HOUSTON AUDUBON SOCIETY AND SKIMMER NATURE TOURS – BRAZOS BEND STATE PARK FIELD TRIP
Date: Sun, Dec 2
Time: 8 am – 6 pm (bring lunch, drinks, and birdwatching equipment)
Location: Brazos Bend State Park (exact meeting location to be announced – please call)
Fee: $75
Contact: Register with Karen Barnett at (713) 932-1639. For information, call (281) 337-7420 or e-mail skimmernaturetours@verizon.net

Complete Description:
The diverse habitats of 4900-acre Brazos Bend State Park make it one of the best places in the area to see bird life. Much of the park is wet bottomland or marsh, but there are also creeks, oxbow lakes, oak woodlands and prairie. More than 279 species of birds have been seen in the park, and this field trip will take you there to see many of them. In winter, Brazos Bend is home to many species of ducks, marsh birds, waders, raptors, and songbirds. The list includes birds such as Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Eastern Bluebird, five species of woodpeckers and Hermit Thrush, and Red-winged Blackbird. Less common sightings include: Vermilion Flycatcher, wintering warblers, and Bald Eagle.

By Leslie Ness

(Leslie is CEC’s intern. She has degrees in communication and nursing. We sent her to the EPA hearings to report her impressions. For other reports, see this Chronicle article and this Houston CLEAN report.)

As I drove into Houston’s Manchester neighborhood to attend Tuesday’s hearing on the EPA’s proposed emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants from refineries, I was struck by the billowing plumes of white smoke and realized that a person like me, who is not knowledgeable about petroleum refining, hasn’t a clue whether the smoke is harmless steam or poisonous benzene-laden pollution. (more…)

By Donna Platt, Executive Director

Thank you again for all of your support during the last year! Your feedback and financial contributions from CEC members and readers just like you have allowed CEC to grow and to continue to foster its mission: promoting collaboration and dialogue, facilitating communication, providing capacity-building support, coordinating and assisting with outreach, and providing accurate and reliable information about the environment to our community. (more…)

METRO plans to open neighborhood storefronts for each of the new rail corridors to give area residents information about the rail construction program. (more…)

Engineers Without Borders is sponsoring a seminar on Wind Technology: Past, Present and Future on Tuesday, December 6, 2007 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Upper Kirby District Center located at 3015 Richmond. (more…)

Biomimicry is a new discipline that studies nature and imitates it to solve human problems. Applications range from architecture, product design, and engineering, to software development, communication systems and organizational evolution. (more…)

The final performance in the three-part City Soundscapes series presented by Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the UH Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts will be Thursday, December 5 from 7-10pm on the banks of Buffalo Bayou below the Sabine Promenade. (more…)

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is holding a public hearing on its plans for issuing permits to allow industrial fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico. (more…)

This employee will be responsible for sanctuary project management, native habitat development, exotic invasives control, structures maintenance, and public/volunteer interaction at Houston Audubon’s 17 sanctuaries in 5 counties on the Upper Texas Coast. (more…)

CEE is a non-profit educational organization formed in 1970 to provide environmental education programs and services that promote stewardship of the environment and further the capacity of learners to make informed decisions. (more…)

The Rice International Visiting Fellows in Energy, the Environment and Sustainability has opened its search for 2008-09 fellowships. (more…)

EXXON MOBIL TO UNVEIL BATTERY UPGRADE
Baytown Sun 11/29/07
Baytown-born breakthrough makes hybrid vehicles safer.

BAYOU BARGE FIGHT FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT
Baytown Sun 11/28/07
Concern over terminal’s potential impact sparks debate.

TEXAS PROGRAM TO GET OLD CARS OFF ROADS IS DELAYED
Houston Chronicle 11/26/07
A state program to help low-income drivers replace old, polluting vehicles has been delayed until January as officials work out the program’s final details.

IN TEXAS, CLIMATE CREEPING ONTO AGENDA
National Public Radio Morning Edition 11/26/07
Texas emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other state. And if Texas were a country, it would be the seventh-largest carbon dioxide polluter in the world.

H-GAC HOT OVER CLIMATE
HOUSTON MAYOR JOINS CALL TO USE FLORESCENT LIGHTS
RUSH TO NAME STORMS MAY BE COSTING YOU MONEY
Houston Chronicle 11/29/07
With another hurricane season set to end this Friday, a controversy is brewing over decisions of the National Hurricane Center to designate several borderline systems as tropical storms.

CITY GREEN LIGHTS MARQUETTE DEVELOPMENT
Galveston County Daily News 11/29/07
The city council unanimously approved a development agreement for Marquette Land Investments’ The Preserve at West Beach.

DESPITE OPPOSITION, ISLE’S WEST END DEVELOPMENT OK’D
WEST END GROUPS SUE TO STOP BUILDING

NATURE TOURISM GROUP UNVEILS SEAWALL SIGNS

DEBRIS REMOVAL TO HELP TIDEWATER DRAIN
Galveston County Daily News 11/25/07
A $1 million project near Santa Fe could help alleviate flooding on Dickinson Bayou.

RETAILERS KEEP ‘GREEN’ BEHIND SCENES THIS HOLIDAY
Reuters 11/30/07
US retailers may be touting their environmental-friendliness this year, but just about the only “green” in evidence for the holidays is in the usual Christmas decorations.

EARLY VOTING BEGINS WEDNESDAY FOR 4 HOUSTON RACES
Houston Chronicle 11/27/07
Early voting starts Wednesday in the run-off elections for three Houston city council seats and a Houston Independent School District board seat. Election Day is Dec. 8.

OUTDOOR NATURE CLUB BUTTERFLY FIELD TRIP TO BENTSEN-RIO GRANDE STATE PARK
Date: Fri, Nov 3 – Mon, Dec 3
Time: please call for details
Location: please call for meeting time and place
Fee: Only your accommodations and meals and admission to state parks, other parks
Contact: To sign up or for more information, contact Virginia Anderson at (281) 930-1518 or vanderson35@comcast.net; more information posted at www.outdoornatureclub.org

Complete Description:
Leader: Derek Muschalek
Winter is the best time for sighting butterflies, especially rare species drifting north from Mexico. We will be spending most of out time at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Nearest five hotels are: Executive Inn (956-581-7451), 4.3 miles; La Quinta Inn (956-581-7772), 7.7 miles; Holiday Inn Express (956-424-7788), 9 miles; Comfort Inn (956-583-0333), 9 miles; and camping – contact Americana RV Resort (956-581-1705).

ORNITHOLOGY GROUP JANUARY FIELD TRIP – CHAPPELL HILL AND WASHINGTON COUNTY
Date: Sat, Jan 19, 2008
Time: Morning; please call for time
Location: please call for meeting location
Fee: none; but reservations required
Contact: Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, at (713) 515-1692 or birdsondabrain@earthlink.net; information at www.ornithologygroup.org

Complete Description:
Leader: Darrell Vollert
More information later.

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT – SAN JACINTO WILDERNESS
Date: Sat, Jan 5
Time: meet at 7 am
Location: Brookshire Brothers, 20185 US Hwy 59, Ste 69, New Caney, TX 77357
Fee: Yes, small fee; usually $5 per person Audubon bird count fee
Contact: David Henderson at dandewild@consolidated.net

Complete Description:
This count combines birding, biking, canoeing, and kayaking. Lake Houston Park and Damuth Preserve comprise over 5500 acres of Big Thicket flatwoods, riparian forest, sloughs, wet meadows, and creek frontage. The Dayton Prairie is an underbirded waterfowl paradise with tremendous wintering habitat for prairie birds. On the 2007 shakedown run, 19 observers saw over 5,000 birds of 80 different species.

KATY PRAIRIE CONSERVANCY – CYPRESS CREEK CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Date: Tue, Jan 1
Time: meet at 6 am
Location: meet at Paul Rushing Park on Katy Hockley Road
Fee: Yes, small fee; usually $5 per person for Audubon bird count fee
Contact: Fred Collins at (281) 357-5324 or fred_collins@hctx.net

Complete Description:
This area is well known for geese, ducks, eagles, hawks, and sparrows.

PINEY WOODS WILDLIFE SOCIETY – SPRING CREEK CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Date: Sat, Dec 29
Time: various times, from 4:30 am for owling to 7:30 am to 9 am
Location: various locations, including Woodlands area, Mercer Arboretum area, Hooks Airport, Jones State Forest
Fee: $5 per person Audubon bird count fee
Contact: Carlos Hernandez at (281) 874-1115 (work), (281) 353-9170 (home), or carlania@swbell.net