Our Story
Our New Name: Watersong Wild Space
The I-20 Wildlife Preserve is stepping into a new era. With clarity of mission and vision, we are rebranding as Watersong Wild Space, a place to tune in to nature at Midland’s urban playa.
It’s water that makes this ecosystem sing. Rooted in the story of the playa and how it sustains the ecosystem, flora, and fauna, and the people who visit and enjoy this calming oasis, Watersong names the playa system. Wild Space speaks to the authentic, natural area that provides a mix of adventure, learning, and tranquility afforded by wilderness and deeply rooted in this Midland treasure.
We welcome your comments and questions on our new name. Please reach out directly to our Executive Director, wes@watersong.org
Watersong is Midland’s wild space, home to an urban playa that attracts wildlife, sustains verdant vegetation, and offers people a place of tranquility, adventure, and learning.
Opened to the public in 2013 as the I-20 Wildlife Preserve, Watersong Wild Space is a 100-acre riparian forest campus in Midland, Texas. The 86-acre urban playa lake is the highlight of the wetlands, floodplain thickets, and prairie grasslands – providing abundant avian, wildlife, and aquatic habitat. The urban playa is a treasured ecotourism destination of regional significance and a science education resource of the Permian Basin.
Playa Wildlife
Watersong’s freshwater aquatic biome plays host to a diversity of species. Pocket gophers and rabbits tunnel through plants at the water’s edge. Flycatchers and dragonflies capture insects over the heads of sandpipers and egrets. Mammals like raccoons and bobcats patrol the playa's marshes. Amphibians find habitat in the small ponds and reptiles like turtles, lizards, and snakes make Watersong home.
86-Acre Urban Playa
A playa lake is an ephemeral wetland found across the High Plains. These features are shallow, clay-lined basins that are a primary source of recharge for the Ogallala aquifer - a vast but rapidly depleted source of groundwater vital to life in the semi arid plains. The urban playa lake of Watersong Wild Space, with its surrounding feral forest, prairie grasses, and ponds is a rich center for biodiversity.
Source: Texan by Nature
Source: Texan by Nature
Conservation Efforts
Our holistic land management practice works to conserve the vibrant nature of the urban playa environment and create opportunities for outdoor and wildlife education. Careful removal of invasive plant species opens the watershed to a greater biodiversity of aquatic and avian wildlife, fortifies the ecological integrity of native plants and animals, and maintains the wild space for future generations to enjoy.
Our Mission
To ensure that Midland’s community has a wild space that connects them to nature, and opens them up to education, conservation, habitat preservation, and research.
Our Vision
Be the place that inspires people across our community to become stewards of the natural world and all that it offers to our health, minds, and purpose.
Our Values
Commitment to Science Education
Collaboration with our Community
Wellness and Resilience from Access to Nature
Stewardship and Sustainability of Wild Spaces
Curiosity, Exploration, and Learning