2022 Grant Awardees
Ellen Hagan and Teresa Maslonka are neighbors in the Harmony Hills subdivision. They received a grant for a native plant demonstration garden at the Harmony Hills Cabana Club. They will use the funds for compost, mulch, plants and signage. Learn more about this project here.
Todd Phillips, a member of the Northern Hills UMC congregation, will use his grant to improve the church’s Prayer Walk. He has applied designation as a National Wildlife Fund Sacred Grounds Site. If the Prayer Walk wins that designation, it will be the first such site in Texas.
Judy Temple, who works at the non-profit Eco Centro, received their second from NPSOT SA. The grant will go toward Phase 3 expansion of their Nectar & Natives Garden. The grant will fund hardscape and a solar bird bath.
Danielle Rios is a student of Dr. Rodolfo Valdez, biology teacher at A & M San Antonio. Her grants will fund research: “Plant-Vecor-Microbe Interactions of Native & Invasive Grasses of Texas”. Specifically, the grant will fund experiment supplies and travel to research sites.
2021 Grant Awardees
Judy Temple-Rastin, an employee at the William R. Sinkin Eco Centro, was awarded a 2021 grant to enhance Eco Centro’s Nectar Natives Garden. Eco Centro, where NPSOT SA has their board meetings, is an outreach center for community and environmental sustainability. The center is heavily involved in hands-on education in the community. San Antonio College sponsors the center and communal and demonstration gardens are used for college student and youth programming. With the grant funds Eco Centro will increase their demonstration pollinator garden and put up signage that provides visitors identification.
SAISD and NPSOT SA partnered in a pilot program for teachers interested in starting or enhancing a school garden. These were small grants, largely intended to purchase native plants or seeds. In some cases the grant funded a pollinator garden near an existing vegetable garden. All gardens are outside classrooms and very popular with teachers and students. Often, parents get involved during after school and weekend workdays, taking the gardening education back to their yards and neighbors. The teachers and their schools who won this award for 2021 are:
- Cheri Tondre, The Zen Garden, Advanced Learning Academy at Fox Tech
- Gabrielle Garcia, Butterflies Ahoy!, Washington Elementary
- Joy Tuxhorn, YWLA Pollinator Garden, Young Women’s Leadership Academy
- Jeremiah Birmingham, ALA Euclid Native Garden, The Advanced Learning Academy at Austin Academy
2020 Grant Awardees
Due to the COVID pandemic, no grants were awarded in 2020.
2019 Grant Awardees
Kelly G. Lyons, PhD, Professor at Trinity University, Department of Biology, has been awarded a grant for her original research on plant symbionts. The title of the project: Characterizing Plant Fungal Symbionts in Native and Exotic Grass Species of Texas Warm-Season Grasslands. This research hopes to add to sparse information about plant-associated fungi and their roles in ecosystems. This information will be used to conduct studies to assess the role of fungi as determinants of grass species competitive dynamics. The results will inform native restoration approaches in Central Texas. The NPSOT grant will fund transportation and lodging for field work in summer, 2019.
LeLynn Koch, congregant, Bethany Congregational Church UCC, has been awarded a grant to fund a 250 square foot pollinator garden within the existing Bethany Community Garden. Their community garden grows food as part of the Green Spaces Alliance network. The addition of a pollinator garden will contribute to the beauty and food production of the community garden. Plants will be identified with labels so visitors can learn the names of their favorite plants. Garden volunteers plan to host a quarterly community workshop on native plants or sustainable food production.
Jose Rodolfo Valdez Barillas, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology, Texas A&M-SA University, was awarded an SA NPSOT grant to establish teaching and research raised gardens for pollinator and host plant ecology instruction to university undergraduates at Texas A&M-SA and to South San ISD high school students. The gardens will become an outdoor teaching space for students and the community. Students will collect and analyze data on pollinator type and choice of plant species. These data will be used to guide the campus in using native plants in their landscaping projects.
Stan Drezek, volunteer for the Inner City Development Center, will use his SA NPSOT grant to continue to plant a native garden along the front and side of the center. The project is replacing non-natives in the space with Texas natives that thrive in San Antonio’s drought & flood climate. He will continue to coordinate with 4 neighborhood groups to distribute the English/Spanish informative brochure on natives that he created with grant funds from 2018. Signage on the plants and high visibility to the community will help teach by example. This will eventually be a 3-year grant project that chose a modest set of yearly goals to accomplish a fundamental change to the site.
2018 Grant Awardees
Stan Drezek was awarded a grant to landscape the front and side yards of the Inner City Development, a non-profit on San Antonio’s near west side that provides emergency clothing and food, after-school reading program, youth job-training and a Christmas toy sale for low income in the neighborhood. Stan’s is a multi-year project. In this first year, he hopes to develop the beds with native plants and create permanent labels that can be seen from the sidewalk. He will continue with the goal of education by creating a brochure of common native plants that will be available.
George Ozuna, who received a 2017 grant for a demonstration garden at Medina River Natural Area (which opened March 24th of this year), was awarded another grant for the natural area. This will be a 3 acre monarch butterfly meadow intended to educate visitors about the unique pollinator plants that thrive in the area. The exhibit will hopefully encourage residential and commercial properties to incorporate these plants into their designs. The SA NPSOT grant will fund the seeds for the meadow and provide “seed” monies for additional grants.
Krista Powell, art teacher at Bristol Elementary on S. Flores, SAISD, received a grant for a monarch and pollinator habitat. The habitat will be used as an outdoor classroom. Krista has several teachers ready with projects that involve the gardens. The project also includes permanent signage that will educate the parents and community about native plant pollinators. Eventually, there will be an annual art project for 4th graders reflecting what they have learned from the garden about native plants and monarch butterflies.
Cheri Tondre, SAISD itinerant Gifted and Talented teacher, was funded for a monarch sanctuary garden at Collins Garden Elementary School (Harriman Rd at Hwy 90 and 35) where she teaches once per week. The garden will be in the school’s large courtyard. The project has already won a grant from the Nature Conservancy. Students have worked with local architects to design the gardens. The SA NPSOT grant will fund the native plants and signage. Cheri has worked hard to get buy-in from the administration and teachers at the school, so that the gardens will continue beyond her leadership.
Jose Rodolfo Valdez Barillas, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-San Antonio, was awarded a grant for an educational research study. The study will be run by A&M students and underserved high school students who are in a 4-H program. Jose hopes to bring in SA NPSOT volunteers to assist with the project. The title of the study is Effects of Native Soil Inoculation and Soil Type on the Establishment of Native Forbes and Grasses in Areas Dominated by Non-native Invasive Grass Species. The results of the study will have implications for landowners trying to eradicate non-native invasive plants.
2016 Grant Awardees
Misty Belmontez, biology teacher at Roosevelt High School, was awarded a grant to help transform a dusty oval median the buses drive around into an intergenerational community garden and outdoor classroom. The racially diverse school, made up of over 60% economically disadvantaged students, will now have a hands-on environment that promotes team learning and belongs to THEM. Go Rough Riders!
Jess Mayes is a Mahncke Park resident awarded for native gardens within an ambitious plan to transform 330 Funston Place. The residents have been granted use of an abandoned lot through COSA’s “Adopt A Spot” program. In addition to creating a community events area they are planning a pollinator habitat, a sustainable Food Forest Area and community garden. Planners hope to use principles of permaculture and sustainability in the gardens.
Rudder Science teacher David Oberg and other staff are interested in developing citizen scientists of their students. They have student data collection in Monarch Watch, ACORN, GLOBE and Journey North. and already have student vegetable gardens, a nature trail and wildflower meadow, pollinator gardens and Monarch Waystation. Through a grant from San Antonio River Authority they have recently constructed a series of rain gardens. Their NPSOT grant will help populate these gardens with native plants.
The Westside Society of Native Plants wants to establish an expanding corridor of native plantings on Westside San Antonio by helping their neighbors plant natives where they live, work, learn and play. The Society will provide education and research into bioregional and cultural natives, water conservation and organic, sustainable gardening. Their grant will fund leaders’ education in landscaping with natives and also demonstration gardens in public spaces.
The San Antonio NPSOT Board and all members want to congratulate these individuals and the groups they represent for their hard work and innovation. We can’t wait to see what they create in the upcoming year!
2015 Grant Awardees
Sarah Rice for the integration of native plant plots into Jefferson Community Garden. The project involved the conversion of 2 existing 16’x16’ beds into native plant beds. Organizers hope to educate neighbors about native plants with signage at the plots and by incorporating edible natives into their on-site socials. The grant allowed the Community Garden Steward to purchase plants and signage. Sarah sought input from San Antonio NPSOT members about the plant selections.
Bruce Martin for native grass and wildflower seed planting at Mahncke Park. This planting took place November 21 with neighborhood volunteers participating. The project was started 15 years ago in memory of neighbors who were deceased. San Antonio Parks Department identified the most appropriate natural prairie areas of the park to allow re-seeding before mowing. The grant enabled the Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association to buy native grass and wildflower seeds from Native American Seed for this “no mow” area.