SPORTS + OUTDOORS

Buffalo Bayou Partnership presents Wetland Planting at Harris County Precinct 2 Buffalo Bend Nature Park, Saturday, August 22, 9am-12noon. 

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is is looking for heat-tolerant, enthusiastic volunteers (16+ years) who are available to "play in the mud" at the newly created wetlands at Buffalo Bend Nature Park along the bayou's east sector. There are 9,000 wetland plants that will need to be placed as the first Phase of design plans near completion.

The first park of its kind to serve Houston’s East End residents, Buffalo Bend Nature Park is a new project of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership Conservation Division.

Consisting of a series of graded, water-treatment wetlands, the environmental park will contribute to the restoration and enhancement of Buffalo Bayou and the downstream coastal ecosystems it impacts. Buffalo Bend will also serve an important function for East End residents, providing them a direct link to the heritage of their city and a higher quality of life that offers hiking, bird watching, environmental education and most importantly, a sense of wildness that many locals from this community rarely have the opportunity to experience.

The central feature of the park will be a system of three wetlands which will meander through the parkland before finally opening to the bayou. With sustainability being the overarching feature of this inner city park, sustainable principles will guide all aspects of the Park’s development, from low impact building materials and solar energy panels to restoring the once abundant wildlife habitat, ecological productivity and species diversity. Historically known as an under-served, industrialized and highly developed portion of Houston, the completion of Buffalo Bend Nature Park will provide an important natural space for recreation and rejuvenation within Houston's East End.

For more information about this project, click here.

The planting schedule:
9am: Gather at the site, planting instruction and demo.
9:30-11:30: Planting of wetland plants in designated areas.
noon: Round-up tools, supplies.

What you need to bring:
Water, sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, clothes that breathe and rubber boots (waders if you have them).

If you can attend or if you have questions, please contact Jessalyn Ballard, our volunteer and outreach coordinator, at jballard@buffalobayou.org or 713.752.0314 ext. 4.

Feel free to pass this on to those interested in volunteering.

Directions:

 From I-10 coming from Houston, going towards Beaumont.
-Exit Wayside and make a right
-Follow Wayside down over multiple bridges
-Turn left at Ave. W
-Ave. W. dead ends at Buffalo Bend Nature Park (at Sgt. Macario Garcia Drive)