Net-Zero Hero: CJ Williams

I’m helping to make Austin Net-Zero by managing the vegetation and landscape of our diverse native ecosystems.

Meet our newest Net-Zero Hero: CJ Williams. Raised in Hawaiʻi, CJ was inspired by Indigenous land practices as they navigated finding their way into green careers — a journey that ultimately brought them to Austin. Today, CJ serves as the newest Land Manager for Travis Audubon’s Blair Woods Nature Preserve, where they’re looking forward to fostering a diverse and resilient ecosystem built on the dedicated work of staff and volunteers who came before them.

We traveled to Blair Woods Nature Preserve to chat with CJ, tour the grounds, and learn about their unique perspective on managing land in Central Texas.

What inspired you to take action?

Growing up in Hawaiʻi, on the island of Kauaʻi, I was raised with the values of “Kōkua” and “Mālama 'Āina,” both of which translate to something like “care for the land.” With this in mind, I grew up participating in volunteer beach cleanups, invasive removal projects, and the like. It’s just part of the fabric of everyday life there.

I really started developing an interest in plants in high school, when I joined a hula hālau (a hula group) and began making my own lei. Our teacher made sure we harvested materials ethically: asking the plant and its surrounding ecosystem for permission, never taking too much from an individual plant, and making sure it could regenerate from what was taken. She also taught us the context of that plant: its Latin botanical name, its Hawaiian name, and what it represented metaphorically in song and chant.

My teacher saw that I was particularly engaged with this aspect of hula and encouraged me to start volunteering at the local botanical gardens. After volunteering there for a while, they offered me an internship with their horticultural center. It was this Indigenous value system and framework of caring for the land that I was immersed in in Hawaii that first inspired me to work with plants.

How did you do it?

After that first internship in high school, I kept volunteering with plant nurseries and restoration projects wherever I moved. It was just an enriching hobby, not something I ever thought about as a career — until I learned about AmeriCorps from a college friend. 

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic ended my job and horticulture internship in California, and I decided I would start fresh by moving to Austin. I had done some research into AmeriCorps programs and applied for a crew member position with American YouthWorks’ Texas Conservation Corps (TxCC). That job really changed my life and made me consider working outside full-time in a natural resources career.

After two and a half years as a TxCC AmeriCorps member, I was still in love with the work we were doing and applied for a permanent program staff position. With this position, I had a bigger role in planning and coordinating restoration and land management projects, as well as mentoring the next generation of TxCC members on the fundamentals of restoration ecology. 

So, I’ve never had a degree or “formal education” in land management. I just let my passion and curiosity guide me from one opportunity to the next. I’ve gained the majority of my knowledge from in-field experience and through the mentorship of experienced land managers. 

What’s been most rewarding about getting involved in this way?

Visiting a spot where I’ve done restoration work and seeing the changes to the ecosystem one year, two years, and five years out is really rewarding. Ecological restoration is rarely an immediate process. It takes place over time with consistent care. It’s really awesome to visit a project site where I did restoration work as a TxCC member, where the crews I supervised continued that project, and now I can see crews I have no relationship to and outside volunteers continuing that work. Before you realize it, the site looks completely different from when you began the work five years ago — and it's all thanks to this collaborative effort from the community. 

I also love seeing people develop a relationship with their natural environment and helping, in my way, to facilitate and encourage that relationship. It’s so easy in our capital-driven society to be completely disconnected from our natural environment, for it to all just blend together in the background of your life. But nature can really change your worldview. Just being able to identify two or three species of plants or distinguish which birds are singing in your backyard is meaningful.

What’s been the toughest part?

As I mentioned previously, ecological restoration is a long-term process. It can be hard to see the positive impact you’re making in the middle of a project, because at many stages it involves “destruction” more than feel-good “healing the land” practices. Things like prescribed fire, killing invasive plant species, even killing some native species can all be part of a long-term goal of restoring a more diverse, resilient ecosystem. 

It’s also very physically demanding to do full-time. There are no seasonal “breaks”. You’re working outside with power tools in Texas in ALL weather conditions. Don’t get me wrong, I love working outside full-time, but it does take a toll on your body over time, and I’ve had to learn to listen to my body, know my limits, and rest in my off time. 

You’ve recently begun a new position with Travis Audubon. Can you share some of what you’re looking forward to in this role?

I’m so excited to be working with Travis Audubon as their Land Manager for the Blair Woods Preserve. 

I’m looking forward to seeing the changes that long-term, consistent restoration by myself and our cadre of dedicated volunteers will bring to the preserve’s landscape. There’s been a lot of work done over the past decade to combat invasive monocultures on these ten acres. 

“Monoculture” is the term land stewards and scientists use to describe a plant's tendency to outcompete diverse, native plant communities and, in the process, change the ecosystem to be more and more hospitable to only that species. In Central Texas, some of the plants we see most often creating monocultures are species of privet (Ligustrum spp.), chinaberry (Melia azedarach), and nandina (Nandina domestica).

With all the hard work our volunteers and the previous land manager did to combat monocultures in the preserve, I get to start planning the next phase of restoration: seeding and planting a diversity of native vegetation.

Your conservation work has spanned many different ecosystems — from Hawaii to the Bay Area and now Central Texas. What lessons do you think carry through across all these places? What feels unique to Texas?

A theme in conservation work I’ve seen reflected in all of these places is the necessity of water. Water is life. It is the underpinning of all ecosystems and their resilience in the face of a changing climate. 

Even in places like the California Bay Area and Hawai’i — both surrounded by the ocean — severe droughts are now a recurrent challenge in ecosystem management, increasing wildfire risk, reducing native plant communities' resilience to pests and disease, and creating more opportunities for invasive species to form monocultures in destabilized ecosystems. 

In Central Texas, where our water sources are tied to slowly recharging karstic aquifers, the impact of drought is even more profound. In this context, nurturing native plant communities over non-native plants is not just about preserving the unique character of Central Texas ecosystems, it’s also the wisest choice for water conservation and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Plants adapted to this climate and soil need significantly less water to thrive than many of the popular commercial landscaping species. Native prairie grasses root deep into the soil, are incredibly water-efficient, and keep the ground surface much cooler than exotic turf grasses.

Is there a book, documentary, or other piece of media you would recommend for folks wanting to learn more about these topics?

International Network for Seed-Based Restoration has a great series of videos available on their website and YouTube for free called Native Seeds: Supplying Restoration. 

I’d also recommend the film Foreverland:  The Untold Story of the Barton Creek Greenbelt.

Finally, I follow a lot of botany and ecology influencers who are creating great educational content, like Alexis Nikole (@blackforager) and Joey Santore (Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t). Santore recently released a book called Concrete Botany: the Ecology of Plants in the Age of Human Disturbance, which I really enjoyed.

What advice do you have for others?

Getting involved in habitat restoration and protecting your local ecosystems is something that everybody can do! You don’t need a specialized degree to do this work — just interest, motivation, and a little bit of training. 

There are many ways to get involved. Once you know how to identify just a few of the most common, monoculture-prone invasive species, you can volunteer at your neighborhood park, preserve, or trail system to remove invasive species. If working with plants isn’t your thing, you can help those land managers pick up trash or participate in community science projects through iNaturalist. If you’re making landscaping decisions, choose a diversity of native, drought-adapted plants. Or, at the very least, DON’T plant monoculture-prone species like nandina or privet. The choice of what to plant is not just for “your” land… it affects the health of the entire surrounding ecosystem and will impact that land for many decades. 

And while extensive plant identification knowledge isn’t required to make a meaningful impact in your local ecosystem, I think having curiosity about the plants and animals around you and developing a relationship with your natural environment is one of the most enriching parts of the human experience.

Dive deeper

Learn more about the history of Blair Woods Nature Preserve and plan a visit to the site to explore it on your own.

Natural systems — like urban forests, waterways, and parks — help clean our air, provide homes for animals, support our mental health, capture carbon dioxide, and are a vital part of what makes Austin Austin. Visit the Austin Climate Equity Plan to discover ways you can support natural systems and take action toward our community’s net-zero future!

Know a sustainability superstar?

Nominate them as a Net-Zero Hero by emailing Climate@AustinTexas.gov.