Carrillo-January

January 29, 2014

Blunn Creek Nature Preservation

Start time: 4:00pm

End time: 5:05pm

Temperature 49˚F

From Thursday January 23 – Tuesday January 28, the temperature was well under what the city of Austin is normally accustomed to. The reason I picked the preserve was because I volunteered last semester, and I was curious to see if the freezing temperatures caused any damage. When going out to Blunn Creek today, I couldn’t help but soak in the sun and appreciate the warmer weather. While walking through, I saw some dried out areas along with a still creek that had little water. Although the creek had very little water compared to when I walked through it 2 months ago, it was almost at my knee and even higher at some points. The cold didn’t seem to stop most of the plants from flourishing or even staying alive so my guess is that the plants that were dried out were seasonal plants. The cacti, on the other hand, were somewhat brown or even looked burnt. I’m think this is a result of the lack of rainfall or the freezing rainfall that recently fell in Austin. There was an area that was cleared of all invasive species, but when they realized they had cleared too much they planted grasses in the area. When going back now, it looks full of green vegetation. Something I did notice was that the temperature lowered the more you walked into the preserve but that could just be because it is all shaded by trees. Once I finished walking through, I sat at the entrance of the preservation and just observed. I heard rustling in the trees. I thought it was just the breeze but soon came to realize that it was four little birds scavenging for food. The loud noise from cars passing by overcompensated nature’s noise. Blunn Creek is located on St.Edward’s Drive making it a busy street when commuters are entering and leaving school or just in the neighborhood. I counted a minimum of thirty-five cars that passed as I sat there for the second half of my time there. In that same hour, I counted six people walking into the preserve; one group was of three older men and the other of younger adults.

Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land.-A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold

(Beginning of preservation)

(Creek; low water)

(Area cleared of invasive species; grasses grew back)

(Overview of Blunn Creek)