Hispanic Heritage Month starts today and Pease Park Conservancy is honored to have cultivated a team with such rich and diverse backgrounds!
Representation matters and thanks to these incredible individuals, we have been able to broaden our community offerings and how we serve Spanish speakers through bilingual communications, programming, and our Ecologist School Field Trips. Join us in celebrating the value and leadership they bring to the organization and its mission by getting to know them!
As Latino Conservation Week comes to an end, we want to reflect on the many different ways in which Latinos are playing a role in conservation. From organizing events for groups to spend time in nature like Latino Outdoors’ initiative does, to working in land management, parks departments, and leading research across various topics concerning conservation - the work doesn’t end here! We hope you’ll stay connected with this initiative led by the Hispanic Access Foundation!
Thank you for your feedback and concerns regarding the splash pad at Pease Park.
At this time, public safety remains our top priority. We cannot reopen the water feature until we are absolutely certain it is safe to do so. The sophisticated controller equipment that continuously monitors water quality, dispenses the chemicals, and automatically shuts off the splash pad when water quality is out of balance must be operating properly to ensure that it is safe for play. Unhealthy water quality can cause illness and death.We want to assure you that we are working diligently to diagnose the problem and make the necessary repairs. We are working with GPSI, the firm that designed and built the splash pad, as well as IPS, the manufacturer of the controller equipment.
For the past 10 years, the week of July 15 through July 23rd has been recognized as Latino Conservation Week - An initiative led by the Hispanic Access Foundation to further amplify the presence of Latinos in the outdoors. During this time organizations and community groups across the country have gathered and participated in various events to promote conservation efforts in their local environments.
In honor of Latino Conservation Week, we spoke to Josie (San Antonio Regional Coordinator) and Bianca (Program Coordinator) of Latino Outdoors about the history of Latino Outdoors, the work that they do and why it’s important to build an inclusive outdoors:
One of February’s long celebrated moments of remembrance. Since 1976 we have made it an American practice to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” — Pease Park Conservancy is working to center narratives, prioritize experiences, and most importantly to restructuralize how public land is cultivated and shared.
We are bombarded each day with news, responsibilities, and stressors, making it more important than ever to put time and energy into caring for ourselves. As we at Pease Park Conservancy care for and maintain this urban green space, we are awed by all of the incredible ways that you are finding your “pease”, joy, and comfort in the outdoors. Take a look at some of the ways people are connecting with one another, with nature, and with the arts.
Austin is home to people from all walks of life who are rooted in different parts of the world. Each individual comes with a different story of what led them to this city and how they discovered Pease Park. In People of Pease Park, we will highlight people that make Austin’s green space the dynamically vibrant place we know and love. In this story, we interviewed Daniel Palmer, a long-time Austinite well-known for his soothing acoustic guitar playing, alongside his usual bench facing Shoal Creek at Live Oak Meadow.
Jo Sue and her daughter Josie, both citizens of the Cherokee Nation who live in Austin and regularly spend time in Pease Park, are helping us at Pease Park Conservancy think through how to honor and recognize the storied history of this land. We want Indigenous People to feel acknowledged and included and the entire Austin community to learn and reflect on the past, present, and future of Indigenous Cultures. We want to center Native voices and Jo Sue and Josie agreed to share their insights with us here as a part of Native American Heritage Month.
Preservation Austin has recently announced that Pease Park Conservancy is a recipient of a 2021 Preservation Merit Award for the Rehabilitation of The Tudor Cottage at Pease Park. The 61st annual Preservation Merit Awards recognize ambitious and innovative approaches to preserving the city’s historic places. Pease Park Conservancy is honored to be among the fourteen recipients of this award this year that recognizes leadership in the restoration and preservation of Austin’s most historic and iconic places.
We are proud to announce that the recently completed Kingsbury Commons project was awarded Gold under the Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES) rating system. This designation puts Pease Park in an elite group of local green spaces and makes it the first park in the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) portfolio to be SITES certified.
The naming committee has reached a decision on the Pease Park Conservancy squirrel name! Learn the name of our park mascot in this video as it reflects back on its life in the great big world and in the park it calls home!
Thank you to everyone who submitted a name idea!
In our recent Sustainability Spotlight series we shared that Kingsbury Commons was designed to encourage community connections. We see this come to life each day and night as our park visitors gather with friends and family for play and relaxation throughout all of Pease Park.
Have you visited Pease Park lately? We would love to hear from you!
Please complete our park visitor survey to help us improve our park and our programs. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete and your responses will not be shared publicly with any identifying information. Thank you!
The iconic Pease Park Conservancy squirrel - our mascot - needs a name! We are looking to our community for creative name ideas. Submit your ideas throughout the month of August and we will announce the winning name in September!
Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, enslaved people in Texas were not told of their freedom until June 19, 1865.
Juneteenth - also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day - is the oldest known African American celebration commemorating the end of slavery.
The renovation of Kingsbury Commons - the recreational heart and cultural soul of Pease Park - is nearly complete and we will soon introduce the masterfully crafted amenities to the Austin community.
This incredible transformation would not have been possible without the work of the crew members who contributed their expertise to this project.
Photo Credit: Rosy Campanita
Back in 2019, the former disk golf course, now the Caswell Trail Meadow, was overrun by ragweed. The thicket was so dense, if you hadn’t been to the other side of the park you wouldn’t know it was ever there. Every square foot of the area was covered in massive ragweed plants, so large they engulfed the young saplings that had been planted just months before.
Torilis arvensis, also known by its common names ‘Hedge Parsley’ or ‘Spreading Parsley’ is an invasive flowering plant that grows in a variety of conditions, but is especially found within disturbed sites. Hedge Parsley prefers full sun, mesic to dry conditions, and often grows in soil containing limestone gravel. It matures quickly during the growing season, produces flowers and seeds, and then dies.
