Anyone working to conserve land in the Houston area has management issues with which they have to contend. Among the issues that rise to the top are feral hogs and their three litters per female per year, which destroy wetland areas, and tallow trees, the highly invasive tree that wont be tamed except by time-intensive manual labor.

Issues quickly rising to the level of high concern are trespassing and all-terrain vehicle use. What began as a minor hindrance has in just the past few years ballooned into a major ecological problem. Hundreds and, on weekends, thousands of ATVers ride their large, knobby tires over sensitive areas on almost any open piece of land in or around Houston.

But what is of critical and immediate concern is the increase of these ATVers who “go muddin” with their vehicles in area streams and rivers. In the Houston area, pristine is not a word that people often use to describe the ribbons of usually brown water flowing through our bayou wilderness area. don’t run clear when development nearby is causing soil erosion.

But just to the north of downtown Houston flows the beautiful liquid border of Spring Creek, which separates Harris and Montgomery County. On a good day, you can canoe down this creek and see deer, eagles circling overhead, fish jumping out of the clear (yes, clear) water and be amazed that so close to a thriving metropolis there still exists a wilderness area that contains 250-year-old trees.

But that’s on a good day, and there are not many good days anymore on Spring Creek. The region, particularly from I-45 going east to the San Jacinto River, has been taken over by ATVers who daily trespass with their vehicles onto this formerly pristine area, damaging the ecosystem and ruining the calm and quiet so many others go there to seek out. Just a few months ago, Paddlesports, a low-impact recreational business located in Spring, opted to end their weekend canoe and kayak tours, citing not just the ATV noise but actual fear for their lives with the aggressive nature of some of the drivers and their ever-increasing numbers. Landowners and officials say along the creek they have seen ATVers carrying guns and chainsaws. Evidence of alcohol consumption is often left behind.

The National Park Service says that ATVs are one of their primary concerns now, and state parks throughout the country are racing to fund biology studies to see whether they can verify that increased ATV use is affecting wildlife habitats in a significant manner. Biologists point out that the unnatural depressions and ruts being formed in the landscape by these vehicles are impeding the natural movement of a whole host of animals. Some soil scientists currently estimate that the natural recovery time for highly used ATV areas should be measured in lifetimes, not years.

What we know about Spring Creek is that the multitude of mammals, birds, and other animals that live there can only move up and down the creek in a fairly narrow floodway area. Farther north or south they encounter intense development. ATV noise and traffic along the creek certainly disturbs them. Biologists fear decreased numbers due to stress because many of the young of these animals sleep during the day.

The newly created 4 wheel corridors further fragment the forested creek area by inhibiting animals’ access to the creek. This negative impact does not bode well for the rare Swanson’s warbler, which brings ecotourism dollars to these understory-filled woods as people from around the world fly in for a sighting of the small pink-legged avian for their bird lists.

The impact to animals is further intensified by the ensuing loss of plant life. Much of the area along Spring Creek includes wetlands. These eons-old special soil areas function as kidneys for the water system, naturally filtering out impurities before the water flows down into Lake Houston – Houston’s primary water source. The wetland areas are characterized by special plants. Unlike the long root systems of tall grass prairie areas, wetland plants have shallow root systems.When these are churned up by 4 wheelers, they are gone forever.

Besides filtering our water, these sensitive wetland areas are home to highly specific plant communities needed by specific animals. Birds feed on butterflies and other insects that need these host plants (generally just one plant species). Destroy the plants and the circle of life is broken.

But besides ruining habitat areas, the 4 wheelers are causing more extensive damage to the community as a whole by eroding the stream beds at a faster than natural pace. Spring Creek provides a critical flood buffer zone for hundreds of thousands of people who live in its watershed area. The unnatural gullies and trenches being formed are not allowing the area to perform its natural function of holding water back and slowing it down.

And for people who like to fish, the loss of aquatic habitat caused by the 4 wheelers running in the middle of the creek is extreme. Their tires cause higher turbidity in the water, having a negative impact on fish populations. Where they drive on the creek beds, the 4-wheelers severely compact the soil on tree roots, also affecting fish populations. Compacting their soil leads over time to the demise of trees. Trees shade the creek, lowering the temperature of the water; the higher the temperature, the less dissolved oxygen, the fewer fish.

Many ATVers are not aware of Senate Bill 155, which went effect in January 2004. It is now illegal to ride wheeled vehicles in navigable waters. The new law was specifically designed to lessen the above-listed ecological damage associated with ATV use. What’s important to note is that Spring Creek, from Panther Branch just west of I-45 in Spring, is where navigable waters begin, and they continue all the way downstream to the San Jacinto River.

ATVs arrived on the scene about 20 years ago and have matured into playthings more than work horses. The high torque that their engines/transmissions generate enables them to chew up the ground really well. In the wet areas where their drivers like to take them, damaging soil and vegetation is unavoidable.

At www.springcreekatvpark.com you can find hundreds of individuals living out this vision of no-holds-barred creek access. Also viewable are Hummer Parades, with these 3-ton machines driving along the sugar sands of Spring Creek, which took millions of years to reach their natural resting destination from granite farther north.

The Spring Creek Greenway Project is a newly-formed and unique combination of Harris and Montgomery County agencies and environmental non-profits, including Legacy Land Trust, working together to protect a shared precious natural resource. Focusing as it does on this liquid boundary and its floodways and floodplains, the project’s preservation goal is put in jeopardy with the continued rampant use of these vehicles.

Spring Creek belongs to the people of the state of Texas but foremost it is home to multitudes of plants and animals whose sensitive ecosystem is now under constant attack. Lets not forget that our society should be remembered not just by what we build but by what we refuse to destroy.

Jennifer Lorenz is executive director of the Legacy Land Trust.