Wildlife Management

for the Unity Church of Wimberley

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The Unity Church of Wimberley maintains a wildlife tax exemption with the focus on improving habitat for wild birds along with providing supplemental food and water.  Our goals are described in a five year plan.  


September 18, 2010,

is the next planned work day. 

8:30 am until noon.

Bring gloves, wear closed shoes and protection from the sun.  Plans are to move the brush currently on the ground to the brush piles.  Also, we will move rocks off the paths and use them to the sides to define the pathway.  We are getting ready to give tours to church members and guest during the Mashed Potato Cook-Off event, October 9th. 

RSVP to Susan:  wildlife@unityofwimberley.com

Thanks Ron, for painting the Alter.  It will be placed near the front of our Serenity Garden and anchored.  Audel Cayce has donated some wind chimes to hang on or near the Alter. 

Members are invited to lay objects on the Alter for Peace and Healing for the World.

Thanks Aduel, your help is really appreciated.  In addition to brush moving and rock gathering, Aduel has also volunteered to write a script to use during the tours of our Serenity Garden on October 9th, 2010, during the 2nd Annual Mashed Potato Cook-Off. 

The tours will be under 15min. ea. (need tour guide volunteers), so we can do 4 to 8 (1 to 2 hrs.) or more.  Now, we don't have a lot of points of interest but this is a great opportunity to hand out information on our church and the importance of Wildlife Management.  If you have something to offer, a story or information, please let Susan Drews know so it can be passed along to Aduel.  Welcome Aduel! 

We are looking for some donations of benches to keep in the SG.  Mary suggested concrete benches would be more durable than wood.  They seem to be on sale now and it doesn't matter how many we receive.  Having walked this land it would be nice to sit down to rest on the trail.                                                

Thank you Mary Kresha and Susan Drews, your team effort with the plants is making a difference.  To the left is another picture of the Coral Honey Suckle, planted by Susan a few months ago, a favorite plant for Hummingbirds.  See how nice it looks since Mary enlarged the bed with more rock border around it!  Using rocks in this manner to create borders around the wild plants really looks good.  Picking rocks up out of the path and using them in the beds or along the sides brings something special to the area.  Watering is the big challenge.  The three gallon jugs in the picture are connected and drip water onto the base of the plant.  

Mary has been taking good care of our church flower beds for a long time.  She could use some help.  If you would like to help her with the flower beds around the church and/or with caring for plants in the SG or on the property, please send a note to: wildlife@unityofwimberley.com. Mary is working on a plan for which plants need to be added, their purpose, and when to plant them.  Veggies are up to the individuals who plant them and so is their care.

Also, it is time for our Water from Heaven Team to connect to discuss what type of rainwater catchment structures can be built.  Check out the links below for ideas.  With rain barrels and drip systems it would be easier to take care of plants and have water for the birds. 

Susan Drews, Julia Meritt and Mary Kresha have been doing extra watering via filling up old milk jugs and wheeling it to the plants.  We need extra help, once a week.  If we get enough people it won't be so hard to keep up. 

Thanks to Bob Ochoa and Jeff Richardson we have two wheel barrels on the church grounds, with one being dedicated to the Wildlife Management program and kept in the SG.  It is only in our fenced-in Serenity Garden (SG) that we can give extra attention to plants that provide food for our wild birds and the little animals.  Thanks goes to Mary and Ray Kresha for spending the money to have a new gate built for our just under 2 acres we now call the Serenity Garden.  At least we can keep out the deer and wild hogs.  The resident Roadrunner and Mr. Jack Rabbit are another matter.  With raised beds and a frame with chicken wire they and other animals can be kept under control until we decide it's time to share with them.

Thank you- Roger & Diana Bentson, for the donation of flowers, tub and stand.  As of August, Friday the 13th, 2010, the new plants are doing fine. Placed in the Serenity Garden, our bird sanctuary area.

A really big THANK YOU goes to Jane Knaus.  Jane has taken charge of monitoring the eleven birds houses and that job starts in Feb./March and goes until summer.  She is very knowledgeable and good at doing what she does.  However, Jane could use some help.  She will train you and has pictures to help you recognize the nest, eggs, and birds.  Please consider helping. The nest are watched two to three times a week so it would be so much easier to have a lot of volunteers taking turns.  Again, email  wildlife@unityofwimberley.com about helping with bird monitoring.

Thank you to all of the volunteers for donating your time to help keep the wildlife management plan going.

TP&WD and the Appraisal District encourage more education about wildlife in Texas.

SO, HERE ARE SOME Other Opportunities:

The Caldwell County Extension Office sends information, from the AgriLife Extension Texas A&M System, about seminars that are of interest to wildlife management and related topics.  You can sign up for their emails: caldwell@ag.tamu.edu  View their website: http://caldwell-tx.tamu.edu/

The Fall Vegetable and Lawn Care Seminar was GREAT! 

       AUGUST 26, 2010

Presentation on Lawn Care by Dennis Hale, Wilson County

Presentation on Vegetables by Jeff Watts, Caldwell County

check these webpages for more information

• http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/topics/lawngarden/
• http://soiltesting.tamu.edu
• http://vegetable-garden-guide.com
• http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/travis/