Just say "No" to a pipeline at Lake Creek Preserve
Another day, another preserve to save...
It certainly isn’t my intention to basically be sending out weekly action alerts for the saving of public lands. But apparently that’s what’s going on right now and thus, that’s what I’m writing a lot about these days.
Last week I was going through my email backlog and noticed one from my local Native Plant Society of Texas chapter, the Pines and Prairies chapter. I only recently joined NPSOT late last year and have still never made it to a meeting, but I do enjoy the weekly-ish emails from the chapter. It’s where I found out about a proposed pipeline through Lake Creek Preserve, a southern Montgomery county tract owned and protected by the Bayou Land Conservancy. It isn’t too far away from where I live and so it makes it easy access when I feel like getting outside but not driving more than 20 minutes to spend some time on a trail.
The Preserve itself is located on the north side of Lake Creek, in the rapidly developing area of “New” Magnolia, an area formerly known as Egypt, Texas and very close to the back of The Woodlands and the west side of Conroe. If you click on the preserve link above you’ll find a map on the potential connected green spaces and conservation easements nearby, linking the preserve to all of these other open spaces. This type of green space connection is vital in areas like Montgomery county, which is seeing rapid growth from expansion of Houston into suburban areas. The recent opening of SH 249 (now a tollway in many areas) has unleased more development into previously undeveloped forested and farmed tracts of land. SH 249’s ultimate goal was to connect to College Station, hence its other name, the Aggie Expressway. So you can see, the last thing we need is a pipeline through a conservation area when we’re already losing open spaces to development all around.
The email from NPSOT stated that even the county was against this proposal, knowing the value of the preserve and effort it took to save it for public use. As you can see in the photos I’m sharing, the habitat is a unique bottomland forest, with at least one champion tree species, a plethora of uncommon and rare floodplain forest species, and old growth dwarf palmettos (Sabal minor). Since the county is also against the pipeline, they are requesting letters from citizens voicing their dissent for the project to help persuade the pipeline company to find an alternative route that would be better suited to all parties.
You can write a letter to Commissioner Charlie Riley at 19110 Unity Park Drive, Magnolia, Tx 77355 or email him at commissioner.riley@mctx.org
Even if you aren’t local and have never visited the preserve, please voice your support in keeping the pipeline away from this preserve. I’m attaching two of the letters and the map the NPSOT provided in their email below as an example so you can tailor it to suit your own reflection of your visits to the property or support from afar.
Misti writes regularly at Oceanic Wilderness and can be found on Instagram at @oceanicwilderness. She hosts two podcasts, Orange Blaze: A Florida Trail Podcast, and The Garden Path Podcast.
I've emailed the Commissioner. Thanks so much for the heads up about this place.