by Bob Harms  email-here

22 Years of Texas Madrone Restoration at Purola Preserve

Open Ranchland 1977

1977

In 1977 the grass was starting to make a comeback. The above view bounded by a large cedar elm on the left and a tall spanish oak on the right, matches that in the one below from 1983. The approximate position of our largest madrone, started from seed in 1977, is indicated with a yellow frame.

Trees Comeback 1983 Madrone 1 at 7 years

1983

By 1983 I had planted a number of fruit trees (including a Japanese persimmon on the right edge of the photo). Native trees (sycamore, Texas green ash), shrubs (Texas persimmon, berberis) and vines (mustang grape) had also become more prominent.

Two decades of recovery

December 1998

Two decades later the ditch along which the madrone is growing has become a wall of trees and bushes (including a mountain laurel started from seed to the right of the madrone). Only when the trees are bare does the view extend beyond the ditch.


Click to enlarge

July 2008



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