Katy Prairie Preserve

[ChannelTwoNews]

Thought it would be good to start a thread highlighting the work of the Coastal Preserve Conservancy  to save swaths of the remaining Katy Prairie. I didn't realize that they had multiple sites open to the public to access. Those multiple sites comprise the current Katy Prairie Preserve.

They recently have purchased 160 acres to add to the sites that they currently manage. The press release says that they currently own about 30,000 acres. The website says 18,000 acres of it is land for wildlife habitats.

Edited July 14, 2023 by ChannelTwoNews
link update

[editor]

It's on my big list of things to see.  I'd love to get out there and ind out what birds there are.

 

[editor]

Well, @ChannelTwoNews — I actually went.

I drove up to the Conservancy's Warren Lake unit.  I didn't stay too long because it was 99°, and there's no place to sit.  But I'll go back again when the weather is friendlier, and I remember to bring snacks and a shooting stick. 

Not too many birds around, but that's to be expected, since there's not much wildlife left in Texas compared with when I lived here last time.  Also, it was 99°.  I saw a flock of Egrets, and a few Red Wing Blackbirds, and a whole bunch of what appeared to be Swifts.  Fortunately, lots and lots of dragonflies, which means not many mosquitoes.  But as we've learned recently, Houston is so hot now that it's become inhospitable to even mosquitoes.  (Thanks, Exxon!)

It's a good place to go and get a sense of what Houston used to be like before strip malls and cheap concrete. 

Even this far out, the reserve is bring surrounded by boring beige suburban drek.  There's one development that looks several years old, and another one being built across the street ("Sunset Prairie" or some similar excretion).  Except the new cookie-cutter development is being built six feet higher than the old cookie-cutter development.  We've been to this rodeo before: When the rain comes, the water will run off of the new development and flood the old development.  Then the property values of the old development will suffer, it will become run down, and it will eventually become gross.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Wipe hands on pants.

Here's some pictures: