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| Ricky Linex (center in blue shirt) and Kenneth Mayben, both with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, led a Riparian Workshop this week. |
Tubing on the
Guadalupe River. Splashing in the Blanco River. Stepping along a gurgling creek
that runs through your property. We relish time spent at our special places in
and near water. But riparian habitats–those transition zones that link wetlands
to uplands–are one of our most endangered ecosystems.
As part of our
Texas Master Naturalist training with the Highland Lakes chapter, Childers, our
training program coordinator, scheduled the extra day-long class, which was
also open to certified Master Naturalists and Texas Master Gardeners.
Ricky Linex, a
wildlife biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in
Weatherford, gave an overview of riparian function. “Every creek is different,
but they have similarities,” he said.
A number of myths
muddy people’s basic understanding about creeks. “They think floods and
droughts are bad,” Linex said. “They also think streams should be wide and
straight.”
Other myths that
we’d learn are wrong: dead timber clog up streams and should be removed;
removing vegetation will improve stream flow; steep cut-banks are bad; if a
watershed’s in good condition, so is a stream; and riparian areas should be
burned and grazed, and brushed controlled in order to maintain or restore
desirable vegetation.
“Soil–water–vegetation
are like gears meshing. The ideal is for all those to connect and mesh finely
together,” Linex said. “A properly functioning riparian area has adequate
vegetation, land form and large woods.” Vegetation and woods slow down a stream
energy (force of a water flow) while stabilizing banks, reducing erosion,
trapping sediments (which builds a floodplain) and store water.
Next, Linex gave a
quick lesson in hydrology. “How we manage rain is one answer (to our water
problems),” he said. A grass blade dissipates the energy of one raindrop
falling. So established grasses help the land to slow down runoff in a
watershed and store it, which benefits creeks and riparian areas.
Ranchers and
private landowners can better protect their creeks by managing the time that
livestock spend near them. He recommended alternate water sources be installed
away from creeks in fenced pastures; rotational grazing and also fencing off
creeks. “Livestock can graze a riparian area, but it must be managed,” he
added.
Next, Kenneth
Mayben–an engineer with the NRCS–discussed fluvial geomorphology, potential
versus capability of a stream, bank full discharge and bank full flow, channel
geometry, width/depth ratio, sinuosity, headcuts, active and abandoned
floodplains…the three-hour class felt like a semester’s worth of information.
Our heads were swimming!
Good read: Mayben
recommended A View of the River by
Luna B. Leopold. “It changed my thinking about rivers,” he said.
After Mayben’s
presentation, Linex discussed the role of grasses, sedges, forbs, shrubs and
trees in a riparian area. Some colonize (like spikerush and watercress), others
stabilize the soil (like switchgrass and emory sedge).
Some recreational
use of creek banks is fine, provided at least 70 percent remains natural (with
plant coverage), Linex said.
After lunch, we ventured out beneath gray, drizzly skies to explore and learn more about streams and creeks....
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| Lindheimer muhly |
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| Kenneth Mayben shows us the differences in soil found in riparian and upland areas. |
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| Linex points out more native grasses. |
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| An elbow bush (we have one in our Wildscape). |
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| As we walked along the creek, M.J., my classmate, told me to look up and "take a picture of that!" If you look closely at the oak limb above the lady's heads, you'll see..... |
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| ...a prickly pear cactus growing!! |
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| Ed stands next to a bunch of little bluestem (it's a little hard to see in the photo). |
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| Here's how to tell the difference between native and nonnative thistles. |
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| Spike rush |
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| A friendly and HIGHLY energetic teen pup accompanied our group. (Hope she found her way back home!) |
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| I love sedums. |
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| Last leg of our Riparian Workshop with Ricky Linex and Kenneth Mayben. |
Read more:
* National riparian specialist Wayne Elmore's restoration work in Orgeon (article published in 1998).
