Let's spread the wealth!

Last year, Brazos County accounted for over half the observations in the City Nature Challenge. To be precise, of the 2,811 total observations, the numbers for each county were:

 Brazos 1572 (56%)
 Burleson 255 (9%)
 Grimes 248 (9%)
 Leon 72 (3%)
 Madison 273 (10%)
 Robertson 391 (14%)

This is understandable, since Brazos County also accounts for about 70% of the population in the six-county area. This reflects the general effort in these counties. Brazos has nearly 7 times the number of observations (70,484) than the second county (Grimes, with 10,123), more than twice the number of species (4,646) than the second county (Grimes again, with 1,994), and more than three times the number of observers (2,753) than the second county (you guessed it, Grimes, with 819).

Access can be difficult to areas in some of these counties, but the results can be worth the effort. Southern Grimes County provides access to Blackland Prairies and eastern Leon County provides access to the Pineywoods, two ecoregions that are not represented in Brazos or the other counties in our region. There are two state parks in the region, Fort Boggy in Leon County and Lake Somerville in Burleson. Note that only the Birch Creek Unit of Lake Somerville SP is in our region.

Regardless of where you observe, all observations are welcome and needed!

Bruce Neville
Brazos Valley CNC Coordinator

Posted on April 23, 2023 03:05 AM by bruceneville