Spotlight on Master Naturalists at Work
“It was the 8th year for Hays County Master Naturalists to partner with land stewards Paul and Georgean Kyle at their Chaetura Canyon bird and wildlife sanctuary.” —HCMN Project Coordinator Steve Janda
Mary O’Hara
With the fallout (literally) after our ice storm in early February, 2023, there was a plethora of cleanup to be done throughout the Hill Country. Here's a snapshot of our HCMN team doing just that at Chaetura Canyon - Travis Audubon.
“The main purpose of Chaetura Canyon is to preserve, in perpetuity, a small piece of natural habitat within a rapidly urbanizing area of Central Texas while providing a safe place for native species of birds to forage, raise their young and rest during migration.”
Paul and Georgean Kyle are the stewards of this hidden sanctuary, which is home to beloved chimney swifts and countless other birds and wildlife.
Nine Hays County Master Naturalists pulled on their work gloves, grabbed their loppers, and hauled substantial loads of fallen debris out of the Canyon.
Project Coordinator Steve Janda, Bob and Tina Atkins, Neal Sutton, Andrew and Lin Weber, Chris Riggins, Jill Bailey, and Mary O'Hara cleared trails, cut up the larger limbs to manageable branches, and lugged it all up the stone steps to street level for eventual chipping.
Storm debris, as viewed from the Kyle’s kitchen window, blocked the primary trailhead which leads down into the canyon. Gratefully, they sustained no structural damage!
Bob Adkins
It was heartbreaking to see old growth trees snapped so easily by Mother Nature’s icing.
Lin Weber, Tina Adkins, and Chris Riggins
Lin Weber
“Many hands make light work,” so the old adage goes. Our team quickly and efficiently got busy lopping, bundling, and toting.
Mary O’Hara
We created relay teams for hauling a load up and out of the canyon to street level.
Jill Bailey
Chris Riggins
Andrew Weber
Steve Janda
Given the sheer numbers of downed trees and branches caused by the ice storm earlier in the week, this was both our most challenging and our most rewarding work project at Chaetura Canyon to date.
After the cleanup