PUBLISHED: January 2025 by Marissa Llosa, HPB Conservation Manager

Our new year, like always, starts with a jolt of energy.

The Conservation and Maintenance team is excited about the lineup of projects and events throughout 2025. To kick things off, we will host our next #ParksByYou Day on February 15, where we will plant several large swaths along Halls Bayou with the last of our nursery trees. Alongside our volunteers, we will add over 1,000 native trees and plants to this section.

But our impact doesn’t stop there. Check out what else we have planned this year:

  • The team is pushing to complete our final report on the Basin K study, which evaluates different variables in the habitat establishment process on slopes. 
  • Later in spring, we will shift to wetlands to plan out our second wetland swale site along Sims Bayou, as part of our NEP watershed grant. Our first site, at River Drive, was a great success and continues to function as intended. As with any project, vegetation takes time to “fill-in” but we anticipate substantial growth this year to match our other wetland swale sites and then complete the installation of our second wetland swale. We hope to leap from our second site in the spring to potentially our third site in the fall — and who knows, maybe even our fourth site. 
  • In the fall, we will begin strategic planning efforts for conservation areas along the Bayou Greenways. This planning effort will prioritize sites that are outside park boundaries, namely those located at points of high traffic. This planning will help prioritize our conversation projects for the coming years.
  • In total, these initiatives will be complemented and supported by the completion of smaller projects, such as enhancing native landscapes along Sims and Hunting Bayous.  

Each effort is intertwined with our continued monitoring of previous projects, ensuring these sites continue to positively develop. If disturbances have altered the site, we will continue to allocate resources to restore them.

The Conservation and Maintenance team is ready to tackle everything this bountiful and busy year will bring. See you all in the “wild!”