Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Headwaters Sanctuary in Olmos Basin
Today's photos:
With the ongoing drought, the Edwards Aquifer remains well below the level necessary for the springs in Olmos Basin to flow. As can be seen in the last photo above, the headwaters channel of the San Antonio River is dry. It has been dry more often than not over the past sixty years or so.
One of the reasons George Brackenridge sold this part of his estate to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 1897 was because he saw that the springs were becoming intermittent. As the population of San Antonio and the surrounding area increased, more wells were being dug to supply the increased demand for water. This lowered the aquifer level sufficiently to severely impact the flow of water from the springs.
Brackenridge didn't want to be around the Olmos Basin when the springs finally stopped flowing. Now, 115 years after he sold the estate, what he feared would happen to the springs has come to pass.
But wildlife in South Texas is tenaciously persistent. Over the decades, the ecosystem in the Olmos Basin has evolved to adapt to the lower water levels.
Update, Thursday, June 28, 2012:
I probably should point out that what I wrote and posted late last night is a summary of the history of this part of the Olmos Basin as best I understand it. It is remarkable to me how resilient the South Texas ecology can be.
However, the fact that the "headwaters" of the San Antonio River remains dry for long periods of time is also a testament to the need to adopt sustainable water and resource management practices. If they are not, there will come a point where the local ecosystems can no longer adapt.
The springs in Olmos Basin that fed the San Antonio River were the primary reason people settled in this area even long before the Spanish settlers arrived. The loss of these vibrant springs stands as a tragic reminder of our need to be good stewards of the resources upon which we depend.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Before I get too much further downstream from the San Antonio River's headwaters, I need to return briefly to this past Friday's walk in the Headwaters Sanctuary in Olmos Basin. As I was making my way through the hackberry thicket, I came across a small meadow brimming with burgundy winecups, also known as poppy mallow:
Friday, April 6, 2012
The Headwaters Sanctuary in Olmos Basin
Today's photos:
A walk in the backwoods of the Headwaters Sanctuary has been long overdue with my last walk here on November 25. One of the primary problems with walking in the backwoods is that the only parking for the Headwaters Sanctuary is on the UIW campus. Now that I am retired, I don't have a campus parking permit, so my walks in these woods will only be on school holidays and during the summer when no permit is required.
But that is too much information and a distraction from the story the photos tell.
Today's photos:
Wednesday and yesterday were almost overwhelming in many ways. In that context, it seemed best today to stay very close to home where my experience of walking urban woods here in Bexar County began almost forty years ago.
My first experience in what is now the Headwaters Sanctuary in Olmos Basin occurred when I enrolled in the course, "Ecology, Environment and Man," at Incarnate Word College in 1972. What we then referred to as the backwoods was the ideal outdoor laboratory for the course. I have walked these woods, now 53 acres in size, countless times since then.
The Headwaters Sanctuary is the land between the University of the Incarnate Word campus and Olmos Dam. It is owned and maintained as a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who had purchased the land from George Brackenridge over one hundred years ago.
