Essays

Moseying: Locations of Interest

Nazareth Texas has the first Playa Education Center in the world
June 16, 2010

"I found their nest!" Dr. Nancy McIntyre of Texas Tech's Biology Department hollered. Forty people turned as one, to see her gesturing at a spot ten feet away from her. Above her, a pair of black-necked stilts protested vociferously.  I had just told the group of teachers, biologists, reporters, and grantors attending the grand opening of the Ogallala Common's new Playa Education Center that I had waded around in the shallow water for over an hour the afternoon before, looking for stilt nests, but had decided they had not begun to nest yet.

After we had all taken a look and many of the folks had photographed the eggs in the loose cup nest made of Eleocharis running sedge, Robert Martin, of the Clovis office of the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, suddenly bent over and grabbed at something in a patch of living Eleocharis. "Here is a great plains toad to compare with the Woodhouse's toad that Burr found last night." Julie Boatright, of Ogallala Commons, had kept the Woodhouse's toad  overnight in a five gallon bucket sealed with a pair of pantyhose in the three sided Playa Education building at the edge of the playa, so everyone could see it.

Dr. McIntyre pulled her Iphone from its holster and flicked a few times at its touch screen. The sounds of a male great plains toad singing was audible to about half of the folks. The rest of the group crowded closer. Robert Potts of the Dixon Water Trust and I had walked along the shore at sundown the night before and had heard the same song chorused by hundreds of individuals. The Woodhouse's that I had found during my search for the stilt nest was a new species for the database at the Playa Education Center.

Dr. Daryl Birkenfield, executive director of Ogallala Commons, was positively glowing with pride. People were discovering the magical wildness of a playa on the Llano Estacado. After opening comments by Dr. Birkenfield, and an introduction to playas powerpoint presentation by Dr. Dave Haukos of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (and of Texas Tech) at the Mercantile in Nazareth, Texas, the group had followed me to the playa to take an ethnobotany walk.

Dr. Haukos published a book of the plants of playas a few years before, but Dr. Birkenfield had wanted folks to hear some of the stories I had collected about ethnobotanical uses of plants. I had made the group eat yucca, curly dock, and pepperweed and discussed the cheesemaking ability of the trompillo, the use of dock as a tanning agent, the use of split prickly pear to settle muddy water, the use of yucca root as soap, and the use of yucca leaves to make string and rope.

The species I discussed grew above the waterline of the playa.  The playa at the site had filled four times in the last eight years. The remainder of the time, while it was dry, other species of plants had filled the ten acre playa basin. Dr. McIntyre kept swinging a long-handled insect net, then placing what she caught in small plasticine envelopes.

Back at the Mercantile, she discussed the many species of Odonates found at playas. Over 25 species of dragonflies and damselflies have been found at playas on the Llano Estacado. Everyone was allowed to hold a damselfly (by the wings, and no, it does not hurt them.) Dr. McIntyre also discussed many of the other invertebrate species that magically appear at a playa when it is filled. Fairy shrimp, toad shrimp (that look like horseshoe crabs), diving beetles, whirligig beetles, water mites, toe biters, water scavenger beetles, and many more invertebrates can be found at a filled playa, along with the thousands of toads, and hundreds of birds.

Ogallala Commons helps schools on the Llano Estacado hold Playa Festivals. Thirteen schools participated in two and three day festivals in the 2009-2010 school year, as well as several  similar teacher training events like the one we were presenting. The organization also promotes sustainable economic development and promotes Local Foods Conferences, such as the one in Midland in April of2010. For twenty years, they have also been the major organizer of the South Plains Conference held every year in Lubbock. If the measure of a person is how much that person does for their community, then Dr. Birkenfield sets the standard for all Llaneros (citizens of the Llano Estacado).

Related: Photoessay – The Playa Classroom of the Ogallala Commons