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Delicate Resilience: Bracted Twistflower

A Rocha USA August 20, 2024

By Michaela Stenerson and Madeline Padgett The Bracted twistflower, Streptanthus bracteatus, is a species of annual flowering plant in the mustard family Brassicaceae that is native and endemic to only five counties in Central Texas. The plant was listed as Threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2023. When Bracted twistflower is young, it grows in rosettes and can look similar to any member of the Brassicaceae family including cabbage, broccoli, or arugula. However, as it bolts into a flowering plant, it begins to distinguish itself. The plant grows a long stem, at times reaching up to four feet tall, with alternating leaves whose bases are wrapped directly around the stem. These bracted leaves are what give it part of its name. As it flowers, the plant opens up four lavender-pink petals and offers nectar and pollen for bees. After it bolts, the plant produces fruits that resemble long, thin, string beans called “siliques” in which it stores

Finding Climate Solutions in Nature

Autumn Ricksecker August 11, 2024

Should climate action come before biodiversity conservation? In the words of our friend and climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, indigenous groups, communities of color, and the poor often suffer the effects of climate change ‘first and worst’. We add that vulnerable species like bumblebees, corals, and Neotropical amphibians are also some of the first victims of a warming world. We are facing not one, but three global crises: the rapid loss of our planet’s biodiversity; climate change and a rapid increase in the global average temperature; and increasing inequality and poverty. These problems are interconnected, but so are their solutions! Nature-based Solutions work with and enhance nature on land and sea, providing benefits for both human wellbeing and biodiversity while addressing climate change. Forests are popular as carbon sequestration powerhouses, but they’re not alone: grasslands store about a third of the global terrestrial carbon, and research shows that restored meadows can become natural carbon sinks. A Rocha Switzerland is restoring dry

A Living Inheritance

Noah Guthrie July 1, 2024

Sylvie Vanhoozer’s The Art of Living in Season reminds me of a French camellia: petals within petals, each layer enfolded in the next. Throughout the book, Vanhoozer depicts her childhood in the southern French town of Provence, then enfolds it in her cultural inheritance of the santons (the “little saints” of Provençal manger scenes), enfolds that in the cycle of the seasons, and enfolds that in the cycle of the church calendar. Together, they form a single blossom of culture, ecology, and spirit. As she reflects on these linked themes, Vanhoozer encourages her audience, as “saints on an everyday pilgrimage,” to “relearn how to walk” (Vanhoozer 8). She invites us to slow down and pay attention. To take time to contemplate, on one hand, “the seasons of the church that teach us about Christ’s life and ministry,” and on the other hand, “the seasons of nature that reveal the goodness of our Creator” (7). Cycles of church and nature: the

Farewell Interns

Hannah Gillespie June 7, 2024

The changing of seasons can symbolize new beginnings. That is certainly the case for our latest Conservation Internship cohort, for whom the start of summer brings a close to their nine-month residency. Learn more about their next steps below: Michaela says, “The experience I gained in the A Rocha USA internship program provided me with skills that qualified me for this position. I’m super excited to start this new chapter and hope to continue to stay connected with A Rocha as its presence grows in Florida.” Noah reflects, “As someone with a creative writing background, I was grateful that my internship with A Rocha USA provided opportunities to apply my writing to creation care, while also deepening my experience in scientific research and environmental restoration. This has honed my old skills, developed new ones, and offered a unique chance to learn what it’s like to represent Christlike values among conservation scientists.” As a reflection of their time with A Rocha USA,

Climate in Crisis: Finding Hope & Taking Action

Hannah Gillespie May 13, 2024

“We humans are the reason why climate is changing, but that also means our future is in our hands.” – Katharine Hayhoe, Saving Us⁠ If you are anything like me, you start your day by checking your email. You receive the latest headlines in those emails – some good, some bad. But the bad news sticks with you. Like this one from Environment by Impact, stating that February 2024 “was the hottest February in recorded history, making it the 9th month in a row we’ve seen record-breaking temperatures”. A feeling of doom takes over, and looking at the clock, you realize you’ve only been awake for five minutes. I’m aware that doomscrolling is a bad habit. Still, in the age of technology and instant information at our fingertips, it can feel like I’m missing out or uninformed if I don’t constantly check my notifications. Maybe you relate to this feeling of “eco-anxiety”, a chronic feeling of environmental doom. You’re not

Song of Springtime: Golden-cheeked Warbler

Hannah Gillespie May 13, 2024

Known for its distinctive black-and-gold plumage and beautiful calls, the arrival of the Golden-cheeked Warbler signifies springtime in Central Texas. In late March, male Golden-cheeked Warblers are first to arrive at their nesting grounds in the Texas Hill Country, establishing territories while perched underneath the canopy cover provided by old-growth juniper-oak woodlands. Golden-cheeked Warblers are socially monogamous, meaning they pair exclusively for a breeding season. Courtship behavior is rarely observed but involves the female collecting nesting material as the male sings and spreads his wings and tail, sometimes offering nesting material to his potential mate. Together, they build their small nests in the upper part of the tree, approximately 16-23 feet off the ground. Various materials are woven together, such as juniper bark, twigs, leaves, grass, lichen, seeds, moss, feathers, hair, wool, and spider silk. During nesting season, a female Golden-cheeked Warbler may lay up to 5 eggs, which she incubates for 12 days. As fledglings, and throughout their life,