Hispanic Heritage Month starts today and Pease Park Conservancy is honored to have cultivated a team with such rich and diverse backgrounds!
Representation matters and thanks to these incredible individuals, we have been able to broaden our community offerings and how we serve Spanish speakers through bilingual communications, programming, and our Ecologist School Field Trips. Join us in celebrating the value and leadership they bring to the organization and its mission by getting to know them!
As Latino Conservation Week comes to an end, we want to reflect on the many different ways in which Latinos are playing a role in conservation. From organizing events for groups to spend time in nature like Latino Outdoors’ initiative does, to working in land management, parks departments, and leading research across various topics concerning conservation - the work doesn’t end here! We hope you’ll stay connected with this initiative led by the Hispanic Access Foundation!
Thank you for your feedback and concerns regarding the splash pad at Pease Park.
At this time, public safety remains our top priority. We cannot reopen the water feature until we are absolutely certain it is safe to do so. The sophisticated controller equipment that continuously monitors water quality, dispenses the chemicals, and automatically shuts off the splash pad when water quality is out of balance must be operating properly to ensure that it is safe for play. Unhealthy water quality can cause illness and death.We want to assure you that we are working diligently to diagnose the problem and make the necessary repairs. We are working with GPSI, the firm that designed and built the splash pad, as well as IPS, the manufacturer of the controller equipment.
For the past 10 years, the week of July 15 through July 23rd has been recognized as Latino Conservation Week - An initiative led by the Hispanic Access Foundation to further amplify the presence of Latinos in the outdoors. During this time organizations and community groups across the country have gathered and participated in various events to promote conservation efforts in their local environments.
In honor of Latino Conservation Week, we spoke to Josie (San Antonio Regional Coordinator) and Bianca (Program Coordinator) of Latino Outdoors about the history of Latino Outdoors, the work that they do and why it’s important to build an inclusive outdoors:
One of February’s long celebrated moments of remembrance. Since 1976 we have made it an American practice to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” — Pease Park Conservancy is working to center narratives, prioritize experiences, and most importantly to restructuralize how public land is cultivated and shared.
Tree enthusiast and ISA Certified Arborist, Colleen Dieter, tells us all about the rare and beloved Big Tooth Maple and why it is important. Colleen Dieter will be leading a FREE Tree Identification walk at Pease Park in Austin on Sept. 9 2023 from 10:30-12:30. You’ll learn how to identify trees and collect seeds from them to contribute to Central Texas Seed Savers’ Seed to Tree Pipeline Program. Register here.
Thank you for your feedback and concerns regarding the splash pad at Pease Park.
At this time, public safety remains our top priority. We cannot reopen the water feature until we are absolutely certain it is safe to do so. The sophisticated controller equipment that continuously monitors water quality, dispenses the chemicals, and automatically shuts off the splash pad when water quality is out of balance must be operating properly to ensure that it is safe for play. Unhealthy water quality can cause illness and death.We want to assure you that we are working diligently to diagnose the problem and make the necessary repairs. We are working with GPSI, the firm that designed and built the splash pad, as well as IPS, the manufacturer of the controller equipment.
Our human disposition for curiosity and observation are the fundamental skills that make everyone an Ecologist in some capacity. This is part of the reason The Conservancy leads the Ecologist School Field Trip Program. This program is a a joint service-learning opportunity between Pease Park Conservancy and Families in Nature with the intent of increasing environmental literacy and encouraging student interest in the environment. In a single semester we have engaged over 290 students from 5 schools in the Austin-metro area and look forward to continuing this service.
Read on to learn more about the program and how you can get involved!
One of February’s long celebrated moments of remembrance. Since 1976 we have made it an American practice to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” — Pease Park Conservancy is working to center narratives, prioritize experiences, and most importantly to restructuralize how public land is cultivated and shared.
Anecdotally, we all feel how therapeutic it can be to be outside in nature. Even if you just take a short walk in your neighborhood when you are feeling stressed, it can do immediate wonders for your mental health. Starla Simmons, LCSW, Clinical Assistant Professor and Field Liaison at the School of Social Work, has the evidence and experience to back up this intuition around the connection between time in nature and our mental health.
An advocate, an agitator, and a mentor, Rocio Villalobos is inspiring and driving positive change for Austin in terms of social justice and equity. She also has experienced and continues to enjoy the healing power of being in the outdoors. The convergence of these two passions makes her truly special for our community and invaluable as an advisor to our team at Pease Park Conservancy.
This past weekend, just north of the historic 24th street bridge, a generous group of volunteers helped clear out five patches of invasive Johnson grass, clear out the thick undergrowth of intrusive Bermuda grass, plant an assortment of 80 native plants in their place, and restore a rich, organic layer of topsoil mixed with native grass seeds in the area.
As you may know, fall is the time of the year ragweed starts to go to seed and allergies start to pick up. Every year, countless volunteers help Pease Park Conservancy by pulling up and/or chopping down ragweed during our large volunteer events. However, such events were not possible this year due to COVID19 restrictions.
Making news again this summer is the blue-green algae blooms that have been found in Lady Bird Lake at Red Bud Isle, Vic Mathias Shores, and Festival Beach. While blue-green algae may not be entirely new to Austin, as it has been here in a limited way for some time, the widespread proliferation of it is a new phenomenon
There is nothing quite like a pandemic to make us all more aware of our personal sustainability practices, at least in regard to using up supplies that we are counting on tiding us over for a few weeks. If you’re interested in taking this a little further, you may want to check out EcoRise.
As you likely heard, the City of Austin plans to announce a shelter-in-place order later today (March 24th). Under this order, parks will remain open to the public for exercise and dog walking. If this changes we will alert our Pease Park community immediately.
