The City of Angleton will host the next Bringing Back Main Street Revitalization roundtable meeting at the Brazoria County Historical Museum. During this roundtable, participants will hear information on meeting building codes and regulations when renovating older buildings in downtowns. The presentation will be followed by a tour of two renovated buildings in downtown Angleton. H-GAC hosts quarterly roundtables to help local governments, chambers of commerce, and economic development interests promote the economic revitalization of downtown areas. Online RSVP is requested.

The Bringing Back Main Street initiative offers local communities a place to share best practices and engage in a regional dialogue about revitalizing and supporting vibrant downtown spaces. Each quarter, community leaders gather for a roundtable on topics ranging from small business support to sidewalk infrastructure. These ongoing roundtables add to the knowledge shared during a 2015 workshop series.

Save the date for H-GAC’s next Bringing Back Main Street Roundtable. The location and topic are to be determined.

Volunteers meet the second and fourth Thursday of every month to 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. They will also have special seed collecting trips, invasive species removal workdays, and planting events in restored prairies.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the Natural Resource Management Program, email kelli.ondracek@houstontx.gov or visit houstontx.gov/parks/naturalresources.html.

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.

EmpowerE will have a very interactive seminar followed by a networking session. Can we go beyond our formal education system and educate ourselves and others around us what we can each do to better the planet that we all inhabit? Can we change the way we live? If we can minimize or reduce our use and waste, we will be able to mitigate many of the world’s major problems like pollution, climate change, hunger, poverty, and diseases, to name a few.

Join Houston Audubon at the Edith Moore Nature Sanctuary for a morning of gardening and sanctuary maintenance. Houston Audubon’s team works 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., once a month on the 4th Saturday from September through May (3rd Saturday in November and December).  Activities include trail maintenance, filling bird feeders and baths, litter pick-up, native gardening, and invasive species removal. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors and meet like-minded friends.

Bring water, sunscreen, bug repellent & gloves/clippers if you have them. Wear closed-toe shoes & long pants. Bring sack lunch if desired. Children of any change are welcome with their parent/chaperone. (Minimum age without a parent/chaperone is 12 years.)

All volunteers must pre-register by the Wednesday before workday with Bethany Foshée (713-932-1639).

Join Buchanan’s Native Plants for their annual class all about tomatoes. Sherry from Urban Harvest will give you the tips and tricks that you need to have a bountiful spring harvest. Make sure to come to this informative free class and then grab your tomatoes and supplies after class.

A series of 7 classes

First class: Feb. 2, 2019, 9:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m.

Join Citizens’ Environmental Coalition as they visit the Hannah and Arthur Ginsbarg Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire. There will be a guided tour outside and a chance to view major renovations that were completed recently. They will visit the pocket priarie, deciduous woodlands, prairie wetland, and cypress pond in Russ Pitman Park; nature play area; and Critter Classroom. On the tour, you will learn about environmental education initiatives at a mainstay of environmental education inside the loop. The last part of the meeting is our traditional EEE Round-table Forum where members and attendees introduce themselves, their programs, make announcements and discuss challenges and successes in environmental education.