The event will take place from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve, 20215 Chasewood Park Drive, Houston. Community members are invited to volunteer to assist.
Officials said the goal is to plant more than 6,000 trees to promote flood mitigation locally and help improve water quality by keeping pollutants out of residents’ drinking water. Cypress Creek flows directly into Lake Houston, which is one of the largest providers of the city’s raw water supply. Planting trees was one of the recommendations laid out in the Watershed Protection Plan for Cypress Creek.
“Establishing a forested riparian buffer on an impaired stream like Cypress Creek is critical because it will help stabilize the eroding stream banks, and filter and trap unwanted pollutants from urban stormwater runoff,” said Mac Martin, Texas A&M Forest Service urban forestry partnership coordinator, in a statement. “This investment in reforestation not only serves the ecosystem but will also protect crucial drinking water supply to Lake Houston, which is set to become the largest surface drinking water facility in the United States.”
In addition to the Texas A&M Forest Service, other partners on this project include Trees for Houston, Harris County Precinct 4, the Bayou Land Conservancy, the City of Houston Drinking Water Operations, the Harris County Flood Control District, the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Harris County Municipal Utility District 230 and Simfero.
