Sometimes you choose the right day for an outing. On October 27, 2018, the Houston Sierra Club visited Sam Houston National Forest to see wildflowers and enjoy the beauty of native blackland prairies. There were fourteen Sierrans present who met at the District Ranger's Office. It was a great collection of people from all walks-of-life, like a United Nations convocation. Different nationalities, different hues, different perspectives, but all with one very simple, singular, and unifying purpose - the love of nature and the outdoors.
As we slid through the forests, first in our cars, and then as we walked to natural, blackland prairies, we felt the cares of the world slip away from us. The cool breeze and warm sunlight bathed and caressed us in the healing light.
The Little Bluestem, Longspike Tridens, Bushy Bluestem, Indian Grass, and Knot-root Bristle Grass welcomed us. In full bloom or seed, were many white and purple asters, False Foxglove, Blue Sage, Gumweed, Bitter Weed, Broomweed, Canadian Goldenrod, Maximilian Sunflower, Blue Mistflower, Liatris, Marbleseed, and False Gaura. Monarch, Sulphur, and Fritillary Butterflies floated overhead or landed on enticing blossoms.
Both Welch and Bluebell Prairies shared with us in their mysterious delights. Spider webs made visible by early morning dew, dotted the grass. The yellow and brown cascade of leaves fell, sentinals of fall's arrival, in our shaded canopy lunch spot along an ephemeral stream, where Rusty Black Haw, White Ash, Eastern Red Cedar, Bois 'd Arc, and other calcium-loving treees and shrubs grew.
We saw the full cylce of life and death. Life, from the blooming wildflowers that dotted the prairie landscape, and death as three deer hunters walked by with a doe that had been killed as part of a allowed, managed, hunt. Nature giveth, and Nature taketh away.
Unfortunately, some of the things that we saw on the prairie were harbingers of human mistakes. The swales that slumped toward an ephemeral stream were remnants of erosive blackland soils loosened by livestock grazing decades before. Still active, but slowly healing and reduced.
The small areas of KR Bluestem, a non-native invasive grass, that had been introduced to the prairie landscape, probably by feral hogs (which root and wallow and open soil up to seeds) or motorized vehicles. These unwanted intrusions must be fought if we expect native prairies to thrive again.
But we also saw the beginning of restoration. The U.S. Forest Service is constructing an equestrian trailhead that will have a restored, remnent, blackland prairie next door. We need to practice more service, the giving is more joyful than the taking.
Too soon our halcyon day was over. We were back at the parking lot hugging each other, waving, saying goodbye. Although the day was beginning to slope toward dusk, our memories lingered. It's hard to beat an autumn day in Sam Houston National Forest. I have a feeling we all shall return, if not physically, then in our mind.
By Brandt Mannchen.
Photograph by Duc Nguyen.