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Agenda includes 2019 officers election. You need to have paid your 2019 dues to vote. You can pay via cash or check at the meeting or via PayPal online at nscna.org/join-us
*Library is first door to your left when you enter via Pillow’s front door
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Several reports of coyote sightings have been posted recently on NextDoor North Shoal Creek. Here’s information from the Humane Society’s webpage on how to haze a coyote to keep them away from our yards and pets:
“Hazing is a method that makes use of deterrents to move an animal out of an area or discourage an undesirable behavior or activity. Hazing can help maintain a coyote’s fear of humans and deter them from backyards and play spaces.
Methods of hazing
Using a variety of different hazing tools is critical so that coyotes don’t get used to redundant or single stimulus devices, sounds, and actions.
- Yelling and waving your arms while approaching the coyote
- Noisemakers: Voice, whistles, air horns, bells, “shaker” cans full of marbles or pennies, pots, lid or pie pans banged together
- Projectiles: sticks, small rocks, cans, tennis balls or rubber balls
- Other: hoses, water guns with vinegar water, spray bottles with vinegar water, pepper spray or bear repellent
“Go away coyote!”
The simplest method of hazing a coyote involves being loud and large:
- Stand tall, wave your arms, and yell at the coyote, approaching them if necessary, until they run away as demonstrated in this coyote hazing video.
- If a coyote has not been hazed before, they may not immediately run away when you yell at them. If this happens, you may need to walk towards the coyote and increase the intensity of your hazing.
- The coyote may run away, but then stop after a distance and look at you. It is important to continue to go after the coyote until they completely leaves the area. You may need to use different tactics, such as noisemakers, stomping your feet, or spraying the coyote with a hose, to get them to leave.
Dog-walking tools
There are several tools that you can carry with you while walking your dog that can be used to repel coyotes. These include:
- Homemade noisemakers (PDF)
- Whistle or small air horn (you can purchase small air horn “necklaces”)
- Squirt guns
- Pepper spray
- Sticks or other objects to throw towards (but not at) the coyote”
For more information, go to https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/coyote-hazing
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Please come to NSCNA’s annual luminaria walk on Wednesday, December 19, 6-8 p.m., at the Pillow Elementary School track. Afterwards, stop by the pavilion for complimentary cookies and cocoa.
NSCNA needs volunteers to help set up the luminaria. If you can help, please arrive at the track at 4 p.m. We’ll have paper bags, sand, tea candles, and lighters. All we need is you!
2018 Luminaria Announcement
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The Austin Transportation Department (ATD) is holding an open house, a listening session to better understand the needs of people using Shoal Creek Boulevard:
Wednesday, December 12, 5:30 to & 7:00 P.M.
Gullett Elementary School Cafeteria
6310 Treadwell Blvd, Austin, TX 78757
Public input will be used to evaluate opportunities for improvements and can be shared with ATD at the listening session or by phone or email.
For more information: Shoal Creek Blvd Open House
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North Shoal Creek’s low tree canopy (20%) combined with the recent adoption of its neighborhood plan recently resulted in 173 free trees being distributed to North Shoal Creek residents who requested them via ACT’s 2018 program. Residents could select from three kinds of shade trees — Lacy Oak, Mexican Sycamore, or Mexican White Oak – and three kinds of understory trees — Mexican Buckeye, Texas Mountain Laurel, or Mexican Plum. Community volunteers along with Austin Development Services staff and staff from the Austin Parks and Recreation Department also planted 30 of the trees.
ACT volunteers canvassed our neighborhood on Sept. 29, 2018 hanging information about the program on doorknobs of residences that volunteers identified as needing additional sidewalk and street shade. In response to the canvassing – which offered a total of 615 trees — residents requested 173 trees via ACT’s online registration form.
ACT worked with the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association (NSCNA) to promote the program, recruit volunteers and provide food for volunteers at each of the three event days: the block walk on September 29, followed by the tree staging on October 26 and delivery day on October 27. NSCNA offers special thanks to Margaret Valenti, Senior Planner in the Community Tree Preservation Division of Austin’s Development Services Department, and NSCNA board member Jon Menegay, who served as co-coordinators of the project.
The ACT 2018 program succeeded in helping grow the urban forest in the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood, and it also helped activate and educate community volunteers on the importance of the urban forest and proper tree planting procedures. The effects of the program will be seen for years to come as the trees mature and become part of the neighborhood and the urban forest throughout the city.
This is the 12th year of the Austin Community Tree Program, which has delivered over 6,300 trees throughout the Austin community.
Here is a breakdown of North Shoal Creek’s new trees:
Shade Lacy Oak 15 Mexican Sycamore 19 Mexican White Oak 47 Subtotal 81 Understory Mexican Buckeye 24 Texas Mountain Laurel 36 Mexican Plum 32 Subtotal 92 Total Trees 173
