Saturday, October 29, 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Gus Fruh entry, 2642 Barton Hills Drive

Dear Barton Creek Greenbelt Fans,

The season has finally changed (108 degrees in late September?!), and its time for another quarterly work day to tend our adopted greenbelt trails. This will be our eleventh work day since we began this community commitment. In writing up the Final Report for our Austin Parks Foundation grant, I calculated the number of volunteer hours we have contributed since the beginning of our Greenbelt Guardian Program in March, 2003: it is 1,316 “on the ground” work hours! At the City’s “volunteer rate valuation” of $10.65/hour, that is a value of $14,015 contributed to the care of our greenbelt. Our heartfelt appreciation of this wonderful resource is very clear.

I hope we will have a large showing of volunteers for this next work day, because we have another ambitious work plan! We will finally be able to work on replacing the blown out retaining wall at the intersection of the Gus Fruh Trail and the large swimming hole area in the creek. The charming natural cedar bench there has about an inch of soil left to hold onto, as does the Sycamore tree next to it. We plan to construct the wall with large stones harvested from the creek, combined with rebar, wire, and mortar, for flood water readiness. John Cook and Stan Ostrum will guide the creative construction process.

We’ve also got plenty of other tasks: entry trail weeding & edge repair, trailside pruning, invasive species removal, small repairs to the new trail drainage catch basins, a couple of new drainage swales, seed collection & replanting, and trash pick-up.

Please RSVP so we can plan appropriately. Be sure to wear closed heel shoes, long pants and sleeves, and bring work gloves and a water bottle. We will be providing all of the tools and materials, plus energy drinks and water and cups and lunch. PLUS some Halloween treats! You are invited to come with costume elements to stimulate even more than our usual amount of fun and goodwill –

Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardian Coordinator

We had a good turnout of loyal and undaunted-by-the-heat volunteers at our Homedale Trail work day. We had twenty volunteers, logging in 70 plus hours of productive work for the good of the greenbelt. Our spirits were boosted and our bodies were refreshed with homemade cookies provided by Rosalie Russell and ice cold popsicles hand delivered along the trail by Robbin Trusty. We had our partner Community Service volunteers from Travis County Juvenile Probation working alongside us.

We upped our efforts to drastically reduce the Ligustrum population by orange-tagging the large trees throughout the hillside to the creek bed. We are beginning a collaborative effort with Rene Barrera of the City of Austin Parks Preserve Department. They plan to follow-up by girdling or cutting down these large seed-suppliers. The walk down the trail is now punctuated by bright orange flashes of color ? a sobering assessment of the high volume of Ligustrum that are competing with our native vegetation. Our weed wrenches were also put to good use pulling out the smaller ones.

There was some major collecting of hitchhiker weed stickers, ragweed, and Johnson grass – resulting in a satisfying mound of trash bags hauled off in John Cook?s city truck. And dead and encroaching branches were cut back from the trail, plus a treatment to eradicate the poison oak growing along the trailside. We downloaded and stockpiled some large cedar logs for a future cooler work day task working on trail edging. The footbridge retaining wall got some expert attention and repair, readying the steep slopes for future high water protection.

The trash collection finds were extensive and voluminous. There has been considerably more disrespectful use of the Greenbelt ?rock flats? area this year. Large volumes of glass and metal beer cans have been left strewn along side the creek, behind boulders, at the base of the canyon cave, and in the woods. Countless sacks were hauled out, along with personal possessions of people who had set up house and were building fires on the rocks beneath the cedar trees. We are requesting that anyone who witnesses evidence of this illegal camping to please report it to 911 ? this dry summer weather produces ready fire tinder, and these camping fires could easily set the canyon ablaze.

When I went walking on the rock flats this afternoon, I found a recycle bin in the midst of more than 50 beer bottles and cans strewn along the creek bed. I hauled out the full bin, and had to leave many bottles behind for another trip. For those who walk the area regularly, you might take in a couple of plastic sacks and check behind and beneath boulders and all along the rock flats to Campbell?s Hole ? we could start a contest for who can find and haul up the most in a walk! Not exactly an Easter Egg hunt, but it?s for a good cause.

I again tip my hat in deep appreciation for the dedicated work of our neighbors, partners, and allies who give so generously of their time and energy to take care of this natural space that gives so generously to us.

Our next work day is scheduled for Saturday, October 29, Halloween season. Maybe we should costume ourselves for this one .

Glee Ingram

To the hardy, foolhardy, and committed fans of the Greenbelt:

This will be the last appeal for volunteers for our Saturday, July 9 work day at Homedale Trail, from 8:00 a.m. until noon.

John Cook and Stan Ostrum and I walked the trail this Friday and made a list of ?non-extreme? maintenance tasks, in deference to the heat. We will be stockpiling rock and log supplies for a future work day. We need lots of ?ligustrum scouts? to wander into the woodlands beyond the trails to tag large ligustrums that will be cut down or girdled, to reduce the enormous seed bank. The partying has been heavy along the stream and at the base of the cave by the rock flats, so there is lots of trash to haul out. And there are banks of sticker stalks seeds that we need to bag up to prevent future infestations. We will also be doing some stabilizing of the cedar edging along the woodlands trail.

For those who come, BE SURE to bring: your own water bottle, a sun hat, and work gloves. Wear long sleeves & pants and close-toed shoes if you plan to work off trail. WE WILL PROVIDE trash sacks, plastic gloves, all wheelbarrows and tools needed. We will also provide water and energy drinks and some energy bars, and sun screen and poison ivy protectant lotion.

Thanks so much to those who plan to work ? this is an act of real dedication! Please RSVP so we can plan appropriately,

Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardian Coordinator
gleeful@earthlink.net