The Nature Conservancy in Texas - Clymer Meadow Preserve

Clymer Meadow Preserve

Clymer Meadow Preserve © Robert W. Parvin

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Clymer Meadow remains one of the largest and most diverse remnants of the Blackland Prairie and one of the most scenic areas in North Central Texas. The Blackland Prairie is the Texas version of the tallgrass prairie that once stretched from near the Texas Coast to southern Manitoba. Because of the prairie's rich agricultural soils, more than 99 percent has been cultivated, making the tallgrass the most-endangered large ecosystem in North America.

Location
Northwestern Hunt County, near Greenville, in North Central Texas.

Bison on Clymer Meadow © Cathy Burkey

Hours
Access is by appointment only. For more information, contact Larry Crane at the Clymer Meadow Preserve, P.O. Box 26, Celeste, TX 75423, Phone/Fax: (903) 568-4139.

Size
1,068 acres

What to See: Plants
Two globally imperiled prairie plant communities are represented here: little bluestem-Indiangrass and gamagrass-switchgrass community series types. Other important grasses include big bluestem, meadow dropseed, sideoats grama, and Canada wildrye. Wildflowers, such as rough-leaf rosinweed, purple Indian paintbrush, prairie clover and American basketflower are abundant

What to See: Animals
The prairie provides habitat for a great number of bird species whose presence changes according to the season. For example: northern harriers are common through the winter months; eastern bluebirds visit the preserve in the spring; and neotropical dicksissels are abundant during the early summer months.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
Named for pioneer Jim Clymer, who bought the first tracts in the 1850s, Clymer Meadow today comprises about 1,000 acres, including land owned by The Nature Conservancy of Texas and other private owners.

One of the more unusual features of the preserve is a microtopography called "gilgai" by soil scientists and "hogwallows" by farmers. Normal gilgai are irregular or round, shallow basins, often arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern on level, heavy clay soils. Because they tend to hold water, they influence the composition of the plant communities. Moisture-loving species such as eastern gamagrass and prairie rose occupy the frequently inundated microlows, while drier-adapted species such as sideoats grama and little bluestem are common on microridges.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
Clymer Meadow Preserve serves as a center for study of the Blackland Prairie and has been the site of more than a dozen scientific investigations ranging in scope from inventories of prairie invertebrates to noxious weed control. Universities, private research organizations, and public and private primary and secondary schools have used the meadow as a teaching site.

For the first time in 150 years, bison have returned to the Blackland Prairie at the Clymer Meadow Preserve. It is believed that the short-term grazing of wandering bison was once a key element in the vigor of prairie lands. At Clymer Meadow, we will re-create this activity by "borrowing" a small herd of bison from the Moseley Bison Ranch to further study the relationship between bison and healthy prairies.