Conservation group adds acres to nature preserve, expands trails

“We approached the county, and we came to an agreement to extend our conservation easement to include those couple of acres,” Lorenz said. “When we first looked at the original boundaries of the land, it showed it was already 100 acres. But when going out to look at it, there were some acres lost. But we still called it the 100 Acre Wood Preserve.”

Lorenz said the 100 Acre Wood Preserve is one of 15 preserves in Harris County the conservancy maintains and includes under its conservation easement. The conservancy has about 12,000 acres in total under conservation easements. An easement is a legal permanent agreement for a piece of land that enables the conservancy to continually protect the boundaries of that land.

Harris County has owned the preserve for the past five years, while the conservancy has maintained it. The preserve was first purchased as land from a private owner and then donated to the county as a result of a grant received from the Houston Endowment Foundation.

Besides adding on the 2.73 acres of land to the preserve in June, construction will begin on a new 4,200-linear-foot asphalt trail in the next couple of months.

Mike Howlett, special projects coordinator for the Harris County Precinct 4 Parks Department, said the project is estimated to be complete in late spring 2016.

“The trail is going to extend from Jones Road and to what is now the Cypress Creek hike and bike trail now, go through the preserve and end at the property line of the [D. Bradley McWilliams YMCA at Cypress Creek],” Howlett said. “This is really putting us on the map for the fact that biking is growing in popularity. By adding on new acres and trails, it’s opening up the preserve, and more people are coming from different counties.”