Southwest Texas, while not as plentiful in trees or greenery as many other parts of the United States, possesses its own natural attractions and challenges.
Firmly planted in Southwest Texas, Laughlin Air Force Base is no exception, which also has many of the same attractions and challenges. For the 47th Civil Engineer Squadron’s natural resources team, those challenges are met with a lot of research, persistence, and professionalism.
Danny Yandell, 47th CES natural resources manager, says the team’s job is not only important to preserve the natural resources around Laughlin, but to keep the base clean as well.
“Environmental is a team of many interdisciplinary skills,” Yandell said. “You have the natural resources title, but the real team is everybody in environmental who help me make sure we’re in compliance and keeping the environment preserved.”
According to Yandell, while the Laughlin mission is to graduate the world’s best military pilots, Airmen also have an obligation to observe and tend to the environment for both Laughlin and the local community.
“There’s more than what everybody sees going on, on base here,” he said. “While our primary mission is the Laughlin mission, we still need to be mindful of federal and state laws and how we conduct the mission. We’re stewards to both the Air Force and the environment.”
One of the projects on their radar is a recently classified endangered species of spotted-tail lizards. According to Yandell, having been discovered after a base maintainer here posted a picture of them on social media, it instantly garnered the attention of researchers across the country.
“Back in 2010, it was discovered that a species of lizards were classified to be endangered,” he said. “Since then, we’ve had researchers from Texas A&M and the University of Texas in Austin come down and perform studies on them to find out everything they can about these southern-species lizards.”
Another project of note is a series of invasive, salt cedar trees that have taken root around Laughlin’s waterways. The trees are not native, and according to Yandell, were spread around Laughlin possibly by soil purchased and planted that may have contained a salt cedar seed.
“These are huge trees, and a mature tree can suck up to 250 gallons of water in a day,” Yandell said. “They suck a lot of water from the water sources and secrete a salty residue that kills certain vegetation around the area and puts that salt back into the water source.”
In the same waterways, not only were salt cedar trees found but more than twenty years ago, artifacts from pre-historic times were found and uncovered by researchers from Austin.
“We had researchers approach us about the possibility of these cultural resources existing on Laughlin, and after that happened they uncovered more than we had anticipated,” Yandell said.
From spotted-tail lizards to invasive species and pre-historic artifacts, the natural resource office at 47th CES is the means preserving the environment and its cultural artifacts in all their glory.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.18.2018 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 262158 |
| Location: | LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Laughlin natural resources tackle environmental issues, by SrA Daniel Hambor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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