SMGA Update for April 16, 2008

In This Issue...

For Your Calendar
Annual Meeting
Bobcat Build
12 Easy Ways To Be Green
More Green Tips
In The News

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

View calendar of events

Every day’s a good day to take pictures for the 4th Annual Naturescapes Content & Exhibition
Submissions may be on line starting May 1.
More at http://www.smgreenbelt.org/PhotoContest.htm

Every Thursday: Trail Shaping – Upper Purgatory – 7:00 to 8:30 a.m.
ALL TRAIL BUILDERS MUST WEAR GLOVES, HARD SHOES AND EYEWEAR.
Water bottle, long pants, and hat highly recommended. We supply tools and bug repellent.
To join our trail crew list, email alliance@smgreenbelt.org (weather or other conditions may prompt last minute changes, and only those on our email list will be notified).
Get directions to Upper Purgatory at http://www.smgreenbelt.org/SMNaturalAreas.htm.

Every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays: Elephant Ear Removal – Aquarena Center – 4:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Meet at Aquarena Center at the far end of the long parking area. Gloves, supplies, and instruction provided.

Saturday April 19: Full Moon Hike - Ringtail Ridge – 6:00 p.m.
Stay after the hike and watch the moon rise, weather permitting. You bring chairs, conversation, and your favorite beverage; SMGA will have ice, cups, water, various sodas, chips and salsa, and bug spray should it become necessary. If you can’t make the hike, swing by for some sky watching and social time: moonrise at 7:40, sunset at 8:02.

Sunday, April 20: 2nd Annual Earth Day Festival - Aquarena Center - 12 to 7 p.m.
Todd Derkacz will be leading a hike at 2:00. Bring a recyclable item and receive a free glass-bottom boat ride. The event is free and will include educational activities for all ages; recycling and green building displays; live music entertainment; food and vendor booths; nature-based entertainment; and blessing of the Springs. SMGA will have a booth at this event; email alliance@smgreenbelt.org if you can help in the booth for an hour or two. Program of events available at http://www.aquarena.txstate.edu/Side-Bar/calendar-of-events.html

Friday April 25: Big Broom Clean Up – meet at Tantra Coffee House – 10:30 a.m.
The goal of Big Broom San Marcos is to establish a collective effort to keep our public spaces clean. Local artists, musicians and supporters will walk from areas along IH-35 into town and pick up trash and debris, ending at Tantra Coffeehouse. Once the trash is sorted and properly disposed of, there will be a celebration with food and musical performances. Wear gloves and bring bags.
Contact Dieter Geisler at sketchfly@gmail.com for more details.

Saturday, April 26: SMRF water hyacinth removal - Aquarena Center - 9 a.m. to 12 noon

Thursday, May 1: 4th Annual Naturescapes Content opens
Details available at http://www.smgreenbelt.org/PhotoContest.htm

Saturday, May 10 & 17: Trail Shaping - Upper Purgatory - 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. (8:00 for newbies)
See notes above for Thursday trail shaping.

ANNUAL MEETING

Attendees at SMGA’s annual membership meeting on Friday March 28 sampled an array of food and drink, including delicious bread and pizza from Phoenix Rising bakery, and several members went home with door prizes. A light rain kept us from using the lawn, but the inside of the Price Center was perfect for the meeting. SMGA members voted in two new board members, Mary Waters and Sherwood Bishop, and thanked departing board members Mike Narvaiz, Annette Paulin, and Bob Wilson. Board president Todd Derkacz recognized and thanked SMGA donors, including the Hobby Foundation, Randall Morris, Bill and Celeste Healy, David and Lane Jones, and noted that several additional donors wish to remain anonymous.

Todd also honored Richard Salmon with a special walking stick and book in thanks for his grant-writing skills and dedication to increasing and protecting natural areas. Chris North noted that it was Richard who suggested to her years ago that a greenbelt group be formed.

SMGA plans to focus on two areas in the coming year: protecting areas that provide a connection along streams to rivers and communities and maintaining existing natural areas through the work of its all-volunteer stewardship committee.

BOBCAT BUILD

Sunny skies, bird song, and comfortable temperatures invigorated Bobcat volunteers as they built trails at Upper Purgatory on Saturday April 5th. A hearty thanks goes out to students from Susan Hanson’s literature course and a handful of SMGA trail crew members for building trails for three productive hours. The group safely wielded an array of tools thanks to Todd Derkacz’s trail building instruction prior to the effort. (Work continues on a trail that will connect Upper to Lower Purgatory ahead of the Wonderworld Drive Extension construction, which will likely temporarily divide the natural area.)

Meanwhile, another group that included members of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) assisted the city’s watershed protection manager, Melani Howard, with efforts to undo damaged done by some well intended but unauthorized trail building that had taken a bite out of one of the ponds in this aquifer recharge area to make jumps and other elements. Bobcat volunteers replaced the dirt while others assisted SMGA board member Murry Holley in surveying the site’s concrete slabs for possible removal or improvement using a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

12 EASY WAYS TO BE GREEN

We talk a lot about how access to green spaces can keep us psychologically, physically, and spiritually healthy. There’s an obvious connection between the health of our natural areas and our impact on the Earth, so we think it’s important to be green year round, not just on Earth Day. See how many of these green behaviors you've done. If we’ve missed one you think is particularly important, email it to alliance@smgreenbelt.org.

• I’ve replaced one or more incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
• I pull weeds instead of using herbicide.
• I clean with earth-friendly products (e.g., vinegar, biodegradable laundry soap).
• I bag my groceries in reusable bags.
• When feasible, I ride a bike or walk to my destination.
• I grow my own or purchase locally grown vegetables.
• I drink from a reusable bottle or cup instead of from disposable bottles.
• I avoid using paper plates and disposable tableware.
• I scrape instead of rinse my dishes before washing them.
• I run my dishwasher only when it’s full and use the air dry setting OR
  I hand wash my dishes using as little water as possible.
• I turn off the shower to save water when soaping up.
• I turn off the water when brushing my teeth.

MORE GREEN TIPS

Recycle your packaging peanuts
Remember to reuse or drop off your packaging peanuts to be recycled at Pak Mail, 102 Wonder World Drive, Suite 304.

How green is your candidate?
Find out how green the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are at http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/07/06/candidates/

Recyle your athletic shoes
According to Reuse-A-Shoe at http://letmeplay.com/reuseashoe/program, you can take your worn out athletic shoes (of any brand) to the nearest Reuse-A-Shoe drop-off location. We’re lucky to have one close by at Prime Outlet, Suite 798, 512 353-8500 (call ahead if you have more than 10 pairs of shoes to donate). Your shoes will be shipped to a processing facility in Oregon (there’s another in Belgium) and ground up and separated into three useful “Nike-Grind” materials: rubber from the outsole, foam from the midsole, and fabric from the upper. Nike partners with industry-leading surfacing companies to incorporate Nike Grind into their playground and sport surfaces.

Ten ways to a greener kitchen
...While politicians throughout the world debate global warming, there is a growing sense of a crucial need to hold ourselves accountable not only as individuals, but as part of our greater community. A meaningful way to have a positive effect on the environment is by greening up our kitchens and our eating habits, because these actions affect us all.
http://www.austin360.com/search/content/food_drink/stories/2008/01/0116greenkitchen.html

IN THE NEWS

Habitat – City Council set to OK fund to protect endangered warbler
4/12/08. Everyone agrees that the stretch of land across which the Wonder World Drive Extension will be built crosses some spectacular property...According to a survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the roadway construction area contains approximately 24 acres of potential habitat for the warbler. And the City Council of course has taken notice. On Tuesday, council members will consider adopting a resolution to approve $149,969.31 to go to the Nature Conservancy “for mitigation of harm to Golden Cheeked Warbler habitat related to the Wonder World Drive Extension Project” and declaring an effective date.
http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_103163220.html

True Ranch
4/10/08. Negotiations between Hays County and the developer of a proposed subdivision in Wimberley have already progressed beyond the “worst case scenario,” Commissioner Pct. 2 Will Conley says. “The idea of drilling residential wells on all those lots is off that table. That’s significant,” Conley said of True Ranch, which would be located on 675 acres off FM 3235.
http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_101123816.html?keyword=secondarystory

Christmas Mountains Get Open(er)
4/10/08. Another little motion on the biggest argument in years for the General Land Office: Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has granted a permanent easement between Big Bend National Park and the Christmas Mountains Range.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Blogs/News?oid=oid%3A611166

Senate OKs Massive Public Lands Bill
4/10/08. The Senate on Thursday approved a massive bill designating federal wilderness protection in Washington state, creating heritage areas in Illinois and New York and approving water projects across the country. The bill, approved 91-4, combines 62 proposals related to public lands from coast to coast.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/04/10/ap4878071.html

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