Spring 2005 NEWSLETTER

This fall, oak trees in the Natural Areas produced a bumper crop of acorns. Acorns played an important role in American history as one of the main foods in the diet of Native Americans from coast to coast. Many Native Americans and early settlers used acorn meal as flour, as an ingredient in mush or pounded with meat, fat, and berries to make pemmican. Acorns leave a sweetish aftertaste, making them very good in stews as well as in breads of all types. To prepare acorns for eating, after gathering, shelling and grinding, you need to remove as much tannic acid as possible by leaching with them with water. To learn about methods, past and present, for processing acorns and more, see the full text of this article on the www.sanaturalareas.org website or contact the Natural Areas office, 210-698-1057, for a copy.

FOFWP News

Our website has received a wonderful new upgrade. Please visit the site, at www.fofriedrichpark.org, and enjoy our archive of essays, photos, and videos. We would like to thank Robert Badgett for his many years of volunteer service as our webmaster—great job, Bob! If you have any ideas for new features on our website, please let us know (contact President Francine Romero about this or any other matters at Francine.romero@utsa.edu.)

We apologize to any members inconvenienced by a recent mail slip-up that occurred when staff temporarily transferred Natural Areas headquarters to Rancho Diana. If you sent in a membership renewal and had it returned to you, please try again. The matter has been cleared up.

Natural Area News

Unfortunately, the recent rains have delayed the grand opening of Crownridge Canyon Natural Area until late Summer or Autumn. It proved impossible to finish building the trails prior to the March 1 deadline when federal laws shut down all construction in endangered songbird nesting areas. We will have to just be patient a bit longer and look forward to the impending day when we can all explore this first Proposition 3 property to open to the public.

Wild! Weeks return for the Summer of 2005. Two sessions will be conducted: Welcome to Our World, June 20 – 24; and. Diggin' Deeper, June 27 - July 1.  For additional information, call 698-1057 or access www.sanaturalareas.org.

Public Affairs

Two public land acquisition measures will appear on San Antonio ’s May 7 ballot. Proposition 1, the Aquifer Protection Initiative, would provide $90 million (collected from a 1/8 cent sales tax increase) to purchase additional land over the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones. This would continue the work that began with passage of Proposition 3 in 2000, which provided $65 million for these purchases. This new proposition, however, allows for land acquisition outside of Bexar County , and would fund conservation easements in addition to fee simple purchases. A second measure, Proposition 2, would provide $45 million for land purchases along the Salado and Leon Creeks . If both measures pass, they will share the 1/8 cent tax, but will still collect their full proposed amounts.