his
past spring, I was fortunate to spend a weekend at the Bamberger
Ranch, off Hwy 281N, just south of Johnson City. You can visit their
website
at: http://www.bambergerranch.org
J. David Bamberger and his wife, Margaret, took an overgrazed piece
of land, with no viable source of water, and turned it into a
productive
ranch and nature preserve with its own natural source of water. The
main ingredient they used to turn dry creeks and dry springs
into viable sources
of water, for the ranch and livestock, was grasses.
In the years since Mr. Bamberger purchased the land, the tall Texas
native grasses have flourished and sustained the ranch’s only
source of water used for drinking, cooking, bathing, livestock, group
seminars
and summer camps.
They demonstrated to us how grasses actually hold and filter the water that enters the ground. They have this large plat of sod, made up of tall native grasses. It sits over a large plastic container, which holds water and has a spigot attached at the bottom. They simulate rain over this plat of sod, and as the water strains through the sod, the water collected in the plastic container and flowing from the spigot is clean and ready to drink!
The lesson for our SH community is to replicate Bamberger’s quest for continued FREE flowing, clean water. Limestone rock, which is very porous and cracks easily, and minimal dirt coverage on our land, do not act as filters for our water. It is the grasses and native flora with their deep roots which do so. They act as a filter and sponge up a large percentage of rain water for your future use.
As the weather changes, and droughts occur, by sustaining our lawns
with native flora, and Texas native grasses, our water source can
be protected
for a long period of time.
The extra cost of digging a deeper well, having to ship one’s
water from afar, or paying to lower the pump in the well, can be indefinitely
postponed by just making a few changes on the land that surrounds our
homes.
Information on this and other nature topics are available, at no
cost to SH residents, by contacting Liz Robbins, Texas Master
Naturalist at:
srobbins@gvtc.com
Liz
