Joann Merritt's Essays

I-20 Trails Update
December, 1993

There is now a mowed trail completely around I-20 Pond. On the west side we have a trail near the water and in some places a second trail through the brush. We have obtained four bridges to span the inlet streams. Jim Henderson donated three and Zachry Oil Company the other one. When Jim, Burr and I took the bridges to the streams we made one trip do double duty by also loading some trash and hauling it to the landfill. Two of the bridges have been put in place and anchored with pipe set in concrete. When Don and I went to cap an unused water well we flushed an American Woodcock as we walked along the trail, so birders already have a dividend. We have an ongoing problem with fire ants, but they are only on the north end at this time. Some trash remains to be picked up on the east side, but before we do that we need to cut the brush along the east fence so we can drive a pickup in there. Thanks to all the volunteers who show up when a work day is called we have progressed very well toward an ideal bird and plant study area.

You can believe Burr. In the November issue of News and Natives he wrote that when botanizing, surprises explode in the most mundane of places. Late in the afternoon of November 28th as Don and I were walking the I-20 Trails with a fellow naturalist from Houston we experienced one of those surprising explosions. Of their volition the numerous cattails in the pond started randomly releasing their fluffy seeds into the air. Nothing was touching them, nor was the wind a factor, but the spikes of seeds just spontaneously “boiled over” filling the air with plumes of fluff which was clinging to the surrounding vegetation.

Besides giving the area an eerie frosted appearance, the fluff tickled our noses and made us fearful of inhaling. The random pattern of the seed spikes opening brought to mind watching a patch of evening primroses opening one by one until they become a field of stars. Grandson Randall and I once walked in a late spring snow to observe about 25 bright yellow primroses open in the sparkling white snow - Mother Nature practices random acts of kindness and senseless beauty! Come walk the new and improved I-20 Trails remembering what Burr said!

Our best find on the Christmas Bird Count was not a bird, but a stand of Big Bushy Bluestem, a new plant for the county. The stems and leaves of this 3, 4 and even 5 feet tall grass had turned a reddish copper color and with the fluffy seeds forming a canopy over a narrow pathway, it was the best Christmas present a Native Plant Society member could receive.