MOVING THE KATY PRAIRIE, ONE CLUMP AT A TIME Threatened patch of prairie? Shovels to the rescue! “The 90-acre patch at Saums and Greenhouse roads north of I-10 is a subtly spectacular example of what the dwindling Katy Prairie looked like before development spread west out of Harris County. Sometime later this fall, construction on the extension of Greenhouse Road, plus a detention pond, will start there. Folks in straw hats, with shovels, buckets and bug spray, spent several mornings digging up clumps of this mature prairie for transplanting to other sites. . . . Digging up clumps of little blue stem, rattlesnake master and bee blossom gives prairie gardens a jump start they couldn’t get from seeds – and seeds are hard to come by.” [Inside Fort Bend]
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I did the design for the detention and floodplain mitigation system for this project.
Harris County and Harris County Flood Control District will be maintaining the facilities. If the local community wants help and get involved in establishing native plant species in this vast detention basin, just contact HCFCD. They will be more than willing to get involved. If the utility districts and community even want specific trees native to the are planted around and in the facility with the native prairie grass, HCFCD will support you.
The local community should be happy the this project will end up reserving a large section of land to never be developed having it built in as flood protection. Also, the lands adjacent to Saums Road is deep in the floodway where potential development is almost prohibited (no money driven developer will attempt to develop it).
In my engineering design, we don’t get into the landscaping of detention facilities because it’s not part of our scope of work or expertise. The reality is that the prairie crass and trees will have a nice place to grow back and will also provide a nice sanctuary for birds that fly through the area.