In this monthly feature, our members and friends have been invited to reflect on and celebrate Travis Audubon’s 70 years.

Soaring at 70:
Reflections by Georgean & Paul Kyle

We were born in Houston in 1950 and married on June 14, 1969. We grew up during the tumultuous 1960s: a formative time when folk music, anti-war protests, and counter-culture ideology influenced many in our generation. This was also the start of the modern environmental movement, and for us, when our strong ecological ethic was born.

In 1972, we accompanied friends to see their property in a new subdivision near Mansfield Dam and immediately fell in love with the Texas Hill Country. An agent offered us three contiguous lots for a staggering $999 each and requested a deposit of $75. We only had $35, but our friends loaned us the balance. That is when we began our unimaginable journey.

Three months later we quit our jobs in Houston, packed everything we owned into our Dodge van, moved to an apartment in Austin and found new jobs: Paul as a carpenter in Lakeway and Georgean as a data processer in Austin. Weekends were spent building the house with no electricity and using only hand tools. In 1975 we started Rootin’ Ridge Toymakers where we manufactured and sold hand-crafted wooden toys for 40 years.

Our plan was to leave the property “as is”, but we soon learned that management was necessary to improve diversity. We studied birds and the care of injured and orphaned creatures at the Austin Nature Center, and ultimately specialized in Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica)-which became the namesake of the sanctuary. Over twenty years we released more than 1,100 displaced nestlings back into the wild. In subsequent years, we published numerous articles and books to aid the conservation of this remarkable species and built more than 200 Chimney Swift Towers.

All income after expenses from our tiny toy business was used to purchase adjacent property, and by 2005 we had acquired 27 lots. We began to contemplate how it could be protected into the future. Travis Audubon readily accepted our offer of donating the property to be maintained as a sanctuary. On December 30, 2006, Chaetura Canyon Sanctuary was created. Under TAS, the sanctuary has expanded from the original eight acres to eleven.

Maintenance of Chaetura Canyon has been basically revenue-neutral due to donations and volunteer efforts by many dedicated supporters. In 2014, an Endowment Fund was initiated by a group of generous friends to maintain the sanctuary and support its future. We hope to grow this Endowment to carry Chaetura Canyon and its many native residents safely and securely into the twenty-first century and beyond -and we are off to an amazing start!

We hope you’ll consider joining the effort to secure the legacy of Chaetura Canyon. With your support, this magical place will be protected and sustained for many generations to enjoy.

Georgean and Paul Kyle

Murmurations Blog