Lake Arrowhead Cleanup Saturday

Photo 09/14/13: worse now

The bad news is that Lake Arrowhead, the primary source of drinking water for Wichita Falls and surrounding communities is below 30% of capacity due to our long-running drought.

If you have been out to Lake Arrowhead lately, you have seen just how much trash is being exposed. Now is a great time to get the lake bed cleaned up before we get some much-needed rain (note the optimism.)

On Saturday, November 23, Lake Arrowhead State Park is hosting a lake cleanup. A number of groups are participating, including two groups I am involved with: the Friends of Lake Arrowhead and the Rolling Plains Chapter Texas Master Naturalist. The park and the City of Wichita Falls (which owns the lake) are asking for community support for this effort. Interested people should come to the park at 9AM. Bring work gloves. It is also suggested participants wear boots, and considering the expected weather on Saturday, it would be a good idea to dress warmly.

For more information, call the Park office at 940-528-2211.

Save the Night and Star Party at Lake Arrowhead State Park Saturday

Saturday at Lake Arrowhead State Park there is a special event open to the public. You can attend all or part. The only portion of the day that requires attendance at any other portion is the Light Assessment Training, which requires the Save the Night presentation first. For most members of the public, the Star Party beginning at 9 PM will have most of the information and be of most interest. 

Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalist members may count the Save the Night and Lighting Assessment and Retrofit Project Training as advanced training.

If you want to attend for dinner, you are asked to RSVP to Terry at dgm59@aol.com.

4:00 PM to 5:30 PM      

Save the Night Presentation

Almost every living thing on our planet uses the cycle of light and dark to trigger life processes. Humans are for the most part diurnal and have come to depend on artificial light for nighttime activities. So, how does our artificial light at night effect fauna and flora? We know what death by bulldozer looks like. It’s hard for us to see what habitat destruction by artificial light looks like. This session helps us understand the effects of artificial light on living things and how we can reduce the negative effect of our lights.

Most of the presentation is a peek into our natural world after dark and the affect that artificial light has on it. The scientific background is derived from the research papers compiled in the book “Ecological Consequences of Artificial Outdoor Lighting” which was edited by Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore.

Participants will take home a new awareness of the nighttime activities and processes of the fauna and flora around us. They will be more knowledgeable about outdoor lighting practices allowing them to have the light that humans want or need for nighttime activities while they save energy costs, reduce glare, increase safety, reduce light trespass, create a more aesthetically pleasing nocturnal environment for humans and limit the negative consequences on the environment. Participants will see samples of good lights and be given a handout with drawings of recommended light fixtures and light fixtures to avoid.

  

5:30 PM to 6:30 PM      

Dinner time 

If you have a special dietary need, please bring your own dinner. We plan on having chicken spaghetti courtesy of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. We’ll have water and coffee for beverages.If you have a special dietary need, please bring your own dinner. We plan on having chicken spaghetti and hot dogs available courtesy of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. We'll have water and coffee for beverages. If you have a special dietary need, please bring your own dinner. We plan on having chicken spaghetti and hot dogs available courtesy of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. We'll have water and coffee for beverages.If you have a special dietary need, please bring your own dinner. We plan on having chicken spaghetti and hot dogs available courtesy of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. We'll have water and coffee for beverages.

6:30 PM to 8:00 PM      

Lighting Assessment & Retrofit Project Training 

(Save the Night is the prerequisite for this workshop)

The Lighting Assessment and Retrofit Project (LARP), is part of a larger initiative in which Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) has partnered with both the Texas Section of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) and McDonald Observatory. McDonald Observatory will train Texas State Park interpretive rangers to deliver night sky programs. The LARP initiative from the Texas Section of IDA will train volunteers from all over the state to do lighting assessments for Texas Parks near them in order to assist the parks in the implementation of best practices in night lighting. The Lighting Assessment and Retrofit Project hopes to recruit at least two volunteers for each Texas State Park with camping. A volunteer may request to work with more than one park or facility.

The three-hour LARP workshop teaches participants how to critique outdoor lighting fixtures and make recommendations to retrofit or replace ones that produce light pollution. You’ll be provided with the details about and samples of the approach agreed upon with the Texas State Parks for consistent reporting for all parks. The workshop will also briefly cover the broad challenges that outdoor lighting can produce as it can create glare that reduces safety & security, produce light trespass, waste money in needless energy costs, obscure our view of the night sky, and jeopardize the health and sustainability of ecosystems. Workshop activities will allow participants to test their new skills and provide contacts for post workshop questions.

Volunteers who want to participate in the LARP program for the Texas State Parks are expected to:

·         Communicate with the park leadership

·         Do a site visit

·         Inventory the existing outdoor lighting at their mutually agreed upon Texas State Park

·         Determine recommended changes to reduce light pollution

·         Create a written assessment of the park’s lighting situation

·         Follow up and coordinate with the park superintendent

Cindy Luongo Cassidy, LARP Training Coordinator for the Texas Section of IDA, will facilitate the workshop. Steve Bosbach, Texas IDA Section Leader will work with any parks selected to pursue the designation of Dark-Sky Park by IDA.

9:00 PM until about 10:45 PM              

Public Star Party 

Starts with a 15 minute "Intro to Good Lighting" talk (especially for those who have NOT attended the earlier workshops). It should be completely dark by 9:25 and the moon rises about 10:25. The moon will be very bright so, after everyone who wants to gets a good look at the moon and it's craters we'll shut down for the night.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park

The Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park meet tonight in the dining hall at Lake Arrowhead State Park. Come and learn more about upcoming events and activities at the park.

Upcoming Park Activities

The Rolling Plains Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist program are hosting their annual public forum on Tuesday, March 6. This year, the speaker is Charles Newberry, Texas Parks and Wildlife Biologist, who will be talking about what's happening with the TPWD. This program will be held in conjunction with the monthly Master Naturalist meeting at 7:00 PM, at River Bend Nature Center, 2200 3rd St.  The program is free and open to the public. Usually, light refreshments are served.

On Sunday, March 4, there will be a rally in support of Lake Arrowhead State Park, from 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park and the Rolling Plains Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist.

On Saturday, March 17, the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park will hold their 2nd annual park clean up from 9:00 AM to noon. Last year we picked up a lot of trash. Although most of the people who came last year were Friends and Master Naturalists, we did have some campers and other members of the public take part. Anyone is welcome to help and there will be free hot dogs for the volunteers.

As a reminder, the state parks are in financial trouble. If you have the ability, consider contributing to the non-profit Texas State Parks Foundation. You can also help by visiting the park and paying the entry fee (which accounts for about half of the park's budget) and/or buying a Park Pass.

A Plea from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Well, folks, we all know that the Texas State legislature cut a lot of budgets this year in an unsuccessful attempt to balance the budget (although most of the hoopla out of the legislature made it sound like they balanced the budget--that was all smoke and mirrors.) One of the budgets cut tremendously was the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

State parks are in serious financial trouble. There are some in the state who would like nothing better than to sell off parkland to private persons and entities to raise money for state expenditures. Although the parks are public land held in trust for the public, the legislature doesn't consider them a priority. Therefore, private citizens must come to the rescue. Texas Parks and Wildlife has issued a plea to raise $4.6 million through public donations to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. I made a small donation today.

If you have the resources, please consider a contribution to this foundation or to your local Friends group.  Many parks have a 501(c)(3) Friends group to raise money for park improvements and to provide volunteer labor for projects the park doesn't have the manpower to do. Our local Lake Arrowhead State Park started a Friends group this past year. It is too new to be listed on the TPWD site yet, but should be soon as the Memorandum was recently signed. The group meets the first Thursday of each month at 7PM. If you don't have a lot of spare money, consider donating time.

Other ways to help are to visit the park and pay the entry fee ($3 per person at Lake Arrowhead) or purchase an annual park pass for admission to all of the state parks for a year.

Other organizations are getting involved to help increase attendance at the parks. For example, the Texas Ornithological Society is sponsoring a series of bird walks in state parks over the next several months to draw attention to the birdwatching opportunities and to bring in additional visitors.  I will be leading monthly bird walks at Lake Arrowhead State Park beginning in March. I'll post reminders in my sister blog, A Charm of Finches.

If we want parks to be here for future generations, we are going to have to make a personal commitment to do what we can to support the parks we have.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead Meeting

The next meeting of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead will be Thursday, November 3 at 7 PM at the Dining Hall at Lake Arrowhead State Park. There are lots of activities coming up, and you can make a difference.

Reports and Happenings

I'm catching up with some reports on events I posted earlier and also posting some reminders of upcoming events.

If you weren't at the Living Well With Less Water symposium on October 1, you  missed a great learning experience. It was a full day of interesting speakers and vendors. The central theme of the conference was that our local area is becoming hotter and drier. The amount of rainfall has been dropping and the temperature has been climbing for years. Our "normal" annual rainfall, currently at 28 inches will be more in the neighborhood of 22 inches by 2040 and the hot summer of this past year will be the norm. The severe drought we experienced this year is forecast to continue for at least one more year and perhaps longer.

Given that cheery news, it wasn't surprising that the remainder of the day was spent talking about landscaping in a way that will conserve our water resources. If the Master Gardeners host a similar program in the future, plan to attend. It would be tough to top this year's program though.

Smith's Gardentown will be hosting a short workshop on this issue as well on October 22 at 10 AM. You can RSVP here The seminar is free, but Smith's is asking for an RSVP to have adequate materials and seating.

Lake Arrowhead State Park (LASP) has a lot going on. John Ferguson, the "new" park superintendent (he's been there a couple of years now, but that's still relatively new) has been working hard to add programs and amenities to the park to increase visitation. The Friends of Lake Arrowhead was formed in this past year to help the park do things with a more limited state budget. If you want to keep up with the programs at the park, friend the Texas Parks and Wildlife Lake Arrowhead State Park page on Facebook (there is another Lake Arrowhead State Park page as well, but that one isn't current, so be sure to get the correct one.) The Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park also have a page. Although you don't have to be a member of the Friends group to like the page, it certainly would be nice if you would consider joining.

One of the projects under development is a large butterfly garden. The Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalist chapter maintains a small butterfly garden near the main gate in addition to the nature trail. The new butterfly garden will be a much larger project and developed over the next couple of years. I imagine both the Master Naturalist chapter and the Friends of Lake Arrowhead will be involved (there is a lot of overlap between the groups.)

A couple of upcoming events at LASP that should be of interest to readers of this blog include:

October 28: Bring the kids out for a Halloween program at the park, beginning at 6:30 PM. Children will be able to color and wear various animal masks and there will be an after dark listening for night sounds activity. The program is free, although attendees will need to pay the park admission (why not make a day of it?)

November 5, 9:00 AM - Noon: Mark Klym, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Diversity Program, will conduct a free workshop on wildscaping. If you want the CD with resources, it will be available for purchase for $5. Again, entry to the park is required.

December 12 - 15: LASP will be holding a Waterfowl Hunting Education class and mentored hunt. The 3-hour class will be held on December 12 and 13 at 5 PM and the mentored hunt for Canada geese will be on December 14 and 15. The park will be closed to the general public during the hunt for safety reasons.

There is a Sierra Club meeting Tuesday evening at 7:15, but I still don't know where. As soon as I hear, I will post the meeting here.

Don't forget the EcoFair meeting Thursday, 5:30 PM at River Bend Nature Center. With the change to the Earth Day time frame, there is much to be done in very little time.

Friends of LASP Meet Thursday

The Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park (LASP) meet Thursday evening, October 6 at 7 PM at the Dining Hall at LASP. If you are interested in events coming to the park and in helping to make the park even better, plan to attend.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park Meeting

The Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park meet Thursday evening at 7PM at the Dining Hall at Lake Arrowhead State Park.

Some Programs of Interest

A couple of upcoming programs at Lake Arrowhead State Park that may be of some interest to readers. These programs are sponsored by the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park and the Rolling Plains Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists. These programs are free, but admission to the park is required ($3 per person.)

Saturday, July 23, 6:00 PM, Education Bldg: local Texas Master Naturalist Laurie Hall will be giving a program on snakes.

Saturday, August 6. 9:00 AM, Education Bldg: Assistant Fisheries Biologist Robert Mauk will be doing a program on the invasive zebra mussel.

Join Me Thursday Night

Last week I was elected by default (i.e., no one else wanted to do it) to appear on Paul Dowlearn's Gardenline program to talk about the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park Thursday evening. If you would like to know more about the organization, please watch, Thursday, July 14, 7 PM on cable channel 15.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Volunteer Index

I noticed Texas Parks and Wildlife posted a link to their Volunteer Index. It explains the many opportunities to volunteer for various projects to support Texas Parks and Wildlife in their mission. It's unfortunate that there are never enough funds to do everything that needs to be done, but that is the way it is. In our area we have the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists and the newly formed Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. Certainly with the budget picture shaping up in Texas will mean even less money for needed projects. That means if we want to have state parks with good amenities for the public, to know more about our state's environment and to monitor our resources, the extra effort is going to have to come from us. Get acquainted with these groups and others that are so important and think about volunteering. None of us can do everything, but we can all do something that will have a positive impact on our community and our environment.

Beautiful Morning at Lake Arrowhead State Park

Saturday was gorgeous at Lake Arrowhead State Park. The Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park and the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists sponsored a cleanup of the park. Many members of both groups as well as some other volunteers gathered at the dining hall (near the fishing piers) to pick up trash bags, gloves and grabbers and gather trash.



The park was very busy, with spring break in full swing. Every campsite was full, the boat ramp parking full with trucks and trailers, the fishing piers packed, and many of the picnic pavilions in use. It was good to see so many people out.



The lake level is low, since we haven't had rain in a long time. Between the low water level and the burn the park conducted in January, most of the paper trash was gone, but the cans and bottles were easy to spot. We were able to pick up several bags of trash in a short time and then enjoyed hot dogs on the patio.



I took some picutres, but have managed to misplace my hook up to download them into my computer, so later for those.

Lake Arrowhead State Park Cleanup March 19

The Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists and the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park are sponsoring a park cleanup on Saturday, March 19, beginning at 9:00 AM.

Interested individuals and groups are welcome to volunteer. For more information, contact Terry McKee at dgm59@aol.com.

New Organization Born

Those that are regular readers of this blog know that a Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park group has been trying to get up and running the last few months. I am pleased to announce that the group passed the bylaws this evening and several other administrative and financial hurdles have been passed, so tonight the group was born. At the beginning of the meeting, 21 people had paid dues and more joined this evening.

The Friends of Lake Arrowhead have several projects upcoming, some in conjunction with the Rolling Plains chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists. Some upcoming events:

• 19 March: Lake cleanup, 9:00 AM - Noon. You can participate whether or not you are a member of the organization. Both the Friends of LASP and the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists will have information about their organizations there for those who may be interested.
• 13, 14 May: Buffalo Soldiers event. Although not sponored by the Friends of LASP, the park staff could use a few extra hands for the event.
• 4 June: Kids Fishing Day. Although the Texas Master Naturalists usually have several volunteers out that day, more are always welcome to help the kids enjoy the fishing experience--for several, it may be their first exposure to the sport.

Several more activities will be coming up. Watch for announcements.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park Meeting

The next meeting of the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park is Thursday, March 3, 7:00 PM at the Education Building (better known as the Dining Hall.)

A number of items will be discussed, but the primary item of business is the review and hopefully adoption of the organization's bylaws. Members may also pay their dues ($10 individual/$15 family/$5 students.) We will also be discussing upcoming events.

If you are interested in improving our local state park, please come.

State Budget and State Parks

It's no secret there is a budget crunch in Texas and the state is looking for ways to cut spending. Our state parks may be a target. A proposal is that the TPWD budget be cut by approximately 25%. That would just about gut the department, especially maintenance and improvement of our parks.

Texas doesn't have much public parkland as it is. Texas ranks 47th among the states for the percentage of land owned by the Federal or State government. Although we have a lot of open space, that space is privately owned. Overall, I think most state landowners do their best to protect and preserve their property, but the bottom line is, those lands are not open to the public and are not for the recreational use of the people of the state.

Texas was contemplating a sell off of some wonderful parks not that long ago. For those of us to whom public land is a vital legacy for the future--we need to be paying attention.

I believe the state budget needs to be balanced, but we also need to be balanced in how we approach the problem. I also know the state has many necessary and important needs to fund. We tend to look at parks as a "nice to have" instead of a "need to have" and we tend to think in the short term instead of taking a long view.

This is also an example of why we are working hard to set up a Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park group to help raise funds and do a lot of projects at the park that may not get done any other way. Don't forget the meeting on March 3, mentioned in the previous post. Lake Arrowhead is close to the city of Wichita Falls and for many residents is the only state park they are close enough to visit at little or no expense.

Snow and Ice--Reschedule Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park

Well, we seem to have one bad storm each winter, and we definitely had it last week. I haven't left the house in days. However, the thaw did finally set it Friday and by the end of yesterday, the roads seem to be safe enough. Which is a good thing as I need to make a trip to the grocery before the next round of predicted storms tonight and Wednesday.

Texas had a round of rolling blackouts during the very cold weather (single digits, with below zero wind chills--brrrr!) We obviously aren't set up for this severe winter weather. Fortunately, people had the good sense to stay home and off the streets. Usually, it seems people try to ignore the weather--Texans just aren't cold weather people and pick ups (the vehicle of choice) isn't the best vehicle for driving on ice. But many seemed to have learned their lesson with the Christmas Eve blizzard last year that left many people stranded on the roads for many hours.

But because of the bad weather, several events were cancelled. One of those was the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. That meeting for February has been cancelled. The next meeting will be March 3, 7 PM in the Dining Hall at Lake Arrowhead State Park. Bring your dues ($10 per person or $15 per family)--we are official with the state and are working on the 501(c)(3) designation. Hope to see you there.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park

Some weeks ago a few people met to begin talking about forming a Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park 501(c)(3). A second meeting will be held this Saturday, November 6, 10:00 AM at Lake Arrowhead in the Dining Hall building at the fishing pier.

I was at the first meeting, but will have to miss this one due to a scheduled class Saturday (only a few more weeks and no more Saturday classes for a while--yippee!!)

Please attend if you are interested so we can get this much needed program off the ground. Now, if we could just do something similar for the parks in Wichita Falls! But one thing at a time.

Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park

I really need to replace my little camera to help liven up this blog. But that has nothing to do with the topic of this post.

Tonight John Ferguson, Superintendent of Lake Arrowhead State Park, held a meeting to gauge interest for a Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park 501(c)3 to support a variety of programs and amenities in the park. I don't think the word got out very well. Some members of the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists were there and one other person who is a member of the North Texas Bird and Wildlife Club. The group agreed that there is a need for such an organization and there is interest. However, we want a more diverse group of organizations and individuals involved.

The park has over 80,000 visitors a year. Not bad for a small state park. But truthfully, the park is not manned or funded to do much more than it does. All agreed additional interpretive programs and additional park amenities would improve the park experience for those who come and would pull in more visitors. Additionally, a 501(c)3 organization could apply for grants and conduct fundraising activities to raise monies for things that are not likely to be funded by the state.

So the consensus was to move forward. The next meeting will be Saturday, November 6, 10:00 AM at the Dining Hall at the fishing docks. It would be great to have a good sized group of excited, interested and energetic people there. I will be teaching at MSU that day so will miss this meeting, but I'm in.

If you would like more information, contact the park at 940-528-2211.