Friendswood Great Outdoors

Hi Everyone,

Not much has been posted because we've been presented with some very impactful information from the City of Friendswood Engineering office so we've been working behind the scenes to confirm details before going any further.

We have confirmed that the property will be part of an overarching flood mitigation project that will be subject to federal grant applications, and the City is in the process of conducting a Hydrologic & Hydraulic Study. This study has to be completed to determine the City's needs for flood control before we can define the areas that will be available for public use as a park.

The good news is that the final vision for the property has not been defined and FGO has a positive, open line of communication with City Engineering, Parks & Rec, and Keep Friendswood Beautiful which allows us to contribute to the final plans for the property.

The bad news is that the entire property is currently subject to complete modification. The existing City's draft shows about 400ft from the creek side bank will be terraced (flattened out like 1776 Park), and the interior lake will be expanded all the way out to the road. The yellow shown in the picture is the portion to be terraced and the red is the estimated lake expansion.

We'll update the page as information comes to us. Thank you all for your support and effort!

We have our first trailhead sign! Thank you Grace for this awesome gift from Cooper’s Wood Crafts and supporting local businesses. Can’t wait to get it installed at the park.

Check out Mark Cooper’s work at
https://www.facebook.com/CoopersWoodCrafts?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Another good haul today at the park! A big thanks to Jared today for coming through with some heavy lifting. We’ll be releasing a work objective list soon for volunteers to sign up for specific tasks. Thanks to all of our volunteers for your hard work and effort!

Great progress made at the park today by Grace and Jared! Join us on the GroupMe app to chat directly with volunteers and get on the schedule to come help out.

Thanks Patty, Grace, and Jared for getting back out to the park today!

We made some good progress this weekend with volunteers. We cleaned up the existing trails in Zone A, gathered a considerable amount of small trash, and pulled some larger debris out. Thank you Grace and Jared for your help and hard work!

Exploration & Park Clean Up Starting This Fall!

We’re having a Registration & Safety Orientation for anyone interested in joining the Friendswood Great Outdoors volunteer effort to clean up West Ranch Nature Park and develop it into a network of hiking and biking trails.

October 15th @ 4pm
Stevenson Park Rotary Pavilion

Upcoming Event - FGO Volunteer Project We’re accepting team registrations for a Team Trail Carving & Clean Up Event starting this October! Form teams with family and friends to carve trails, explore the great outdoors, and learn about local wildlife first hand. Help us clean up the grounds and lay the foundation for a new interactive o...

The FGO Volunteer Project is a multi-phase effort with the objective of cleaning up West Ranch Nature Park and creating an interactive educational outdoor experience area for the residents of Friendswood. The goal is to do this with as little impact to the natural landscape as possible, and we want to avoid the use of tax dollars or the creation of additional city expenses.

The initial concept includes a network of walking, hiking, and biking nature trails along with a kayak launch into Clear Creek. We intend to use the natural terrain for trails and take a minimalist approach to any necessary physical modifications to the property.