Tag: mission reach

As if they already don’t do enough: ‘Conserve Today and Secure for Tomorrow’

postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

Didn’t need to get very far into a facebook “conversation” for Anne Thatcher Parrish to comprehend that I had flunked waterbird-watching 101, or actually never emerged from the kindergarten stage. Although she volunteers weekly to conduct nature tours for children at Mitchell Lake, Anne agreed to try to educate me in the environment where I walk in the mornings – along Eagleland and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.

First up, of course, were mallards. Then there was a double-crested cormorant, a broody-looking black one with a hooked bill who can hold his breath while fishing under water for an incredibly long time. A tall white egret searched for crawfish, while a great blue heron flew overhead.

Then we came upon a crowd that greatly multiplied the San Antonio River Authority’s normal work crew on the river’s banks. They appeared to be volunteers harvesting large quantities of invasive plant material near the water’s edge.

Then my favorite – the yellow-crowned night heron. Next a mature little blue heron (little actually being part of its name), and, just to try to confuse me, an immature one that had not turned blue-gray yet but was white.

More volunteers in a canoe fetching trash collected from a man in waders. A huge sheet of heavy black sheeting they pulled from the river was crumpled up next to discarded pairs of crawfish claws left on the egrets’ favorite breakfast table near the train tracks.

Can crawdads not see yellow? It seems as though the schoolbus-yellow feet of the wading snowy egrets would be hard to miss underwater. A sandpiper scurried by.

At a doughnut refueling station near Roosevelt Park, Anne asked the volunteers who they were. A woman answered enthusiastically they were from all branches of the Armed Forces in San Antonio, and this was how they were celebrating Earth Day. She said proudly:

This is our community, and we want to give back to it.

Of course, Earth Day is not actually until tomorrow, but the Air Force is proclaiming “Every day is Earth Day,” with this year’s theme as “Conserve today and secure for tomorrow.” The volunteers come from the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, the Air Force Real Property and  502nd Air Base Wing.  They started celebrating by performing hard manual labor at San Pedro Park (photo) on April 1 and Memorial Park on April 14.

By the crayola footbridge, we encountered those with the roughest assignment wading and raking out large slimy swaths of oozing blooming green algae so thick a family of six little ducklings was easily walking across it.

Bob Moore, director of the Air Force Real Property Agency in San Antonio, told Texas Public Radio’s Eileen Pace it was a rewarding experience:

We were scraping some algae off, and a 12-inch long bass jumped right out of the water because we had scraped the algae underneath it. Ducks were coming in right behind us in the clean water and reclaiming the area we had just cleaned out.

On the way back, spied a pair of my second-favorite birds, not because of their shocking flourescent pink-orange bills and webbed feet but for their name. For some reason, it just makes me smile: black-bellied whistling ducks. Anne said that now I can even graduate to Mitchell Lake.

I don’t think I’d be misspeaking to extend thanks to all the volunteers from the Armed Forces on behalf of the birds. The egrets and herons probably all settled into their nests in the trees off of Alamo Street last night with such strong feelings of security they decided to expand their families. Their home, this river, keeps getting better and better.

Update on April 22, 2011: And the wildflowers are beautiful!

Almost time to walk that walk….

postcardsfromsanantonio2 Comments

This is a sequel to “Can’t wait to walk that walk….,” which should be read first if you want to have a better idea of the new stretch of in-the-middle-of-the-river pathways to which I refer.

But first, to continue over-hyphenating before switching to incomplete sentences, this definitely qualified as one of those if-you-don’t-live-in-San-Antonio-I-feel-sorry-for-you mornings. Incredibly beautiful. The sky and river amazingly blue. The water so clear you could see the crawdads scurrying and fish swimming around the baseball left to drown after a home run hit by a Brackenridge Eagle. Don’t think it was Rodriguez. If so, the coach forgot because the only sound interrupting the birds’ songs was the coach barking from above at Rodriguez for forgetting the rest of the team.

The water birds perched upon the power plant spillway found such easy prey they forgot to be territorial over their fishing grounds. A hold-on-tightly-to-your-chihuahua-sized hawk was perched majestically high in a tree by Lone Star, the orphaned younger sibling of Pearl crying out to Kit: “Adopt me, too.” (Please do.) The crayola footbridge shimmered in the morning light, and green (although much of it probably not the much-wanted natives) sprouted all along the river’s banks, an emerald green not there a mere 48 hours earlier.

Which, of course, was the morning I had camera in hand. That morning was overcast. And, unfortunately, aside from one of the removal of the temporary dams that I was able to snap before my smartphone reminded its stupid owner that it needed charging, those are the photos I am posting. But it doesn’t matter because the project linking the San Antonio River Authority to Blue Star is so exciting, even on a cloudy day, and almost ready for walking.

The photograph of the telephone pole sticking straight out of the already-too-narrow sidewalk straddling the Alamo Street Bridge by Blue Star illustrates the obvious need for a project I had no idea was on the funded-horizon until last week’s meeting of the King William Association. Two million dollars from the Venue Tax is funding a new construction phase managed by the River Authority that will transform Alamo from four lanes to two plus a turn lane, allowing for widening the sidewalk. A new stone river crossing will link the two banks of the river, so the pathway on the King William side will no longer be a deadend. This path will be improved and stretch along the river from just below the Alamo Street Bridge to the park at Constance and Crofton Streets. On the Big Tex/Blue Star side, picnic areas will be added, as well as an art walk with several portals featuring seating and sculpture.

Can’t wait to walk that walk either.

Update on March 17: Love the news this morning about the generous donation of land Kathleen and Curtis Gunn have made to protect the missions and to link them to the Mission Reach of the river project. Also had to post the photo above of the first bluebonnets and redbonnets? popping into bloom near the Power Plant on the Mission Reach.

Update on March 23: Biking that walk will soon be an option for those of us who live in lofts with no room to store bikes of their own. Yesterday morning, a city crew was hard at work installing a bike rack for a Bike Share station at Blue Star (see photo above).

Update on April 6, 2011: The dams are removed, and water once again fills the river bed and, for the first time, cascades over the newly laid rocks of the water feature between Guenther and Alamo. Looks about ready for walking to me, but we must be waiting for some sort of speechifying formalities.

Update on April 28, 2011: Significant-sized trees are being planted below Blue Star Arts Complex today….

Update on May 11, 2011: They were carting in the missing pieces of railing this morning…. Must be time to open.

Update on May 24, 2011: Finally got to walk that walk this morning! Paseo del Rio finally is linked to the southside for walks on the wildflower side.

Can’t wait to walk that walk…

postcardsfromsanantonio2 Comments

For years I have heard about the plunge pool wall and the walkway funded by an ancient bond issue that one day would provide a river-level linkage between the San Antonio River Authority on Guenther and Blue Star.  This a key component tying the downtown River Walk to Eagleland and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Improvements Project.

For months upon months of morning walks I watched as water was diverted and tall new walls went in, hopefully keeping the towering cypresses on the upper banks from tumbling into the river.  This was a much more complicated project than it sounded when we were in meetings saying “just do it.”

Then they started on the linkage, which again, is much more complicated and sophisticated in design than it sounded.  In the process, the river keeps on getting diverted, divided, filled in… repeat. 

The water birds’ favorite part of the construction has ended.  For a while, a bypass sent river water shooting through an enormous pipe.  The fish and crawfish that went on this theme-park-type ride for free, albeit without advance consent, were spat out on the other side – temporarily stunned.  This easy fishing spot was the most coveted on the river, evoking numerous turf wars amongst the long-legged birds, now forced back into working for their next meals.

But now, sensuous curved concrete supports are snaking their way through the heart of the river channel, not awkwardly clinging to the walls as I had envisioned.  As I monitor the construction, I find myself clueless as to how it will look. 

I have received a few hints.  Larry Clark of Bender Wells Clark Design explained there will be a cascading water feature skirting one side of the new elevated mid-channel pathways.  One of the supervisors from Zachary Construction pointed out how it will tie back into the pathways by Blue Star.  Mike Addkison of the San Antonio River Foundation managed to get the above schematic for me, but that still does little to help me. 

Seems I just have to be patient and watch it grow and emerge from the river bed. 

But can’t wait to walk that walk!