Being in Nature does not have to mean driving to parks and reserves. Humans are part of Nature and Nature is all around us. We believe that if a piece of land can be natural that is should be allowed to be natural.
This is not a business. Not a non-profit. This Is Native Habitat is an independent, personal project of John Walmsley, Lewis Weil, and friends who are trying to put as much native life as possible back into mistreated and neglected land. We mainly work in Austin, Texas but have done some fun, far off field trips.
In our own yards and on land our friends and neighbors let us work on we plant native grasses and wildflowers of the Blackland Prairie. The plants provide habitat for wildlife, help water soak into the soil, sequester carbon, provide moments of beauty, and educational opportunities.
Restoring Native Plants, Animals, and Peoples
We focus on putting in plant species that were found in what we now call North America before contact with European settlers. These plants, the descendants of the life that has been here for millennia form ecosystems. They are adapted to this place on Earth and provide critical roles to the animals and people who call this land home. The plants, flowers, fruits, seeds provide foot and shelter to wildlife. There are many ornamental and garden plants that grow well here, and might look nice, but are not part of the ecosystem.
Many “wildflower” seed mixes contain species that are not native and do not contribute to the ecosystem. In addition to hand collecting seeds locally we source our seeds and plants from growers and nurseries that focus on local, wild, plants.
What is Native?
What we call ecological restoration is an invented term for what is a way of life for indigenous people. Our work with native plants and animals is a small attempt at contributing to the Land Back movement. For millennia indigenous people on Turtle Island and all over the world have shaped the ecology that supports life on our planet. Our work to restore the plants and animals is an attempt to recognize that this planet is a human planet. That in all the environmental damage humanity has caused it is not that humans are a problem, rather it is our relationship to the land and water that we need to fix. When we do restoration work we are giving the land back to itself.
For indigenous families wanting to restore their own land we try to provide free seeds, plants, and labor where we can
(photo featuring Rocío Villalobos).
Respecting Indigenous Peoples
