Published: 4/10/2023
Date of Visit: 3/24/2023

Photo by Katie Gay

If you’re ever wondering why Austin’s hillsides are covered with such beautiful vegetation and trees, you will find that there are many preserves and dedicated spaces of land owned by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP) that restore and conserve the natural hillsides. Protecting biodiversity is a main focus of restoration ecology, but not everyone is aware of what protecting biodiversity really means. Let me explain through a story.

Photo by Katie Gay

Jim O’Donnell, Vireo’s forest ecosystem biologist and big part of the creation of the BCP, has a special connection with an endangered bird species- the Golden Cheeked Warbler. As he spends his days educating communities, planting and distributing soils and plants, establishing berms and organic matter throughout the forest floor, adding hearty legumes to strengthen the ecosystems, and fighting oak wilt, he is surrounded by small, chirping, black and yellow birds of which he knows very personally (Hill Guy recently found a mate, we wish them well).

To Jim, protecting their homes and livelihoods is what is important, a gesture towards coexisting with nature. He is making sure the land is used to provide space and nutrients for as many plants, animals, and things as possible, since so much of the Earth already succumbing to to overuse. To me, this once again affirms that there is a connection between everything on this planet. The warblers need the Juniper Tree that was once abundant and is now rapidly declining, but other animals rely on other trees too, and the often overlooked fungus relies on cycles of nitrogen and nutrients to recycle everything the ecosystem needs to even stay around. Mellow Yellow, Sunshine, and Hill Guy aren’t thinking about what plants Jim chooses to introduce, but they are thinking about what tree they want to build a nest on. Without Jim, their options might have been removed. Human or bird, we share these spaces and everyone has a piece in the ecological puzzle.

Jim knows the importance of biodiversity through his lifetime connection with the Golden Cheeked Warblers. Check out these websites to learn about the goals of the BCP and Jim’s background.

https://forestadaptation.org/adapt/demonstration-projects/city-austin-balcones-canyonlands-preserve-vireo-preserve-restoration

https://globalearthrepairfoundation.org/jim-odonnell-wildland-conservation/

Katie Gay