NPSOT Trip

Nash Prairie & Brazos Bend

May 02, 2004

Trip leader, Dr. Larry Brown, was wonderfully informative as usual. We learned many of the native and naturalized plants that call the prairie environment home (a few of which are spotlighted below). The first place scheduled to visit was Nash Prairie, although as usual we had several stops on the way to discuss roadside plants that attracted our attention. Nash Prairie is a privately owned tract on the northern edge of Brazoria County near Brazos Bend State Park. It is sadly a rarity these days - a natural prairie that has never been plowed flat or grazed. As a result, it has quite an interesting selection of flora. Luckily it has recently fallen into the hands of a church that sees the importance of preserving it as an educational natural area.

Once we finished at the Prairie, we moved on to Brazos Bend State Park for a picnic lunch and a trip down their prairie trail. For those of you unfamiliar with this park, it is a wonderful natural area well worth visiting. It is by far my favorite state park. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for huge old oak trees :) You can download a plant list (and much more) from the unofficial Brazos Bend website maintained by park volunteers or get fee information and directions to the park on the official state page.