The Nature Center-Week 3

The third week at the nature center marked the halfway point of our excursions out at the center. I feel as though by now I’m more confident with getting there and more excited with each week.

I also feel like every week we’re given more extensive tasks.

This week we worked out of one of the bison ranges that we would normally pass on our way to the greenhouse or the overlooking trail where we cleared brush last week. Our task this week was to clear out mesquite, a plant that grows all over the range and botanists have hotly debated whether or not it is native to Texas. This plant has large thorns all over and although the bison like to eat the leaves off of it, it is not a good plant to have around to run a bison herd through. Bison are grazers, and a plant with thorns definitely does not help with that.

We were placed in groups of four and each one of us had an assigned job, whether that was to chop down the mesquite, drag the mesquite off, or apply herbicide to the ground where the plant once stood. I volunteered to drag off the mesquite and was given leather gloves instead of the cloth ones I’d been using each week. We were also assigned areas of the range to chop down mesquite because it grows everywhere. I was afraid even though I had my thick gloves that I’d get stung with thorns in my arm or leg carrying off larger sections of it. Like last week, it was nice being able to see the progress we made by the end of it, but it was a more exhausting week because it seemed like the patches of mesquite would never end. 

It was interesting learning about the bison that would roam in the area we worked on. The workers mentioned that they try to keep the herd to about 10 bison but that number is up to 13 now. The bison, even though they are housed in the nature center and not in the true wild, are wild and can be dangerous. I thought this was good information to know, considering that people often believe that if animals are housed in these centers then they're friendly. 

Despite poking myself with thorns every now and then, I enjoyed this week at the nature center and look forward to seeing what project we'll have next week.