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Our Mission

The Mission of the Fort Worth Audubon Society is to promote awareness, appreciation and understanding of birds and other wildlife while preserving and protecting their natural habitat.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings. (either in-person or via Zoom).

Due to the continuing Corvid-19 virus, our General meeting location will not be available. 

UNTIL WE ARE ABLE TO MEET IN PERSON, FWAS WILL HOLD THE MONTHLY MEETINGS ON-LINE USING ZOOM.   Visitors may receive the Zoom login credentials by completing information on the Conact Us page.

We invite you to attend our meetings on the second Thursday of each month from September through May. 

When: 7:00 PM

Where: 
The University of North Texas Health & Science Center, Research and Education Building, Room 100
3500 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Fort Worth, Texas

Conservation at the Fort Worth Prairie Park

Earlier this year, the Fort Worth Audubon Society announced three $1,000 grant recipients.  One of those recipients, the Great Plains Restoration Council, has already put the money to good use and sent us a wonderful report full of great pictures.  Their project was grassland nesting bird habitat restoration through diversity and inclusion community engagement.  They cut and cleared tree and brush on the Ft. Worth Prairie Park south of East Dutch Branch Creek.  The grant money not only helped help fund tree cutting but provided some community work payments for young people working on the Prairie. 

Photo journal Fort Worth Prairie Project – place pointer on photo for description of activity.

Front entrance as of Aug. 2019

Front entrance to the Fort Worth Prairie Park south of East Dutch Branch Creek prior to start of prairie restoration work.

Removing removing overgrowth

Removing overgrowth of woody increaser vegetation like cedar elms and hackberries on the prairie.

Starting brush piles.

After photo

Ms. Marty Leonard, local philanthropist, business and community leader, conservationist and bird watcher, visits some of our youth and the prairie. With Nicholas, Dylan, and Carlos at the project site after brush clearing

Team members

Youth lunch discussion with adult advocates Vincent and Jarid (not pictured—he’s taking the pic.) From left, Dylan, Vincent, Brandon, Carlos, Nicholas, and Keaundre.

Restoration team joined by U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey

U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey speaking with some of the youth on a hike at a site where swale prairie merges up onto a prairie barrens shortgrass prairie ecosystem component of the endangered Fort Worth Prairie. Thank you Congressman Veasey for your caring about our Earth and young people’s future

Discovery of a Texas spiny lizard

Discovery of a Texas spiny lizard with his head stuck inside a shotgun shell. On land or at sea, plastic trash is a lethal danger to native wildlife and human health.

Texas spiny lizard rescued

He survived! Rescue of Texas spiny lizard from being trapped in the shotgun shell, via surgical removal with a manicure clippers that Johnny Muhammad from TCAP (Texas Coalition of Animal Protection) went and bought at Walmart.

Saved and released

Release of Texas spiny lizard back into the prairie

Work continues

Preparing to cut, separate and stack some more downed cedar elms and hackberries that had choked out the prairie.

Another wood pile needed.

Deciding on the 2nd pile location.

Managing the new wood pile

Youth planned the consolidation and compression of stacked tree limbs and branches, with Carlos (in photo gesturing) serving as Pile Manager to continually collapse the large volume into much less space.

Allelopathy on the prairie is where the native plant communities are killed out by tree and brush overgrowth.

Between these two piles is the main front swath that was cleared of trees, brush and plastics, and raked and prepared for seeding with custom-curated Fort Worth Prairie seed mix, courtesy of Native American Seed, Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge, and Suzanne Tuttle and Michelle Villafranca.

Pausing for a photo before seeding.

A total of 7 formerly incarcerated youth, from our partner Tarrant County Advocate Program, worked on the site. They were paid $10 an hour, and taught the introductory lessons of Tier 1 of Ecological Health practices and principles, for which there is a certification. Notice we are using non-plastic bags, even for trash cleanup near the road. If we think about it, there is always a healthier, greener option these days.

A special seed

We purchased $600 worth of custom-curated, Texas-sourced native Fort Worth Prairie seed mix, plus received a donation of local collected Fort Worth Prairie seeds from the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.

Pocket wetlands

A daylighted tiny prairie creek at the front. There are also a couple pocket wetlands on this trailhead swath that we cleaned up.

Ecological Health practices and principles

Yoga stretching on the Fort Worth Prairie: Stretching and releasing muscle tension at the end of a week of good, hard work. Ecological Health practices and principles teach physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being as part of hands-on ecological restoration and preservation.

Becoming part of something bigger:

Meditating on the prairie and learning tactical diaphragmatic breathing. Both meditation and diaphragmatic breathing can be used in any area of life, particularly during stress and/or consternation.

Supporting our youth and the prairie

Alice Barrientez (Apache/Comanche) from the American Indian Youth Council, who previously served as a "GPRC Mom" for participating youth in an earlier program years ago, came out to visit and re-engage

Bonus photo:

East Dutch Branch Creek — Fort Worth Prairie blue sky, sun, wind, grass and clean water. (And fish who don’t yet want their pics taken. ) We are grteful to Jarid Manos Founder Great Plains Restoration Council Thank you for the report and photos,

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Photo Gallery

American Kestral

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Black-capped Vireo

Photo taken by A. Richards in Texas

Belted Kingfisher

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Eastern Bluebird

Photo taken by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Greater Roadrunner

Photo taken by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

Hooded Merganser

Photo by A. Richards of Arlington, TX

Osprey

Photo taken by A. Richards of Arlington, TX

Osprey

Photo taken by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

Red Tailed Hawk

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Photo by J. Turner, Benbrook, TX

Scissior-tailed Flycatcher

Photo by J. Turner of Benbrook, TX

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