30 Years of Burning and Blooming at Marysee Prairie

Marysee Prairie is a 12-acre TLC-owned preserve in Batson, TX.

Conservation work on a coastal prairie is measured in tens of thousands of years—the cycle of human interference and invasive species, of timber harvests and controlled burns. It takes forever and is constantly evolving. No one knows this better than longtime volunteers and advocates Ellen Buchanan and Maxine Johnston, and according to both, one of the most exciting elements to their work at Marysee Prairie near Batson, Texas, is the element of constant change.

“You just never know what you’re going to see!” says Ellen. “What’s blooming? What’s changed? After a burn, it takes the grasses a little while to get back. To watch a gayfeather come from a grass stage to a huge stalk of flower—the cycle of life that happens on the prairie—it’s just fabulous.” You could credit Ellen’s thirty-two-year career with Texas Parks & Wildlife for her enthusiasm, but a lifelong commitment to Texas nature goes back farther than that. “I grew up in the Big Thicket,” she says. “My mother and daddy fought for the Big Thicket. I was always involved, even when I was in college.” And when Ellen retired and moved back to Hardin County, connecting with the Marysee community and with Maxine—whose advocacy had earned her the title “Godmother of the Big Thicket”—were her first priorities.

When reminded of her accolades, Maxine demures. “I’m not a botanist,” she says. “I rely on other folks to identify things for me.” A librarian with a mind for research—and a dogged determination to find practical solutions—Maxine’s conservation pedigree includes decades on the board of the Big Thicket Association, where she worked to secure roughly 100,000 acres of diverse habitat as a biological preserve. The twelve-acre parcel of Marysee Prairie is pocket-sized by comparison, but no less precious to Maxine. “All of the prairies are disappearing,” she says, “because there aren’t enough people concerned about them.”

Maxine Johnston overseeing a burn at Marysee Prairie.

For years, Marysee Prairie—under the auspices of The Nature Conservancy—was protected but neglected. “Properties get lost,” says Maxine, and the Nature Conservancy had “too many preserves and not enough people.” In 1991, Maxine joined forces with Brandt Mannchen of the local Sierra Club to see if the Nature Conservancy would deed Marysee Prairie to TLC, then NAPA, and they succeeded. But the work had just begun. It took a crew of dedicated volunteers almost four years just to remove the unwanted growth.  “It was so overgrown, it wasn’t a prairie anymore,” says Maxine. She received the Ned and Genie Fritz Award for her efforts, but it’s the dedication ceremony she remembers best, looking out across a newly wide open prairie in the company of a dedicated crew of volunteers.

Ellen remarks on the people-power that has helped protect the land. “We have such fabulous resources in Southeast Texas,” she says. But the challenge is time. “Whether it’s Marysee Prairie or other conserved lands, it’s a constant battle to get those back to where they were before. It might take ten thousand years to get there, but it can happen.”

Sundew found at the Marysee Prairie 30th Anniversary Celebration.

And the work is a joy. Plants and pollinators abound to capture the attention of any Texas nature enthusiast. “There are even sundews and butterwort!” says Ellen. “We’ll even get swallowtail kites that come over.”

“The real thrill,” says Maxine, “is when you go out there and you find prairie bluebells. We’ve only seen them about four or five times, and when we do, I insist on having my picture taken with them.”

Ellen remarks on a recent spontaneous visit to Marysee Prairie. “I was on my way to Houston the other day, but I didn’t put proper shoes in the car. I thought, I’ll drive up, I’m just going to look. I ended up walking around the whole of Marysee.” She laughs. “My shoes were fine.”

Both Maxine and Ellen are grateful to TLC donors for supporting the recent burn. Prescribed burns and other management practices are important for maintaining native habitat, and it is increasingly important for the public to continue to learn about and support land trusts, like TLC, across the state. “The land trust community in Texas is very sharing,” says Ellen. “We’re all in the same business. We appreciate their continued work throughout Texas. The rich history and vibrant present of Marysee Prairie comes alive when Maxine and Ellen share their stories, but these committed conservationists are looking to the future. “We want the prairie to continue to look as great as it does right now, and we want it to look even better,” says Ellen. “We need to be bringing up the next generation of folks that care about these resources.”

Longtime Marysee Prairie volunteers Thomas Maddux, Glenn Merkord, Ellen Buchanan, Brandt Mannchen, and Maxine Johnston.

“I want it to last,” says Maxine. “And I don’t think we can clone Ellen.” She laughs, but the need for new leadership is crucial to the continued conservation work and volunteer recruitment, and according to Ellen, it’s all about building curiosity.

“If you can keep them curious,” she says, “they’ll keep coming back. These folks—they want to know more. That’s me. Every time I’m with Maxine, I learn something else.”

And every time they reunite with Marysee Prairie, it’s a different landscape. “It’s truly the excitement about what we’re going to see today,” says Ellen. “That constant change, that life goes on.”

Visit our Marysee Prairie preserve page to learn more about the prairie, sign up for an upcoming workday, read more stories from volunteers, and look back at the 30th Anniversary Celebration!