Learn how to protect, restore backyard habitats on Jan. 8

Hood County residents will soon learn how to protect and restore the environment — beginning in their own backyard.

The Acton Nature Center will be hosting another community lecture series titled “Protecting and Restoring Backyard Habitats” at the Opal Durant Acton Community Center, 6430 Smoky Hill Court, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8.

Texas Master Naturalist Dr. Billy Teels will serve as speaker, stating that his lecture will mainly emphasize why we need to protect and restore habitats, as opposed to how.

“This whole lecture series has been based on what we can do as private citizens to protect and restore the natural environment and how we can make a difference. It’s mostly our concept about nature,” he said. “Most of us think of nature as being in a state park, but the truth is, nature is in our own backyard — if we manage it properly. If we compartmentalize nature and don’t consider it part of our own environment, we’re depending on someone else to manage it, when we can manage it ourselves.”

Teels said his lecture will discuss certain constraints, like homeowners associations, that can make protecting backyard habitats extremely difficult.

"There are several recent advancements with state laws, though, and the recognition made by homeowners associations that backyard habitats are important,” he said. “Texas has a law that went into effect in September 2013 prohibiting HOAs from taking actions to force landowners from composting vegetation, grass clippings, leaves or brush in protected areas. It also prohibits them from preventing landowners from using drought-resistant or water-conserving turf, so there is some precedence what HOA can and can’t do."

With some backyards that have been left intact, it’ll be easy to restore habitats just by cultivating the existing vegetation, Teels said, while others will take more work.

“Other backyards, you’re starting from scratch, and if you’re going to have any seed source, you’re going to have to plant it yourself,” he said. “To establish habitat in your backyard, it depends on how much you have initially, and I'll be talking about that in the lecture — whether or not you need to plant and what would you plant.”

Some parts of Teels’ lecture will be based on the 2019 best-selling book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” by Douglas W. Tallamy. Tallamy gives 10 basic recommendations of what you need to consider in order to have a good backyard habitat.

“We have just reached 8 billion people on this planet in November, so we’re living in what science calls the Anthropocene, where humans have dominated the landscape,” Teels said. “With that comes a lot of environmental problems that we’ve created ourselves, and those are reasons why we need to protect our own backyards.”

According to the Acton Nature Center website, Teels retired from United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service with more than 30 years of service as a biologist in various offices. He worked directly with USDA programs designed to protect and restore wetlands. He served as past president of the Rio Brazos Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists and has been an active member since 2007. He has been involved with many activities at the Acton Nature Center and has led the first Saturday bird walks there since 2008.

His lecture on Jan. 8 will also include a Zoom option for individuals who are unable to attend in person. Attendees interested in the Zoom link can email actonnaturecenter@gmail.com.

Teels added that he hopes his lecture will inspire others to make a difference in the environment.

"You can have an entire lecture on how to manage your backyard,” he said. “But the need alone can inspire people to do it.”