Bird City Kerrville planted native habitat twice at Flat Rock Park. Both times, the flood took it.

Katy Kappel almost gave up on Flat Rock Park.

Bird City Kerrville had been planting native vegetation along the county’s veterans pathway at the riverside park when the July 16 flood hit and stripped the banks bare. It was not the first time. The same thing had happened after the 2025 flood.

“We planted and then it flooded again,” Kappel said Thursday on Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “And then we planted again and then it flooded again. And so I was going to give it up. I mean, I thought: okay, that’s it. It’s nothing but rocks.”

Kevin Pillow of Wild Birds Unlimited stepped in with resources to replenish the effort, and the organization did not quit. This fall, Bird City volunteers plan to return to the first boat ramp at Flat Rock Park to plant button bush and swamp milkweed — species critical to riverbank stability that rarely show up in standard plantings. The stone monument and veterans pathway survived both floods undamaged. The county roads department — which manages Flat Rock in the absence of a dedicated Kerr County parks department — is working to replace the park’s playscape, a memorial tree, and a lost cross.

Kappel, the organization’s spokesperson and volunteer coordinator, operates without an office or paid staff. Bird City Kerrville is in its third year — what she described as its “second year of tragedy and excitement” — functioning as a self-funded program under the Texas Master Naturalists and answering directly to Texas Parks and Wildlife and Audubon Texas. To earn the official Bird City designation, Kappel assembled a coalition of 31 local organizations and secured formal resolutions from both the Kerr County Commissioners Court and the Kerrville City Council.

The organizing philosophy is straightforward: “If it’s good for birds, it’s good for people.”

The organization recently secured a $10,000 grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife, earned through a statewide bird survey in which 1,400 participants competed — the teams recording the most birds got to select grant recipients from the event’s admission fees. Bird City plans to put that money to work at Kerrville-Schreiner Park in November with a project that starts with a problem: the deer have eaten nearly everything.

“The deer have eaten everything,” Kappel said. “Except cedar.”

The solution is a high-fenced acre at Kerrville-Schreiner Park where 40 large native trees — chosen specifically for the foods they provide to local bird species — will be planted inside deer-proof protection. Larger, established trees are intentional: they become habitat immediately rather than in five years. The organization plans to expand the planting to 120 trees total through a memorial tree program that will allow community members to purchase and dedicate individual trees to loved ones.

A second bird blind is also in development. The existing blind at the Riverside Nature Center is currently drawing painted buntings. The new blind, planned adjacent to Kerrville-Schreiner Park’s pollinator garden, will feature a constantly running water fountain and will require running water and electrical lines — a project Bird City is coordinating with city park staff.

The Singing Winds Park interpretive walk hosted by the Native Plant Society took place Wednesday, Aug. 19. During a recent ecological survey there, native plant specialists documented 120 plant species naturally surviving on the property without any supplemental watering or human intervention. Educational signs are now installed on 20 of those species along the park’s flat trail section. The city is also hiring a trail specialist to realign the park’s steep bike trails and exploring an off-leash dog park at the back of the property.

Kappel also raised two issues that she called uncomfortable but necessary. The first is subdivision retention pond design — she described how heavy rain causes these systems to dump large volumes of water onto lower-lying neighborhoods, citing water accumulating 8 to 10 inches deep on Red Bud Street from runoff off Holdsworth Drive. The second is feral cat colonies along the riverbank.

“We had one person come to our meeting who lives on the riverbank next door to a colony,” Kappel said. “Now, that means you got feral cats pooping on the bank of the river. Now, maybe we should not allow people to have cat colonies on the bank of the river.”

She closed with practical advice for Hill Country homeowners.

“Everybody can do it a little bit in their own yard,” she said. “Just think about things besides Pride of Barbados and crepe myrtles. There are some really cool plants out there that will survive and you don’t have to fertilize them. Oh, and you might want to rethink the whole lawn deal. Don’t be watering your lawn.”

To support Bird City Kerrville or volunteer: birdcitykerrville@gmail.com.