Bumble Bees and Pickerel Weeds

Last Friday, I visited Sheldon Lake State Park in northeast Harris County. My classmates and I took a thirty minute drive out to the location. We were then taken on a tour with a couple park rangers down the boardwalk in the prairie and up an observation tower. We saw many different types of flowers, grasses and trees. I didn't know what to expect on this trip because I don't think I had ever seen a prairie.

Sheldon Lake State Park 14140 Garrett Road, Jacinto City, Tx.

(All pictures on this post were taken by me.)

On our personal tour down the boardwalk, we were told the history of the prairie and the restoration that is still taking place. The land was once a prairie that was plowed flat to become a farm and reservoir during World War II. The land was then purchased and is undergoing restoration to again become a prairie with native plants and animals. The many dragonflies seen buzzing around are a sign of a thriving ecosystem. Although they want the prairie to contain native plants, many invasive weeds and Chinese tallow seeds get dragged around the prairie. People's boots, tools and tires bring in a lot of invasive seeds when planting around the prairie causing them to sprout in unlikely places.

The prairie is 2,502.2 acres.

Another part of their restoration included making man-made potholes and mima mounds. Mima mounds are dome shaped rises in the ground. On our tour, I learned that prairies are prone to seasonal flooding. This flooding keeps the fish from overpopulating and killing off their food source. Wetlands can go dry in the summer so the fish population temporarily decreases allowing the frog population to increase. Thankfully, there weren't many mosquitoes because gambuzzi fish and dragonflies eat them. An interesting fact that I caught my attention is that about every three years, they burn about 50 acres so new plant life can grow.

Above is a mima mound in the upper left corner.

Moving out way along the boardwalk, we saw many dragonflies and bumblebees among the pickerel weeds, milkweeds and crimson-eyed rose mallow. The bumble bees are native to prairies and pollinate wild flowers. My favorite flowers were the purple pickerel weeds and the white crimson-eyed rose mallow. Volunteers plant milkweed flowers because monarch butterfly larvae feed on them. In total, they plant around 10,000 plants a year. They have a plant-a-thon event where volunteers come out and plant 2,000-3,000 plants in a single day. I would love to join them because I love flowers.

Pickerel Weed (Pontederia Cordata)

Crimson-Eyed Rose Mallow(Hibiscus Mosheutos)

After our guided tour was over, we walked across the road to a large field where the John Jacob Observation Tower is. There were around ninety to one hundred steps up the tower to get to the top. There were two hawk watchers up in the tower surveying the amount of hawks in the sky. The week before we went, they had seen a bald eagle up there. The view was amazing up there and it was definitely worth the walk up to see the nature from above.

John Jacob Observation Tower

The view from the front of the tower.

The view from the back of the tower.

Another view from the back of the tower.

I didn't have any expectations because I wasn't really sure what I was walking into but I'm glad I came on this trip. It really opened my eyes because I never knew you could restore land back to what it was before. I definitely didn't expect to see so much free land. I learned that together, we can restore land in large quantities and bring native plants and animals back into their homes. I will definitely come back in the near future with friends or family to show them the beauty of Sheldon Lake State Park.