Behind Barton Springs Pool – 6 Months Later

About six months ago, we were working with a number of great volunteers and an arborist to grind up all of the thousands of non-native ligustrums we had cut in a series of volunteer workdays outside of the fence on the south side of  Barton Springs Pool.  It was hot and dry.

The area looked like this:

Our piles of cut ligustrum looked like this:

We cut and treated all of the stumps and ground up all of the brush. And once everything was ground up, it looked like this.

Thanks to the rains and to the bare root sapling plantings coordinated by the Austin Parks & Recreation Dept’s forestry division and Treefolks, the area is greening up.  It now looks like this.

Grasses growing through the mat of mulch.

Let’s Be Careful Out There…

Fires are still burning all around Austin and despite the cooler overnight lows in the 60s, we’re still very dry and the days are getting back into the upper 90s.  As the events and activities around Austin increase with another UT game this weekend and ACL Music Festival next weekend, we’ll have more visitors to our city and to our parks and trails.  We ask for everyone’s help in letting everyone know that a no smoking ban remains in effect for all parks, including Zilker.

While the Great Lawn and other portions of our parks are irrigated, the great majority is not, including the Trail around Lady Bird Lake, the rest of Zilker, and the Barton Creek Greenbelt.  It is very dry and very warm and we ask for your help.

Below is a graphic showing in purple the extent of the Bastrop Fire, including much of one of our favorite Texas State Parks – Bastrop State Park.  This fire has jumped the Colorado River twice.  Over 1400 homes so far have been lost.  And we’re not even counting the fires in Spicewood, at Steiner Ranch and elsewhere across central Texas.

Please, let’s be careful out there and don’t smoke in our parks and along our trails. Thank you!

Invasive Trees Mulched Up South of Barton Springs Pool

We’re nearly done with our invasive removal project south of Barton Springs Pool.  We began the work back in April and thanks to the great work of our amazing volunteers and volunteer leaders, including Jerry, Nadene and Mike, the help of the Parks Department’s Forestry Group (lots of pickup of brush), Bartlett Tree Experts and Natural Texas with Carl Brockman, who gave us a reduced rate for chipping and grinding up all of mulch.

Half of the big brush pile all ground up, with half to go...

Due to the drought and high tempartures, we have spread all of the chips and mulch across the ground evenly, versus piling up the mulch for use later in the fall. This is due, largely to concern from neighbors and the parks department that the mulch piles might smoulder. Teh next steps are to work with the Short-term Barton Springs Grounds Improvements Plan (pending final designs and Parks Department approval) and well as with the Parks Dept. Forestry Group who are contemplating some bare root planting efforts this coming winter. (That sounds nice just thinking about it.)

the Natural Texas Forestry Mower, which ground up alot of the bigger trees and brush

All mulch ground up on the main site.

How We Work to Remove Invasives (non-native) Trees and Plants

We have been working for over a month to remove invasive species from the ravine and surrounding area outside the fence near the south parking lot of Barton Springs Pool.  We have more volunteer workdays coming up on Sat (9-noon) next Tue for several ACC classes and then on Sat, June 4th as part of National Trails Day (sign-up here)  In all cases, meet at the south parking lot off of Robert E. Lee Drive, wear long pants and bring a water bottle.

Additionally, we had help from Bartlett Tree Experts on a particularly difficult hillside section and our great volunteers Jerry and Nadene.  And the City Parks Forestry team has been great at picking up our cut, hauled and piled trees and turning them into mulch.

But we wanted to show you a few pictures as we remove the invasives (mostly ligustrum, chinaberry and nadina)

If we can pull them out roots and all, that is our first and best choice, we do so by using a great tool called a weed wrench. It comes in several sizes, works on trees or shurbs with one inch or less diameter trunks and its better when the soil has some moisture.  Here’s a picture of some of the puled trees – they pile up quite quickly as you can see.

If they are bigger than a inch or two, we will cut them using hand saws.  We usually cut them at knee height – we call this high stumping.  This is so we bring in professionals who can cut them flush to the ground with chainsaws and apply herbicide that prevents them from re-sprouting.  We cut them at knee height so as the native grasses and plants re-sprout, we can find them.  Knee-height stumps are also harder to trip over, which it make it easier when working in and around already cut areas.  A good example of most areas is the picture below which shows a mix of native trees standing with the stumps mixed in.  Note the bare ground with little understory grasses and plants, a great example that the invasives were already shading out any complementary native plants from growing and helping hold the soil in place.

The picture above shows several piles awaiting pickup by the city forestry crews.  We try to pull out all of the cut and wrenched trees out of the wooded areas and into the open.

Where the canopy of invasives – especially – ligustrum is really dense, there are few native trees and little ground cover.  With their removal, light reaches the ground and we see native trees begin to flourish and native grasses re-sprout.  This is true even in a drought.  This critical in areas that are near creeks and streams as grasses and smaller plants hold the soil in place, reducing erosion.  In areas where invasives are dominant, erosion is often worse.  Here’s a good example where it was all invasives with bear soil and some leaves from the cut trees as the only things left.  This area will recover.

This area will recover nicely and with some monitoring over a year or two, we’ll keep any invasive seeds at bay by picking the sprouts quickly.  We’ll be posting more updates as we continue in our efforts.

Looking for Volunteers for National Trails Day: 6/4 9 am to noon

On Saturday, June 4th, we’ll be hosting the third annual American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day volunteer workday on Barton Creek Greenbelt. We’re working closely with our partners including the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Dept, Hill Country Conservancy, Greenbelt Guardians, American Youthworks Enivormental Corps, the Central Texas Mountaineers, the Central Texas Trail Tamers as well as our sponsors BMC Software, IESI, Thundercloud Subs and REI  to organize a great set of volunteer events and a celebration.

Work begins at 9, sign in begins at 8:30 at DIFFERENT locations around the greenbelt, depending on which project you signed up for.

We’ll provide tools, gloves, water, and cool tee shirts from the Austin Parks Foundation. We’re working on putting togther a post workday lunch with a lot of help from our friends at Hill Country Conservancy.

In general, this event is for adults and teens aged 16 and up.  If you would like to bring a child, please consider the entryway or trash pick-up projects. Children must be with a parent at all times. Please no more than one child per adult.

For all projects, plan on wearing long pants and sturdy closed toed shoes. Bring a refillable water bottle. If you have a pick, mattock, rock bar, weed wrench, or wheel barrow, bring it along! Be sure to label it clearly with your name and phone number.

(National Trails Day is owned and organized nationally by the American Hiking Society. The theme to this year’s event is “made with all natural ingredients”)

Click here for a complete list of projects.

Earth Day Volunteer Days – Our Thanks!

Well, this mid-June like weather with dry, dry conditions aside, we’re thankful to all of the groups who have volunteered with us this week including an ACC biology class, employees from CA Technologies and Dell, our friends at Central Texas Trail Tamers, especially Jerry Levenson, and the Friends of Barton Springs Pool.  Also, Zoila and Michael from the Austin Heritage Tree Foundation hosted a big pecan mulching effort on the south side of Barton Springs Pool and will be there on Saturday morning finishing up.

We’ll be out at the south parking lot of Barton Springs Pool Saturday from 9 am to noon in the ravine – digging out and cutting out more invasive species – primarily Ligustrum – and adding to our big pile that will be picked up and turned in mulch by our friends at the Parks dept’s forestry group.  You are welcome to join us.

Thanks too to Bartlett Tree Experts for helping us tackle a particularly challenging section of the Barton Springs ravine.

Thank you all!

Announcing Volunteer Workdays for Barton Springs Pool Invasives (outside South Entrance)

Close-up of Ligustrum Leaves (pointed tip) and berries

We are planning to begin a series of workdays outside the fence next to the south entrance of Barton Springs Pool to remove invasive species – primarily, ligustrum, in efforts to restore this section to a more native landscape.  We see this effort taking the better part of a year through a series of volunteer workdays but also at times bringing in professionals and parks staff.  We are pleased to work with parks staff, volunteers as well as the Friends of Barton Springs Pool, TreeFolks, the Austin Heritage Tree Foundation and others and expect to see removal, treatment, monitoring and re-planting phases as part of this effort.  We will continue to update you as we move through the process.  Additionally, we must obtain approval for larger efforts, including removal of the larger invasive trees and planting and irrigation of new trees and plants from the City Parks department.

Using a Weed Wrench to remove Ligustrum

So, far, we have organized volunteer workdays on Sat Apr 9 (Clean Sweep Day with a crew of St. Ed’s students from 10 am to 1:30 pm), Sat Apr 23, for Earth Day for any and all volunteers and on Sat, Apr 30, from 9 am to noon, with volunteers from National Instruments and any volunteers who wish to enjoy us. (Please volunteer!)

The Austin Parks Foundation and experienced volunteers will lead these workdays.  Our goal is to work on the smaller invasives first, using weed wrenches, picks and shovels to remove all smaller ligustrum and nandina, roots and all, and create temporary (and well hidden) windrows to combat any possible erosion from rain runoff in the steeper sections.

We’ll then work on the bigger trees, cutting them at knee height and organizing them into temporary windrows, again to combat any possible erosion from rain runoff.

Example of a stand of ligustrum. Note little or no grasses or plants at ground level.

We will work carefully to preserve all native trees and shrubs and will work with Parks staff (or professionals) to remove excess cut trees, branches, etc and make sure that we are not posing any undue risks (safety, fire, etc.). We will post our APF signs with our website and phone number and we have an informative page on our website -http://www.austinparks.org/restoration.html - that we can direct people to.  We will use funds from our Barton Springs Tree Fund to take care of trimmings, stump cutting and treatment as well as planning and planting efforts for new grasses, shrubs and trees when the cooler weather returns.

We should note that we work with parks staff and volunteers on similar efforts in over 50 volunteer events per year in parks and greenbelts across Austin and we will do our best to keep our efforts and work areas as neat and orderly as possible.  Again, volunteers use only hand tools working with us.

Great example of a windrow

Please let us know if you have any questions.  Again, for more information on how we specifically approach our work, read our six steps to invasive species management.

Charlie McCabe
Austin Parks Foundation

Barton Springs Pool Closes Jan 24th

(from the City of Austin…)

Barton Springs Pool to close for gravel, debris removal January 24th

Barton Springs Pool will be closed January 24th through March 12th to remove large deposits of gravel and flood debris that have gradually accumulated in the deep end of Barton Springs Pool since 1991.

Special methods will be used to protect the endangered Barton Springs Salamander as well as nearby heritage trees. The ecologically and environmentally sensitive plan was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The Aquatic Division scheduled the pool cleanup during the winter months to minimize the impact to Barton Spring Pool patrons and to loss of revenue to the City. The Parks and Recreation Department will also use the closure time to replace the mechanical system for the bathhouse.

Nearby Deep Eddy Pool will expand its hours of operation from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to accommodate Barton Springs Pool patrons.

In September, the Austin City Council authorized the contract for the Barton Springs Pool Flood Debris Removal Project.

For more information, contact Victor Ovalle at (512) 974-6745.

Barton Springs Pool - Courtesy Austin History Center

 

$300,000 for Barton Springs Bypass Tunnel

Today at the 5th annual Council Cleans the Pool Day, Senator Kirk Watson, Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Robin Cravey, president of the Friends of Barton Springs Pool, announced the donation of $300,000 to the City of Austin for the forthcoming Barton Springs Pool Bypass Tunnel project.  The project, one of the short term projects announced as part of the Barton Springs Master Plan a few years ago, is going through an engineering re-assessment process in the Watershed Protection and Development Review Dept.

The Funds come from the Supplemental Environmental Program of TCEQ and part of a broader settlement with Travis County and the State Attorney General’s office for clean-up following from development near Travis County’s Hamilton Pool Park.

Our thanks to Senator Watson, TCEQ, and Travis County for their assistance.  The funds will be held by the Austin Parks Foundation in the Friends of Barton Springs Pool account until the plans for the bypass tunnel are finalized.  The Friends of Barton Springs Pool is one of 60 community groups who have adopted parks and raise funds for improvements on the Austin Parks Foundation umbrella.

After the announcement, city council members, city staff and volunteers jumped into the pool and started scrubbing the pool bottom and walls with brooms.  The water felt good this very humid morning.

Barton Springs Tree-a-Thon A Success!

From News 8 Austin’s website:

Central Texans ran, biked and swam through Zilker Park in the Barton Springs Pool Treeathlon Saturday morning to support Barton Springs and the trees surrounding it.

“Altogether we raised about $10,000 from people’s registrations and business sponsorships, so that was a great outcome for the trees. All this money will be transferred to Austin Park Foundation,” Mike Cannatti, with Friends of Barton Springs Pool, said.

Funds are to be used for purchasing and maintaining trees for Barton Springs Pool and the surrounding area.

Participants also listened to live music as they trekked through park.

Our thanks to Mike and the Friends of Barton Springs Pool for their help!