Mitchell Lake

Mitchell Lake Audubon Center is located on the South side of Bexar County. “The land consists of the 600 acres of Mitchell Lake, 215 acres of wetland and ponds, and 385 acres of upland habitat.” (1) Mitchell Lake was discovered by Spanish settlers who gave it the name “Laguna de los Patos” which means “Lake of the Ducks.” “By the late 1800’s, the Mitchell family owned and used this area for waterfowl hunting.” Later on it was purchased by the City of San Antonio and turned into a waste dump. “In the late 1930’s the Rilling Toad Wastewater Treatment Plant was built upstream of the lake to handle increased capacity and to improve effluent water quality. The Rilling Road Wastewater Plant continued to discharge into the lake until 1987 when Dos Rios Water Treatment Plant came on-line.” (2)




While visiting Mitchell Lake, I was a little disappointed as to what I saw. I expected to see a well maintained bird resort. To start off with, while walking around I could hear what sounded like gun shots. The shots sounded like they were coming from the other side of the lake of where we were standing. I found it really strange because this is supposed to be a safe habitat for birds. Along the walking trails, I could see scraps of metal and piles of rocks just lying around. I don’t know if this is because they are doing construction but, I feel that it should be stored up safely to where no one can get access to it. Everywhere you look there are these long and thin stick looking things which need to be maintained. I also saw huge trees, trunk and all, lying within the lake and ponds. I feel that this is a really big turn off to the beauty in which the land has. On the good side of the trip, we saw various species living here. We didn’t see too many birds but, were able to see tons of frogs, snakes, flowers, and trees. We also enjoyed just walking around admiring nature.








I feel that Mitchell Lake has come along way within the years. But, I do feel they still need to make several changes to fix some problems. I recommend that the center cleans up the metal and piles of rocks lying around. People are going out to see a clean beautiful piece of land, not a dirty one. I feel that some of these trees need to be pulled out of the lake and ponds. Some of the trees need to stay for the birds to rest on but, too many trees are just an eye soar. I also feel that they need to shred the land. By shredding the land it will decrease the number of snakes. It will also eliminate the thick layer of moss that is on the ground. The workers could plant various plants and tress and it would also give the flowers a chance to grow.





Sources
1. http://www.tx.audubon.org/Mitchell_About.html
2. http://www.saws.org/environmental/mitchelllake/facts.shtml

My Hood

I live South of San Antonio in a very small farm town called Lytle, Texas. Lytle has an estimated population of about five thousand people. It is surrounded by the towns Somerset, Natalia, La Coste, and San Antonio. For being as little as Lytle is, it is made up of three different counties. The majority of Lytle lies in Atascosa County while, about a fourth of Lytle lays within Medina and Bexar County put together. To get to Lytle from Palo Alto College, you get on Loop 410 towards Ingram Mall till you hit Interstate Highway 35. Once you come up to I.H. 35 you will exit I.H. 35 South towards Laredo which takes you into a loop around. Once you are officially on 35 South you will continue to head South on 35 passing a little town called Von Ormy. Continue South on 35 past Von Ormy, 1604, Kinney Road, Shepherd Road, and Lucky Road. You can either take the first or second exit after the Lucky Road exit which will both take you into Lytle.

To get to my house you would take the first exit you come up to after Lucky Road. Once you exit you will start to go up a little hill. Be careful and look to make sure the traffic on the left side is yielding to you. There is a blind spot for the people yielding to you and wrecks occur here all the time. Once you clear this section you will immediately take a turn to the right. If you go down the hill and pass a Valero you have gone way too far. Once you turn right you will continue to follow the road through a curve. On this curve you will pass a Plant Nursery and G’s Liquor store. Shortly passed G’s Liquor store you will see a daycare. Continue to pass the daycare and you will see a road to the left called Maurren Path. Take a left on this road and go down half way till you see another road to the left. This road to the left does not have a name because it is not even a mile long. Go down this little road and it dead ends at my gate.

While you go down that tiny road you will see four houses. Three houses are on the right side of the road and one is on the left side. Because the way my house faces, the house on the left side of the road is directly behind my house. Now I don’t make a big deal about it but, this house raises chickens and rosters. It does get pretty annoying because a lot of the chickens and roosters are not cooped up and roam around my yard. On the left side of my house that daycare you passed on the way is here. I have never had problems with the daycare and I don’t mind living next to it. In front of my house is the back side of the property to the liquor store. The owners are a really nice middle aged couple who I would consider to be the neighborhood watch people. At one point in time, the owners planted about twenty trees here. When looking out the front windows of the house all you can see are these beautiful trees. Now to the right side of me are those three houses. Between my gate and these three houses there is an empty land lot. I have not lived here at this location too long so, I am not sure who these neighbors are. I have not had any problems with them and they are always quiet. I would consider my neighborhood to be middle class. These houses and businesses that surround my house are all in decent shape. The owners take the time to keep them up pretty well.

On the curve where the businesses are located, Lytle city limits end. Because I don’t live within the city limits of Lytle it takes emergency help from the Bexar County Sherriff department about an hour to arrive. To get to downtown Lytle where H.E.B, True Value, Sonic, Bill Millers, and etc. are located it takes about five minutes. From where I live I am able to get to work within a minute or two. I have the privilege of having a job right next to my house. For this reason I don’t have to drive to work. This daycare that I have mentioned a few times would happen to also be where I work. There is an average of one hundred and thirty children that attend. After a long hard day of work, I don’t have to drive any where to get stressed out even more over traffic. Because I work around thirty to forty hours a week and go to school thirteen hours, I don’t have much time to play.

I would never give up living in my small towns for a big town like San Antonio. I enjoy everything about where I live. It’s going to be hard for me to let this place go when I move to the big town of Kingsville next year.