The county cleaned and bulldozed this area. Doesn't the county need a permit to do this? I will post photo's of it now. That was my initial question until I received this great response from Mr Fred Collins Director of the Kleb Woods Nature Center and now I understand.
Dear Mr. Smith,
Not any of the wetlands at Kleb Woods were drained.
There are 5 depressional wetlands in the Kleb Nature Preserve and originally all dried each summer as was typical of depressional wetlands in the coastal prairies.
Sometime between 1930 and 1956, the Klebs dredged two of the wetlands and created deeper levee stock ponds which typically hold water all summer. The other three wetlands continue to go dry most summers. Last year was one of the wettest on record and all but one retained water throughout the year. The wetland you have pictured is the one near the parking lot on the FM 2920 tract of Kleb Woods. This wetland typically goes dry but with additional water from the picnic and parking areas since 1994, it does not always go dry and often holds more water than it did originally.
Sometime between 1930 and 1956, the Klebs dredged two of the wetlands and created deeper levee stock ponds which typically hold water all summer. The other three wetlands continue to go dry most summers. Last year was one of the wettest on record and all but one retained water throughout the year. The wetland you have pictured is the one near the parking lot on the FM 2920 tract of Kleb Woods. This wetland typically goes dry but with additional water from the picnic and parking areas since 1994, it does not always go dry and often holds more water than it did originally.
This wetland has just been impacted by a wetland enhancement project. The project was delayed for almost a year waiting for the area to dry. The Precinct 3 Park project, in partnership with the Texas Water and Soil Conservation board, removed invasive Chinese Tallow-trees from the wetland. Chinese Tallow-trees shade out native species which occur in the wetland. Removal of these invasive plants will allow the willows and button-bush as well as marsh sedges, grasses, and forbs to return to the wetland as dominant plants.
Future maintenance of these wetlands will be done with volunteers such as master naturalist, scout service projects and other volunteer groups.
We would welcome your participation in these future volunteer efforts.
Future maintenance of these wetlands will be done with volunteers such as master naturalist, scout service projects and other volunteer groups.
We would welcome your participation in these future volunteer efforts.
We are also planning several Eagle Scout projects which will plant additional native trees at the wetland edges, mainly Green Ash and Bald Cypress. While the current condition "looks bad", I assure you that by spring the wetland will have a healthy plant and animal population far in excess of what was present in the habitat that had been degraded by the infestation of Chinese Tallow-trees.
As for your question regarding permits, the answer is not a simple yes or no. Kleb Woods had an environmental assessment done for the park development. Wetlands were delineated and referred to the U.S. Corp of Engineers for determination of jurisdiction in compliance with various environmental state and federal laws. The Corps of Engineer office in Galveston issued a letter of determination stating the wetlands at Kleb Woods are non-jurisdictional. Therefore, no permits are required to any action within the wetlands of Kleb Woods. If they had been declared jurisdictional, then a permit from the Corps of Engineers would be required for any work within the wetlands.
Fred Collins
Director Kleb Woods Nature Center
Director Cypress Top Historic Park
Harris County Precinct 3
Steve Radack Commissioner
http://www.pct3.hctx.net
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