Photo Essay
Teacher In-Service at Mott Valley
At the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado, just west of the town of Matador, MariSue Potts’ Mott Creek Ranch encourages outdoor education. Rick Day of the Andrews Independent School District brings middle school gifted and talented students to participate in a two-day excavation of a bison kill site dating from the 1400s. With Mr. Day’s (and his fellow Andrews teacher Charles Hemann) help, the Sibley Nature Center staff held a two-day field studies inservice in June of 2008 for 9 teachers from several West Texas towns. The photography is by Sibley staff members Richard Galle, Michael Nickell, and Burr Williams.
Related Essay: Teaching teachers extends the audience of the Sibley Nature Center
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The rolling hills hide 23 microhabitats within the canyon and breaks habitat. Along the creeks and the edges of the water impoundments are riparian forests of willow, cottonwood, and little walnut. Some of the upland has grassland reclaimed from juniper-covered shallow soils. Some of the hillsides are quite sandy with shinoak and other plants common to the habitat.
Last year's reddish stems of little bluestem grass are found both in the shallower soils and the sandy soils. Due to its prevalence, little bluestem is a symbol of the region for Sibley staff. It deserves to be commonly used in West Texas ornamental landscapes, including schoolyards throughout the region.
At the base of the hills small springs trickle water to the headwaters of the Middle Pease River. Dark green sedges indicate the moist soil. The water still issues from the Ogallala Aquifer despite extensive irrigation on the Llano Estacado above.
Red Triassic sandstone lines the headwater streams. Mr. Day has discovered a number of fossils from the era on the ranch. During the inservice he led the teachers on a brief survey of one of the locations of his finds. In the future we hope to conduct an aquatic studies inservice as part of a goal to identify what lives in the region.
At the spring below the historic ranch house, Ms. Potts has cleared some of the willow and cottonwood in the valley to recreate the gallery forest that would have been present during the days of the Comanches.
In several locations on the ranch are "scablands." The clay soils of the scablands have very little vegetation. Do you see Mr. Day's father searching for arrowheads and other Indian artifacts in the distance? On the gravelly soil in the foreground the larger leaves are a perennial species of buckwheat. Most species of buckwheat prefer rockier soils and bloom in the fall.
Mr. Day lead the teachers up one of the highest hills on the ranch to discuss the geology and to see if recent rains had exposed any arrowheads. Years ago, a cowboy discovered a burial site near the top of the hill. Hilltops were often used by Indians to look for game. Buffalo, pronghorn, and black bear once ranged throughout the breaks.
A sheer-walled arroyo lay just below the clay scablands. One of the nearby slopes was covered with the round cobblestones of the Ogallala formation. Although Ms. Potts said the arroyo was renown for rattlesnakes none were seen.
A portion of the ranch had been scorched by fire the previous fall. It appeared that much of the juniper had been killed, but the mesquite was coming up from the crowns. Fire once kept the hills relative brush free. Fire started not only by lightning, but was also a commonly used tool of the Indians to "call" the buffalo. Smoke can be seen and smelled for many miles, and the buffalo would head in its direction, knowing that fresh green grass would soon appear.
One of the earliest writers of the region, Frank Collinson, not only hunted buffalo among these hills, but he also brought in the first cattle for John Chisum a few years before the giant Matador ranch was put together. His writings do not mention the Hispanic sheepherders that proceeded his arrival, but archaeological evidence of their presence is on the ranch. Motley County is still a sparsely populated county, and it is easy to imagine the historical events of the region when all that is heard is bird song and the rustle of wind in the grass. Some of the land has been cleared of brush at least twice in the last fifty years.
Marisue Potts is an engaging speaker. She is a gifted storyteller and kept the inservice class members enthralled during the hottest part of the afternoon as everyone sat in the shade of giant cottonwoods along the creek.
Rick Day showed the group one of the archaeological pits. If it had not been near 100 degrees, the group might have done some work. Thousands of artifacts including bison bone pieces, arrowheads, boiling stones, digging, cutting and scraping tools and pottery has been found. All of it is carefully catalogued, scanned, and recording according to the latest archaeological techniques. It dates from the 1400s and seems to be related to the Antelope Creek Focus a hundred miles to the north, and might possibly be a hunting camp of that group which lived in pithouses and did some farming.
Near the dig metal artifacts have been found that indicate that Comanche Indians also used the site.
This house was the first on the ranch. A historical marker is in front of it, and Ms. Potts has stored early day ranching artifacts inside, with the long-range plan of making it a small museum.
This rock-lined dugout dates from the early 1900s. Not far away is another dugout that possibly dates to the days of the New Mexican sheepherders.
A rock fence is probably the handiwork of the sheepherders. Sheep were penned at night. Like many similar rock pens, it is on an south-facing slope away from the colder winds that might strike in spring and fall.
Although thunderstorms clattered both nights people were camped at the ranch, little rain actually fell.
When Ms. Potts cleared part of the headwater canyon's brush away, a patch of blackberries were found. Blackberries are not native, so the wife of one of the early camptenders of the Matador Ranch must have brought them with her from further east.
In years past, at the top of a hill a salt lick for the cattle on the ranch, the soil remains bare. The site is littered with Indian artifacts.
Besides this hearth, the group of teachers found an Archaic era spear point recently exposed by rain.
Mentzelia nuda, also known as Buena Mujer, grew on the gravelly slopes of the hills. Its leaves stick to clothing like velcro sticks together. The Spanish name means that it sticks to a person like a good woman should stick to her man.
Narrow-leafed Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) is still used in herbal medicine today. When a cold is coming on, people take an extract of its root. It also prefers the gravelly slopes.
Clammyweed (Polanasia) is another gravelly slope plant. Its leaves are sticky and somewhat malodorous.
Berlandiera texana smells like chocolate. It is a good perennial for ornamental use on the Llano Estacado.
Horse crippler cactus fruit is quite edible. As soon as it turns ripe animals will seek out the fruit, so it is rare a human can find one perfect for eating. It grows in all but the moist habitats in the region, and is usually hidden in grass or under a shrub.
Skullcap is another medicinal plant on the gravelly slopes and in clay soils. It is used as a spring tonic to invigorate the blood. It has dark blue blossoms followed by white seed capsules.
Little bluestem turns red in the fall, which indicates it is full of plant sugars.
In the shade of the gallery forest near the buffalo kill site, poison ivy crawled up the arroyo wall.
A twice stabbed ladybug beetle hid on a Texas mulberry leaf. The mulberry is near the kill site, and it too may be an artifact of the camp. Its berries are sweet, so the seeds of its ancestor may have been left behind by a long ago Indian defecating in the bushes.
Whiptail lizards were common on the open hilltops. The group looked for Collared Lizards in the rocky areas but did not find any.
To find an Eastern Green toad hopping about near the lunch hour was a surprise. They emerge during rainstorms to lay eggs in temporary pools. When the temperature becomes warm, they seek shade and a damp spot before digging back underground.
Round-tailed horned lizards were found on the gravelly hillsides, too. An adult is small, smaller than an adult human's thumb.
Michael Nickell crouched on a hillside, photographing something hidden in the grass.
Just what was he examining?
A mourning dove had built its nest on the ground. The nest's location at the edge of an arroyo wall might prevent a predator from finding it.
Near the salt-lick archaeological site, hundreds of small bright green bees swarmed on one knee-tall mesquite loaded with blooms.
Several species of grasshoppers hid among the buffalo grass on the hilltop near the salt lick.
In the red Triassic sandstone, nodules of manganese-bearing rocks are found. Notice the small patch of moss.
Moss was found in shady places along most rocky areas on the ranch. Recent rains had made the moss bright green.
Wild plum thickets were found in sandy soil along the streams. About half of the fruit had ripened to full sweetness. During the days of Indian occupation, black bear would have been found in the plum thickets when the fruit was ripe.
A red-winged damselfly was common along the streams, too. If the Sibley Nature Center does sponsor an aquatic studies inservice at the ranch again, we will do a literature search to find out what other people have found in the region. This would give us a hypothetical list to compare to during the survey. Texas Tech students surely have done studies in the area!
In a sandy soil region a robberfly had caught a bright green bee different than the species feeding on the mesquite.
Skunkbush sumac was a common understory plant in the riparian forest along the streams. The ripe fruit makes a wonderful lemonade.
Hog potato (Hoffmanseggia) grew in the buffalo grass. On its roots are small nodules that are edible (they taste like Jerusalem artichokes).
In the cobblestones of the Ogallala formation, deer scat was obvious.
Cryptogamic soil crusts carpeted the ground in some areas.
Yellow flax was common on the gravelly hillslopes.
The watershed of the scablands led to the arroyo of the rattlesnakes under the hillside with the Ogallala cobblestones where the green toad was found. Landscapes are full of stories - it just takes walking into them to begin to create the stories. This one narrative sentence brings to mind details of the landscape, and will bring the memory of the experience back to the participants of the inservice. The human mind is designed to remember details in this fashion - not by the rote regurgitation of facts presented in a sequential linear fashion as usually presented in "educational settings." This is the most significant reason for the experiential form of learning utilized in "field studies" (or outdoor education.)
Tiger beetles scampered on gyppy soil patches along the stream below the Triassic rocks of the headwater stream.
Outdoor education gives a student a different perspective to understand the world - a hilltop perspective, as it were.
This is the valley below the hilltop in the previous picture.
This is the view from the hilltop. The gyppy soil patches that are home to the tiger beetles are revealed as places where runoff water runs down from the hills, carrying the calcium carbonates from the soil and rocks. The perspective reveals that most rainfall events only carry runoff water partway to the stream at the bottom of the valley. Outdoor education is the best method to teach observational skills that train a student to do analytical thinking.
Outdoor education presents countless observation of seemingly minor details, but provides a way to link the details into a narrative that becomes imprinted in the mind of the student. What is this fluff? Why did it collect in circular patterns in the soil in the riparian forest of the stream? It is willow fluff caught in the tracks of a coyote. Mice collect the fluff for their nests when it is present, and the coyotes know to look for mice in the willows when the fluff flies from the trees.
A cactus seed germinated in a tiny crack on a rock. The cactus catches leaves tossed in the wind, willow fluff, and other organic material, too. The organic material creates an acid that eats away at the rock, adding nutrients to the tiny bit of organic material, so the cactus can add another pad and catch more leaves and organic material. Eventually enough organic material will be present that a different species of plant will germinate in the crack in the rock. Outdoor education teaches the cycles of life that continue without end.
Who carved this horse petroglyph? Was it a Comanche or Kiowa Indian, an Hispanic sheepherder, or a lonely Matador cowboy? History is brought to life by the stories presented in outdoor education, too.
Related Essay: Teaching teachers extends the audience of the Sibley Nature Center