PRESERVATIONISTS PURCHASE DEER PARK PRAIRIE 
No thanks to Stephen Colbert, but enough money has rolled in from more than 1,000 donations — including $2 million from Terry Hershey — for the Bayou Land Conservancy to buy up those 53 acres of prairie near Luella Ave. and Spencer Hwy. in Deer Park and stave off a subdivision. Still, at least one question remains: What else is there to do with so much prairie? Lisa Gray explains: “The conservancy plans to donate the land to the Native Prairies Association of Texas, which would manage the health of the prairie and provide guided tours.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Video still: via Brian Traylor
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: 77505
PRESERVING THE DEER PARK PRAIRIE WITH SARDONIC TEEVEE POWER 
The mad dash to raise the $4 million to buy up 53 acres of the Deer Park Prairie and save it from development got an early $2 million boost from a minor Houston celebrity, long-time environmental activist Terry Hershey; now, with the landowner’s once-delayed deadline just a week away and $650,000 still needed, the Bayou Land Conservancy is appealing to an even higher power, reports Lisa Gray: “‘There is only one man who can save us now,’ proclaims the [conservancy’s] website . . . ‘Stephen Colbert!’ In hopes of winning a mention on ‘The Colbert Report’ and enjoying the resulting ‘Colbert bump’ in popularity, [the conservancy] urges prairie fans to rally the Comedy Central TV host to their cause.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Image: Bayou Park Conservancy
CHUNK OF CHANGE DELAYS DEER PARK PRAIRIE DEADLINE Apparently, the owner of that would-be-sold-and-developed 53-acre patch of prairie in Deer Park has been persuaded to give the Bayou Land Conservancy 3 more weeks to come up with the rest of the money to buy it. A $2 million donation from Terry Hershey helped the conservancy bring in $3.2 million in less than a week; still, $800,000 more is needed before Sept. 10, or the owner will sell to a homebuilder planning a subdivision. If it can close on the prairie, the conservancy says it “will place a conservation easement over the property to permanently protect the land — which would disallow the 250 houses currently planned for the acreage and any other future development.” [Bayou Land Conservancy; previously on Swamplot] Image: Bayou Park Conservancy
The Bayou Land Conservancy is really pushing to raise $4 million in the next week or so in order to outbid a homebuilder on a 50-acre patch of prairie in Deer Park. The video above is part of what the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray describes as a “Hail Mary pass” to raise the money before August 20.
The sought-after patch is among the last 1 percent of the Gulf Coast’s original prairie, reports Gray. The conservancy has been attempting to raise the money to buy it for the past year and a half — an attempt that’s now being hastened by a recent $4.25-million offer from a developer with plans for a 201-home subdivision on the land near Spencer Hwy. and Luella Ave.
And what would the conservancy prefer for the prairie? Here’s Gray:
The prairie’s fans imagine a visitor’s center fashioned from a next-door ranch house. They imagine busloads of visiting schoolkids. They imagine research into the still-mysterious workings of the prairie biome. They imagine harvesting native seed, to be used in eco-conscious plantings in the area. They imagine Battle of San Jacinto re-enactments more realistic than those that take place at the battlefield itself.
- Deadline August 20! [Save College Park Prairie]
- Donate Now To Save Deer Park Prairie [Bayou Land Conservancy]
- The clock is ticking for prairie [Houston Chronicle ($)]
Video: Bayou Land Conservancy
NIMBY IN PASADENA 
This scruffy corner at Genoa Red Bluff and Space Center, right on the border between Pasadena and Houston, is the proposed site of a few 90- to 150-unit housing developments for low-income residents — a category which can include seniors and those with disabilities, reports teevee’s Samica Knight. But one potential neighbor Knight interviews doesn’t seem likely to prepare any welcome baskets: “‘If I had been looking for a new home and there had been low income property across, I wouldn’t have chosen this neighborhood,‘ said Pasadena resident Janet McClellan. ‘I would be afraid of crime, more crime. . . . Everybody does have to have a place to live, but I just think there are better more appropriate places to build those kinds of homes.'” [abc13] Photo: abc13
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE HOUSE HUNTER 
“I’m glad I took my other 120 trophies out of the house for you. Judging by the times of the post, I see most are either jobless or on ya’lls smoke break. Obviously fans of the all too many tract home and Kirklands decor, you obviously know nothing about decorating and fine antiques. Reproductions?? Really please to be upset that a table cost more than your car . . . it’s ok . . . AHH time to go hunting . . . you guys clock back in and go to work. If you guys have any special request for new mounts, let me know and I’ll shoot one for you :)” [safari jack, commenting on Exploring the Indoor Wildlife in a Pasadena Dead Animal House]
Game for a little house hunting? No guns are in sight, but a tour through this 4-or-5-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath habitat in Pasadena’s Cedar Lawn neighborhood just northeast of Ellington Airport proudly displays the spoils of several safari adventures. Animal attractions lurk in almost every room of the 4,705-sq.-ft. eighties colonial. But not all of them have eyes:
Just outside the Beltway, just north of Ellington Field: Homes in this weekend’s tour are in Pasadena, but zoned to Deer Park schools! (Except for the one in Baywood Oaks West, which has found its way into the Pasadena school district.) Follow below as we wander through Baywood Oaks, Baywood Shadows, and Village Grove!
Location: 4727 Baywood Dr.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; 1,662 sq. ft.
Price: $169,900
The Scoop: Late (1981) custom “contemporary” in Baywood Shadows. Clerestory windows, brick fireplace, wood paneling, and sloped ceiling in Family Room; private “loft area” in Master. Marble tile in entry and Kitchen; carpet everywhere else. Covered porches along back of house and side; 6-foot-high brick wall encloses back yard. Hot tub and gazebo available separately! On the market since the end of May.
Open House: Saturday, 1-3 pm
The tour continues this way . . .
