Deer Park Conservation Efforts

You may have noticed from last week’s article that KLSS is all about loving the outdoors and protecting it, which is why (after running into Lisa Gray’s article) we couldn’t wait to jump on the opportunity to support the great happenings in Deer Park. We’ll back just about any righteous cause, no matter what county you’re in, and this one is beyond fantastic. A winning team of conservationists, Bayou Land Conservancy, is making the valiant effort to raise 4 million simoleons for the purpose of purchasing Deer Park Prairie and keeping it out of the cold grip of housing developers. Yes, it’s nice to build new homes for humans, but not at the expense of destroying the 50 acres of rare coastal prairie that is home to “meadowlarks*, pocket gophers, and more than 300 species of unique plants.”

With the housing developers in the picture, the land owner gave conservationists a deadline of August 20 (yes, this August 20) to raise the $4 million. We realize that number just sounds like a four followed by a lot of zeroes and commas, and looks like a longshot; not for these guys. Terry Hershey, a very important environmentalist who keeps popping up in too many environmentally-related affairs to count, recently dropped 2 million cheddar cheeses to save the prairie. His donations are accompanied by $200, 000 from the Hamman Foundation, smaller donations ranging from $10 – $50,000 and, even a guy willing to lay his 1951 Studebaker on the line for this beautiful piece of nature.

Bayou Land Conservancy says the land is “too special to have it covered with 200 houses.” King’s Land Surveying agrees. We’re not advising you to make it rain with your paycheck for the sake of nature, but we do think you’d be a pretty cool kid to donate here and join in on the effort. We only have $1.6 million to go.

*We weren’t sure what a meadowlark is either, but we stopped to find out in the middle of this post: 

Courtesy of Gregg Thompspon

These are musical birds, more often heard than seen. They strut around grasslands, meadows, and pastures, feeding on seeds and insects.

Without the prairie, these little guys won’t have food or shelter. Nor will the other plant and animal species, considering there will be houses in place of their original homes.