Texas Master Naturalists and the City complete Volunteer Workday Event at the Dick Benoit Prairie

On Wednesday, April 3, employees from the City got together with the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists for a Volunteer Workday Event at the Dick Benoit Prairie Preserve. Work performed that day consisted of several important tasks. Master Naturalists cut down and removed Invasive Species that mainly consisted of Chinese Tallow. City employees sprayed minimal amounts of herbicide on the cut invasives to prevent them from growing back. Also, several individuals planted 30 large Milkweed plants that were donated to the City by the Master Naturalists Group. Monarch butterflies use these plants as a food source and as a place to lay their eggs. Finally, other Master Naturalists performed plant identification of all of the various plant species that exist on the Prairie. This information will then be logged and placed onto the iNaturalist App to share with the public. So far the group has located and logged over 250 species of plants at the Dick Benoit Prairie Preserve. This rich plant diversity is what helped the Preserve become a Certified Texas Native Prairie in late 2022. This event was a success, and both organizations look forward to working together on additional events in 2024.