The WIld Basin Wilderness Preserve was created as a direct result of the expansion of Highway 360 to protect the unique habitat of the Texas Hill Country. As a part of the much larger Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, Wild Basin focuses on maintaining the natural ecosystem for all species in the area. Managing the 227 acres is a tough job as there are many stakeholders in the process. We met with Trevor Rice, the preserve manager, to discuss one of their current restoration projects on a pond in a more isolated area of the preserve.
View from inside the preserve with Highway 360 visible on the right. (Photo by Grace Hosek)
Stakeholders
One important message from Rice was that there are many people involved in the actions made by the preserve. Wild Basin is jointly owned by St. Edward’s and Travis County which means that both parties are heavily involved in all decisions made about the preserve. In the case of the pond, it took years for those at Wild Basin to get approval and funding from the county in order to carry out the restoration. Another extremely important group of stakeholders in Wild Basin are the neighbors. Many people bought homes in the area because of the access they would have to the preserve, but that also means they play an important role in maintaining the preserve. The plants in their yards could wind up in the preserve, so they need to be conscious of what they are planting as to avoid invasive from entering the preserve.
The state of the pond restoration on January 27, 2023. (Photo by Grace Hosek)
Pond Restoration
One of the main goals of the pond is to catch sediment and debris before it reaches the Bee Creek watershed. The current parking lot used to be a dump mainly for ceramic, metal, and glass that was capped in the 70s. That is one source of sediment that the pond was created to catch. Additionally, the sediment that was used in the construction of Highway 360 was brought in from the Bastrop area which allowed for a good amount to runoff into the watershed. This situation led to a pond being created in an off-trail area of the preserve that way the sediment could be trapped before it reached the watershed. But, after its creation, the pond was rarely managed and was in need of restoration.
After the lengthy process of approval and funding, the restoration work began. It was contracted out to a group that Travis County had an established working relationship with and they began the work of clearing the old vegetation and planting new natives until they hit a big roadblock. The company was given an approved list of seeds to use when it came to replanting the vegetation. Then, one day when some of the neighborhood volunteers on the preserve were walking around, they came across the contractors planting rye grass, a seed that was not on the approved list. This caused the whole project to come to a stop. All of the ground that was seeded had to be scraped and it is estimated that they only got 80% to 90% of the rye seeds. This story points out the importance of having the neighbors as active stakeholders in the preserve. If it wasn’t for their involvement, the incorrect seeds probably would not have been found until it was too late.
Despite that interruption, the project is back on track. There have been new native seeds planted that are already growing in as little seedlings. The green mat as seen in the picture above is in place to prevent the seed on the hill from running off when water comes through. The project still has more to go to reach its end goal. Overall, Wild Basin hopes to have a large vegetative bank of dense grasses and shrubby wooden species that are fire adapted. In its ideal state, the pond would hold water at different times throughout the year, restore biodiversity, and catch sediment and pollutants before they reach the Bee Creek watershed.
Example of the type of dense vegetation that the pond restoration is hoping to produce. (Photo by Grace Hosek)
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