On Tuesday 7 August 2012 members of H-TREX
(Mariela, Michelle, Miles, and Richard) met with Jim Porter, the Chairman of Memorial Park
Conservancy Board, to discuss the felling and clearing of trees and
undergrowth, and subsequent re-planting, in Memorial Park. From our perspective, although
interested in Memorial Park as a whole, our main interest was in the areas in
which we run, i.e. south of Memorial Drive and west of the railroad tracks.
Jim gave us the vision that Memorial Park
Conservancy (MPC) has for Memorial Park, sometimes adding in his own personal
wish list, which in general we agreed with and would therefore support. As part of that process Jim talked
through a map of memorial park divided into 4 main colored areas:
1. Green - a large portion south of
Memorial Drive covering the HCM trails west of the Picnic trail, east of the
railroad tracks, but excluding the ravines and area close to the bayou.
2. Yellow – the area south of Memorial
Drive between the Memorial Drive and the asphalt park road.
3. Red – consisting of two parts; a) west
of the railroad tracks and b) immediately west of Crestwood Drive
4. Gray – north of Memorial Drive
excluding the red areas above.
5. Other – the area south of Memorial
Drive adjacent to the bayou and east of the picnic loop
From an organizational and authoritative
perspective:
1. City of Houston own Memorial Park, and
nothing can be done without their permission.
2 . MPC hired a firm of professional
forestry consultants to identify issues with the forest and recommend remedial
actions.
3. MPC hired the contractor who is
clearing the trees and undergrowth.
4. Tony May was hired as Director of
Conservation by MPC. He is a
graduate forester and very knowledgeable regarding trees. He provides oversight of the dead tree
removal along with the professional forestry firm.
5. MPC is a 501 (C) (3) corporation and
as such relies on contributions and partnering for financial support
6. City of Houston has 5 full time people
who maintain the whole of Memorial Park, primarily cutting grass and picking up
trash.
Memorial Park’s forest has suffered from a
lack of management and control of non-native (exotic), and invasive plants.
These invasive plants have to a large extent taken over the undergrowth in
almost all areas of the forest, to the extent that it has caused damage to the
native large trees (pines and oaks) along with hurricane Ike and the 2011
drought. One of the main issues is
that the heavy undergrowth inhibits growth of new native trees and competes for
moisture in the soil.
The plan for the “Green”, “Yellow” and “Red”
areas in turn is to remove most of the dead trees and the invasive undergrowth,
to plant seedlings (over a number of years so not all trees are of the same
age/height), and to control any non-native and invasive plants that re-emerge. What we see from the pictures of the
open spaces posted by Richard is the first step in this process. The Gray area will continue to be
improved over the same time frame as the “Green”, “Yellow” and “Red”. For the “Other” area, dead trees may be
removed manually if it appears that they pose a threat with no other clearing
or work in the plan, as the area is mostly in steep gullies into which they
cannot get the heavy equipment.
Main issues that were discussed:
The creation of the dirt road where
down to and along where Fluffy Bunny trail used to exist, was dictated by City
of Houston as part of their requirement improve and extend the existing fire
road in that area of the park. MPC
was not part of that decision but is currently looking at issue such as lack of
drainage, the inability to actually get a fire truck along the road due to
grading, etc. MPC are following up
with the City.
The fear that MPC run out of money
after clearing and before tree planting and spraying is complete. Some of the money that MPC have is
identified specifically for tree planting and cannot be used for anything else;
it still remains a concern that the “tree money” may mostly be spent on the
areas generally visible to the public as opposed to within the “Green” area and
the “Red” area west of the railroad tracks.
The creation of large staging areas
and access roads are required for the equipment and the transport of dead trees
/ wood chips out of the park, but they cannot access Memorial Park when the
ground is wet, and as we know some parts hold the water much more than others.
Diesel spillage was discussed; we can
but hope that MPC and Tony May hold the contractor to remove and clean up all
spillages.
The schedule for the work is very much
weather dependent; the immediate goal is to get the first trance of seedlings
in the “Green” area this fall, 2012.
The future vision is to have a tree /
bush density somewhat similar to what’s been there historically, but with
native plants such that there will be dirt trails with bushes on both sides so
you cannot see or hear others in the park. The extent of these versus something more open as in
Huntsville was not discussed. However it is very obvious it will be a good
number of years before the results of all this work will truly be realised.
The intent remains to leave sufficient
trees and undergrowth at all times for animal life, including owls,
woodpeckers, armadillos and the coyotes; we can but hope that the consultant
and MPC have identified enough to be left, and the clearing contractor does not
cut done more than authorised by MPC.
Funding is clearly a major risk to the
completion of the work and the planting.
The giving tree by the tennis center had a grand sum of $84 in it over a
2 week period; and if you want to earmark money for tree, you can do so. You can expect H-TREX to do some form
of fund raising in the future.
MPC wants to reach out to all park users,
and get their feedback. You’ve
seen the posts in Yahoo groups and FB, please continue to respond; it is
important. MPC want a park that its users will enjoy. Along with GHORBA and the dog-walkers, we trail runners are
probably the main users of the “Green” area; give MPC feedback of what you want
and just as importantly what you don’t want.
As a personal observation, I walked over a
large amount of the “Green” area between the old log road and west part of
purple on Monday 6 August, and:
Where the contractor is removing
material there is very little green lying around, suggesting to me that what
they’re removing is mostly dead.
There are a significant number of
standing pools of water, even though the Demolition Blvd is bone dry.
There is a lot of dead stuff still
standing along with the undergrowth, it still needs to be removed.
I hope they cut down the vines that
are growing up good living trees, without removing the trees.
Maybe I’m gullible or naïve, but I
liked what I heard from Jim, but regeneration of Memorial Park will take time
and we need to help where we can especially in those areas of the park we use.
As someone who goes to the HCM trails
in Memorial Park probably more than most of you, I asked Jim if I could provide
feedback to Tony May on what I saw as a result of the clearing contractors
work. Jim confirmed that would be
appropriate, so I shall endeavour to contact Tony. Meanwhile if there’s
anything you see that you want to alert Tony of, let me know, and I’ll act as
the conduit.
Richard -
