History of the Brenham Area

Brenham, Texas, originally called Hickory Grove, changed its name in 1843 to Brenham in honor of Dr. Richard Fox Brenham a Republic of Texas hero of the Mier Expedition. It was the prisoners of the Mier Expedition who were subjected to Santa Anna’s so called “Black Bean Incident.” Dr. Brenham had practiced medicine in the Hickory Grove area.

In 1841 President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, asked Brenham to serve as a civil commissioner of the Texan Santa Fe expedition, which embarked to bring the city of Santa Fe and trade along the Santa Fe Trail under the control of the Republic of Texas. The mission failed and Brenham and his “Santa Fe Pioneers" were arrested and imprisoned in Mexico City. Brenham was released in April 1842 and returned to Austin, where he joined the Somervell expedition against Mexico. When William Somervell ordered his volunteers to disband and return to Texas despite their success in capturing Laredo, Texas, and Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Brenham joined with others who were unwilling to return home. This group set out for Mier, Mexico on the Mier expedition. On December 23, 1842, the group crossed the river and occupied Mier unopposed. The next day the Texans vacated the town and went back to their camp but required the town to deliver certain supplies to the camp. However, Mexican General Pedro Ampudia arrived at Mier and prevented delivery of the supplies. On Christmas Day, the Texans entered Mier again, this time by force although outnumbered10 to 1. After fighting into the next day, the Texans suffered 31 killed and wounded and the Mexican’s losses were estimate at 600 dead 200 wounded. Nonetheless, the Texans were nearly out of rations and agreed to surrender but the terms were not well defined.

The prisoners were first sentenced to death but that sentence was later lifted. The prisoners were held at Matamoros but orders came to move them to Mexico City. On the route to Mexico City, the prisoners revolted and many managed to escape near the town of Salado on February 11, 1843. Brenham was killed in the fighting. All but three of the escaped prisoners were re-captured.

After the escape attempt, all 176 surviving prisoners were sentenced to death. However, Santa Anna, after promising foreign minsters he would show mercy, had the sentenced changed to death for every 10th man, to be determine by lottery. All prisoners were forced to draw beans from a jar. Those that were unlucky and drew a black bean were lined-up and shot. Later that year, Hickory Grove changed its name to Brenham to honor the local area doctor Robert Fox Brenham. If you want more information about Texas history and Texas historical figures, a good starting place is the Texas Handbook Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/

The Brenham post office was established in 1846 and by1858 the new county seat was a thriving agricultural center area and the town of Brenham was incorporated. Brenham served as the terminus of the Washington County Railroad built in 1860, and was a distribution point for goods to Texas’ interior until 1871, when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was extended to Austin.

The area suffered a yellow fever epidemic 1867 and federal occupation forces burned many of the commercial buildings during Reconstruction in 1867 following a confrontation with local citizens. The mass grave of those claimed by yellow fever is marked in a local cemetery. There were also destructive fires in 1873 and 1877.

German immigration began in the county in the 1850's and increased after the Civil War. Large farms were divided into smaller ones and worked by German immigrants. German immigration to the area peaked in 1880s. A look around the area at road signs and the names of local businesses today  the German and Czech influence is still apparant. For instance, there are roads named Adamek, Beckemann, Boehmemann, Berlin, Fuelberg Pass, Schlottman and Steinfeld. There are businesses baring the names Schoeder, Schwartz, Hodde, Otto, Randermann and Hertzog.

By the 1890s cottonseed oil, mattress manufacturing, food and fiber processing, and metal fabricating were significant economic activities. In February 1844 Brenham became the county seat of Washington County.

Brenham has served as a regional educational center since Reconstruction, when a large freedmen's school was established. In 1875 the town began operating the first tax-supported school system in Texas. and German Methodists founded Mission Institute in 1883, now named Blinn College in appreciation of financial support from Rev. Christian Blinn.

Today, to prominent employers in town are Blinn College and Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Speaking from the Train – Part 2

Train Depot at Sanderson, Texas

Paperback books were tucked away in my luggage on this trip because I expected to lounge around our room reading. I didn’t read much at all because the view from the window was so interesting and hypnotizing. We saw lots of deer blinds and feeders between El Paso and San Antonio put up by hunters, old farms and ranch houses, some in use others in ruin in the desert. We tried to imagine how early settlers in this area managed to survive in the harsh climate and even wondered about current day residents and why they stay in some of these remote hot dry areas. We noticed basketball courts, parks and soccer fields at the schools in several small towns but did not see any kids playing outside in the 100+ degree weather. The train followed along the Rio Grande for a while where we watched U.S. Border Patrol vehicles driving through the desert. For reasons know could explain to me, the desert is littered with tires tossed out among the cactus and sand. From El Paso we could see across the river to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Truly a horrible sight and imagining what life is like in those slums was not pleasant. What a difference a few yards can make in a person’s life.

Pecos River, Texas looking South

West of Del Rio is the dramatic Pecos River crossing. The view is dramatic although the train crossed on the “new track bridge” built in 1947. Just west of the Pecos is the town of Langtry, Texas where famed Judge Roy Bean was the “law west of the Pecos” dispensing his own unique brand of justice. He apparently also ran a pretty good bar out of the same building as his court.

I was surprised to see vast pecan groves in West Texas near El Paso. We passed acres and acres of pecan trees, some tall and probably putting out nuts each year and others newly planted. All of the groves were irrigated of course. We also saw some cotton fields and a little corn.

We met a variety of people on the train. Many travel by train because they don’t like flying. If you have the time, the train is good alternative. Others lived near rail stations and had family near other rail stations so it was convenient. We seemed to be the only folks riding for the heck of it.

Depot at Alpine, Texas
(Gateway to Big Bend National Park

The Sunset Limited met with the Texas Eagle line that runs between Chicago and San Antonio. On the way out to LA, during our stop in San Antonio, two cars containing people, luggage and all from the Texas Eagle were added to the end of our train for the rest of the trip. On the return trip, two cars were detached from the Sunset Limited train in San Antonio and those two cars were to be attached to another train in the night and those passengers would then head up to Chicago.

We enjoyed meals in the diner car where the wait staff seats passengers four to a table community style. We enjoyed meals with several interesting couples: a pair of Germans on a three week vacation to see Texas, a woman and her elderly father, a young pair of students attending college in New Orleans and a couple from Santa Fe Texas who custom built their house and claimed it was hurricane proof and able to withstand 300 mile an hour winds.

Conductors adding water to our train car in El Paso

Unfortunately, on our return trip, Amtrak suffered another blunder. Our air conditioning worked fine however on Saturday morning when I wanted to shower and was in the shower stall, there was no water at all in our car. We had to wait until we stopped in El Paso for the conductor to fill the car with potable water so we could brush teeth and shower. In the meantime, we used bottle water provided by the porter. Even after El Paso, we never had hot water. On top of that, for several hours after leaving El Paso the toilets in our car didn’t flush. These problems diminished the carefree enjoyment of just riding the train for the heck of it.

Our wine cooler with a remnant of ice

One of the reasons for these problems in accommodations is that Amtrak clearly has not upgraded its cars since the 1960s. These are not the plush accommodations found on high speed trains in Europe or Canada. The cars’ age showed as the rooms rattled, vibrated, shook, squeaked, and loudly clanked as we chugged along. If Amtrak dreams of a day large numbers of Americans, particularly younger generations, consider rail a legitimate means to travel across our vast country, upgrades are sorely needed. For one, the basic services of AC while crossing the desert in August, hot and cold running water and toilets that reliably flush are the bare minimum of improvements passengers expect. More modern designed and more efficient accommodations are also needed. For instance, instead of having an ice dispenser in the self-serve coffee and drink bar for the sleeper car, the porter had a Styrofoam cooler with a bag of ice in it that was kept nearby. After a few hours it is was more water with a few cubes of ice swimming in it so there was really was only ice available shortly after Los Angeles. Until improvements are made, Amtrak riders will remain a very small slice of America and primarily limited to people who, for whatever reason, don’t like travelling by airplane.

We may take another Amtrak trip but I think I am partial to looking at Canada’s rail trips next time.

Windmill someplace in West Texas

Speaking from the Train – Part 1

Sunset Limited Stop in El Paso, Texas

All aboard! All aboard the Sunset Limited! I’m not speaking from the Ranch today. I am speaking from Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, passenger train service from New Orleans, Louisiana to Los Angeles, California. This vacation was more about the journey than the destination. Our objective was to relax with little hassle, no sitting around airports or driving long distances. A few hours after we de-trained in LA, we got back on the train and came home to Houston.

The service used to run from Orlando, Florida but parts of the track east of New Orleans washed out during Hurricane Katrina. The track has not been replaced. We heard rumors from other passengers that the track, if rebuilt, may be further inland to avoid another washout in the next hurricane. Since the tracks are owned by the freight lines and not Amtrak, the decision of where to put the line is out of Amtrak’s hands.

Our Sleepliner "Room"

We boarded in Houston and the train pulled out of the station at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday. We booked a “sleepliner” room with the deluxe accommodations all the way to LA and back. “Deluxe” is a relative term in two ways: 1) relative to coach, it is deluxe, and 2) the quarters are so tight, I advise only sharing a sleeper with a spouse or very close relative, because you will be close one way of the other! When we boarded, the room was set up for sleeping with the couch pulled out into a bed, which took up most of the room. The room was barely big enough for one person to turn around much less two. The first night was hot and miserable. It turns out the air conditioner compressor for half of our car froze during the night, thus no cold air. Our room never cooled off as we crossed the deserts of the southwestern U.S. in August with temperatures above 100 degrees F, so late the next day, the porter arranged for us to stay in another room. I think he was just tired of hearing us complain.

After stopping in San Antonio at 2 a.m. on Wednesday to pick-up more passengers, the train chugged out across West Texas to El Paso where we woke up on Thursday. The scenery out there is interesting, I like it. What I found interesting about the vegetation is how it changed as we moved west and the mix of colors. The grass was mostly light brown or yellow, sage brush was a silvery grey-green while the yucca, mesquite and huisache were darker green. The retama trees had nice yellow flowers. The further west we travelled, the smaller and more compact the vegetation. The soil became sandier. By the time we got to New Mexico and Arizona, the vegetation was mostly scrub of some short, low to the ground with some patches of grass. No trees, not even mesquite.

Old Telephone Line with Glass Insulators

Through much of West Texas, an old telephone line followed the train track. The line was not used anymore and most of it did not have any line strung at all. Many of the poles still had the old blue and clear glass insulators on the cross post. These glass insulators are now sold in antique shops from 99 cents to $30 a piece. Some must be more rare and worth more than others. I have two at home that I used as bookends for years. I suppose the reason those along the track are still peacefully sitting on the poles is due to the remoteness of the area and difficulty of getting to them. The train track and telephone line were not always right along the highway so someone would have the hike a distance from the road to the poles. The would be glass insulator collector would contend with all the prickly and poking things of the desert – yucca, mesquite brush, prickly pear cactus and desert critters just to get close to pole. We tried to get some photos which were difficult to do from a speeding train.

We did not see much wildlife on the entire trip, just a few deer, some antelope, and a rabbit hopping into the brush as well as a few hawks and other birds. The train probably scarred most of the wildlife away from view. The bulk of the wildlife was spotted roaming, grazing and sleeping in the train station, Union Station, in Los Angeles – the two-legged kind of wildlife which is fascinating to watch!

Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie

Yellow Indian Grass

Tall prairie grasses, grazing bison and antelope filled the landscape of what is now Dogwood Ranch. There were woods in the low areas and along creeks and streams. This was before heavy human settlement and cultivation of the land.

Biologists divide Texas into vegetation regions, or eco-regions, based on the characteristics of the area. Each ecoregion has sub-regions. Dogwood Ranch is located in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion. More specifically, its sub-region is the Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie. On the Ecoregions of Texas map prepared for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2007, Dogwood Ranch is in region 32B, which encompasses southern Washington County.  ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/tx/tx_eco_pg.pdf

Historically, the distinctive element of the Blackland Prairie was the vast prairies of tall grass. Frequent fires and grazing bison were important factors in maintaining the tall grass prairies. Fires burned intensely hot and extensively over the area only stopped by a water break, topography, soil change or lack of dry fuel. Fire suppressed invading woody species and stimulated the growth of grass and forbs. Controlled fires, or prescribed burns, are brush and range management tools used today. Our experience with prescribed burns will be discussed in a later post.

Historically, bison ate the prairie grass, trampled organic matter on the prairie and spread seed in the disturbed soil. Prairie grasses included little bluestem, big bluestem, yellow Indiangrass, and switchgrass. This region now contains a higher percentage of cropland than adjacent regions; pasture and forage production for livestock is common.

Three soil types are found in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion: 1) Vertisols - clays that swell and shrink depending upon weather conditions and available moisture; 2) Mollisols - rich and fertile; and 3) Alfisols - clays that usually form under deciduous forests, which are found in this ecoregion along rivers and creeks. According to the National Geographic Society, Texas Blackland Prairie ecoregion is home to more than 500 species of animals. The high biodiversity is due to the region’s variety of soils.

Switchgrass

Large areas of the region are now used for urban and industrial purposes. Before Anglo settlement, animal species included bison, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, bobcat, ocelot, black bear, collared peccary, deer, coyote, fox, badger, and river otter among others (Schmidley 2002, Diggs et al., 1999). Typical game species today include mourning dove and northern bobwhite and fox. According to the National Geographic Society, the tallgrass prairies are the most endangered ecosystems in the U.S.

Big Bluestem

We certainly have not seen bison, mountain lion or black bear roaming around Dogwood Ranch with the cattle. It is difficult to imagine the area with those animals and how it must have looked with fields of waiving tall prairie grasses. We still hear and see coyote and deer. Some local landowners report spotting bobcat and fox.

After cultivation of the area and decades of fire suppression, the prairie grass gave way to “improved pastures” and woody plants like yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), juniper, sometimes called “Texas cedar” (Juniperus virginiana) and, to a less extent, mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa). These woody trees invaded the area creating thick brush pushing out the native grasses and plants. Yaupon holly brush chokes much of the woods on Dogwood Ranch. In some places it is so thick you cannot walk through it.

One of our goals is to restore the pasture in which the cattle now graze back to a tallgrass prairie. In addition, we want to eliminate the yaupon chokehold underbrush in the woods. The pasture appears to consist of short grass of some kind shaded by tall weeds about hip high. Later this year, we will contact the Texas Parks & Wildlife biologist assigned to Washington County, and ask her to come out to Dogwood Ranch. We would like her opinion on how to start the tallgrass restoration project. There are grants and other financial assistance available for certain conservation or restoration activities so we would like any assistance or advice we can get about those programs. The subject of a later post will deal with the inequitable and wrong-minded attitude by the state and federal governments in doling out large grants and financial assistance to large landowners who don’t really need the assistance yet making very little of such funds available to those of us with small parcels of land of less than 100 acres. Dogwood Ranch is 50 acres. Although we understand we cannot restore a massive wild herd of wondering bison and antelope on a mere 50 acres, we could restore the tallgrass and encourage other wildlife with some assistance.

The Big Three Dangers – Imported Red Fire Ants, Africanized Honey Bees and Poison Ivy – Part 4

Poison Ivy eradication – We asked the Washington County Agricultural Extension Agent how to eradicate poison ivy from the property. His recommendation is to cut a foot out of the vine. On small vines, we use a machete. On the thick vines that are several inches in diameter, we use the chainsaw. Remove the foot-long piece and dispose of it. Then spray or paint the fresh cut, both ends, on the vine with either Roundup or Remedy. The plant will soon die, even the massive root system underground. Dead vine will hold on to the tree trunk it was growing on for several months and it is still poisonous as are the leaves. Eventually pieces of the vine will fall out of the tree. Be very aware of this “fallout” which we treat as if it were nuclear waste. We use long fireplace tongs to grab the fallout and carry it over to the creek or the deep hole the creek carved out, “the Hole”, and toss the toxic material away. Although still poisonous, down in the bottom of the Hole it is not likely to contact humans. For a couple of big poison ivy clean-up projects, we donned the consumer equivalent of HASMAT (hazardous materials) suits to do the work. One website I saw years ago explained that a serious poison ivy rash is the only true dermatological emergency.

A question frequently asked is: Why don’t you just burn the fallout poison ivy after its dead as you do with the other brush burn on Dogwood Ranch? The reason is that the stuff is so nasty that when the urushiol oil from the plant burns, little droplets of urushiol go up into the smoke. If the smoke blows on to you, so does the poison. It gets on your skin and permeates your clothes and gets in your eyes and hair. Breathing urushiol tainted-smoke takes that toxic poison into your mouth, throat and lungs and can serious respiratory problems. Please, never burn poison ivy.

When we first acquired Dogwood, there was lots of poison ivy growing in the fences and up the beautiful oak trees in the civilized area. We spent about two years cleaning that up so we now have more or less a poison ivy free zone. We are vigilant and quickly destroy any sneaky vine trying to get a foothold in this area. Except for the problems it causes humans, poison ivy an amazing plant; it is perhaps the ultimate poisoning machine - all parts of the plant are poisonous, it is difficult to destroy, when burned it is still poisonous, when dead its defense mechanism still works and the oil on clothes and other objects can remain hazardous for years. Remember: “Leaflets three, let it be! Leaflets three, quickly flee.”

The Big Three Dangers – Imported Red Fire Ants, Africanized Honey Bees and Poison Ivy – Part 3

“Leaflets three, let it be! Leaflets three, quickly flee.” This children’s rhyme reminds us that poison ivy and poison oak have three leaves per leaf stalk. This does not mean all poisonous plants only have three leaves per leaf stalk; poison sumac, also found in Texas, has 7 to 10 leaves. But, beware of the leaflets three!

I discovered the hard way that am very allergic to poison ivy. To my knowledge, I was not exposed to it prior to Dogwood Ranch. For me, it is toxic stuff to be treated as if it were nuclear waste.

The type of plant at the ranch is climbing vine poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). The poison is, Urushiol (pronounced oo-roo-shee-ohl), an oil contained in all parts of the plant - leaves, stems, flowers and roots.

Here are some interesting facts about urushiol oil circulated by the State of Texas to its employees:

• Only 1 nanogram (billionth of a gram) is needed to cause a rash.

• The average person is exposed to 100 nanograms per exposure.

• 1/4 ounce of urushiol is all that is needed to cause a rash in every person on earth.

• 500 people could itch from the amount covering the head of a pin.

• Specimens of urushiol several centuries old have been found to cause dermatitis in sensitive people.

• 1 to 5 years is normal for urushiol oil to stay active on any surface including dead plants.

• The name urushiol derived from urushi, Japanese name for lacquer.

Vines trail along the ground and then climb any object in their path. At Dogwood Ranch, it is usually a tree in the vine’s path. The ivy can climb fifty to seventy-five feet up a tree trunk. Kinky, brown rootlets cover the vines, attach themselves to crevices or small openings in the tree trunk, and climb. At Dogwood Ranch, we call these rootlets “hair” and know not to touch any hairy rope looking vine.

We maintain a high alert level (orange) for poison ivy. Although urushiol can sometimes wash off with regular soap and water (or rubbing alcohol) within 10 minutes of contact, if not, it is likely to cause a reaction within 8 to 48 hours. On me, it takes about 48 hours for a little straight line of tiny bumps to appear and the itch to start. As soon as we realize we may have touched poison ivy, we use rubbing alcohol to clean the infected area. Poison ivy contact is considered an urgent situation (not quite an emergency) where all else stops until the exposed area is cleaned. There are also specialized soaps we keep on hand to clean away the oil if used in time. A prophylactic lotion that claims to block the oil from contacting the skin can be used prior to exposure. If we know we will be working in a high-risk poison ivy area, we apply this product to exposed skin, and especially the face. I don’t know for sure that it works, but even if it helps a little, that’s good enough for me.

It is very difficult to describe the intense itching caused by poison ivy. Nothing else itches so constantly and so intensely to me. When I had bad rash on my leg, I would wake up in the middle of the night scratching the area madly. Such scratching can cause infections and slows the healing process-but I could not help doing it. When I suspected a poison ivy outbreak on my face, I immediately went to the doctor. He gave me a cortisone injection in my hip and some prescription anti-itch cream. The cortisone kept the rash small and it went away in a few days rather than the usual weeks of oozing sores and tortuous itching.

The Big Three Dangers – Imported Red Fire Ants, Africanized Honey Bees and Poison Ivy – Part 2

“Killer bees” or Africanized honey bees (“AHB”) (Apis mellifera scutellata) are not just in the minds of Hollywood horror film directors. They are real and they are in Texas but let’s clear up a misconception about AHB - Africanized honey bees do not fly out in massive swarms randomly hunting down and attacking victims while stinging and killing everything in their path.

AHB look just like English honey bees (“EHB”) (Apis m. mellifera). Their venom is no stronger than that of an EHB. The difference is that AHB are more aggressive and swarm more frequently then EHB; thus AHB come in contact with people more often than do EHB. AHB also differ from EHB in that they respond more quickly to threats and more bees sting, they can sense a threat from people or animals 50 feet or more from their nest, sense vibrations from power equipment 100 feet or more from their nest, may pursue a victim 1/4 to 1/2 mile, remain agitated for an hour or more after an attack, swarm frequently to establish new nests, nest in smaller cavities and sheltered areas, and move their entire colony readily if food is scarce. It is true that people can, and have, died from AHB attacks. The USDA suggests allowing at least 100 feet, or the width of a four-lane highway, between you and an AHB bee hive. USDA advises immediately moving away from any kind of beehive.

The common denominator of the two AHB attacks on Dogwood Ranch was the mower. Soon after acquisition of the first parcel of land, we bought a John Deer riding mower to keep approximately three acres of the civilized area mowed. We refer to the John Deer as the “tractor” but it is really the biggest riding-mower you could buy at the time without going up to the true tractor category. Both AHB attacks occurred when the mower passed close to a tree in which the bees had set-up housekeeping. The first attack in 2003 was next to a mulberry tree growing along the creek. The second attack occurred under a dogwood tree but the bees were probably in a large oak tree nearby. We never located the hive. We have since located a hive in an oak tree on a neighbor’s property and got their permission to kill the hive, which we did. Unfortunately, a new hive has now moved in so we are extra cautious in that area and do not mow the grass nearby.

After the first attack, which resulted in six or seven stings causing my spouses arm to swelled-up and look like Popeye’s arms after eating a can of spinach, we had the hive eradicated. This was a job we did not tackle ourselves because of the danger and because the chemicals needed for the job are only available to those with a chemical license. We call the Terminex office in Bryan College Station to come out the poison the hive. We have since filled the cavity in the tree.

A good description of what do if attacked by AHB is included on the Oklahoma State University. Because it truly reduce the number of stings and perhaps save a life (and we wish we had known this when the two AHB attacks occurred on Dogwood Ranch), I copy the advice here verbatim:

“• RUN away as fast as possible! Do not try to retrieve your belongings and do not try to stand still in an attempt to fool the bees. The more you flail your arms, the madder they will get. Get indoors or in a car as fast as possible. If you can't get indoors, keep running. A bee can obtain speeds of from 12 to 15 miles per hour, but most healthy humans can outrun them. They will usually follow you for several hundred feet but Africanized honey bees have been known to follow people for more than a quarter mile.

• Almost all cases of Africanized honey bee attacks can be traced back to some provocation, such as some noise or vibration, i.e. a lawn mower, weed eater, or tractor.

• Any covering for your body, and especially for your head and face will help you escape. People who have been attacked say the worst part is having the bees sting your face and eyes. Any impairment of your vision will also make it more difficult to escape. If you do not happen to have a net with you, grab a blanket, a coat, a towel, anything that will give you momentary relief while you look for an avenue of escape. The covering device is not going to protect you for long. The idea is to use it to help you get away. If you have nothing else, pull your shirt up over your face. The stings you may get on your chest and abdomen are far less serious than those to the facial area” http://www.ento.okstate.edu/ahb/

If you are stung, remove stingers as quickly as possible. After the bee stings, it dies but it leaves its stinger in the victim. The venom sac still has its nerves and muscles attached and will continue to pump venom into the victim for a minute, maybe more. Removing the victim’s outer layer of clothes may help because stingers stuck through the fabric should come off with the clothes.

To remove the stingers, gently scrape them away with a fingernail. If you don’t have a good fingernail, use a credit card, a stiff piece of paper or other similar device. Do not pinch the area, tweeze or attempt to pull out stingers, as this will cause what venom is left in the sacs to push into the victim.

We fully understand the importance of honey bees not just for the production of honey, but to food production and the agricultural business in general. It certainly is not our intent to scour the woods of the entire ranch the kill every hive we find. We have more information today then we did in 2003 to help reduce our chances of aggrevating these bees. However, if their hive is in a location where humans work and play at Dogwood Ranch, we cannot take the chance of another attack and someone being seriously injured.

Map of AHB spread into the Texas
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=11059&page=6

The Big Three Dangers – Imported Red Fire Ants, Africanized Bees and Poison Ivy – Part 1

War! After repeated fire ant stings, two Africanized honey bee attacks and multiple poison ivy infestations, we realized that these evil forces neither allow for, nor deserve, peaceful co-existence on Dogwood Ranch.

Of the Big Three Dangers, only poison ivy is native to the area. I have seen no warnings that Texas poison ivy is about to go the way of the dinosaurs and become extent or soon find its way on an endangered species list. Imported red fire ants and Africanized bees are non-native to Texas, invasive and a threat to the native creatures of Texas (and people). Therefore, we have no remorse whatsoever about the war waged on these Big Three hazards at Dogwood Ranch.

Let’s start with the one that readers in the South may be most familiar, imported red fire ants (Solenopsis invicta Buren). Anyone who has stepped in a fire ant mound understands the pain and itch that lasts for days. The site of the bite puffs up in a red sore and usually within a day forms a white pus filled head. When the ants bite if feels like fire, thus their common name, but the bites itch for days afterwards. On occasions when I have suffered a large number bites at one time (10 or so) I have actually felt lethargic. I have no medical or scientific proof, but I believe too much fire ant venom can cause this. One of the worst fire ant experiences is when you innocently stepped in the nest yet the ants wait until they climb up your pants leg before making their presence known with a fiery bite. There are just some places you don’t want scratch a fire ant itch in public! The same holds true with chiggers by the way.

There are six known species of fire ants (Solenopsis species of the geminata group) in the United States, five of which are in Texas. Of these, four are native species and the fifth is the accidentally introduced imported red fire ant or “IFA” in government references. Another imported species, the black imported fire ant (Solenopsis richteri) does not live in Texas. Although the four native species are called “fire ants”, they are much less aggressive and less numerous than the imported species. For the sake of this discussion, the term “fire ants” refers only to the imported red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren). Government and research literature refers to them as IFA (Imported Fire Ant).

How did IFA get to the U.S and when? Inadvertent importation of fire ants from the Paraguay River floodplain in South America into the United States occurred via the port of Mobile, Alabama in the late 1930's. Fire ants probably stowed away in soil used as ballast in cargo ships from South America. The aggressive fire ant spread quickly and by 1953, IFA had invaded 102 counties in 10 states.

Today, fire ants infest more than 320,000,000 acres in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Puerto Rico. Fire ants are so damaging to agriculture and native species that on May 6, 1958 the U.S. federal government issued a formal quarantine of the ants, the “Federal Imported Fire Ant (IFA) Quarantine.” The government updates quarantine areas periodically. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or APHIS, an arm of the USDA, enforces the quarantine and works with fire ant infested states to regulate fire ant carrying articles, such as nursery stock and soil-moving equipment. To see the USDA map of the current quarantine area click
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fireants/downloads/fireant.pdf.

Texas, which is IFA infested state, has its own quarantine map, which includes Washington County where Dogwood Ranch is located. http://fireant.tamu.edu/maps/pdf/TX_RIFA_Quarantine2009.pdf.  The feds take fire ant control so seriously, they have generated a 102 page Imported Fire Ant Control Manual. The manual and other information about fire ant control is posted on the USDA’s website at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fireants/.

Both the University of Texas and Texas A&M University have extensive fire ant research programs. The current hot research is looking for a biological non-chemical eradication method.

On Dogwood Ranch, we attempt to control fire ants with a one-two punch of chemical warfare. First, in the spring, we use broadcast bait in the “civilized area” of Dogwood Ranch. This is the area were humans work and play most of the time. We use AmdroPro Fire Ant Bait which costs us about $200.00 to cover 3 acres. We broadcast it by pulling a little spreader behind the John Deer mower. It’s just too expensive to spread over the entire property and we want to prevent run-off into the ponds, creek and waterways on and off the ranch. We are not aware of any local ranchers that treat their entire pastures. If so, they spend a fortune to do so. Second, we keep a small shaker of spot mound poison to sprinkle on the mounds that do pop-up later in the year. We use a powder and keep a can in our ranch vehicles (the all terrain vehicle or “ATV” and utility terrain vehicle or “UTV”) at all times.

I would not say we are winning the war on fire ants. We significantly reducing the massive hordes of them out of our civilized area and hope that Texas A&M and the University of Texas find and effective biological control method soon. WE would be happy to let them use Dogwood Ranch as a laboratory test site.

Dogwood Ranch’s Confucius says: “He who does not stop and poison a fire ant mound he sees along the way today, is destine to step in the mound tomorrow.”