Hello Greenbelt Fans,

After a long, hot, dry summer, we are excited to get back to work on our adopted Homedale Trail for a fall work day. As always, there is plenty of work to do. It seems that the plant response to the life-threatening heat and drought this summer is resulting in wildly prolific blooming and seeding – some of it is very welcome on the greenbelt, like the mass of native golden-eye blooming in our restoration research area of the trail. But some of it is not so welcome, like the choking community of ragweed in the drainage easement at the entry area of the trail, and in the creek bed upstream from the rock flats. We need some hardy, non-allergic volunteers to pull up these weeds and sack them for removal. And there are other weeds and invasives  to remove along the trail: Johnson grass, Wisteria, Chinaberrry, Nandina, and the ever-pervasive Ligustrum.

We also need to do some tidying up of large fallen branches on the switchback trail and organize them into windrows, plus check for regrowth of the ligustrum population that was removed about in that area four years ago. In that same area, we plan to continue constructing stone steppers on the steep path, to improve the safety of the trail.  There are a few piles of caliche and rock near the entry trail that we need to put to good use. And some dead or low growth branch pruning to do. Plus the regular trash clean-up along the trail and near the rock flats and Campbell’s Hole. Plenty of beer cans and paper wrappers to collect and haul out.

Please plan to wear long sleeves and pants and closed-toe shoes and bring your gloves if you have some and a water bottle. We will provide all of the tasks and team leaders and ivy block and tools and energy food and water. Remember, it’s Halloween Day, so plan on some silly fun, and costume if you feel inspired.

RSVP to assure we have enough tacos and tools.

Date: Saturday, October 31
Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Place: Homedale Trail Entry, 2010 Homedale Drive, directly behind Barton Hills Elementary School

Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardian Coordinator
(512) 443-7522
gleeful@earthlink.net

BHNA President Kimberly White Erlinger passed along this note from Glee Ingram, quoted here with her permission:

I just wanted to share the excitement, that we now have a Greenbelt Guardian logo! Thanks to Scott Byers, who did the art work and layout and specifications – then we spent a few hours going over it together, adjusting this and that, then sent it out to our leadership group and got some feedback, and came up with the final product. It will have its premiere presentation on the back of some tee shirts that are being printed up for the National Trails Day work day on June 6 – we will be listed along with 6 other participating groups. Stan will also be installing it on our Greenbelt Guardian website soon.

Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardians Coordinator
(512) 443-7522
gleeful@earthlink.net

Hello Greenbelt Fans,

You have an opportunity to join a large improvement effort on the Barton Creek Greenbelt on Saturday, June 6, to celebrate National Trails Day. Our Greenbelt Guardians volunteers will be working at our adopted Gus Fruh trail, 2646 Barton Hills Drive, from 8:30 – 12:30. We will be weeding the entry trail, continuing work on the stone retaining wall by the swimming hole, removing the invasive ligustrum and nandina along the creek trail, and forming windrows for erosion management. We’ll also clean up trash. We can keep at least 30 volunteers productively busy!

There will also be lots of other trail improvement activities at the 360 access to Barton Creek, to mark the first phase of the “Walk-for-a-Day Trail” that envisions connecting trails all the way from Austin to Kyle. The trail heading south out of Austin will branch off of the Barton Creek trail system between the 360 and Mopac/Twin Falls access points.

This National Trails Day Service Project is a joint conservation effort made possible through a partnership of American YouthWork’s Environmental Corps, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, the Austin Parks Foundation, the Hill Country Conservancy, and Austin-area REI stores. The Greenbelt Guardians, Central Texas Trail Tamers, Central Texas Mountaineers, and Austin Ridge Riders are joining the effort by providing project leaders and helping with the recruiting.

There will be generous rewards for your volunteer efforts! From 12:30 – 2:00 there will be a ribbon cutting and celebration PARTY at Zilker Park, with parking at the Polo Fields. A picnic style lunch will be provided by the Salt Lick, plus there will be music, beer, free t-shirts, and free swimming all day at Barton Springs.

So come put in some productive sweat equity, and then party, eat and swim with other dedicated, green-loving people at Zilker Park and Barton Springs!

To register to work with the Greenbelt Guardians at Gus Fruh, please RSVP to this email, AND sign up on the Austin Parks Foundation Website page (required to get an entry wristband for the Zilker party celebration). The web address for registration is: http://www.austinparks.org. Sign up under the heading Volunteer Opportunities for National Trails Day, June 6, 2009 for the project described as “Wall Building, Trail Work and Invasives Removal at Gus Fruh with the Greenbelt Guardians”.

We’ll look forward to seeing you there,

Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardians Coordinator