<
https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/first-look-pecan-springs-karst-preserve/>
"Bumping over cattle guards and cruising down a dirt road on a hot September
morning, I can see a narrow, shimmering band in the distance that looks like a
gentle stream catching the early light.
That can’t be right, I tell myself.
Seasonal streams all over the Hill Country have long since gone dry. Here in
Williamson County, as in most of Central Texas, the U.S. Drought Monitor has
declared a state of exceptional drought—the most extreme category—after hardly
any rain at all during some of the hottest months in Texas history. But I’m not
seeing a mirage. Soon the road dips into a shallow valley and passes by a
scattering of massive hardwoods—pecan, bur oak, live oak—and it becomes clear
that I am seeing a rare holdout: a glassy ribbon of cool water, straight from
the Edwards Aquifer.
“There are three different spring areas on the property, and all three of them
flowed the entirety of last year and this year, which is really exciting to
see,” says Rachael Lindsey, the director of science and stewardship at the Hill
Country Conservancy. She and her colleague Rich Kostecke are leading a tour
here for myself and another journalist. As we hop out of Lindsey’s SUV, she and
Kostecke describe the many kinds of wildlife found in this shaded valley, which
is fed by a spring about fifty yards upstream. Frequent visitors include
white-tailed deer, foxes, wild turkeys, and, of course, unwelcome feral pigs.
After wandering slightly uphill, nearly stepping on a rough green snake and
sending other fauna scampering off in every direction, we arrive at Pecan
Springs, the namesake of the new Pecan Springs Karst Preserve."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-democracy-europe-trans-japan-conservation-israel/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
