Woody plants are raised for the Dallas Floodway Extension

Woody plants are raised for the Dallas Floodway Extension Project at the Corps’ Engineer Research and Development Center’s Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility in north Texas. Graduate student Aaron Shad examines an elderberry grown in a particularly deep pot that will help it survive when planted in the mitigation bottomlands along the Trinity River in Dallas. Elderberry is a beneficial shrub that has many wildlife uses including cover, nesting and food. Many animal species eat the fruit including migratory birds and songbirds. The flowers are attractive for pollinating insects including bees, which also nest in certain stems. In the foreground right is a red mulberry (a drought-resistant tree that produces fruit for songbirds and other wildlife). To the left is flameleaf sumac (which can create thickets for wildlife cover and whose fruit is a good late-season food source).