Conservation

Presenter: Roger Taylor, certified passive house consultant, BPI certified

Roger Sanderson, the horticulture director at The Texas Discovery Gardens, will talk about the Benny Simpson Garden and the Butterfly Garden that he is developing, as well as how to develop our very own butterfly gardens.

Family friendly event that focuses on Texas flora and fauna, and the use of native plants in home landscapes as disease and drought-resistant alternatives to non-native species. Live animals, food trucks, speakers. Also 30-minute wildflower and prairie walks, and some 30+ demonstration and information outreach booths. Free.

Plan to attend one or both of our seminars sponsored by Dallas Water Utilities Conservation and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Landscape designer and author Bonnie Reese of Beautiful Landscapes will be the speaker at both sessions. First-time seminar attendees at each session will receive a copy of Ms. Reese’s book, Common- Sense Landscaping (limit one per household). Attendees can also enter a drawing for free bags of GreenSense organic fertilizer from Rohde’s Nursery and Nature Store. There will be 3 drawings per session.

Water-Wise Landscape Design 101

Join the group for its first workday on the NPAT project area at White Rock Lake. The group will be removing Queen Anne's lace and Johnson grass from native grasslands on Boy Scout Hill. Bring hand tools, work gloves, drinking water and sun gear. Meet at the small parking area and picnic structure at Boy Scout Hill.

RJ Taylor and Pat Merkord will bring us a discussion about what you can do to help preserve threatened prairie sites in North Texas.  RJ Taylor will present an overview of several prairie sites in the Blackland Prairie region that are currently under the threat of habitat loss. 

Convert your spray heads and watch your sprinkler system save you money from this hands-on drip conversion class. You will learn how to install drip irrigation tubing from your faucet or how to convert an existing zone to drip. Drip irrigation for foundation watering will also be covered. The indoor class will be held at the Biodiversity Education Center, where an extensive rain garden is planted that utilizes drip methods.

Free. 

Resource Conservation and Development areas (RC&Ds) are local groups located throughout the United States. These grass root groups assist individuals, landowners, other organizations and businesses to preserve and improve our natural resources while maintaining healthy growing rural communities and economies. Here in Texas our local groups obtain statewide assistance with our missions through our membership in the Texas Association of Resource Conservation and Development Areas (TARCDA).

Speaker:  Michael Brooks, District Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Department of Agriculture

Join us this month to learn about sustainable cattle operations in North Central Texas. Michael Brooks of NRCS will discuss grazing management on native prairies, including how much grass can be produced and proper stocking rates per acre. Drought factors will be discussed, as well as range resource inventories, good and bad management practices, control of invasive species and wildlife considerations.

Amy Hays, Hugh Aljoe, Mike Proctor present “Moving Forward in Sustainable Management of Natural Resources – the Noble Foundations relationship with innovative producers, applied research, and partnerships.”

In 2015, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation celebrated its 70th anniversary. The independent, nonprofit agricultural research headquartered in Ardmore, Oklahoma, assists farmers and ranchers and conducts plant science research and agricultural programs to enhance conservation, natural resource management and sustainability regionally, nationally and internationally.