Preserve proves popular with mountain bikers
Mountain bikers head in droves to the 100 Acre Wood Preserve, located at Texas 249 at Jones Road, to take advantage of the hills, ravines and dips provided in the green space along Cypress Creek.
The preserve has two miles of trails through rolling, forested terrain, which connect with the nine-mile Cypress Creek Mountain Bike trail system in northwest Harris County.
The park extends east from Jones Road to the Harris County Municipal Utility District 230 water treatment facility and south from Cypress Creek to the Norchester subdivision.
The green space was created in part through the efforts of the Bayou Land Conservancy, a community-sponsored landpreservation organization.
Stephanie Prosser with the organization explained that the group has focused on protecting the Lake Houston watershed for years.
“We’ve been working on the Spring Creek Greenway for the past 12 years, and now it’s more than 80 percent done,” she said. “It’s really wellpreserved; so we’re trying to be more active on Cypress Creek.”
That’s how the group discovered a large tract along the waterway. Jim Robertson, chairman of the Cypress Creek Greenway Project, alerted the conservancy that 100 acres was not in use in the middle of a highly developed neighborhood.
“In this very urban area, that size tract doesn’t exist anymore,” Prosser said. “It was a big deal, but he wasn’t very hopeful. He didn’t think the owner would want to sell the land.”
Eventually the conservancy persuaded the owner to sell.
“We spent a few years raising the funds to purchase the development rights to that land,” Prosser said.
The conservancy started conversations with the owner in June 2011.
“We had a few failed attempts to raise the funds we
needed, but we ended up getting a grant from the Houston Endowment,” Prosser said.
By 2013, the conservancy had development rights to the land and had signed a conservation easement.
“It will be permanently protected,” Prosser said.
The organization still monitors and managers the property but handed the land over to Harris County Precinct 4 for maintenance.
Precinct 4 parks director Dennis Johnston said that in the past couple of years, work has been completed on the trail design. Past dredging of the creek left behind small hills and ravines, a perfect landscape to conquer on two wheels.
“A lot of mountain bikers have discovered the place,” Johnston said. “They love it because you don’t get many hills in this part of the country.”
Johnston added that it is the most-used trail by mountain bikers in the greater Houston area except for the one in Memorial Park.
He said that when the park connects with neighboring trails, it becomes an even greater asset for cyclists.
“You put it all together and you get a larger recreation area,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
Johnston said that the preserve helps with flood control and shelters wildlife
The preserve includes pocket prairies, wetlands and forest featuring trees such as mature post oaks, pines, American beautyberry, river birch and American sycamore.
Precinct 4 recently opened a one-mile, asphalt trail on the eastern side of the park.
The trail extends from the YMCA facility at Texas 249 to the Cypresswood Hike and Bike Trail at Jones Road. Eventually, the Cypresswood trail will connect with Precinct 4’s Matzke Park via the Anderson Ditch Trail.
The conservancy added 2.73 acres to the park in June. Planned improvements include addressing the parking situation, Prosser said. The preserve has no parking lot or offi- cial entrance.
Parking spaces are planned on land adjoining the property.
“Our hope is also to have a nature preserve eventually,” she said.
In the meantime, Prosser said seeing all the cyclists out in the 100 Acre Wood Preserve has been rewarding.
“I know it’s being used and loved,” she said. “The popularity has increased at an astounding level. It has a lot of features you wouldn’t normally find. It’s not just a flat road.”
The Greater Houston Off Road Bicycle Association has provided leadership in maintaining the park trails, Prosser said.
“They take their responsibility very seriously,” she said. “They keep the ecological values in mind as well, which is important to conservation.”
Bill Collier, incoming president of the association, was glad to discover the 100 Acre Wood when he moved to Towne Lake.
“We pack the streets with cars on the weekends,” he said. “There’s so much going on behind the scenes of the greenway.”
“People have given hundreds of hours of work time to make sure these trails are available, and it’s been hard work,” Collier said.
But it is worth the effort, he said.
“When you’re out there, you are separated from all the hustle and bustle of Houston,” he said. “It’s unfiltered, natural habitat. You get out there and escape the concrete jungle.”
He said that the park provides the opportunity for cyclists of all levels.
“There are trails for people who have never ridden and there are trails for people who have been riding for years to enjoy,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to get outside and burn calories. It’s a wonderful paradise away from everything else.”