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HOSTED BY NATIVE PRAIRIES ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS
You are cordially invited Party for the Prairie! Saturday March 7, 2020 at the Safari Texas Ranch, Attire: Texas Festive There will be a silent and a live auction, an opportunity to test your prairie knowledge, and time to visit with your prairie friends. Learn more about the Lawther-Deer Park Education Program. All proceeds will go toward this education program benefitting the young AND the not-so-young.
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Updates posted on home page: register for 1/22/20 Seed Cleaning & Packing PIZZA PARTY
Sorry for the delay! The registration link and information for the 1/22/2020 Seed Cleaning & Packing PIZZA PARTY is now posted on our home page HoustonPrairie.org.
Check out also the upcoming events:
- Gala Luncheon (3/7/2020) to fund raise for the Deer Park Prairie Education Program and
- City Nature Challenge (April 24 – April 27, 2020).
- Tentatively (check back in a week after the HNPAT board meeting) we are again planning a Spring Wildflower Day with insect tent on April 25. At this event participants are encouraged to take photos for posting onto City Nature Challenge.
Jim Duron Honored with HNPAT’s 2019 Prairie Volunteer Award

Jim Duron upon completion of 20,000 Texas Master Naturalist hours
HNPAT (Houston Chapter – Native Prairies Association of Texas) will be presenting its 2019 Prairie Volunteer Award to Jim Duron, Texas Master Naturalists, Galveston Bay Area Chapter with over 20,000 volunteer hours, on Wednesday,

Prairie Friday volunteers ABNC, 2007
December 4, 2019 at the Prairie Stampede potluck (free, all welcome, please register). Please join us in celebrating this award and all 2019 coastal prairie accomplishments. Jim is a long-time prairie volunteer involved in multiple prairie restoration activities with multiple organizations:
- Jim’s volunteerism started in 2007 with the Prairie Friday group at Armand Bayou Nature Center (ABNC) where from 2014 – present, he has led all aspects related to plant generation.
- He was involved in restoration at Sheldon Lake State Park on Tuesday mornings, 2007 – 2010.
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Harvesting Switchgrass Seeds from TCPP’s Seed Production Facility 1, 2013
Jim led the Tuesday morning volunteer workdays at Texas City Prairie Preserve 2010 – July, 2019 and produced the plants that were planted in the prairie during this period. After stepping down as the leader, he continues to work as a restoration volunteer at TCPP.
- Jim has been involved with prairie restoration at San Jacinto Battleground since 2012. From 2014 – present he leads the plant production effort there as well as Thursday morning workdays.
- In summary, from 2007 – present, Jim has volunteered for prairie workdays Tuesday and Friday mornings. Since 2012 he has been volunteering for prairie workdays Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings and has been in leadership roles most of the time.
- In addition to the workdays, Jim has been involved in other aspects of plant generation. In Jim’s words “The generation of the plants that support the restoration effort is a very time consuming task. The effort begins with the collecting, cleaning and storage of the seeds. Then the seeds are germinated in several greenhouses around the supported areas. During [my] tenure as the plant propagation lead, [I] use greenhouses at the NASA Long Horn Project, at the College of the Mainland , at the Armand Bayou Nature Center and at the San Jacinto Battle Ground. Since 2014, [I have] generated over 170,000 seedlings in support of the restoration activities at the different sites. The seedlings are taken from the greenhouses to the restoration sites where they are placed in 1 gallon containers by the volunteer groups. They are then staged until they are ready to plant in the prairie. [I organize] the potting, staging and watering effort to get the plants ready. For each planting event, [I identify] the individual plant types that will be taken into the field and planted.
Jim chronicles his volunteer career in prairie restoration:
Jim began his restoration experience in April 2007. Getting ready to retire from the rat race, he was looking for something to do with his time. After a hint from his wife, he joined the Prairie Friday group at the Armand Bayou Nature Center (ABNC). This group meets every Friday morning and is responsible for the generation of prairie grasses and forbs that will be planted in the prairie. In 2014, the Prairie Friday lead stepped down and Jim took over all the aspects related to plant generation. This is a task that Jim continues to perform to this day.
In November of 2007, one of the rangers at Sheldon Lake State Park (SLSP) contacted Prairie Friday volunteers about starting a prairie restoration group at the SLSP. With the ABNC restoration lead, the new restoration group started generating plants. Jim continued to support the restoration effort at SLSP, until October of 2010.
In October of 2010, Jim was approached by the lead of the restoration efforts at the Texas City Prairie Preserve (TCPP). She needed to step down from the leadership role. Accepting the invitation, Jim took over the restoration lead at the TCPP. Meeting every Tuesday morning, Jim led the effort to generate the grasses and forbs that were planted in the prairie. This is a position that he held until July of 2019 when he stepped down as the lead. Jim continues to work as a restoration volunteer at the center.
In April of 2012, Prairie Friday volunteers were again approached by a ranger from one of the other state parks about starting a restoration effort. With a very small group of volunteers, the restoration activities at the San Jacinto Battle Ground (SJBG) began. Meeting every Thursday morning, the group began the process of generating grasses and forbs that were planted in the prairie. In 2014, Jim took over the plant generation portion of the restoration effort. This is a position that he holds to this day
The generation of the plants that supports the restoration effort is a very time consuming task. The effort begins with the collecting, cleaning and storage of the seeds. Then the seeds are germinated in several greenhouses around the supported areas. During Jim’s tenure as the plant propagation lead, he uses greenhouses at the NASA Long Horn Project, at the College of the Mainland , at the Armand Bayou Nature Center and at the San Jacinto Battle Ground. Since 2014, Jim has generated over 170,000 seedlings in support of the restoration activities at the different sites. The seedlings are taken from the greenhouses to the restoration sites where they are placed in 1 gallon containers by the volunteer groups. They are then staged until they are ready to plant in the prairie. Jim organizes the potting, staging and watering effort to get the plants ready. For each planting event, he defines the individual plant types that will be taken into the field and planted.
In 2008 Jim became a member of the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists. He served as the membership lead for 9 years before stepping down at the end of 2018. He still supports many of the chapter activities especially in the area of prairie restoration. During his service with the chapter he has accumulated over 20,000 volunteer service hours.
2019 Prairie Stampede – Prairie Awards & Holiday Potluck
6:00 p.m. Doors open
6:30 p.m. Pot luck starts
7:00 p.m. Program starts
Annual Prairie Stampede – Wednesday, December 4
Register Here
Join the prairie community of southeast Texas and coastal Louisiana as we celebrate the great work happening locally to save, restore, and teach prairies. We will present awards to prairie champions and enjoy a delicious potluck dinner. Please bring a dish to share. Register today!
As in past years, the program will include 2019 Prairie Accomplishments. Promote your group’s 2019 prairie accomplishments by sending a powerpoint slide or two summarizing these accomplishments to Lan.Shen@txgcmn.org . Your slides will be forwarded and included in the program.
Schedule:
6:00 p.m. Doors open
6:30 p.m. Pot luck starts
7:00 p.m. Program starts
Link to Flyer
Nine Natives at Garden Club of Houston’s Bulb Mart
Last year’s sale of Nine Natives at the Bulb Mart was so successful that the ladies of the Garden Club of Houston led by Margaret Pierce grew more Nine Natives for this year’s Bulb Mart, which will be held today & tomorrow. The specifics from https://www.gchouston.org/bulb-plant-mart-info/:
Friday, 10/4/19 9am-5pm
Saturday, 10/5/19 9am-2pm
Location: The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard, 77019
Margaret sent some photos of this year’s display.
New to Nine Natives? Read about it at Katy Prairie Conservancy’s Nine Natives page or in our blog.
A testimonial about Nine Natives: Maria Onufrow on wrote,
Shell Funds Deer Park Prairie Education 2019/20
We are excited to announce that Shell has funded the following education programs: Thank you Shell Deer Park!
- Student Prairie Programs $ 10,000.00
- Teacher Education Workshops $10,000.00
- Adult Education Programs $ 5,000.00
- Prairie Field Trips $ 15,000.00
- Girls Summer Camp $ 15,000.00
We are still looking for funding for the Prairie Art Contest and Evening Education Programs.
Della Barbato – Director of Education Deer Park Prairie
Teaching City-Slickers about Prairies through School Lessons, Pocket Prairies, Storytelling and Technology
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
North American Prairie Conference
June 5 – Della Barbato, Director of Education, co-facilitated an education workshop at the NAPC with Jaime Gonzales titled Prairie 101 – Teaching City-Slickers about Prairies through School Lessons, Pocket Prairies, Storytelling and Technology. I asked Rhonda Burrow from Katy High School to discuss her experiences building a one-acre pocket prairie on her campus. Workshop topics discussed: NPAT and history, Deer Park Prairie and history, my student and adult education programs, connecting the ecosystem to belief and value systems, teaching audiences about themselves and where they live, connecting to neighborhoods, building pocket prairies with signage to educate and a name that connects with them, and building the Katy HS Pocket Prairie.
KPC’s Seed Collection Season Starts

Katy Prairie Conservancy’s Prairie Seed Collection Season for 2019 starts this month with two seed collecting trips:
- Wednesday, July 10, to Deer Park Prairie
- Friday, July 12 to Katy Prairie Conservancy’s Indiangrass Preserve
For more information and to register, see 2019 Seed collecting information sheet.
To be notified of future seed collecting trips, please email Lshen@katyprairie.org and ask to be placed on KPC’s seed collecting email list.
MOTH NIGHT at Deer Park Prairie!
For a copy of the flyer in pdf click here.
Join the Houston Chapter – Native Prairies Association of Texas (HNPAT)
For Our Annual Moth Night
Saturday, July 20, 2019
at Deer Park Prairie
1222 E. Purdue Lane, Deer Park 77536
(Please do not park directly in front of our neighbors’ houses)
Register at tinyurl.com/DPP190720
8:30 p.m. Doors open – visitors are encouraged to walk and view the prairie in the relative coolness and breeze around sunset
~ 9:00 p.m. or after dark: Moth and night insect viewing begins
Visitors are welcome to drop by and leave at any time. Cost: Free
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Moth and insect enthusiasts Katy Emde and John Schneider will set up black (UV) lights and white screen to attract moths and other night insects. We had some Harris County firsts last year and a lot of fun! Once it gets dark, we’ll see what shows up! We’ll be ID’ing, photographing and talking moths and other night insects such as the silver butt beetle. Light refreshments will be served in the house – please register, so we can get an estimate for food.
- We encourage you to post your photos on iNaturalist and add them to the Deer Park Prairie Project (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/deer-park-prairie).
- Want to know more about moths? Go to http://nationalmothweek.org/
- Note: For anyone planning to walk on the prairie, closed-toe shoes and long pants are required. Insect repellant spray is highly recommended.
For more information, contact HNPAT@TexasPrairie.org
“I just wanted to say thanks to those involved for making this a reality. I bought the flats of nine natives last year at the Bulb and Plant Mart and planted them in my garden. They are doing great! I’d be interested in buying more if they are on sale again.”