Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area

06/20/2026

How cool is this?

One of the most exciting things about the Obama Presidential Center is its commitment to nature. The landscape will include more than 10,000 native plants, creating valuable habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

Native plants are far more than just beautiful. They provide food and shelter for countless species, support biodiversity, improve soil health, reduce the need for watering and chemicals, and help reconnect people with the natural ecosystems of their region.

This project shows that large public spaces can be both inspiring and environmentally responsible. Every native plant added to the landscape is a step toward a healthier future for wildlife and people alike.

06/18/2026

This is the kind of crap you often find on an urban prairie that has no park rangers. Trash, including plastic flowers and confetti are usually found near a dead zone where photographers have posed their clients, illegally. Funny not funny.

06/14/2026

I just learned that today is National Dragonfly Day.They are all over Tandy Hills. Here's a Halloween Pennant.

06/13/2026

Debora Young and I just finished up a 3-hour, oral history interview with Jason Reed and Molly Sherman. They are professors at Texas State University and traveling I-35 from Fort Worth to Minnesota to study prairies and the stewards who care for them. It's a 3-year, photo and storytelling project about the remnant prairies along I-35. Over the next two years, they plan to interview about ten different people and organizations that are working to restore, study, and save the prairielands from Texas to Minnesota. The idea for the project is to use the stories and photographs made by the researchers and conservationist who are out in the field daily. This will culminate in a publication series and exhibition in 2028 at The Contemporary Museum in San Antonio, which they hope to travel to sites throughout the prairie corridor. We are gratified that they chose Tandy Hills as their starting point. I took them on a short hike after they spent an hour combing through thousands of my phots from the past 20+ years.

06/12/2026

We have known for years that grasslands are better at carbon sequestration than forests. This new study points to that. Are you listening, FW Mayor Parker? Save a prairie and help save the planet.

"The study revealed particularly dense fungal networks beneath the world’s grasslands, adding to the evidence that these ecosystems, which tend to receive less conservation protection than forests, serve as significant carbon sinks for the planet."

With machine learning and a high-resolution imaging robot, scientists measured and mapped the extent of Earth’s carbon circulatory system.

06/09/2026

I highly recommend this book by the late, Brian Doyle, for all nature mystics. There's more to it than you may think. I guarantee that you will be glad you did.

06/07/2026

I live for moments like this. "Human kindness is overflowing. And I think it's going to rain toady." Randy Newman

06/06/2026

Compass Plant (Silphium lacinatum), is one of the 2, 777 amazing plants and animals you will find at Tandy Hills. Here it is in black and natural color.

06/04/2026

Despite the assault on me last Saturday at Tandy Hills, I took a very long hike this evening. One of our most exotic summer wildflowers, the Texas Bluebells, are starting bloom. I also saw the football field-sized stand of American Basketflower in full regalia. Both are natives. Oh, I saw a Greater Bee Fly on a Texas Thistle. That and so much more awaits you on your local prairie.