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Balcones Invaders

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The Balcones Invaders are a group of volunteers who identify and eradicate invasive plants in parks and preserves in the Greater San Antonio region. (E.O.

"On a global basis...the two great destroyers of biodiversity are, first, habitat destruction and second, invasion by exotic species." Wilson)

The Balcones Invaders are a group of volunteers who identify and eradicate invasive plants in parks and preserves in the Greater San Antonio region. We are part of the citizen scientist program of the Invaders of Texas Program and are trained to detect the arrival and dispersal of invasive species and submit observation data into a statewide mapping database. During the past seven years, volunteers with the Balcones Invaders have contributed more than 5500 hours to eradicate more than 47,000 invasive plants. If you are interested in volunteering, no previous experience is required, as training is provided in the field. For additional information, contact team leaders:

Lonnie Shockley [email protected]

George Ozuna [email protected]

Cheryl Hamilton [email protected]

11/10/2026

A while back, the Salsa Squad was asked by Green Spaces Alliance to help a neighborhood near Padre Park to do some invasive removal work. It was very dense with arundo donax (giant cane) with some chinaberry dispersed throughout. We agreed and this past Saturday, we started the work. It was slow going since the arundo donax must be treated within three minutes after it is cut for the herbicide to be effective. We were happy with the progress, but it looks like we may have to come back three more times to finish the work. You can see from the photos how dense the arundo donax is. We were especially happy that the neighbors supported us. Thank you to Green Spaces Alliance, San Antonio Parks and Rec, and especially the Old River Heritage Group for the support. Photo credit to Liz Ozuna for taking all the photos. We will be back!

10/28/2026

A special workday at The Headwaters at Incarnate Word to remove Invasives. So many Chinaberry's...

10/14/2026

Want more information on how to volunteer in San Antonio? Visit the Alamo Area Texas Master Naturalists at the Environmental Expo this Saturday at Phil Harberger Park

10/06/2026

It was much cooler today and made removing invasives much easier. We moved to a new area along the fence line. We worked on chinaberry and ligustrum trees. It was a nice break from working on tallows. The “hard” part was picking up the chinaberry seeds! All’s good in another day at the ranch.

09/30/2026

A little bit cooler weather start of our workday. We returned to the area where we have been working the past two workdays. We continued working and “finished” treating the regrowth. It is satisfying to finish an area and move to the next. Yay for today!

09/22/2026

The regrowth on tallows is killer. We found a bunch more and are working our way through it. We stopped early today with all the heat, but did make progress. We will not stop!

09/15/2026

It looks like we are in the “sweep” phase of tallows at the Haggard ranch. We believe that we have done an initial cut of the tallows and chinaberries and are now working on the regrowth. It’s pretty crazy, but we continue the “struggle’. We are not in a hurry so all is good.

09/08/2026

Yay, we finally finished the “toilet bowl” area. We know that there will be resprouts and we will need to return later on, but for now we are happy. We will work in another area next week.

09/01/2026

We are back at the ranch after last week’s rain. We continued work at the “toilet bowl” area (named by Patrick McGuire). It’s a bowl area with steep inclines with lots of tallows. We took all the tallows that were on the edge and inside, but now need to work on the ledge. Another group worked on another area and they made progress too. We finished with some yummy gluten free blueberry bread loaf and watermelon. Olivia brought some pollinator seeds to share with the group. Live if good!

08/14/2026

https://www.facebook.com/greenspacesalliance

Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas is a local, non-profit organization based in San Antonio dedicated to preserving our open lands and enhancing our urban environment.

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