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CDRI Desert NewsFlash
January 2026
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An Aoudad mama and kid at the top of Modesta Canyon on a chilly morning, on the last day of 2025. Photo by Scott Whitener.
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| Thank you for an amazing 2025!
As we wrap up 2025, we want to express our sincere gratitude to each of you for your friendship, support, and love for nature and all it encompasses.
It was a joy to welcome you to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens throughout the year. We shared insights about the hiking trails and cactus museum collection, and we set new attendance records. We held our first annual Seed Swap, planted 17 4-foot Yucca faxoniana that were donated by Cherokee Yucca of Fort Stockton, Texas, and incorporated the entire Botanical Gardens and plants around the Visitor Center in a new plant database supported by Hortis. The accompanying story is printed in full in this issue of the Desert NewsFlash.
Meeting the 6:00 a.m. deadline for the Desert NewsFlash on the 1st of each month was fun and sometimes challenging, but we did it! We also appreciate the comments and responses we receive from our readers each month. Thank you!
You made our fundraisers, the Cactus & Succulent Sale and the BBQ & Auction, the most successful yet! Dates for the 2026 fundraisers are included in this newsletter.
You also helped make our Conant Lectures among the best-attended programs yet. The lectures featuring Bill Neiman, owner and founder of Native American Seed, and Kerry Griffis-Kyle, professor in the Department of Natural Resources Management at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, sparked vital conversations about our natural world.
Our kindergarten through eighth-grade educational programs saw their highest attendance numbers yet. We owe this success to our talented staff and outstanding volunteers.
Speaking of staff, we are incredibly fortunate to work with such an exceptional team. Special thanks to Faith, Mady, Scott, Will, and Jake; they are family. Our amazing volunteers, who contribute their time, energy, and expertise, are also an irreplaceable part of our family.
Everything you see and experience at CDRI is made possible by our phenomenal team, which includes our staff, Board of Directors, and volunteers. Thank you all!
Let's welcome the New Year with open arms and make 2026 even more remarkable!
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
Lisa Gordon
Executive Director
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|  | Satellite view of the Botanical Gardens and the Visitor Center, using the Hortis database.
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| Welcome to the world of Hortis!
In March 2025, we began a mission to digitize CDRI’s accessioned collection of botanical garden specimens and store it in an accessible cloud-based data system. While the data had previously been documented in an Excel spreadsheet and complemented by handwritten notes on the plants, our goal was to consolidate all the information into a single platform. This would not only make the data accessible for CDRI but also for other gardens, botanists, and the general public.
In early 2025, we began searching for a database and narrowed it down to two options. After our Zoom meeting with Jamie Penn from Hortis, we were convinced that Hortis was the right choice for us. Hortis was accessible, user-friendly, and offered the capacity and flexibility we needed. Furthermore, being a young company, they demonstrated the ability to adapt to our evolving needs. As we gained a clearer understanding of the details we wanted to include in the program, we were confident that Hortis could implement those changes.
Devoted volunteer Jim Fissel took the initiative to lead the program’s implementation. His background as a graphical user interface designer proved beneficial as he seamlessly integrated the garden map and trails into the overall design. The Hortis software allowed plant data to be recorded from cell phones, tablets, or laptops. This meant the data and photos could easily be recorded anywhere in the garden or back in an office with notebooks containing historical accession data.
From the outset, we anticipated that it would take two years to enter the data and have the program fully operational. After starting in March 2025, we were online and accessible to the public within three months. Jim, along with Head Gardener Faith Hille Dishron and her garden assistant Mady Kitchens, worked throughout the summer and into the fall to document all the plants. At this printing, there are 392 taxa (unique species), 563 accessions, and 957 documented individual materials.
The documentation of the Cactus Museum Collection is currently in progress. With over 200 species, subspecies, and varieties, the process can be slow. Due to the greenhouse’s summer heat, it was not possible to use phones to document the cacti. As a result, our dedicated data entry specialists—Jim, Faith, and Mady—had to wait until winter to start the documentation process.
Using the new Hortis database, Jim created templates for over 600 new plant labels to replace the old labels and identify new plants in the Botanical Gardens. The engraved steel labels are on order and should arrive next week. We will update you on the labeling progress in next month’s Desert NewsFlash.
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Check out our YouTube Channel
In case you weren’t aware, we have a YouTube channel titled “Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Gardens.” On this channel, you’ll find video recordings of the last five Roger Conant Distinguished Guest Lectures. Our most recent lecture, titled “Let’s Talk Toad: Sex, Water, and Bad Decisions,” (October 2025) was presented by Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle, a professor at Texas Tech University, and was recently added. Access the lectures here.
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Thank you - CDRI Board of Directors
Jim Martinez, Marfa, TX, President *
Joe Williams, Fort Davis, TX, Vice-President *
Rick Gupman, BBNP & Fort Davis, TX, Secretary *
Rick Herrman, Santa Fe, NM, Treasurer *
Ed Pfiester, Los Angeles, CA *
Pam Hall Duerr, San Antonio, TX
Jesse Kelsch, Alpine, TX
Pete Szilagyi, Austin, TX
Matt Walter, Alpine, TX
Julie Webb, Fort Davis & Waxahachie, TX
* Denotes member of the Executive Committee.
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CDRI welcomes its newest director, Matt Walter
We are delighted to welcome Matt Walter of Alpine, Texas, to the CDRI Board of Directors! (The photo is of Matt and his loyal companion, Cutter.)
Matt spent his formative years growing up in Texas, Tennessee, Massachusetts, upstate New York, and southern Brazil. He then enlisted in the United States Coast Guard (USCG), where he rose to the rank of Chief (E-7) during his 20-year career.
He then attended Sul Ross State University (SRSU) and had another 20-year career working as the Curator of Collections and Public Programming at the Museum of the Big Bend. During this time, he taught history classes at SRSU. Matt retired from the Museum in 2023, but is still a volunteer helping with the museum’s cartographic exhibits, guided tours, public programs, and events.
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Volunteer Opportunities
January 15 Adopt-a-Highway cleanup 9:00-11:00 a.m.
January 22 Baby juniper removal 9:00-11:00 a.m.
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Save the Dates!
We’ve received many inquiries already about our two popular fundraisers.
Please mark your calendars!
CDRI Cactus & Succulent Sale: March 16, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
CDRI BBQ & Auction: August 15, 4:00 - 7:30 p.m.
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In closing, we wish you happy trails, wherever they may lead. Just ensure the path always brings you back to CDRI to “the best rural nature center and botanical gardens in Texas.”
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Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, P.O. Box 905, Fort Davis, TX 79734
432.364.2499
www.cdri.org
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