The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Centermade another delivery this week of 4,000 drought-resistant loblolly pine saplings to Bastrop County. Bastrop’s pine forests were ravaged by a wildfire in 2011 that destroyed 32,000 acres. This was the third delivery for the Wildflower Center, bringing to about 15,000 the number of saplings they've contributed for reforestation.
Botanist Damon Waitt is senior director of the Wildflower Center, and he says the effort is helping to transform their facility.
“You know, it really has," Waitt said. "It wasn’t anything that we planned, but when we saw that we could help out in this way with our expertise, it was just the right thing to do.”
He says the Wildflower Center is in the process of increasing its ability to grow saplings tenfold. Their goal is to be able to start 350,000 trees per year.
