Highland Park - August 2021 by Peel, Inc.

Highland Park West Balcones Area

HIGHLAND PARK WEST BALCONES AREA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION VOLUME 17, NUMBER 08 • AUGUST 2021 • WWW.HPWBANA.ORG

BIG BEND DRIVE-SHADOW LANE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE by Dena Houston The traditional HPWBANA Fourth of July parade once again had to be canceled because of the pandemic. It made all of us in the neighborhood very sad. My family had been attending this parade since our now 20-year-old grandson was a toddler. It was always a great joy. A few families on Big Bend Drive decided to hold a small parade for our block and our surrounding neighbors. It started at Highland Park Elementary School and went up Big Bend Drive to Shadow Lane. At that intersection, the Rauch and Smith families set up a treat station with popcorn and popsicles and a bubble machine. There were 40 participants, including many children and many dogs! The parade was led by Franklin Houston, who carried a giant American flag and played patriotic music from his phone and a portable speaker that was tied to his belt loop. Since we have some new neighbors, this was a fabulous opportunity for them to finally meet other residents, some of whom have lived on Big Bend for almost four decades. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate the anniversary of our country’s independence and our emerging freedom from the pandemic!

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Highland Park West Balcones Area

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

IMPORTANT NUMBERS

Highland Park West Balcones Area

Austin Citywide Information Center... 974-2000 or 311 Emergency Police, Fire and EMS.............................. 911 Non-emergency Police (coyote sighting, etc.)......... 311 Social Services (during work hours)........................ 211

APD REP. - Officer Darrell Grayson........ 512-974-5242

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Highland Park West Balcones Area

PRESIDENT Jason Lindenschmidt................ president@hpwbana.org

Neighborhood Association (HPWBANA)

VICE PRESIDENT

now has "Drive Like Your Kids Live Here"

Bill McMillin.........................................vp@hpwbana.org

signs available! If you would like one - free

TREASURER George Zwicker........................ treasurer@hpwbana.org

of charge - email Bill McMillin at: vp@

SECRETARY

hpwbana.org and we'll get one out to you!

Dawn Lewis.............................. secretary@hpwbana.org

This is another small way to help slow down

NEWSLETTER EDITOR

traffic in the neighborhood. We would love

Pam Keller.............................. newsletter@hpwbana.org

to see them in as many yards as possible!

WEBMASTER Henry Tang.............................webmaster@hpwbana.org BOARD MEMBERS Bill Hyland...................................... board@hpwbana.org Rebecca Spratlin............................. board@hpwbana.org

The HPWBANA Board meets on the fourth Monday of each month except December. Please go to HPWBANA. org for our current meeting location or contact president@ hpwbana.org. HWPBANA is bordered on the north by 2222, on the south by 35th Street, on the west by Mt. Bonnell Road, and on the east by MoPac and by Bull Creek Road between Hancock Drive and 45th Street. Mail your membership dues to HPWBANA, P.O. Box 26101, Austin, Texas 78755.

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Highland Park West Balcones Area

William Hyland and his wife Diana have lived in Austin for 24 years, the last eight in Highland Park West. William and Diana curate a neighborhood social group oriented around outings to premium food and drink venues and unusual destination activities. They have a garden that produces fresh vegetables and fruits throughout the year. William is entering his second year as a Board member and looks forward to serving in 2021.

Dawn Lewis has lived in the HPWBANA neighborhood since 1993, and this is her second stint on the HPWBANA board. She loves the charm and beauty of the neighborhood and is glad to be able to serve on the board to support neighborhood interests. She has three grown children and two cats who grew up in this neighborhood, and her children attended and loved Highland Park Elementary. She currently works for an education non-profit and serves as the District 10 appointee and chair of the Parks and Recreation Board. She enjoys jogging, drawing, and watching her favorite college baseball and football teams.

Jason Lindenschmidt has called Highland Park West home since 2003. Originally from Del Rio, Texas, Jason moved to Austin in 1997 to work for Tivoli Systems after graduating from Texas A&M University. Jason is a 15-year veteran in the Austin real estate market and is the current owner and broker of LindenDwell Real Estate. His wife, Katie, is active on the Highland Park Elementary PTA, where daughter, Ray, will be attending 1st grade in the fall. Jason has served on the HPWBANA board since 2014.

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Arriving in Austin from Pittsburgh in 1976, Bill McMillin attended St. Edward’s University, graduating with a Theatre Management degree. He has had 40 years experience as a stage manager, actor, and voice artist, as well serving on numerous non-profit boards. Bill has served on the National Council of Actors Equity, and during that time, was a Broadway Tony Award voter. He currently teaches Theatre and Stage Management at St. Edward’s University. Bill resides on Ridge Oak Drive with his wife Mary, daughter, MAE, and their three dogs Batty, Norman, and Sammie.

Rebecca Wolfe Spratlin is an Austin businesswoman and artist who enjoys painting, sculpting and studying art and art history. Rebecca earned a BA in Fine Arts (painting, sculpting, medical illustration) and an MBA (marketing, finance). After spending 27 years as an executive in the corporate world, she initiated a second career in real estate. She is the well-known owner of Rebecca Realty, LLC, a premier brokerage firm specializing in Balcones Park, Highland Park West and Central Austin. Rebecca and her husband, John Spratlin, have loved living in Balcones Park/Highland Park West for 17 years. She has served on the HPWBANA Board for five years and leads the Events Committee.

George H. Zwicker has been a resident of HPWBANA since 2013 and a board member since 2015. He was elected treasurer a year later. After a 40+-year career in the Houston office furniture industry, George and his wife, Carol, were relocated to Austin for Carol’s job. They both love being in Austin, enjoying their children and many grandchildren. They traveled extensively prior to the pandemic and hope to resume soon. George’s goal is to help HPWBANA involve many more neighbors in neighborhood activities once everyone can meet up again in person.

Highland Park West Balcones Area - James Duff What are “fuels,” and why it helps to know “wildfire-speak.” Ask a sailor and a doctor about the “head” and you’ll likely get two very different answers. In boating lingo, the “head” is the front of the boat,1 but medical professionals (as well as almost everyone else who has a basic understanding of anatomy) identify the head as the part of the body directly above the neck. Similarly, the term “fuel” is just shorthand for gasoline or diesel. Dieticians and exercise enthusiasts will sometimes refer to food as fuel since carbohydrates are what your body converts to energy that propels us through our day. There are plenty of other examples of fuel, and they all have one thing in common: the transfer of potential energy into observable action. So, if that concept is fairly uniform, why then are there so many specialized terms and confusing jargon? Because along with specification comes nuance, not general understanding. Confusion occurs when subtleties suddenly become required knowledge in understanding decisions made that directly impact the public. From the wildfire perspective, the term, “fuel” is a perfect example of this. It is incredibly variable, so analyzing it, making decisions with and from it, and planning for both wildfires and prescribed fires using it means wildfire professionals can sometimes speak in an indecipherable code. While we don’t need to understand the jargon of IT professionals to use the Internet, those of us living in Austin--especially in the riskier WildlandUrban Interface (WUI) area--can benefit from a cursory understanding of “wildfire-speak.” Here’s a quick breakdown of fuels, some of the different terms and definitions, as well as some context. Following that, you’ll find a deeper dive into how we apply these terms and their uses. Basic Definitions: 1. Fuels--Any material that, with heat and oxygen, is combustible. Wildland-specific fuels are usually organic material like plants and trees, both alive and dead. 1. Flame Length--An indicator of fire intensity, measured by the distance from the base of a fire to an average flame tip. 1. Fuel Moisture--The amount of water in a particle of wildland fuel. a. Live Fuel Moisture--The amount of water in a growing plant. i. Variable due to life cycle, seasonal changes, as well as environmental conditions like drought and rainfall. b. Dead Fuel Moisture--The amount of water saturating a plant that is no longer alive. i. Tries to achieve equilibrium with the atmospheric moisture, but density and size play a role in the amount of time to reach that point. Different types of fuels: Surface Fuels • Includes low-lying plants like grasses, mid-story plants like saplings and shrubs, as well as dead and downed tree limbs, logs, sticks, etc. Ladder Fuels • Surfaces fuels located in proximity to each other that allows the fire to climb higher. 1 Yes, it’s also more commonly the toilet, but that is because the bathroom was located at the head of the ship.

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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Continued from Page 5 • A fire will easily climb by preheating the fuels above it; however, Highland Park West Balcones Area it can’t jump much more than one and a half times the height of

the fuel it’s burning. • Intermediary or mid-story fuels allow fires to grow and, if present, heat material above and ignite it, continuing this process until there is either no more material above, or a break in the fuels that prevents further climbing. Aerial Fuels • Canopy or crown branches, leaves, needles: • Aerial fuels are typically more difficult for a surface fire to reach without ladder fuels (e.g., vines, branches, etc.) to carry the fire up the tree. • Single-tree torching: When one tree catches fire, but the blaze quickly returns to the ground. • A “running crown fire”: When the fire remains in the canopy of the trees. These are often the most devastating wildfires. Light or Flashy Fuels • Grasses and/or a grass/shrub mixture that burn quickly and spread fast. • Because of their small size, easily dry out and subsequently ignite. • Comparatively low to the ground: Even though grasses can grow to a few feet in height, they are still considered ground-level plants. • While brush fires are impactful, it is difficult for them to grow into a forest fire without an intermediary (e.g., wind, ladder fuel, etc.) to carry the fire upwards into the tree canopy. Heavy Fuels • Generally large in diameter and are typically fallen limbs, logs, or blown over trees. • Take a significant amount of heat to ignite. • Slower to cure of either a heavy soaking or a previously live state: • Slower curing time means they might not be available to burn even though grasses or shrubs may. • Trees that are standing dead are referred to as “snags.” Dead and Downed Fuels • Dried grass leaves, limbs, twigs, branches, and/or even root systems. Homes, Buildings, and Other Infrastructures Threatened by Fire • Not considered a wildland fuel type. • Referred to as “structures-at-risk.” • Can become consumed by wildfires if community members are unprepared. Preparation includes home hardening with ignition- resistant materials, ember screening prevention, gutter protection, and creating defensible space. Measuring Fuels Fuel Time Lag •The estimated amount of time it would take for the moisture of a dead and downed particle to reach more than half of equilibrium with the moisture in the air. • How long it takes to soak or dry out a blade of grass, a stick, or a log: • One-hour fuels: Less than or equal to ¼” in diameter. Usually grasses or small ground organic litter. • 10-hour fuels: One quarter to one inch in diameter. Shrubs, vines, sticks, branches, and/or saplings. • 100-hour fuels: One to three inches in diameter. Larger branches, downed trees, and small logs. • 1000-hour fuels: Three to eight inches in diameter. This measurement is difficult to observe, but is used to direct fi danger rating systems and predictive models.

Continued on Page 7 6

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Continued from Page 6 Continuity • How sparse or dense available material is to burn relative to itself. • Fire cannot burn on bare ground or stone. So while it may be able to meander around a boulder field and catch grass on fire that lies in between those rocks, the fire itself won’t be able to grow in intensity. • The opposite is true of densely packed fuels; the fire grows in both heat and size because of its ability to consume fuels. Fuel Loading • The growth and accumulation of organic material over time, leading to a more densely packed concentration of potentially burnable material. It is one indicator used to estimate a fire’s severity. While the nuance of fuels is the main topic of this particular article, every fire needs two additional components in the right ratio to exist: heat and oxygen. Dead and cured fuel on a dry, windy day is a potential problem for Austin all year, but it isn’t quite as threatening when the temperature is 35 degrees as it is when the temperature rises to 105. Conversely, the black asphalt in a mall parking lot can reach epic temperatures in the summer sun, but can’t do much damage when there’s no vegetation on it to burn. You’ve heard the saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” right? Well, remove oxygen from the equation and there’s no fire to begin with. Once a fire consumes any available oxygen, it will starve itself out without a constant supply. However, there is a less common saying-“wildfire makes its own weather"--meaning it will suck in air from the surrounding area to feed itself. Generally speaking, when the triangle for combustion is dominated by one component over the others, the ratio is upset in the same way than if you were to remove one of the components (like oxygen in the aforementioned example). Controlling oxygen and heat levels is next to impossible on everything but the smallest of fires. And even then, it's usually easier to remove the fuel. For example, in a kitchen grease fire, you may or may not have a lid handy to put on the pan, but you could also turn off the heat source underneath it. Trying to quickly change large-scale environmental factors (wind and humidity, for example) is not practical nor even currently possible. A low-intensity fire burns with the oxygen already present, but as the fire grows, the heat increases and pulls more air towards the flames… consuming more fuels, generating more heat, and pulling even more air, enabling the fire to consume larger fuels. Typically, when we talk about fuels in the world of wildland fire, we are referring to organic matter like grasses, shrubs, and trees, but with a bit more nuance. For instance, there’s fuel moisture; wet things don't burn well. As they dry out (or “cure”), they become what we refer to as “available fuels.” A key difference between “available” and “unavailable” fuels is that not everything cures at the same rate. Typically, dead material becomes available before living, and grasses become available before shrubs and trees. Smaller material takes less time to dry out and dead plants are no longer actively taking in water.2 That fact is actually what makes a prescribed fire possible; the goal is to control the land so that easily ignited material is consumed before it could carry fire up to the thicker material when it finally becomes available later. The only caveat is that these grasses (light fuels) are also

able to absorb moisture faster. During a wildfire, a rainstorm might douse

Highland West Balcones Area them and thePark shrubs, making them unavailable and suppressing the fire

2 While not strictly accurate, dormant trees can be classed as dead during the winter months for the sake of simplicity.

somewhat, but the larger material is still available to burn. If the fire ignited some of those large diameter fuels, they may continue to smolder and burn long enough to reignite the grasses and shrubs once they dry out, but technically, they will become available after the larger material. Knowledge of fuel moistures directly impacts the tactics used during a fire, whether it’s prescribed or not. Specifically, in the Central Texas area, fire departments and land managers watch the fuel moisture of Ashe Junipers3; a live Ashe Juniper is a known hoarder of moisture. Despite its reputation as a thirsty tree, it doesn’t actually drink more than other similar trees in the landscape. Its hoarding tendencies come from its foliage and needle bed insolating and retaining the moisture for a longer period of time. Before water can seep deep into the water table or evaporate into the atmosphere, it stays close to the junipers, providing a buffer between wet and dry periods. This drying period extension is incredibly useful in planning burns for land management. Ashe Junipers, under the right conditions, are used as walls to keep fire from spreading. A stand of Junipers at 90 percent live fuel moisture and above are very difficult to ignite and impossible to sustain a running crown fire. While single-tree torching is possible, it’s typically due to other environmental aspects. A continuous canopy will suppress ground growth, limiting the existence of other fuels in general so a stand of Ashe Junipers, despite being referred to as “gasoline on a stick,”’ might actually be the wall between a raging ground fire and your home. However, once it begins to dip below 80 percent live fuel moisture, it becomes much more available for burning and reaches a critical level at 60 percent live fuel moisture. At this point, these trees can sustain a significant crown fire, and the foliage, with its tight canopy and oil content, is an enthusiastic burner. This information should be taken with a grain of salt, though, as these trees do not dry out independently from the rest of the environment. Live Oaks and other large trees will also become available to burn at relatively the same time. Grasses fall mostly into the description we gave previously of “light and flashy fuels” because they can ignite quickly and spread. The lightness comes from their inability to sustain a fire for very long before being consumed. The difference between live and dead fuel moisture plays an important role. Green grass alone may be too moist to carry a fire, but standing dead or a blanket of dried thatch (the build-up of dead grasses season after season) ignites very easily and the heat around the live fuels can be enough to consume the live fuels. Think of paper or leaves in a campfire; these are also light and flashy. If you don’t get them to ignite your kindling quickly, you’ll have a very short-lived fire. Wildland professionals refer to the “paper moving to kindling” as ladder fuels. The first rung is the light and flashy material (paper in our example), but brush and grass in the case of a wildfire. Although there are plenty of stories of brush fires scorching the West, these fires move fast and because of their speed, don’t concentrate heat on a specific area. That’s not to say these fires aren’t hot, they are among the hottest; in fact, more Wildland Firefighters are killed from grass fires than forest fires. However, because of their quick movement, they tend to be less destructive and easier to contain. Since the grasses are consumed quickly and more completely, there is little in the way of residual embers. That is, unless it can climb up another rung in the ladder to the midstory, shrubs and bushes, and some larger piles of dead and downed or small-standing dead trees.

3 Also known as Mountain Cedar, Texas Cedar, Post Cedar, Rock Cedar, or more commonly as just Cedar.

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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Continued from Page 7 In a campfire, this is the kindling: not quite big enough to sustain a good to tree. It has the oxygen above the forest itself without obstruction and, Highland West Area with the fire consuming various sizes and types of fuels, it’s now got plenty fire, but bigger than thePark logs themselves. BetweenBalcones the prairie and the forest, it's not common to get large patches of mid-story; they tend to be little islands on the prairie, rising over the grass only to settle back into a savanna. Occasionally, there might be a few chances to climb higher on the ladder, but even then, it’s a single tree torching and then coming back to a brush fire because of the lack of dense canopy or mid-story. The forest is where the fire can use the mid-story to accelerate its climb up the ladder and cause problems. Vines that crawl up trees and shade-loving shrubs that skirt around the edge of the forest are pieces of the campfire that catch the big logs ablaze. A fire that reaches up into the canopy of the trees now has access to leaves, branches, and the ability to jump from tree

of heat to push it farther and grow it larger. If the fuel moisture is low enough, a flame that climbs up from the ground and into the canopy carries a lot of energy and heat with it. Oftentimes, that’s enough to engulf standing dead trees. If an area has live fuel moisture that’s low enough, it can develop what’s called a sustained crown fire. These fires aren’t burning the fuel as efficiently as the light and flashy ground material, so ember showers form from the partially consumed material and can get carried by the wind up to a mile and a half from the source, igniting other areas…your gutters, attic, eaves, and porches, as well as previously unaffected patches farther out in the forest or grasslands. These fires are particularly difficult to contain because firefighters remove fuel at the ground level, saw crews can cut down trees to limit the fire’s ability to get up into the canopy, but they aren’t climbing trees and fighting fire at the top. Air tankers and helicopters can do aerial water and foam drops to try and slow or suppress the fire, and while that does help, it’s those on the ground who are cutting fire lines (scraping the ground to mineral soil with hand tools and bulldozers) that stop these raging fires. Of course, preventive action makes a big difference. Fires have a harder time climbing when you’ve taken out proverbial rungs of the ladder; Mother Nature ensured that the natural elements would always follow the path of least resistance. So a grass fire will struggle to ignite a tree if it has nothing in the mid-story to carry it up. The City of Austin’s land managers, sometimes with the aid of AFD’s Wildfire Fuels Crew, install shaded fuel breaks in certain areas to help Mother Nature along. Shade from a closed canopy of trees in a forest area, like the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, suppresses the understory, and minimizes both grass and shrubs. If the mid-story is removed, then a ground fire will remain a ground fire. They might skunk around in the mulch for a bit, but without anything to carry them farther, they quickly extinguish themselves. Remember, removing one of the components from the triangle of combustion breaks the chain and in the land managers’ case, the shaded fuel breaks leave any ensuing fire with no place to go. WILDFIRE IS EVERYONE'S FIGHT! AFD's Wildfire Division addresses the potential threat of wildfires through public education, fuel (vegetation) management, and effective firefighting response. Contact us at: (512) 974-0270 FireWildfire@austintexas.gov

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Please consider signing up for the Randalls Good Neighbor program and listing "HPWBANA" as one of your charities. This program provides funds directly to HPWBANA, allowing us to do more for the neighborhood! Sign up, and while you're at it, get a neighbor to sign up also! HPWBANA’s Randalls Good Neighbor number is 10586

Highland Park West Balcones Area

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Lettuce Recycle!

Highland Park West Balcones Area

by Dena Houston

RECYCLING ON THE ROAD

On a recent road trip, it became very apparent that recycling collection bins are often non-existent. Gas stations (where we clean the trash out of our car) don’t always have these bins. In addition, there is no recycling collection at any of the highway rest or picnic areas in Texas. What to do?? As we were having lunch at a picnic area near Abilene, I looked at our aluminum drink cans, looked at the trashcan, and had to make a decision—throw them away or hang on to them for the week we would be traveling. I knew these cans wouldn’t be going into my landfill, but I just couldn’t throw them into another community’s garbage dump. So, a decision was made. We set up a recycling collection bag in the car and a box in the cabin we rented in Cloudcroft. At the end of our trip, we brought a week's worth of recyclables back to Austin and put them into our single stream recycling bin.

MORE TRAVEL RECYLING IDEAS

• Carry reusable bags for shopping—many places (especially in Europe) either charge for bags or don’t even provide them. • Carry a refillable water bottle. This reduces plastic waste. Also, refillable bottles often are insulated. • Carry non-plastic eating utensils. Take a fork, serrated knife, and spoon for each person. • Plastic containers—use these for restaurant leftovers etc. They are easily washed and a great way to use for packing delicate souvenirs for the trip home.

RECYCLING CHEAT SHEET FOR THE BLUE BIN

As the author of Lettuce Recycle, I receive many recycling questions. Below is a “cheat sheet” for recycling. It doesn’t address all recycling questions, but it helps provide a basic understanding of what can and cannot go into the blue curbside bin. 1. Nothing smaller than a credit card. 2. No mixed materials, e.g., plastic soap pump with metal spring, candy wrappers, orange juice cartons, waxed paper coffee cups. 3. No contaminated paper products, e.g., wet paper (even if dried out), pizza boxes, paper with food product on it. 4. Nothing that can wrap around sorting machinery or that poses a danger at the recycling facility, e.g., plastic bags, wire coat hangers, rope, garden hoses, hypodermic needles, or aerosol cans with anything in them. Empty aerosol cans CAN go into the blue bin. 5. Lid rules—All glass jars need to have their lids removed. Keep all plastic lids on plastic bottles and containers. All separate lids smaller than a credit card go into the trash. 6. Shredded paper does NOT go into the blue recycling bin. If it is contained in a paper or compost bag, it can go into the green curbside compost bin. Here is a very informative City of Austin recycling website: http:// www.austintexas.gov/what-do-i-do If you have any questions or recycling ideas, please send them to: recycling@hpwbana.org 10

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Highland Park West Balcones Area

The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021

Highland Park West Balcones Area PO Box 1148 Round Rock, Texas 78680

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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - August 2021