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SHERMAN, TEXAS — Austin College will host a “Walk on the Prairie” Saturday, Nov. 3 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the college’s Sneed Environmental Research Area, 1824 Keyes Road. The event is held in conjunction with the nationwide “Step It Up 2007,” a national day of climate action. (www.stepitup2007.org).
At the Sneed Prairie, Austin College sciences faculty will speak briefly on global climate change issues, followed by a question and answer period. Afterwards, guests may take guided or unguided walks through the prairie restoration site.
This event is sponsored by the Austin College Center for Environmental Studies and CORE (Citizens Organizing for Resources and Environment, www.texomacore.org). For more information call (903) 813-2246.
Directions to the Sneed Environmental Research Area and a downloadable map are available online: http://events.stepitup2007.org/november/events/show/2633.
The 100-acre Sneed family farm was given to Austin College in 1984. Today the Clinton and Edith Sneed Environmental Research Area serves as a site for biology and environmental studies courses and research, and the Austin College Sneed Prairie Restoration Project. In their natural states, prairies dominated the clay soils of the Sneed site and the surrounding region. One corner of the property, isolated by a small stream, harbors a remnant of the prairie plant community. Most of the remainder of the site was used for row crop agriculture or pasture. As a consequence, the native prairie vegetation was largely eliminated from the site.
Since 1996, hundreds of students have worked with the members of the Environmental Studies Program and the Biology Department to restore native vegetation to the site. Beginning in January 2002, a major adaptive management experiment involving nine fields and three replicated experimental treatments have been implemented at the property. The three treatments are January burning, winter and early spring grazing followed by mowing, or alternating between burning and cattle/mowing in successive years.
Since 2001, this project has received support from the Meadows Foundation, the Thomsen Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Texas Parks and Wildlife. This support has facilitated the management work at the site and funded an environmental education program in which Austin College students lead field trips for over 1,000 elementary schoolchildren yearly at Sneed Prairie.
In 2005, a pavilion and an observation tower were built at the research site to support the field trips as well as faculty/student research and outdoor labs. This pavilion incorporates a hybrid solar power system as well as passive solar design. A rainwater catchment system supplies the building with water for drinking and restrooms. Much of the cost of this building was provided by the four Rotary Clubs in Grayson County and other granting agencies. The college is developing a landscape plan around the pavilion to enhance the educational value of the site.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located approximately 30 minutes north of the greater Dallas metroplex in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges that Change Lives.
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