We have found a wonderful use for some beautiful trees that were felled during Hurricane Ike – we are planting them. And yes, we know they won’t grow back.
[Watch the short video.]
Our Houston office is restoring Flewellen Creek as a part of an eco-community we are designing in Fulshear, Texas. The waterway had been degraded into a common agriculture ditch over the course of its past life meandering through farms and ranches, but today it has been given another chance as an ecologically rich stream. We are also creating an environment for the habitat that thrives in Flewellen Creek and its floodplain.
Raptors are an important part of this eco-system. We’ve created little brush teepees as habitat zones for their prey: field mice, rodents, frogs and more. But until the wetlands, native grasses, riparian trees and the surrounding prairie-style forest grow-in, there are few trees or even telephone poles for a falcon or hawk to perch on. The Ike trees offer birds of prey a suitable vantage point for their hunt. Even after the landscape is mature, the stumps will endure as an iconic feature of this area.
But the dead trees aren’t the only unique feature of Cross Creek Ranch. Developed by Trendmaker, Cross Creek Ranch is for people who want to live in a community that’s in harmony with its naturalized surroundings. Everything about the eco-community’s setting — from the native grasses and vegetation to the stream, prairie and lakes — is a different aesthetic than what most people are accustomed.
The landscape isn’t only for show. It’s is a working part of the community’s infrastructure. We’ve given the waterway its rightful flood plain. The prairie that this creates sits at a lower elevation than the homes and structures and offers great views while protecting the community during heavy rains and flooding.
Most of the landscape requires less maintenance and minimal irrigation, the places that do need supplemental water pull from the eco-community’s lakes. The lakes are replenished with recycled water from home showers and sinks. After it’s been treated, the water is polished through the wetlands on site.
The tall native grasses keep the ground cooler than mowed turf and their roots go deep – sometimes as deep as 6 feet. This pulls oxygen and organic matter far underground and nourishes the tree roots and the earth beneath our feet – which in turn feeds the grasshoppers and frogs, which feed the birds of prey.
Each component of this landscape is an important part of the cycle of life at Flewellen Creek and the dead trees are giving us a head start on the newly created habitat.
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