Featured Author in Santa Rosa

Meta Strauss will be a featured author, reading from Saving El Chico. Here is the flyer that will give details of the event.

http://redwoodwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/Open-Mic-September-Flier-Gaia.pdf

I'm preparing for a trip to Texas as I continue to write the sequel....Thriving in El Chico. 

Visiting the Austin, San Antonio area is always great fun. When I go to Gruene Hall in New Braunsfels my Texas soul feels complete.  The Lone Star Beer and folks two-stepping across the worn wooden floor to live country-western music is Texas at its best. I always imagine the stories this building could tell - the oldest dance hall in the state.

Saving El Chico - in real life.....Selah

Our Story

Restoring, Preserving, Educating

Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve is a 5,500-acre ranch in Blanco County that has been restored to its original habitat. Our mission is to teach ethical land stewardship — by example and outreach. We offer seminars for landowners and serve as a research lab for botanists, zoologists, and other scientists. We provide hands-on science classes and nature camps for school children — 2,000 children in a typical year. Our public tours and workshops attract birdwatchers, photographers, and animal and plant enthusiasts. 

After leaving the Ranch, many visitors are inspired to change consumption habits and better conserve natural resources. They leave with a vision of harmony with the land. They realize that the Ranch tells a story of hope: Given the chance, Nature can heal itself. Nature can heal us.

Water From Stone: The Story of Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve

Award-winning author, Jeffrey Greene provides a lyrical and compelling portrait of J. David Bamberger and his transformation from corporate businessman to internationally recognized conservationist. Decades-long restoration efforts on 5,500 acres of Texas Hill Country known as Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, serve now as an inspiring model for land stewardship and outdoor education.

Pen and ink illustrations throughout the story were done by Margaret Bamberger who succumbed to her battle with cancer in 2009.

Now in its 5th publishing, hard bound copies are often for sale on ranch tours with a portion of the proceeds supporting educational programs.

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Selah History: In the Beginning

In 1969 J. David Bamberger sought to buy the worst piece of ranchland he could find in the Hill Country with the specific intention of restoring it back to functional health. Over the last 45 years the 5,500 acre ranch has become one of the largest habitat restoration projects in the state, winning numerous awards (Soil and Water Conservation Service, Texas Forest Service, National Arbor Day Foundation, the Nature Conservancy of Texas, Texas Wildlife Association,  Leopold Conservation Award, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Lone Star Land Steward, National Private Lands Fish and Wildlife Stewardship Award, to name a few).

With the removal of Ashe juniper and the replanting of native grasses, long absent springs are now constantly flowing. The major spring produces an average of 3 gallons per minute (4,320 gallons/day) and furnishes all the water used by the ranch and the center, three households as well as for agricultural use. Overflow from this spring along with other smaller springs and seeps produce the headwaters of Miller Creek which flows into the Pedernales River, which then flows into the Colorado River, the surface supply for the City of Austin 60 miles away.