Come help the Houston Parks and Recreation Department during their Natural Resources Management Program. It is a restoration project at Sylvan Rodriguez Park. Volunteers will help install native grasses and forbs into their 72-acre restoration site. For more information, and to RSVP, email NaturalResources@houstontx.gov.

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Join us at a neighborhood community meeting on April 1 to talk about the I-45 freeway expansion project, known as the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP).  The I-45 North expansion is a transformational highway expansion project along the I-45 corridor that will shape the landscape of North Houston and the downtown area for decades, including the 5th Ward.

The project will rebuild and expand I-45 N from Beltway 8 N to the Wheeler Transit Station in Midtown (including major changes to the downtown freeway system, Spur 527, and 288 N). Construction is scheduled to last 10+ years.

Air Alliance Houston is conducting a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the proposed expansion on nearby communities. The assessment will reflect a range of issues, including air quality, mobility, economic development, parks and green space, noise, visual impacts, urban heat island, and flooding.

Bruce Elementary and Secondary DAEP have been identified by Air Alliance Houston as two of nine schools in the HISD and AISD districts that would most benefit from strategies to protect students and staff from the potential harmful health effects of traffic and air pollution.

This meeting will give you an opportunity to learn more about the proposed project and talk about opportunities to protect community health. Your feedback is critical to help Air Alliance Houston develop recommendations to the Texas Department of Transportation that could improve the freeway design and benefit schools and surrounding neighborhoods.

Children welcome, food provided.

The City of Houston’s office of Sustainability, has begun drafting a Climate Action Plan. The goal is to create ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and establish a pathway to meet the Paris Agreement goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, while also decreasing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and reducing costs through energy efficiency and renewable energy. The target completion date for the Plan is December 2019, with implementation by the City to start in 2020. HARC, the Houston Advanced Research Center, is providing technical assistance.

The City has scheduled a set of four Community Meetings to give members of the public information about the Plan, as well as receive input: Each meeting will be held from 6-8 p.m.

There are many opportunities for you to get involved with EIH’s WaterSmart Habitat. Whether you’re looking for community service hours, or just a change of pace. Habitat volunteers help weed and mulch flower beds, plant native plants, maintain pathways, and trim trees and bushes. Volunteers may also help clean out the pond on select work days.

Volunteering at EIH is a great way to get your organization involved in the community. Please call in advance if you have a large group or if you would like to schedule your group on a different day. For more information, visit www.uhcl.edu, or contact: Wendy Reistle at 281-283-3045 or reistle@uhcl.edu.

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Join us at a neighborhood community meeting on April 2nd to talk about the I-45 freeway expansion project, known as the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP). The I-45 North expansion is a transformational highway expansion project along the I-45 corridor that will shape the landscape of North Houston and the downtown area for decades, including the 3rd Ward.

The project will rebuild and expand I-45 N from Beltway 8 N to the Wheeler Transit Station in Midtown (including major changes to the downtown freeway system, Spur 527, and 288 N). Construction is scheduled to last 10+ years.

Air Alliance Houston is conducting a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of the proposed expansion on nearby communities. The assessment will reflect a range of issues, including air quality, mobility, economic development, parks and green space, noise, visual impacts, urban heat island, and flooding.

HAIS and YWCPA have been identified by Air Alliance Houston as two of nine schools in the HISD and AISD districts that would most benefit from strategies to protect students and staff from the potential harmful health effects of traffic and air pollution.

This meeting will give you an opportunity to learn more about the proposed project and talk about opportunities to protect community health. Your feedback is critical to help Air Alliance Houston develop recommendations to the Texas Department of Transportation that could improve the freeway design and benefit schools and surrounding neighborhoods.

Children welcome, food provided.

Environment Protectors Initiating Change (E.P.I.C)

E.P.I.C. is a free service learning club for high school teens that is aimed at learning about, and solving coastal environmental problems through hands-on projects.

If you would like to:

• Make a difference
• Help your community
• Make new friends
• Gain volunteer hours
• Have fun

Join them for a meeting at the Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center on Wednesdays 4 pm – 5 pm!

Habitat Restoration

Our volunteer group meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 9 a.m. to noon at the HPARD Greenhouse.

We propagate plants from locally collected native seed. A typical workday may include seeding pots, bumping up trays into 1-gallon containers, separating seedlings, and weeding pots. We will also have special seed collecting trips, invasive species removal workdays, and planting events in our restored prairies!

We are also beginning to conduct semi-annual vegetation transects and monthly bird surveys at our current and future restoration sites. If you’re good at identifying plants or birds or if you would like to learn more about them, come join us!

If you’re interested in volunteering for the NRMP, email kelli.ondracek@houstontx.gov.

The Memorial Park Conservancy has generously offered Katy Prairie Conservancy use of their greenhouse while the Native Seed Nursery at KPC’s field office in Waller is being renovated. Volunteers will help grow plants that will be used for various Katy Prairie Conservancy spring projects and for the Great Grow Out. The Memorial Park Conservancy Greenhouse is located in Memorial Park on the south side of Memorial Drive. All are welcome, no experience necessary.

Workdays are scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

The Texas Coastal Watershed Program holds weekly volunteer days for their stormwater wetland program, 9am-12pm on Thursdays. Volunteers help propagate plants in the wetland plant nursery at Exploration Green in Clear Lake City, or at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory in Lake Jackson.  The stormwater wetland program is developing demonstration projects to show  how wetlands can be designed into flood control basins to clean contaminants from surface runoff,  protect our bayous and bays, and provide a refuge for wildlife. A schedule and more information is available by contacting Mcedwards@tamu.edu.

An opportunity to participate in stewardship work for registered volunteers–if you are not already a volunteer, please check out Armand Bayou Nature Centers’ website for more information.

Help restore the prairie by potting and planting native plants and forbs every Friday, rain or shine. You do not need to attend every Friday.