KERRVILLE, Texas – After the July 4 floods in the Hill Country, one woman did something unique with the leftover debris — she repurposed it. And now, it’s paying off.
“We’re lush; we’re green,” said Becky Etzler, executive director of the Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville.
The arboretum, like many places bordering the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, sustained damage after last month’s flood.
When KSAT 12 visited the Riverside Nature Center on July 8, branches, leaves, and other debris littered the five-acre property.
At the time, Etzler told us different parts of the property were covered in feet of mud. Volunteers helped clear it out.
Now, Etzler describes the Riverside Nature Center as “lush” and “green.”
“Normally, you’re not having to bushwhack through things [when you’re walking around the center],” said Etzler.
Etzler noted that’s vastly different from the center’s dry vegetation preceding the flood. She said it’s not a coincidence.
"I can’t say that all of this lushness is strictly because of water intake. I think it really got a boost of some nutrients (from the debris)," said Etzler.
Etzler said she treated some of that debris like treasure.
“If it was inorganic, it got taken away. But trees, branches, grass, leaves, anything like that, we just worked it down into mulch,” said Etzler.
Etzler said the plants started blooming weeks later.
The arboretum has been closed to the public since the flood. Etzler said she hopes to reopen it by the beginning of the September.
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