Public Meetings About the Streams Flowing Into Addicks and Barker Reservoirs

 

Sept. 27, 2019

Update Oct. 12, 2019:

Here are links to the Facebook video of the Oct. 3 meeting about dredging streams flowing into Addicks Reservoir and to the slide presentation.

Here are links to the Facebook video of the Oct. 7 meeting about dredging streams flowing into Barker Reservoir and to the slide presentation.

 

The Harris County Flood Control District is holding public meetings in the next two weeks to talk about dredging and clearing channels and streams, including Buffalo Bayou, that flow into Addicks and Barker reservoirs in west Houston.

Addicks and Barker are the federal flood-control reservoirs behind the dams constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s. They both feed into Buffalo Bayou, and they are both parks, normally empty, with the dam floodgates standing open, unless there are heavy rains downstream.

Streams flowing into Addicks Dam, which is north of Interstate 10, include South Mayde Creek, Bear Creek, Horsepen Creek, and Langham Creek. Buffalo Bayou and Mason Creek flow into Barker Reservoir south of Interstate 10.

Upstream of the boundaries of the federal reservoirs, these streams, including Buffalo Bayou, have been largely stripped, straightened, and channelized (as well as the six-mile long stretch in Terry Hershey Park below the dams). But inside the reservoirs they have remained relatively wooded and natural.

Dredging streams for the purpose of reducing flooding is controversial, as the practice can lead to increased flooding and erosion, increased sedimentation and therefore increased maintenance.

Too much stormwater flowing too quickly into the reservoirs, particularly Addicks Reservoir, forced the Corps of Engineers to open the floodgates during Harvey, causing additional disastrous flooding downstream. Modern flood management practice focuses on slowing and stopping stormwater before it floods a stream.

Addicks Meeting

Flood Control’s Community Engagement Meeting for the Addicks Reservoir Watershed will be Thursday, Oct. 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Richard and Meg Weekley Community Center, 8440 Greenhouse Road in Cypress.

 

Trees cut by Harris County Flood Control along the natural channel of Langham Creek in Addicks Reservoir. Photo Dec. 9, 2018, by SC

 

The District invites interested citizens to view the presentation online through a live feed hosted at www.facebook.com/hcfcd. An open house will follow the presentation, where interested citizens are invited to review informational exhibits, discuss the Addicks Reservoir Watershed Channel Rehabilitation Project with Harris County representatives, and provide comments to the Harris County Flood Control District.

For questions, contact the Flood Control District at 713-684-4000, or fill out the comment form online http://www.hcfcd.org/F53 by October 17, 2019, for inclusion in meeting documentation.

Barker Meeting

The Community Engagement meeting for the Barker Reservoir Watershed will be Monday, Oct. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the James E. Taylor High School Main Cafeteria, 20700 Kingsland Blvd., in Katy.

Interested citizens are also invited to view this presentation online through a live feed hosted at www.facebook.com/hcfcd.

For questions, please contact the Flood Control District at 713-684-4000, or fill out the comment form online http://www.hcfcd.org/F52 by October 21, 2019, for inclusion in meeting documentation.

 

And The Winner Is: The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

Sept. 25, 2019

 

The Houston Audubon Society has announced the winner of the Bird of Houston contest. The winner, of course, is the Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

The handsome heron beat out the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken in the final round for the win.

You can read all about it on the website of Houston Audubon, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary with Bird Week, a week-long schedule of special bird events that continues through Saturday, Sept. 28.

Night Heron by Frank X. Tolbert 2. (Not actually a Yellow-crowned Night Heron but close.)

 

Kontribution Kickball Benefiting Save Buffalo Bayou

 

Sept. 22, 2019

A local running club with a long and interesting history is hosting a benefit for Save Buffalo Bayou in Memorial Park next Saturday.

The Houston Ankle Biters Hash House Harriers is a social group, open to all ages, that meets monthly for non-competitive runs through woods, tunnels, parking garages, or wherever their leader, known as the hare, takes them.

They regularly hold benefits and this time they are honoring Save Buffalo Bayou with a Kontribution Kickball event on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in a field next to the rugby pitch south of Memorial Drive on the southside of the park.

The event is free and open to the public, with beer and grilled food. All donations benefit Save Buffalo Bayou.

The Hash House Harriers is an international organization formed by British officers in 1938 in what is now Malaysia. Members of these clubs, who use pseudonyms, traditionally refer to the group as “a drinking club with a running problem.”

Sounds like great fun. Come join us and meet some very fit, interesting, and jovial people.

 

Logo of the Houston Ankle Biters Hash House Harriers.