The Fort Bliss National Cemetery sustained some damage from Monday morning's rainfall. The northeast was hit by over five inches of rain. (MARK LAMBIE / EL PASO TIMES)

The El Paso City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday asking the Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration to replace the xeriscaping at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with grass and sod.

Since xeriscaping began at the cemetery in 2006, "every heavy rain event in El Paso results in widespread damage to the grave sites and tombstones," the resolution states. In the past two years alone, "1,600 graves were damaged at Fort Bliss National Cemetery," it states.

A spokesperson for Fort Bliss National Cemetery was unavailable for comment. More than 50,000 people are buried at the cemetery at 5200 Fred Wilson Drive.

Ray Rivera, an Army veteran who addressed the City Council, said that of the 131 national cemeteries across the country, only three others are xeriscaped.

"We were told before that the change was necessary in order to conserve water, but it may be costing more to repair the damaged graves and areas to the cemetery," Rivera said.

Rivera said he believed smaller, private cemeteries don't have the same problems to the degree that exist at Fort Bliss National Cemetery, and that one of them uses a small reservoir to store water.

City Rep. Carl Robinson, a veteran, said he and others led a charge to keep the grass at the cemetery before the xeriscaping was installed.

"We're dealing with a big bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., which needs to be persuaded to do this," Robinson said. "Input from many veterans and from additional members of Congress will be needed."

City officials said they have received complaints that relatives of veterans buried at the cemetery can't kneel around the tombstones because of the gravel that replaced the grass.

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Council passes resolution to put grass at Fort Bliss National Cemetery

The Fort Bliss National Cemetery sustained some damage from Monday morning's rainfall. The northeast was hit by over five inches of rain. (MARK LAMBIE / EL PASO TIMES)

The El Paso City Council today unanimously approved a resolution asking the Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration to replace the xeriscaping at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with grass and sod.

Since xeriscaping began at the cemetery in 2006, "every heavy rain event in El Paso results in widespread damage to the grave sites and tombstones," the resolution states. In the past two years alone, "1,600 graves were damaged at Fort Bliss National Cemetery," it states.

Ray Rivera, an Army veteran who addressed the City Council today, said that of the 131 national cemeteries across the country, only three others are xeriscaped.

"We were told before that the change was necessary in order to conserve water, but it may be costing more to repair the damaged graves and areas to the cemetery," Rivera said.

Rivera said he believed smaller, private cemeteries don't have the same problems to the degree that exist at Fort Bliss National Cemetery, and that one of them uses a small reservoir to store water.

City Rep. Carl Robinson, a veteran, said he and others led a charge to keep the grass at the cemetery before the xeriscaping was installed.

"We're dealing with a big bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., which needs to be persuaded to do this," Robinson said. "Input from many veterans and from additional members of Congress will be needed."

City officials said they have received complaints that relatives of veterans buried at the cemetery can't kneel around the tombstones because of the gravel that replaced the grass.

State Sen. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, commissioned experts from the University of Texas at El Paso, to study the soil at the cemetery to find what's causing the graves to sink and headstone to fall over--and whether the rain is solely responsible for this.

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El Paso City Council approves resolution asking for grass, sod at Fort Bliss cemetery

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The Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department finds itself in the uncomfortable position of sounding like the ill-tempered neighbor down the block who shakes his fist and yells, Hey you kids, stay off of my lawn!

Of course, the kids theyre yelling at are adults, and theyre not just stepping on the lawn, theyre playing tackle football and tearing up the newly laid sod.

In September, just more than six acres of sod was put down at Vista del Norte Park on Osuna, west of Jefferson NE. The roots need to be established before team sports can be played on it, sometime in spring, said Alex Kiska, the recreation division manager for the city parks department.

Were not telling people to stay off the grass. Its fine to walk on it, have a picnic there, throw a Frisbee, fly a kite or walk your dog on a leash across it. We just need to give the grass an opportunity to establish itself and extend its root system before we have rough activities on it.

To be clear, the stakes are higher than some kid chasing an errant ball across a neighbors lawn. The cost for the sod and labor to install it was just under $100,000, and that doesnt count the cost of land preparation and the irrigation system, said David Flores, planning and design division manager for city parks.

For the past three weeks, a rogue football league has taken it upon themselves to use that field for their games, and theyve been tearing up the turf with their cleats, Kiska said.

Weve asked them not to use the field, weve placed signs there saying no league play until spring and weve told them we have plenty of other parks in town that they can use if they register, Kiska said. We can find a park for them.

Nevertheless, the Parks and Recreation Department has continued to get reports of intermittent football games there, most recently last Sunday.

One football team that has used the park has been identified as part of the Wolf Pack league. Sam Boughter, a coach with one of the teams, acknowledged that he was contacted by city Parks and Rec officials and told that the sod hadnt been established and we couldnt use it for games yet.

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Foul called on football players at ABQ park

By Aaron Martinez

El Paso Times, Texas (MCT)

Published: November 1, 2014

(MCT)The El Paso City Council on Tuesday will discuss and vote on a resolution urging officials at Fort Bliss National Cemetery to replace the xeriscaping with grass and sod.

The efforts from city officials comes after U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, encouraged them to get involved in bringing grass back to the cemetery, city Rep. Cortney Niland said.

"The Congressman (O'Rourke) has asked if the city would draft a resolution for his initiative to turn the cemetery back to grass, which I feel would be very deserving to these brave veterans who served our county," Niland said. "They deserve a place to rest that is beautiful and when their families come to visit them, they can feel we have given them the respect they deserve."

Since the cemetery was xeriscaped in 2006, many veteran organizations and government officials, including O'Rourke and state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, have asked the National Cemetery Administration, who oversees Fort Bliss National Cemetery, to bring grass back.

"We are one of a very small number of cemeteries that are xeriscaped, in other words, they have sand and gravel instead of grass at our veterans' gravesites," O'Rourke said. "What I have heard most from veterans and widows, widowers and family members of veterans buried at Fort Bliss, is that they would like to once again have grass. They feel it is more befitting of a cemetery."

There are more than 50,000 people buried there.

Ame Callahan, director of the Fort Bliss National Cemetery, said the xeriscaping was installed in to help save water because it took about 62 million gallons of water to maintain the grass a year.

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Texas City Council to vote on resolution to put grass back at Fort Bliss National Cemetery

State Rep. Joe Moody, middle, professors Diana Doser and Lixin Jin talk with Fort Bliss National Cemetery officials. (By Aaron Martinez / El Paso Times)

The El Paso City Council on Tuesday will discuss and vote on a resolution urging officials at Fort Bliss National Cemetery to replace the xeriscaping with grass and sod.

The efforts from city officials comes after U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, encouraged them to get involved in bringing grass back to the cemetery, city Rep. Cortney Niland said.

"The Congressman (O'Rourke) has asked if the city would draft a resolution for his initiative to turn the cemetery back to grass, which I feel would be very deserving to these brave veterans who served our county," Niland said. "They deserve a place to rest that is beautiful and when their families come to visit them, they can feel we have given them the respect they deserve."

Since the cemetery was xeriscaped in 2006, many veteran organizations and government officials, including O'Rourke and state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, have asked the National Cemetery Administration, who oversees Fort Bliss National Cemetery, to bring grass back.

"We are one of a very small number of cemeteries that are xeriscaped, in other words, they have sand and gravel instead of grass at our veterans' gravesites," O'Rourke said. "What I have heard most from veterans and widows, widowers and family members of veterans buried at Fort Bliss, is that they would like to once again have grass. They feel it is more befitting of a cemetery."

There are more than 50,000 people buried there.

Ame Callahan, director of the Fort Bliss National Cemetery, said the xeriscaping was installed in to help save water because it took about 62 million gallons of water to maintain the grass a year.

"In 2006, we had a study done, because we maintain a national shrine, we have very high standards for our cemetery and we just could not keep the grass green," Callahan said. "We used about 62 million gallons of water a year from the aquifer that El Paso residents are using. That, along with energy concerns and the fact that the aquifer is looking to dry up (is why we changed to xeriscaping). Our job is to honor our veterans and their families with dignity and respect in their final resting place. So with that, we decided to go with xeriscaping."

According to Callahan, it could cost about $12 million to put grass back and to maintain it.

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City Council to vote on resolution to put grass back at Fort Bliss National Cemetery

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 31, 2014

In keeping with their DIY series of lawn care videos, Super-Sod filmed a new video and released it October 2014 to coincide with Tall Fescue grass planting season. It's called "How-to Plant a New Tall Fescue Lawn from Grass Seed" and can be found on YouTube, supersod.com, and linked herein.

The video applies to seeding any new Tall Fescue Lawn, but it was produced to support Super-Sod's Elite Tall Fescue brand. Every year, a team of Super-Sod's experts selects the best three Tall Fescue varieties for the Southeast resulting in their own blend marketed as Elite Tall Fescue.

Tall Fescue is a cool season lawn --- that means it begins to grow again as temperatures cool in the autumn. Now is the time of year when already established Tall Fescue lawns are overseeded. Overseeding is the process of distributing grass seed over an existing lawn to freshen up the lawn and fill in thinning patches with vigorous new seedlings.

Autumn is also the time of year when completely new Tall Fescue lawns are created from scratch. Since creating a new lawn from seed is a more involved process than overseeding, Super-Sod's video was filmed to demonstrate the process step-by-step to support homeowners in the endeavor of growing a new Elite Tall Fescue lawn from seed.

Super-Sod is a family-run business that employs experts in turf and horticulture. One of their most popular products has been their Soil3 organic compost, delivered in a cubic yard BigYellowBag, which they make partially from composted grass clippings from their sod production. Super-Sod continues to develop new garden products, foster gardening and landscaping, and always seeks to improve their farming practices, technology, environmental stewardship, and employee knowledge.

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Super-Sod Filmed a New Video for DIY Planting of Elite Tall Fescue Grass Seed

Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) October 30, 2014

Super-Sod welcomed aboard Matt Torrence, who will be based out of their Gwinnett County store at 609 Airport Road, Lawrenceville, Georgia. He will serve the Northeast Georgia region as sales representative and in customer support. His main products are Super-Sod's turfgrass brands Zenith and Emerald Zoysia, TifGrand and Tifway Bermuda, TifBlair Centipede, and Elite Tall Fescue. He will also represent their supporting products: turfgrass seed, Allett reel mowers for homeowners and landscapers, Soil3 organic compost, and Doc's Raised Garden Kits.

Matt comes to the company with 3 years experience in horticulture, in both production and sales. Prior to his career as a horticulturist, he served in the United States Coast Guard and was based in Charleston, Norfolk, and San Francisco. With his wife, Emma, they now reside in Statham where they are preparing to welcome their first baby in December. Matt likes to stay busy and keeps bees as a hobby.

Super-Sod is a family-run business that employs experts in turf and horticulture. One of their most popular products has been their Soil3 organic compost, delivered in a cubic yard BigYellowBag, which they make partially from composted grass clippings from their sod production. Super-Sod continues to develop new garden products, foster gardening and landscaping, and always seeks to improve their farming practices, technology, environmental stewardship, and employee knowledge.

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New Hire Announcement: Super-Sod Hired a New Sales and Customer Service Representative for Georgia

The lawn is the Atlas of our times, bearing its keepers and their children, dogs, cats and, if mine is any measure, whole armies of squirrels and chipmunks.

The lawn can bear this burden, with some periodic help, but it has also had to support a much tougher load that of societys conflicting expectations.

Up and down the land, local ordinances enshrine the front yard as a place where neatly mown lawns framed with low or no fences could speak of a communal respectability, openness and uniformity. With suburbia came and remains an enforced neighborliness. There was a time when every block had at least one greensward hobbyist, usually male, in unbridled pursuit of the trophy lawn. This mania probably has dissipated now that we inhabit Screen World.

To other eyes, the lawn is no trophy but a throwback to a time when its symbolic probity came at a cost not only to our individuality but to the health of the planet.

For a generation at least, environmentalists have been railing against the lawn for its addiction to scarce water, to polluting fertilizers and to life-killing pesticides.

My view? In our watery part of the world, the lawn is a welcome feature in many (though not all) gardens, but as one considered element of a landscape. Cultivated with care and knowledge, the lawn is a net environmental asset in its ability to check storm water, filter pollutants and generally cool the heat island.

Others might not regard the turf as kindly, and the debate lingers, but the lawn itself has moved on: Better practices and improved grass varieties now enable greater success with this ubiquitous land form. That is the central message of a living exhibition, Grass Roots, that opened this month at the National Arboretum and will be around for a few years.

Anyone with a lawn in these parts should make a point to see it for the simple reason that we live in a climatic cusp that makes turf cultivation particularly challenging.

I asked the experts behind the exhibit, Scott Aker and Geoffrey Rinehart, to rattle off some of the most common lawn blunders. You may know them already, but theyre worth repeating:

Mowing too short: If you mow cool-season grasses too short, youre inviting disaster. The grass will become stressed and die back, and the void will be filled with weeds. Keep your mower at its highest setting.

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National Arboretums Grass Roots: A brighter future for the lawn

Published on October 29, 2014

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas: Immerse yourself in a vanishing landscape

STRONG CITY, Kan. - Stand here in a field of tall, windblown grass and wildflowers, and twirl around like a child. It's like being inside a prairie snow globe: You're surrounded by a sea of green, brown and yellow grass, with a blue-sky dome above.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas is one of just a few places in the country where you can immerse yourself in this serene but vanishing landscape. Tallgrass prairie once covered 140 million acres of North America, including much of the Midwest. But only 4 per cent of that ecosystem remains, wiped out by more than 150 years of human settlement, cattle-grazing and farming.

The Tallgrass Preserve here in the Flint Hills is one of the last tracts left, consisting of 11,000 acres mostly owned by the Nature Conservancy and managed with the National Park Service. There are miles of trails here to explore, but the Southwind Nature Trail is an easy-to-walk loop trail just under 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) that offers a sublime sense of what the landscape felt and looked like when it was covered with tallgrass and wildflowers across the region.

The preserve is also home to a historic site a late 19th-century ranch with outbuildings, along with a one-room schoolhouse used from 1882 to 1930. A free cellphone tour provides details on each structure, including a barn bigger than the house, an icehouse, carriage house, chicken coop with a sod roof (using plants as insulation, way ahead of its time), and outhouse with three holes. (Not that three people would have used it at once, mind you: one seat was for a child, and the other two were likely rotated in use.)

A prosperous cattleman, Stephen F. Jones, lived here on the Spring Hill/Z Bar Ranch with his wife and daughter in the 1880s. Limestone was easily quarried from the layers of rock beneath the rich prairie soil, allowing Jones to build an elegant mansion and stone fencing around his vast property.

But once you're on the Southwind Nature Trail, away from the ranch, you can almost suspend your disbelief and pretend you're experiencing this extraordinary landscape before settlers arrived, when the only destruction faced by the tallgrass was from a natural cycle of lightning-sparked fire, rainfall and grazing bison.

The park is open daily, year-round, and each season offers a different experience of weather, colours, flora and fauna. On a visit in early autumn, the trail was lined with fields of tall yellow flowers dancing in the breeze, punctuated by bursts of other purple, red and white wildflowers amid the grasses. Tiny lizards, a snake and grasshoppers darted across the path. Rabbits, prairie chickens and other birds and other creatures live here, too. The trail meanders gently into higher ground and over a brook, then finally to the school, still furnished with a woodstove, wooden desks and benches, along with portraits of George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

As you walk back toward the ranch house to the parking lot, you travel a path parallel to a road where the occasional car zips by. It's a good reminder of the human factor that led to the prairie's demise.

Continued here:
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas: Immerse yourself in a vanishing landscape

The outfield of the intramural softball field off of Sprigg Street. Photo by Sean Burke

An abundance of time and money have been spent to make the fields playable, however the damage has already been done, and alternative solutions are already being considered for the future.

"Just weather-related, last winter we lost our grass on all three of our fields. This also occurred on city fields, the city of Cape lost several fields as well," assistant director of intramurals Jennifer Rose said. "Just the type of grass we had and the type of winter we had didn't mix."

As the spring of 2014 approached, Rose began noticing the deterioration of the fields. When the spring semester ended, Rose started looking for answers on how to repair the fields, but her options were limited.

"We did put seed down this summer," Rose said. "The seed was questionable whether or not it was going to work, but it was one of our options. We didn't have the ability to put it down on all three fields. We did go ahead and move forward with two of the fields, those fields do have grass now, that's our Bertling [Street] field and our upper Bertling field."

While the grass is there and the fields are playable, Rose is still doing damage control as the grass has already begun to show wear and tear.

"The grass kind of grows almost horizontal, so it looks like we've got this nice coverage in there but if you really dig around in that grass you'll see there's not a lot of roots for as much grass as there appears to be," Rose said.

Nonetheless, play still continues on both Bertling fields, but the field off of Sprigg Street is completely unplayable.

"We don't consider it safe enough to play any of the real sports on, so it is completely offline," Rose said. "It is open for recreational use, but we're not scheduling anything on there because it's more dirt than grass right now."

With only two intramural fields open for play, Rose had to make significant changes to the sports provided by the intramural office in order to preserve what quality of field is left and to ensure that the fields will be ready for spring.

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Mother Nature takes toll on intramural fields