Did you know a corps of knowledgeable volunteers provides education, outreach, and service to keep our local water bodies healthy through their efforts right here at home? They’re Texas Waters Specialists, certified through a unique program made possible by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) in partnership with The Woodlands Township Environmental Services Department. The program is open to adults as well as students in grades 9 – 12.
Classes are free and scheduled throughout the year, and the good news: you can obtain all the needed training hours right here in The Woodlands. You’ll be certified as a Texas Waters Specialist after completing just 8 hours of training based on the Texas Waters curriculum guide (provided by Environmental Services or acquired online). Adults 18 and older receive a certificate and an official pin directly from TPWD designating them as a certified waters specialist. Students under age 18, in grades 9 through 12, register with Environmental Services to report hours and receive your certificate and pin.
Sign up hereif you are interested. You will be notified of classes offered both in person and online, as well as volunteering opportunities. NOTE that Studentsshould onlyuse this link to enroll in the program administered by Environmental Services.
Adults get started by enrolling as TPWD volunteers here. Or find more detailed instructions on how to register with TPWD, by following along with this document.
There are two upcoming in-person Texas Waters Specialist (TWS) Water Labs at the Recreation Center at Rob Fleming Park at 6464 Creekside Forest Drive:
Saturday, June 10 – 8:30 to 12:30pm.
Saturday, July 15 – 8:30 to 11:30am.
Additional or alternative training hours available at the Online Monthly Classes. The 2-Hour TWS Curriculum Class Sessions are on the fourth Monday of every month from 3:30-5:30pm.
Earn your certificate as a Texas Waters Specialist!
Want additional opportunities in water conservation? The Woodlands Township offers many free events, classes, and seminars for residents to learn tips on preserving our waterways like the storm drain marking program, litter cleanup with Keep Texas Beautiful, and more! Learn how to get involved on the Woodlands Township Water Conservation Page. Read all about water conservation in the Woodlands Township online library water conservation articles
Earth Day is an annual celebration on April 22nd to promote environmental awareness. The first Earth Day was in 1970 which started the modern environmental movement. A long-lasting tradition of The Woodlands Township is the annual celebration of Earth Day. This celebration includes the GreenUp litter cleanup event back this past March. This year 611 community volunteers removed over 1,100 lbs of litter!
Coming up on Saturday, May 13th, 2023, from 10 am – 1 pm is the Woodlands Township Earth Day Festival at Northshore Park. Bring your family and friends to celebrate mother earth with fun and educational activities. Enjoy live entertainment, face painting, games, educational displays, and meet organizations that celebrate earth day every day.
Whether you’re outside participating in the Iron Man this weekend or prefer to stay home, The Woodlands Township has many programs and resources to help you celebrate Earth Day. Here are 8 ways to celebrate Earth Day year-round!
1. Conserve Water
Conserving water saves energy, and using less water keeps more in our ecosystems. There are many ways to conserve water from taking shorter showers, turning off the water while you brush your teeth or installing drip irrigation in your garden. Drip irrigation delivers water to your plants right where they need it most- the roots. Learn how to install a simple system yourself at this free workshop Saturday, May 20 from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Register Today to save your place.
2. Plant a Tree
Planting trees has many environmental benefits and can improve the quality of life of the community. Every February, the Woodlands Township hosts an annual community tree planting event. Learn more about the Community Tree Planting Eventon the Woodlands Township website. The Woodlands Township hosts an Annual Arbor Day Tree Giveaway to encourage residents to help reforest our community. If you don’t want to wait until Arbor Day, read the Environmental Services DepartmentNative Trees article to learn the best way to plant a tree and ensure it thrives.
3. Recycle
Reducing waste is one of the many things you can do to help lessen your carbon footprint. Read the Recycle-More-Guide to see what and where to recycle beyond the curbside cart! Or save your hard-to-recycle items for the 3R Drive Thru.This special collections day in November gives you the opportunity to drop off items you’re not able to put in your curbside cart.
4. Compost
One way to reduce the amount of waste in landfills is to compost. The Woodlands Township offers free backyard composting classes every year in the spring and fall. If you are interested in trying this at home, you can buy a compost bin from Environmental Services anytime. Learn more about The Woodlands Township Composting Resourceshere.Last October, The Woodlands Township had its firstPumpkin Smash Event. It was a Smashing success and a great way for residents to dispose of their pumpkins in an environmentally friendly manner. Find out details on the Woodlands Township Calendar.
5. Support Wildlife
You can make a difference starting in your own backyard. The Woodlands Township has many programs, workshops, seminars, and volunteer opportunities available to help support your local wildlife. National Pollinator Week is right around the corner, with spring in full bloom there are many ways you can support our native pollinators. Planting native milkweed or nectar-producing plants is a great way to support habitats and encourage pollinators to stop by! Additional resources are in the Environmental Services Blog. Invasive species take over the environment and cause harm to the stability of ecosystems. Join the Woodlands TownshipInvasive Species Task Force to help.
6. Pick Up Litter
Keep the community clean by picking up litter in our public spaces. The Woodlands Township has trash grabbers, gloves, and trash bags available to be picked up by appointment. Also, the Earth Day GreenUp, a community clean-up event takes place every March, and again in September. Both theGreenUp and GreenUp Fall Sweep information can be found on the Woodlands Township website If you’re interested in keeping the Woodlands free of litter Adopt-A-Path is a year-round program that you can apply to join. Additional information can be found on the Adopt-A-Path webpage.
7. Immerse Yourself in Nature
Going outdoors and educating yourself about the wonders of nature is a wonderful way to appreciate the earth. The Woodlands Township has two upcoming events that are great opportunities to learn about nature. The Great Texas Birding Classic will be held on April 29th, at the George Mitchell Nature Preserve. This event is a bird-watching competition across Texas, and the Woodlands Township has a registered team. More information about this event is on the calendar listing. If you can’t attend the Great Texas Birding Classic, we have birding backpacks available to rent year-round for those interested in birding! Make a reservation here
Another event coming up is the Bioblitz during Pollinator Week. It is a two-part event, starting June 19 through June 25 is the week-long community effort to identify as many species as possible through the iNaturalist App. Then join the in-person event on Saturday, June 24th at Rob Flemming to continue the search in person and visit the BioBooth. Read about BioBlitzon The Woodlands Township website.
8. Garden
There are many benefits to gardening, it improves the quality of air in the soil, provides habitat and cover for pollinators, and adds to the aesthetic of the environment. The Woodlands Township provides two home gardening classes, one in the spring and one in the fall which is coming up on August 21st, you can register here. The Woodlands Township administers community gardens, if you’re interested in a garden plot call the Environmental Services department and ask to be connected to the community garden coordinator.
There are many ways to celebrate earth day year-round. Some of those include finding ways to conserve water, planting trees, recycling and composting to reduce waste, supporting local wildlife, picking up litter, and gardening. The Woodlands Township has multiple resources to help you on your journey to becoming more environmentally friendly and connecting with your community. If you have any questions, visitThe Woodlands Township Environmental Services Websiteor search the online library for your favorite topics.
Rain gardensare a great landscape feature that helps slow, collect, infiltrate and filter storm water. They are the best solution to turn a “problem” wet area in your yard into a real benefit. Designed for a low-lying area that collects rainwater you’ll find there are many benefits to a rain garden like transforming a bare, wet area into a green, blooming habitat that provides food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife.
Problem Solvers
Increased stormwater runoff is the real problem. Add soil erosion to that and the result is vulnerability to flooding. Rain gardens can prevent both, helping to conserve water and soil.
Consider the water cycle shown above and then add human development to the picture. Humans create stormwater runoff when natural areas are developed, replacing them with a sea of impervious surfaces fragmenting our green spaces. Within a developed residential area, pollutants such as fertilizers, herbicides, pet waste, and oil are washed from lawns, streets, and parking lots into local streams and drainage systems.
How Rain Gardens Help
While a single rain garden may seem inconsequential, it has great value. Rain gardens slow the water down allowing for it to be collected in the garden’s depression. Settling soil, silt and organic material that are washed by the water from higher ground are also captured and prevented from washing away. The captured water slowly filters back into the soil where it is needed most.
As the water soaks into the soil, the deeply rooted plants in your rain garden act as a filter, removing pollutants from the stormwater. Now your rain garden has become a beautifully designed space in your yard with stunning plants that captures and treats stormwater!
No need to worry that your rain garden will become a breeding area for mosquitoes. When designed correctly you should not have standing water that lasts longer than 72 hours. This is a much shorter time frame than the 7 required for most species of mosquitoes to develop and hatch from eggs laid in standing water.
Rain garden basics
Choose a site. Locate your garden in a low lying area of your landscape that tends to collect rain water and is at least 10 feet from your foundation. Choose a sunny or partially sunny spot. Also consider how it can be incorporated into your existing landscape replacing an area of traditional turf grass where the lawn slopes toward the street. An area that would catch roof run off or water from a down spout is perfect. If the rain garden is located on a slope, create a berm on the low side to retail water and soil.
Compared to a patch of lawn, a rain garden allows 30% more water to soak in the ground.
Test drainage. Test the location’s drainage before you create the bed. Dig a hole 8 to 12 inches deep and fill the hole with water. The water should soak in within 48 to 72 hours. Soils heavy in clay will drain much more slowly than soils heavier in loam, silt or sand. Amend sites heavy in clay with organic compost to improve the soil and help drainage. If the site doesn’t drain within 72 hours, choose another site.
Start digging. Rain gardens can be any size, but a typical residential rain garden ranges from 100 to 300 square feet. The depth of the garden can range between four and eight inches. Anything too deep might pond water too long and if too shallow, it will require greater surface area to effectively manage water.
Add plants. Choose a variety of native forbs and grasses, planting those with higher water tolerance in the middle of the garden. Include plants of varying heights and bloom times to maximize the garden’s depth, texture and color. Plant in groups of three to seven plants of a single species. Go for diversity. In natural areas, a diversity of plant types not only adds beauty, but also creates thick underground root network that keeps the entire plant community in balance.
The chart below includes plants for our area suitable for a rain garden. Planting zones are indicated as:
Margin: the high edge around the rain garden that is the driest zone Median: the area between the margin and center Center: the middle of the garden that is deeper and will stay wet longest
Help it flourish. Rain gardens can be maintained with little effort after plants are established. Weeding and some watering during dry periods will be needed the first two years.
Need more information? Contact enviro@thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov
Do your kids turn off the faucet while brushing their teeth? It can save about 4 gallons of water! These habits add up – over the course of a week a family can save enough water to fill a regular trash can. Wouldn’t you rather use that water? Give the kids a hug and encourage their pride in being good stewards of a vital natural resource.
Kids seem to do better than adults at maintaining good habits when they understand the benefits and their actions are rewarded with praise. The rest of us may need a sticky note on the ‘fridge! Consider this your sticky note.
At least once a year, check for dripping water. Even a small leak makes a big impact on your water bill. Over time you could be paying for hundreds of gallons of water you aren’t using.
Indoors:
Look at faucets and taps in kitchens and bathrooms
Check under sinks and inside cabinets for wet spots
Remember to check faucets in tubs and shower heads
Inspect clothes- and dishwasher connections that can develop leaks over time
Outside:
Check spigots and hose ends
Ditto for sprinklers attached to a hose
For automated systems, check sprinkler heads for leaks, one sign is taller or greener grass, another is places where the ground is perpetually wet
Install a rain sensor, if your controller doesn’t have one, to keep sprinklers off when it rains – what a waste that is
Leaks and dripping faucets are easy to ignore but costly. How about checking right now to be sure it’s not happening right under your nose. Good habits prevent wasted water, so thank you for being a good water steward! Here’s a virtual hug for you.
Keeping our water clean, healthy, and available is a full-time job for anyone who uses water. Right now is the best time to assess any gaps in your water-saving activities.
Say YES TO MORE
Start by saying YES TO MORE when you only run the dishwasher when it’s full. Same goes for washing your clothes. YES TO MORE cold water washes that conserve energy while being gentler on clothes. Time to upgrade your washing machine? Select one that is smart enough match the amount of water to the load size.
Say YES TO LESS
Fall is a time for less: less fertilizer on the lawn. OurSt Augustine grasswon’t be able to take up many nutrients, especially nitrogen, once it enters dormancy (mid October – mid April). Adding fertilizer after the first of October won’t help the grass, and it’s more likely those fertilizers will simply run off into waterways during the next rain.
Speaking of rain, does your sprinkler system controller have a rain sensor? The next few months are forecasted to bring strong chances of large rain events. A rain sensor helps you say YES TO LESS irrigation by communicating with your sprinkler system that your lawn has received adequate rainfall and overrides a scheduled watering. Again, your lawn is dormant from mid-October to mid-April and requires not only less fertilizer, but less water too.
Consider yourself a bit of a DIYer? Installing a rain sensor is pretty simple and we’ll help you get started. Send an email to enviro@thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov with the subject line: Rain Sensor Request.
The first 10 Township residents to email will receive a free rain sensor.
Just provide your home address so we can verify residency. We’ll be in touch with details on where to pick up your rain sensor and help with any troubleshooting.
Ready to say YES TO MORE AND YES TO LESS? Think about other simple ways your actions can reduce water use. Each YES means we have the water we need in the future.
