Fermata Inc.

Earlier this month, the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) presented the Neill-Cochran House Museum with a Leadership in History Award for the completion of Reckoning with the Past, the project to restore and reinterpret Austin's last intact slave dwelling. There are so many people to share in the acclaim for this groundbreaking, years-long effort including our many supporters, but no two people deserve more recognition than project researcher Dr. Tara Dudley (UT) and interpretive planner Ted Eubanks (Fermata Inc.).

Here we see Dr. Dudley and Mr. Eubanks with NCHM Executive Director Rowena Dasch in front of the NCHM Slave Quarters.

Learn more about the Reckoning with the Past project here:
https://www.nchmuseum.org/rwp-project

For nearly eighty years, AASLH has presented Leadership in History Awards to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all people.

This important work would not have been possible without the ongoing support of our amazing community. Your commitment to preserving and sharing all of Austin history is inspiring the nation. Thank you!

Learn more about the award at: https://www.aaslh.org/programs/leadership-in-history-awards

Texas palafox (Palafoxia texana), Kenedy County, Texas, 28 Oct 2024, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

This plant is blooming profusely in parts of the South Texas Sand Sheet (such as around Sarita).

Texas sunflower (Helianthus praecox), Kenedy County, Texas, 28 Oct 2024, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

This Texas/Mexico endemic is currently blooming in the South Texas Sand Sheet (such as in Kenedy County).

Julia's goldenrod (Solidago juliae), Austin, Travis County, Texas, 13 Oct 2024, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

Julia's goldenrod is only found in the Texas Hill Country, the Trans-Pecos, as well as in adjacent Mexico.

Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) with orange assassin bug (Pselliopus barberi), Austin, Texas, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

Plants such as goldenrod attract not only pollinators but their predators as well. This orange assassin bug is perfectly camouflaged as it waits for the next unsuspecting pollinator.

Evergreen sumac (Rhus virens) with gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus), Austin, Travis County, Texas, 4 Oct 2024, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

Fresh gray hairstreaks were feeding on evergreen sumac today, one of the few nectar sources available during our "flash drought." We need to use this wonderful shrub more in our landscapes, especially in our parks.

Plateau false foxglove (Agalinis edwardsiana), Austin, Texas, 4 Oct 2024, ©2024 Ted Lee Eubanks.

Hill Country endemic. Great example of the importance of protecting and restoring the biodiversity in an around Austin.