Starting a new biosurvey project
Since the destruction and development of my beloved Clocktower Field, I've been looking for a new location that Everest (my dog) and I can explore and document. We have another spot that we've been documenting, but as luck would have it, the city has started some utility improvements so our access is limited for now.
Necessity is the mother of invention...
So I reached out to the city Parks Department Manager and picked his brain. He suggested a location in the northern part of the city (where I rarely go). This tiny neighborhood park, Overton Ridge Park, is being expanded to include 11 acres of natural area, he told me. The cool thing is that it used to be the homesite of Dale Hansen (over 10 years ago) so I went to check it out. It's really great looking! Lots of oaks and hickories. Hilly. Only a small section of the old homesite has buildings. Great opportunity for interpretive walks once it's done. Unfortunately, the only surface water on the property is a dried up drainage creek. No consistent water, yet. There are intentions of adding features to keep water on the property to attract birds, etc.
I'm excited to have a beautiful place to explore again. Hopefully the city will use the data I collect to help with keeping the native flora and fauna as intact as possible. And I would LOVE to see other iNatters come visit the location, too!
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Thanks for letting us know!
Sorry about the loss of the old spot, but the new one sounds like a great opportunity to explore and document. I've learned over the past year, once I got out of my comfort zone of always visiting the same very large nature preserve, to appreciate the tiny spots of nature in our urban areas. It's very cool to see all the diversity in a smaller park and document it for the city leaders so that they can see how much is supported by parks that are not just mowed bermuda grass.
I want/need to check it out sometime! :)
Be sure to document the gophers! I see gopher mounds by the tennis court.
Oh good eye @pfau_tarleton! I'll make a point to check that area on my next visit.
I'm not trying to take over your journal entry, but now y'all got me curious. I didn't realize that we had gophers in our area, but I see that there could be Plains Pocket Gophers? So my question is, if all you see are mounds, how do you know if there are moles or gophers? I've got mounds all around the area that I live (extremely sandy soil), but I've only seen moles.
@lovebirder, here are some clues
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/pfau_tarleton/18377
This looks like gopher sign to me (adjacent to Overton Ridge Park):
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.9614173,-97.2307704,33m/data=!3m1!1e3
@pfau_tarleton The gopher signs in the park are gone... flat as a pancake.... maybe they've all moved over to the neighbor's. I checked everywhere between the barn and tennis courts, and all the way around the courts. I found one questionable mound with an opening, but it seemed to be small and filled in. Maybe you should come look. :wink wink:
It's a bad time of the year--winter and spring should be better I think. Just curious, and unrelated to gophers, I was looking at imagery in Google Maps which shows it looking quite a bit different than the map in iNat. I wonder which shows a more recent view? Anyways, I was wondering if it had been grazed by livestock and what condition it's in for natural restoration?
@pfau_tarleton Google Maps is older. (Somewhere you used to be able to look at the imaging dates, but I don't know where that is.) There is a field to the right of the southern part of the concrete trail right that has not had any recent motor vehicles on it, but GM makes it look like a parking lot. The best place for restoration would be the pasture on the far east side, against Roanoke Rd. It was open to horses, but not cattle. Unfortunately, that's right where they intend to put the main parking lot and a passive play area.
Actually, these might help explain better...
https://www.cityofkeller.com/home/showdocument?id=12165
https://www.cityofkeller.com/home/showdocument?id=17917
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