Hi there, my name is Kirby Martinez, and I am the founder of Rewild Austin, a new environmental nonprofit that is just starting to get off the ground. Before I cover the nonprofit and what our goals are, I would like to give a little background on myself.
I grew up right here in Austin, Texas, and went to the University of Texas for college. I am currently an Engineer, but I have always had a passion for nature and the outdoors. Growing up, my parents would always take my siblings and me hiking and camping around Central Texas. This spurred a desire to always be searching for new trails to hike or a new park to explore. This consistent exposure to the outdoors I had turned into a love for nature and all that it can teach us.
Sadly, as I grew older, those new parks and trails became harder to find, as there is a very limited amount of public land in Texas. Fortunately, the City of Austin does have a good trail and park system in place, but the city is growing fast, and the development of Central Texas is happening even faster. There is an urgent need to not only create new green spaces for people to enjoy but also protect and improve the green places we already have.
That last part is where Rewild Austin comes in. There is no better time to start helping our community than now. We can improve the parks and green spaces we already have. Planting trees and native shrubs, collecting seeds, and helping clean parks and maintain trails are all things we can do with a little funding, time, and effort. If Rewild Austin can help maintain and improve our parks, then the city and county can work towards their goals of creating and building new parks and trail systems across the city.
Rewild Austin’s initial focus will be to support the work of established environmental nonprofits in the Austin area. This is the easiest way for us to quickly make an impact on our parks. We have a range of larger goals we want to accomplish over the next few decades to help rewild Austin, but for now, I will just focus on what we plan to do in 2025.
My first goal is to post regularly on this blog. I have spent a lot of time reading, watching, and learning about the different ways humans can take an active role in restoring nature. I want to share this knowledge with you and break it down in a way that is easily digestible. I am going to cover a wide range of topics, but the beginning will mainly be focused on what rewilding is, how anyone can do it anywhere, the benefits of green spaces in urban areas, and things each of us can do the help solve the water crisis in Central Texas.
Another goal for 2025 is to put on several fundraising events where we can raise money that will go directly toward planting trees in the Austin area. We are still working on finalizing our partnerships, but if we can raise money, we would like to use it to work with Tree Folk to support their ongoing tree plantings across Central Texas. If you have trees in your neighborhood park, there is a good chance that TreeFolk put them there. They have already planted over 3 million trees, and we want to help them get that number even higher.
Finally, we will look to host some volunteer and educational events to both clean up our city and teach people more about the nature that surrounds them. These events will be posted to this website and the Instagram account(rewild_austin), so keep your eye out and follow the Instagram account if you haven’t already.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I can’t wait to share more information with you and grow this community. Let’s Keep Austin Wild!