In a fitting demonstration of cooperative unity, the Jerry Lunow Wetlands were dedicated at the Patsy Glenn Refuge this past weekend.
The dedication took place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 25. An assembled crowd of approximately 150 people attended the event.
“In Wimberley, nature comes first,” Wimberley Mayor Mayor Gina Fulkerson said to the crowd. “These wetlands are a prime example of a positive and imaginative way to resolve things that can happen in this world.”
The wetlands, named after architect and landscape designer Jerry Lunow, were designed in response to stormwater runoff that was destroying a historic dry stack stone wall in the refuge. It was noted during the gathering that the Texas Hill Country is “ground zero” for rainwater runoff.
A joint project of the Wimberley Birding Society and the Wimberley Parks and Recreation Department, the dedication recognized important partners who supported the project through to its completion: the Burdine Johnson Foundation, the Hays County Master Naturalists and the Cypress Creek Project Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University.
Spokespersons from key players spoke during the dedication. Susan Evans, president of the Wimberley Birding Society, outlined the genesis of the project and said that it represents a “huge amalgam of Wimberley interests.”
Larry Calvert of the Hays County Master Naturalists said that the project represents a great partnership of entities.
“What we have here now is a remarkable city asset,” he commented.
Funded by grants from the Burdine Johnson Foundation and money from the Wimberley Birding Society’s Patsy Glenn Fund, the enhanced wetlands not only buffer stormwater runoff and its effects but allows some of the water to become a wetland resource for birds and other wildlife.
“This project is a shining example of seeing a challenge and turning it into an opportunity,” said Robin Gary, a member of the Cypress Creek Project and the director of watershed protection and conservation science at The Watershed Association (formerly the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association).
The event was informally emceed by the Wimberley Birding Society’s president, David Glenn. As the widower of the refuge’s namesake, he was visibly moved when speaking of the cooperation that existed among volunteers.
Lin Weber of the Wimberley Parks Board agreed that “it took a village of volunteers to make this project happen.”
Lunow, a Wimberley Valley resident from Houston, volunteered to design and manage the building of the wetlands, beginning in 2021. In his remarks, he reminded well-wishers of the importance of wetlands which were achieved by the wetland project that bore his name — protecting and improving water quality, providing wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters and maintaining surface water flow during Wimberley’s dry periods.
Located in the heart of town — just off of the Wimberley Square — the Patsy Glenn Refuge and the Jerry Lunow Wetlands are accessed from the rear of the Wimberley Community Center by a trail marked with a white stone bearing the name “Patsy Glenn Refuge.”
Both the refuge and the wetlands are part of the Cypress Creek Nature Trail and Preserve, a city of Wimberley park. Learn more about these and other city parks at cityofwimberley. com/193/Parks-Facilities.
WIMBERLEY MAYOR GINA FULKERSON SPEAKS AT THE DEDICATION. PHOTO BY TERESA KENDRICK.
JERRY LUNOW, NAMESAKE AND ARCHITECT OF THE WETLANDS, ADDRESSES HIS AUDIENCE. PHOTO BY TERESA KENDRICK.
