On Saturday, September 6, another prairie plant rescue is scheduled for the Saums Road Prairie. Anyone wishing to volunteer for this event needs to return a signed liability waiver to Flo Hannah by noon on Thursday, September 4. Please email Flo Hannah or call 713-932-1639 for a copy of the waiver.

August 16 update

Houston Audubon and its volunteers are pleased to be partnering with landowners Vincent and Felix Ho, volunteers from multiple environmental organizations, and local government agencies to rescue grasses and wildflowers from a historically important Harris County coastal prairie. On Saturday, July 5th, 26 volunteers gathered at dawn on the Saums Road Prairie to rescue plants prior to earth-moving equipment arriving to build a new roadway and detention basin. Harris County Pct. 3 is extending Greenhouse Road to I-10 and building a 16-acre detention basin for new development. The 100+acre Saums Road prairie is one of the last remaining large tracts of pristine prairie left in Harris County. According to Dr. Larry Brown, plant taxonomist, this prairie is an example of the highest quality coastal prairie remaining in our area.

Aaron Stoley, Houston Audubon's Volunteer of the Year, once again does more than his share of the heavy lifting.

Volunteers came from a dozen environmental organizations to remove as much of this historically important, diverse prairie as possible. Some volunteers took the rescued material to their organization's prairie restorations projects (like Pine Brook Wetland Project and the pocket prairie in Bellaire's Russ Pitman Park), or to their residences to add native plants to their home gardens. The rescue team transported approximately 200 native plants to the Katy Prairie Conservancy's Field Office to create a seedbank for future coastal prairie restoration projects.

Volunteers installing the newly rescued native prairie plants at the Katy Prairie Conservancy Field Office.

It is through the generosity and community spirit of the landowners Vincent and Felix Ho, that volunteers have been given permission to rescue plants prior to the onset of road construction on September 28th. Crews from Harris County Flood Control and Harris County Pct. 3 (Comm. Steve Radack) are also recuing plants from the site. Harris County is using large tree spades to dig up the valuable prairie plants and transport them to prairie restoration projects on the Katy Prairie (Hornberger and Paul Rushing Park).

Vincent and Felix Ho

Relocating as much of the prairie as possible will greatly benefit wildlife. Besides what we are transporting to the KPC sites, we are using the material to establish demonstration pocket prairies at around the city. Our goal is to provide new opportunities for the public to learn about our historic coastal prairie.

If you are interested in participating in future prairie rescue efforts, please contact Flo Hannah.