The Edwards Plateau is a biodiversity hotspot that requires ongoing conservation efforts to protect its unique ecosystems. It is one of North America’s most botanically extraordinary landscapes, a limestone karst system supporting thousands of native plant species including 100 of Texas 400 endemic plants, and the Edwards Aquifer that supplies drinking water to more than two million Texans. It is also one of the most actively invaded.
This presentation examines the invasive plant crisis unfolding across the Hill Country: the species driving it, the pathways that move them, from nursery stock and contaminated hay to roadsides and residential landscaping, and the native plant communities they are systematically displacing. We will look at the ecological mechanics of invasion: why introduced species outcompete natives on disturbed soils, how monocultures of Johnson grass and King Ranch bluestem are replacing diverse native grasslands, and what the loss of native plant structure means for the birds, pollinators, and wildlife that depend on it.
But the picture is not only one of loss. Native plants of the Edwards Plateau are remarkably resilient when given the conditions to recover, and the choices that landowners, gardeners, and land managers make every day either accelerate the invasion or begin to reverse it.
Attendees will leave with a clear picture of the most pressing invasive plant threats to the Edwards Plateau, an understanding of how those plants arrived and continue to spread, and a practical framework for native plant choices that support ecological recovery, whether they are managing hundreds of acres of Hill Country ranch land or a single Austin garden.
This presentation is appropriate for mixed audiences. It offers information for those new to native plants while offering substantive depth for experienced members and land managers.
