Learning about wildfire awareness and landscape

By Bek Akin

Next week the citizens of Walker County have a grand opportunity to learn important things about their landscape. If you love and want to protect your community, if you desire beauty and aesthetics in your landscape, and if preparing your property not only for the events of color and fragrance but to also prevent fire devastation, next week’s programs are for you!

Writer Lawrence Durrell once said, “We are the children of our landscape; it dictates behavior and even thought in the measure to which we are responsive to it” – a memorable sentiment when we are reminded that much of what we know is what we have read, what we have experienced, and when we have asked questions. But there are new learning opportunities on the horizon!

When perusing the Texas Forest Service Web site (www.txforestservice.tamu.edu), one quickly realizes the benefits of building a lovely landscape with fire awareness in mind, and also utilizing proper plants not only for aesthetics but also property preservation. Indeed in an area where homeowners may live on property ranging from town lots to acreage in and around our national forests, managing our landscape becomes very important. Certainly this year’s drought conditions warranted that special attention.

On Tuesday, the Walker County Master Gardeners will present a Wildfire Awareness program at 6:30 p.m. at Fire Station No. 1, 1987 Veterans Memorial Drive, in Huntsville. The public is invited to join in this all-important educational experience and learn about home fire protection, plant selection, and plant placement. Justice Jones, Mitigation Prevention Coordinator at the Texas Forest Service and Randy Prewitt, Fire Management Officer, U.S. Forest Service, Sam Houston National Forest will be the program speakers.

Citizens will also learn about control burns in the national forest such as what you need to know, the purpose of control burns, and the timing of them. Additionally the public will learn about the Walker County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Don’t let the recent rains make you complacent. While many of our plants and landscapes have been brought back to life, the lakes filled, and lawns hydrated, we all know that nice picture can change in a Texas two-step!

Have you checked out the Walker County Master Gardeners demo gardens at the Agri-Life Extension on Highway 75 North lately? So much there is bound to be an inspiration for your own landscape. And your questions may be answered at the Agri-Life Extension Office adjacent to the gardens. Perhaps if you have visited, your curiosity has been spurred, or your horticultural juices have been swished!

If you have wondered about certain plants, trees and flowers or have had questions about soil, fertilizer, and propagating, needed more info on fire ants, and have been curious about our need for more bees, the Agri-Life Extension Agency is the place to visit. For many, however, there is a hunger to learn much more about our own landscapes and what is good for our community and about the master gardening program in general.

To that end, one might attend the orientation for the Walker County Master Gardener Training Class for 2010 to be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Extension Office at 102 Tam Road. Join us to learn what a Master Gardener is and what sets Master Gardeners apart.  The 15-week course will begin Jan. 14 from 12:30-5 p.m. at the Extension Office. The class is limited to 24 persons. To secure a place in the training program, come to the Orientation, register and pay the fee of $130. For additional information, call (936) 435-2426.

Since 2001 the Master Gardening Program has trained over 150 of its citizens about gardening and much more. Since then many have not only improved their own landscape but have assisted in area improvements such as with Huntsville Memorial Hospital and the Walker County Courthouse.

Consider that this autumn is the perfect time of year – when the ground is easier to dig and the temperatures are cooler – to make our landscapes fire safe and to prepare for spring growth and summer survival. Come join us next week to learn the hows and whys of keeping our landscape safe and protected. And then plan ahead so we can look forward to seeing many of you in January!

If you have any questions about the information in this article or any of the Extension programs, please contact the Walker County AgriLife Extension Office at (936) 435-2426, or walker-tx@tamu.edu. Extension programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas cooperating. A member of the Texas A&M University System and its statewide agriculture program.