Community effort saves 135-year-old oak
The efforts of a few Klein residents to save a historic oak tree have been successful.
The Circle K Corp., which owns a section of the land now occupied by the Strack Farms Restaurant that closed in 2013, has agreed to make changes to their construction plan for a new convenience store in an effort to save the 135-year-old tree.
“We planned on saving that tree,” said Circle K Human Resource Director Troy Beatty.
Tim Peters, who is the real estate director for Circle K, said the convenience store giant is re-submitting its plans to Harris County for approval and will save the tree from destruction.
The new plans will involve widening of a center median by the county and the Texas Department of Transportation, as well as narrowing the width of the store’s driveway from 40 feet to 30 feet.
Peters said Circle K also plans to add more trees and shrubs to the area near the site of the tree, as well as bring in an arborist to design a mitigation plan to save the tree.
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said a lot of progress has been made, and that the county has been involved in the process since it was brought to their attention.
“We are going to widen that median where they don’t have to cut downthat tree,” he said. “Normally we would not agree to this… but we feel that saving the tree is important enough.”
The county will also bring in its own arborist to ensure the tree root system is stable and healthy as the county and Circle K move forward with plans.
In December, the Klein community became aware of the initial plans to remove the tree after retired Klein ISD teacher Mary Beth Kreml launched a grass-roots effort that included a letter-writing campaign by Klein Oak High School students.
The land where the tree is located, near the intersection of TC Jester and Louetta, was the original site of the Hermann Strack farm established in 1848, not long after the first Klein settlers arrived from Prussia.
Sian Gibson, a teacher at Klein Oak High School and chair woman of the school’s English department, is a friend and former colleague of Kreml’s.
Gibson said after hearing about the tree she decided to launch a letterwriting campaign with her students.
“I have multiple students who are related to the founding families of the Klein community,” she said.
A few days after launching the letter-writing campaign, the class received a written response from Peters, which included a pledge to preserve the tree.