What Makes A Viable Habitat?

Circle Acres Nature Preserve which is located on 10 acres in the neighbor of south east Austin, Texas.

Photos by: Jennifer Leigh Warner

CIRCLE ACRES NATURE PRESERVE

Circle Acres Nature Preserve is located on roughly 10 acres in the montopolis neighborhood of south east Austin. As a former landfill and E.P.A. Brownfield, the site has suffered through a pattern of destructive uses but nonetheless bears a striking range of forest, wetland , and grassland environments with an overwhelmingly urban contest.

Once the site of a landfill, the forest has been through great trauma. However underneath the destruction and garbage lives a forest, wetland and grassland habitat teaming with life.

Circle Acres is often used as an illegal dumping ground.

Members of the local community comes together to help restore the Circle Acres Nature Preserve. The group, made up of individuals from all backgrounds, come together to plant native plants and pick up trash.

A local child helps water plants as part of a community restoration project.

Indigenous People’s of Austin

Indigenous People’s of Austin, an informal group of local ingenuous people and allies were among the volunteers.

Indigenous People’s of Austin preform a Smudging Ceremony, which is traditionally **a ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place**.

Plant Restoration

A group of community volunteers works together to plant native plants.

Trash Clean Up

A group of community volunteers picks up trash from the nature preserve.

HOpe for the future

The Center for Sustainable Futures is the programming framework for Ecology Action’s educational, advocacy, and research activities on the site. It includes classrooms, demonstration areas, operations & maintenance support, art, and social spaces.

With this endeavor, Ecology Action seeks a broadened definition of “waste” which addresses all the cycles of life. With a particular emphasis on the life cycles of materials, food, water, and energy, this concept of “waste” permeates the thinking behind trash, food waste and compost, building construction, resource use, and myriad other cycles that exemplify Ecology Action’s mission.