Bastrop State Park Is Growing Back

  ....Just over six months after the devastating fires literally destroyed the Bastrop State Parks forest, life is returning and flourishing in areas.  Seeds, spores, bulbs and the roots that managed to escape the intense fires are proving just how tough they can be!...I even found a tiny pine sprout about 2" tall.  Animals too, are returning, Armadillo tracks were all over the place and today I saw my first amphibian since the fire, a Leopard Frog on the forest floor.

  What is very interesting is that I found only one non-native plant that I recognized, that being a handful of Sow Thistles.   Poke Salat is every where, Were this not a state park one could gather as much as one could eat.
A southern delicacy, the last photo shows a couple of plants.  And anybody that knows Poke, knows how they love ash and are often found in the remnants of old burn piles and disturbed soils.

 There are still a few places that are mostly growing stones, but they will come along

  Here are a series of photos, Bastrop State Park is coming back from the ashes.  These were taken in one of the most intensely burned areas  in a closed section of the park