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.

Anyone interested in native plants is invited to join Gulf Coast Master Naturalists on the propagation workdays on second and fourth Thursdays of the month from 9:00 am to noon.  Please note this is the new site in Memorial Park. RSVP to Lan Shen at Lan.Shen@TXgcmn.org 713-771-1415 or Celeste Mead at Celeste.Mead@txgcmn.org 832-680-7263 or just come on out!

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.

Webinar: Learn about our research campaign to improve understanding of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current

Following recommendations from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, the Gulf Research Program is developing a long-term research campaign to improve understanding and prediction of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current System.

Known as Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems (UGOS), the campaign is envisioned as a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional research campaign to improve understanding of the various interacting physical, biological, and chemical processes at work in the Gulf of Mexico. In December, the Gulf Research Program announced the award of $10.3 million in grants for eight new projects to conduct studies and collect data and observations that will inform the planning and launching of the campaign.

On January 11, project team members for that first round of funding awards will convene to plan for and facilitate coordination of efforts across their different projects. A portion of that meeting, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. ET, will be broadcast as a webinar open to anyone interested in learning more about the origin, current work, and longer term vision and timeline for the research campaign.

Register for the webinar: https://nas.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8dc5d96edd0cea5da1175b8c1&id=8a861bd61e&e=0a9537353a

The monthly bird count will begin at 7 a.m., starting off from the front parking lot of Armand Bayou Nature Center, dispersing from there. Please try and be here by 7 a.m. as gates will lock promptly at 7:05. If you plan on attending, feel free to shoot Andrew Hamlett an email or just show up.

Meet count leader Jason Bonilla in the parking lot of Woodland Park. Please note that the park does not have a maintained trail system. As such, there is a lot of poison ivy that is somewhat unavoidable when walking the park and looking for birds. Additionally, there are terrain changes and unstable areas. Participants should wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. They usually meet on the fourth Saturday of the month.

Workdays are held once a month, October through March on the second Saturday of the month. We start work around 8:30 AM and work until about noon, when we break for lunch, provided by Houston Audubon and prepared by the lunch crew. Lunch at the picnic area of Boy Scout Woods is a good chance to visit with other volunteers and recharge from a morning of exercise and work. After lunch, we take about an hour to tie up any loose ends and clean up.

Come be a part of sanctuary maintenance, habitat restoration, and Houston Audubon’s amazing volunteer workforce. Email Pete Deichmann at pdeichmann@houstonaudubon.org for more information or to be put on the email list.

• November 10
• December 8
• January 12
• February 9
• March 9

Call for Volunteers

There are many ways to be involved:

• Help with administrative work
• Host sire walks around the garden
• Support family and adult education programs
• Serve as an Ambassador for Houston Botanic Garden
• Provide special event support
• Get your hands dirty in the garden

To learn about the different opportunities available and join our volunteer team, please complete the online form at forms.office.com and sign up for an upcoming orientation.

Hermann Park Bird Survey

Leaders: Skip Almoney and Peter Tsan

They meet at  8:00 AM (7:30 in the summer months). Take the Parking Lot D entry from

Masks are optional for vaccinated participants and social distancing is recommended. Please wear a mask if unvaccinated. Please contact Julie Francis at hermannparkbirdsurvey@gmail.com if you’d like to participate. The Hermann Park Survey is conducted on the second Monday of the month. Everyone is welcome — beginners, experts, or even if you’re just curious. Please bring binoculars. If you don’t have any, let them know in advance and they’ll provide them.

For more information, please visit houstonaudubon.org/birding/bird-surveys.