Connemara's service area includes parts of four different eco-regions: Blackland Prairie, Post-Oak Savannah, Cross Timbers, and Rolling Plains. Ecoregions are defined as a relatively large unit of land or water that is characterized by a distinctive climate, ecological features, and plant and animal communities.
 |
|
The Connemara Conservancy Foundation (CCF) is responsible for the a number of easements in the North Texas Area. Counties included in Connemara Conservancy Service Area include:
Archer, Bosque, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Grayson, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Hunt, Jack, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Montague, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rains, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, Van Zandt, Wichita, Wise, Young
|
These landscapes are what make North Texas the rolling, grassy land we love. But increasingly urbanization threatens the remaining parcels of each of these ecosystems.
Though all of these landscapes are important to North Texas conservation, the most critical eco-region in need of preservation is the Blackland Prairie. Today less than 1% of the original vegetation of the Blackland Prairie remains, and only in scattered parcels across the region. Almost all of the remaining Blackland Prairie is under private ownership. The single greatest threat to the Blackland Prairie is urbanization, as this narrow, elongated strip follows a line of development stretching between Dallas and Forth Worth.
More About Blackland Prairie
The natural vegetation of Blackland Prairie is dominated by tallgrass prairie with a large diversity of plants and wildlife. Grasses typically grow as "high as a horse's belly." Common grasses include Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Big Bluestem, and Gamagrass-switchgrass as described by early European explorers.
Blackland prairie is a disturbance-maintained system. Prior to European settlement, important natural landscape-scale disturbances included fire and periodic grazing by large mammals that kept trees and woody plants from dominating the landscape.
|
|
List
of Volunteers