Restore a Wild Meadow for Keep Austin Beautiful Day

Register for this event on GivePulse. The GivePulse event has behaved oddly. If you can't get it to work, register here and I will manually register you on GivePulse.

In a kid-friendly project, we're going to help Keep Walnut Creek Wild restore a meadow in Walnut Creek Park that is being overtaken by willows, cottonwoods, and Johnson grass. The problem arose when the contractor who built the Northern Walnut Creek Trail covered an upland meadow with soil gathered from some lowland area. With it came willow roots, cottonwood seed, and Johnson grass rhizomes, which are smothering the native little bluestem, Maximilian sunflower, and various other species of grass and wildflowers.

The soil should be just wet enough, so we're going to uproot the riparian plants and replace them with Maximilian sunflower roots. I will also have wildflower seed that kids can scatter in adjacent areas while we're working.

Wear sturdy, closed-toe shoes, protection from the sun, and other weather-appropriate gear. Bring a full water bottle for drinking. I will supply tools and work gloves, but if you would like to bring your own, the most useful would be a wheelbarrow, a spading fork, a gardening trowel, and a weeding tool.

Let's use this event to get to know one another, too.
z