The folks at Save Buffalo Bayou send over some before-and-after photos of the Memorial Park boat launch and companion drainage structure just east of where the stream crosses beneath Woodway Dr. The group says the canoe and kayak put-in spot, on a 30-acre section of the park once used as an archery range, had been slowly greened back up by native river plants following the area’s multi-year closure and workover by the Uptown TIRZ, which involved some de-treeing work and the planting of some contractor-friendly non-native grasses on the newly reshaped slope.
Memorial Park director Jay Daniels told the group that the mowing was not planned, as park groups are currently trying to promote native plant growth in the park. Daniels said that he talked to a work group clearing some bayou access paths this weekend about removing some invasive Johnsongrass at the site; the conversation apparently led to some confusion, which led to mowing, which led to many folks being given a stern talking to.
Here’s a post-op look from July 2014 at the drainage setup (also intended to control bank erosion), partially covered in what appears to be eroding dirt and deposited sediment:
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And here’s a from-the-top shot taken this past August, looking west over the outlet structure across the reestablished plant cover toward the Woodway bridge:
The shot below was also taken in August:
And here’s what the same scene looks like as this weekend:
- Natural Garden on Buffalo Bayou Mowed Down [Save Buffalo Bayou]
- Previously on Swamplot: Stop Trying To Fix Buffalo Bayou, Says Save Buffalo Bayou
Photos: Save Buffalo Bayou
When will you hippies learn… no weeds over 9 inches are allowed in the city of Houston. Having a bushy patch of grass is a sign of nonconformity and disobedience to authority… a bad attitude toward one’s neighbors. Sorry but the time for native grasses in our city was at least 50 years ago. We must plant grasses that require herbicides and fertilizer so that we support our local petrochemical tax base, or we will one day not be able to afford demolishing/rebuilding stadiums and schools or other essentials such as the Arabic language magnet school. Do you want to put your children at a disadvantage in an Arabic-speaking world?
Nature! We must destroy!
Please dear god mow down that ragweed.
It looks nicer now.
I guess this is another piece of evidence for the Save Buffalo Bayou people that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself.
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I’ve lived in the City long enough to know that farming anything out to City work crews means that you’ll either get a job done ugly, made worse, or will fall apart in about 2 weeks after completion. Sometimes, you get all three – for free.
Matt,
What stadiums demolished?!
We spend +$100M to turn them into partial parking garages!!!
To any and every landscaping crew that works in this city, it made absolute perfect sense that this grass be cut down to the roots.
but wait… what i really want to know is were any trees cut down.