NATIONAL TRAILS DAY

June 2 is National Trails Day, when more than 1,000 groups across the country host events to celebrate trails and the outdoors. At least ten parks in the greater Houston area will get special attention that morning.Keep Houston Beautiful, The Park People, and Houston Parks and Recreation Department have teamed up with ExxonMobil & Shell Oil Company to present the Second Annual “On the Trail of Trash”. Seven different parks across the area will get teams of workers to make improvements to the park. Although each park has a corporate sponsor, community volunteers are needed also.

The following parks are on the Trail of Trash:
In the Katy area, Cullen Park Phase Two and Four, sponsored by Waste Management;
In the Sugar Land area, Cullinan Park, sponsored by LJA Surveying & Engineering;
In the Heights area, Stude/White Oak Park, working with Shell Oil volunteers;
In Northeast Houston, Herman Brown Park, working with Haliburton’s summer interns;
In New Caney, Lake Houston Park, working with Exxon Mobil; and
In South Houston, ER and Ann Taylor Park, working with volunteers from TSU.

Marathon Oil volunteers will work on the N. MacGregor esplanades at Hermann Park, but that crew is full.

Tickets from the Houston Astros, Museum of Natural Science and the Alley Theatre will be offered as volunteer prizes.

To sign up to help at one of these parks, visit Houston Beautiful’s website or The Park People’s website.

Another event, National Trails Day at Cypress Creek, will clean future park land and build the Timber Lane Hike and Bike trail, which will ultimately connect to a developed trail system along Cypress Creek.

Groups working on that project include Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) employees, members, and guests, together with Timber Lane Utility District, the Texas Master Naturalists Gulf Coast and Heartwood chapters, the Cypress Creek Greenway Project (Cypress Creek Flood Control Coalition), Harris County Precinct 4 Parks Department, Greater Houston Off-Road Bicycling Association, and Talon Trails (formerly Texas Bicycle Coalition Trail Doctors). However, this is a big project, and volunteers of all ages and skill levels are invited to participate.

The work site is off Treaschwig Road and Whittaker Way, north of Aldine Westfield Road and Cypress Creek across from Mercer Arboretum. The first 75 people to preregister in person at REI Willowbrook, or by phone at (832) 237-8833, will receive a free REI volunteer shirt. Lunch will be served. Volunteers are asked to dress comfortably, and to bring work gloves, loppers, shovels, hand saws, or metal rakes, if possible. Refreshments, insect repellent, and sunscreen will be provided.

The Outdoor Nature Club will be picking up trash at Little Thicket Nature Sanctuary on June 2. For information about that project, call Aaron Stoley at (713) 781-1372.

Galveston Bay Foundation’s Marsh Mania Volunteer Cleanup will put teams to work at Armand Bayou Nature Center, Texas City Prairie Preserve, and Starvation Cove. To register to help, call (281) 332-3381, ext. 205 or go to the Foundation’s website.