Dick Benoit Prairie Preserve, which is located on the east side of League City, was certified as a Texas Native Prairie by the Native Prairies Association of Texas at the end of December, according to a post on the city’s website.

Over 200 plant species were identified within the prairie by both the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Galveston Bay Area Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, according to the post.

The preserve is a coastal prairie, which is an ecosystem that once covered 6.5 million acres of the Texas Gulf Coast, according to estimates by the University of Houston. Yet, only less than 1% of those original coastal prairies still exist.