 9 and helped us remove a 1.5 foot high berm covered with Giant Reed and re-slope the whole site and line it with stone. Great job, as the before and after pictures show…

Understory

Last weekend I visited two different trails that have had extensive non-native plant removal. It was really neat to see the difference in the understory of these areas compared to, say, Shoal Creek. At Gus Fruh Trail, the Greenbelt Guardians have waged a years-long campaign against ligustrum. The result is an open understory with a wide variety of native trees and plants coming up. Lots of diversity. Same thing at Bull Creek Greenbelt – you can see further into the woods and there are all kinds of different things growing. (Including lots of poison ivy – a native – so be careful if you visit!)

I’m sure Charlie will want me to point out, we’ve been working hard to restore Shoal Creek’s natural balance, too, by removing invasives like ligustrum, nandina, and chinaberry.

June 21st – Longest Day of the Year Volunteering

We liked our June 1st evening volunteer workday so much, we’ve decided to host another, on the longest day of the year, at Shoak Creek at West Avenue, just one block south of 5th St. Come and join us from 6-9 pm, we’ll be moving rock and shovel sand and gravel off of the trail. We’ll provide tools and instruction, water, gatorade and clif bars. Please join us!

Volunteer evening at Shoal Creek

On Friday, June 1, REI and Austin Parks Foundation hosted our first National Trails eve volunteer worknight (vs. day) We had over 50 volunteers come out between 8-11 pm and collect, haul and place rocks to fill a flood damaged section of creek side just above 6th St. We’ve included a before and an after picture here.

Our volunteers enjoyed (maybe it was the Amy’s Ice Cream) so we’re going to another one, this time at West Avenue where it meets Shoal Creek. June 21, 6-9 pm – the longest day of the year. We’ll be doing some trail surface repair (rock moving and shoveling)

Parkland Dedication Ordinance Changes Update

The Austin City Council held a public hearing and vote on proposed changes to the Parkland Dedication Ordinance at the City Council session on June 7th, but did not vote on the ordinance due to a snag in how the agenda item was posted for action. So, the council will vote on at their next regular session on Thursday, June 21st. We’ll keep you posted.

But to recap, on May 25, the Austin Parks Foundation Board of Directors approved the following statement of support for the proposed changes to the City of Austin Parkland Dedication Ordinance:

The Austin Parks Foundation supports broadening the application of the Parkland Dedication Ordinance to apply to all residential developments of four or more units, at a fee level that supports abundant, vibrant parks. The city of Austin should not reduce the parks and recreation budget to offset amounts raised by the ordinance. We support fees being used on capital improvement projects or on parkland acquisition within the neighborhood planning area, or, if no neighborhood plan exists, within a one-mile radius of the fee area.