Recently, the Texas Conservation Corps came out and made a huge impact in the Caswell Shoals area of Pease Park. In collaboration with the Watershed Protection Department, TxCC cleared not only all of the ragweed from the northern edge of the bikeway to the southern edge of the pollinator garden, now known as the trail meadow, but they also cut and treated invasive Ligustrum plants with herbicide.
The white-shaded area on the map shows where the TxCC crew worked.
This area of the park has been overrun with such a dense grove of ragweed that maintenance had been almost impossible, and many young trees had been buried in the thicket. Now that the area has been cleared of the ragweed and invasive Ligustrum, it can begin to recover back to a healthy and thriving wooded hillside ecosystem.
Under normal conditions, similar ecosystems would have the occasional fire that would help clear out the understory, refresh the carbon content in the soil, and provide newer and younger plants the elbow room they need to grow. However, fire is no longer an option in Pease Park; the development of homes, roads, and businesses have made fire an unsafe and inappropriate method of forest/grassland management. This said, routinely thinning out the understory by hand is a viable alternative. Clearing brush by hand can help open up the area, remove invasive species, and reduce the risk of uncontrolled wildfire. Additionally, if the removed brush can be broken down into mulch or composted on site, thinning by hand can also help revitalize the soil.
We want to thank the Texas Conservation Corps and the Watershed Protection Department for the hard work they put into the park, and for the benefits they bring to the health of its ecology.
For more information on the Watershed Protection Department and the Texas Conservation Corps, check out their websites at