Ecological Research Evaluation

Ecological Research Evaluation

Blanco County 8

General Property Location: 5 miles northwest of Johnson City, off of Trails End Road

Photo 1: Savannah habitats in the western portion of the property have dense layers of silver bluestem and King Ranch bluestem.

Photo 2: Lindheimer muhly is dominant around seeps. With high rain totals this year the herbaceous layer is extremely healthy and diverse.

Photo 4: Deep crevices have formed along the eastern banks of Buffalo Creek. These drop-offs vary between a few feet up to 10 feet in depth.

Photo 5: Stands of dense juniper can be found along Buffalo Creek and in the northeast corner of the property.

Photo 6: Oak savannah habitat that was reclaimed through judicious juniper thinning.

Photo 7: Large amounts of juniper have been thinned from flat areas east of Buffalo Creek and west of the steep ridge in the eastern portion of the property.

Photo 8: Oak savannah habitats with an understory dominated by Texas persimmon, agarita, and prickly pear.

Photo 9: Johnsongrass can be found in isolated pockets, typically where soil erosion has occurred.

Photo 10: Dense thickets of juniper can be found throughout the eastern fourth of the property. These areas are less diverse than areas along Buffalo Creek and the oak savannah habitats throughout the western third of the property.

The roughly 89 acre Blanco County Ecolab property is located in central Blanco County, approximately 5 miles northwest of Johnson City, Texas off of Trails End Road. The property is comprised of three neighboring tracts and partial internal fencing can be found separating the southern tract. Much of the eastern boundary and portions of the southern boundary run along Trails End Road. The western property boundary falls along Buffalo Creek. The remaining boundaries are along existing fence lines with neighboring tracts. Buffalo Creek flows northeast to southwest through the property and is the main water source for the tracts. Buffalo Creek is comprised of two draws that join within the southwest corner of the property. The creek’s flow is eventually deposited into the Pedernales River just south of the property. Topography is moderately sloped with a gentle slope near the center of the property. A steep ridge is found within eastern sections of the property, separating upland habitats from the flat areas on the bench of the creek. Steeper areas are also located along Buffalo Creek. Elevation reaches a high of 1340 MSL along the northern property boundary within the northeast corner of the property. The low point of the tract lies along Buffalo Creek at 1180 ft MSL. Much of the perimeter is fenced, and partial interior fencing can be found within the southern and northern portions of the property. Two of the three tracts have home sites located on the property and are visible from the aerial maps.

Much of the 89 acre Blanco County Ecolab property is a combination of oak-juniper parkland and reclaimed oak savannah. Other habitats represented on the property include juniper-oak woodland and a small riparian corridor along Buffalo Creek. The oak-juniper parkland and reclaimed oak savannah habitats are very similar in composition with the main difference being the density of juniper. Recent juniper clearing efforts have helped increase savannah habitats throughout the central portions of the property. Downed trees provide excellent cover for wildlife including wintering sparrows and small mammals. A few scattered juniper burn circles are present in southwestern portions of the property and lack vegetation. Typical canopy cover throughout the savannah and parkland habitats include live oak and juniper, with scattered netleaf hackberry, cedar elm, and post oak. Understory vegetation within these habitats is comprised of a healthy mixture of Texas persimmon, regrowth juniper, shin oak, Texas kidneywood, agarita, prickly pear cactus, tasajillo, and twistleaf yucca. The herbaceous layer is extremely dense with cover due to the high rain totals throughout central Texas this year. Little bluestem and sideoats grama are dominant in scattered portions throughout these similar habitats. Silver bluestem, hooded windmillgrass, plains lovegrass, green sprangletop, and threeawn are commonly occurring grasses on the property. King Ranch bluestem, rescuegrass, and Johnsongrass can be found in patches and should be monitored for further invasion. Lindheimer muhly, seep muhly, and sedges are found in low lying spots along drainages and seeps. Lindheimer senna, croton, white heliotrope, bitterweed, and several other forbs are scattered throughout.

The juniper-oak woodland habitats are extremely dense and are comprised of mostly juniper with scattered live oak, cedar elm, and hackberry. These habitats are typical within the northern portions of property and along the central fork of Buffalo Creek. Canopy densities within these habitats range from 80-95% in some areas. Understory vegetation is limited to scattered Texas persimmon, agarita, greenbriar, silver bluestem, and cedar sedge.

A small riparian corridor along the southern portions of Buffalo Creek provide excellent habitat for native Texas wildlife. Fractured rock outcroppings line the creek’s edge, some with drops nearing ten feet in depth. Live oak, cedar elm, hackberry, and Ashe juniper line the creek with an understory composed of buttonbush, walnut, Texas persimmon, agarita, tasajillo, prickly pear, devil’s shoelace, twistleaf yucca, and narrowleaf yucca. Lindheimer and seep muhly, little bluestem, silver bluestem, sandbur, and scattered wildflowers are also present.

The Eckert series consists of soils that are shallow to petrocalcic horizon. They are well drained, undulating to rolling soils of uplands. The soil formed in and is underlain by dolomitic limestone. In a representative profile, the soil is dark brown, silty loam 4-14 inches thick that contains about 50 percent limestone fragments. Soil permeability is moderate and available water holding capacity is very low. The soil has a low natural fertility and shallow rooting depth. It is almost exclusively used as rangeland. The Eckert - rock outcrop association is classified in the Stony Loam range site. The climax vegetation includes scattered scrubby live oak, elms, and other shrubs, associated with little bluestem, green sprangletop, sideoats grama, fringe-leaf paspalum, yucca; and forbs such as sagewort.

This association is present on uplands. It is made up of shallow, stony, clayey soils that are underlain by limestone. Typically, these soils have a surface layer that is very firm, dark reddish gray stony clay about 8 inches thick. These soils are well drained. Runoff is medium. Permeability is slow, and available water capacity is very low. The root zone is shallow. The hazard of water erosion is severe. The historic climax community is an oak savanna. In this climax condition, there is about 20 percent live oak and post oak overstory that includes blackjack oak and Texas oak in places. Dominant grasses are little bluestem, Indiangrass, big bluestem, Canada and Virginia wildrye, sideoats grama, Texas wintergrass, vine-mesquite, tall dropseed, feathery bluestem, plains lovegrass, Texas cupgrass, and buffalograss. This soil is classified as a Redland range site.

Due to the property’s size and different habitat types, a wide variety of research projects could be conducted. Flora/Fauna baseline data gathered from this site might prove useful due to lack of grazing pressure on portions of the Blanco County Ecolab property. The diverse habitat types support unique vegetation composition and structure.

The presence of existing varieties of diverse and healthy plant communities provide excellent habitat for wildlife. The juniper-oak upland parkland, oak savannah, and Buffalo Creek riparian and woodland communities are home to a wide variety of wildlife species. Several bird species were observed during the initial site visit and included: Lesser Goldfinch, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Northern Cardinal, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Northern Mockingbird, Black-crested Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Bewick’s Wren, Carolina Wren, and Canyon Wren. This Ecolab property is in close proximity to Blanco 5 and Blanco 7 Ecolab properties which both have Pedernales River access.