February
20, 2009
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
CONTACT: Dennis
Johnston
(281)
353-8100 or djohnston@hcp4.net
John Pundt Park and the
Spring Creek Greenway Phase I Grand Opening
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole invites area residents to join him Thursday, March 5 at 9:30 a.m. for a ribbon cutting ceremony at John Pundt Park, 4129 Spring Creek Drive (Spring 77373). Additionally, in honor of retired Harris County Precinct 4 naturalist and author Carmine Stahl, Commissioner Eversole will dedicate 146 acres adjacent to Pundt Park as the Stahl Preserve.
Phase I construction of Pundt Park and the first phase of the Spring Creek Greenway project will open with a canoe launch, picnic loop with 10 tables, playground, rest room facility, 103-space parking lot, two small pavilions, bicycle racks, multiple trails, a concrete bridge, and equestrian trails. A 4,300-foot eastbound hike and bike trail with a bridge at Pundt Park serves as the starting point for the Spring Creek Greenway.
This project is funded in part by a $1 million Spring Creek Greenway Phase I matching grant awarded by Texas Parks and Wildlife, and park bond funds allocated from the 2001 Capital Improvements Bond Referendum.
“Pundt Park is just the beginning,” remarked Eversole. “Visitors will eventually be able to reach Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Center from Pundt Park by traveling along the Spring Creek Greenway.”
Phase
II construction of the Spring Creek Greenway is currently in the design stage
and is expected to begin late in 2009. A second $1.5 million matching grant
awarded by Texas Parks and Wildlife will help fund a 5.6 mile trail and bridge
that will create a continuous 7.5 mile trail along Spring Creek from Pundt Park
to Jesse H.
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Pundt Park offers a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities ranging from biking, hiking, and horseback riding to canoeing and fishing. Additionally, the playground features challenging and fun play elements suitable for children of all ages. Canoeists may launch or take out at Pundt Park since there are canoe launch and retrieval sites downstream at Jones Park and upstream at Peckinpaugh Preserve in Montgomery County. Equestrians can ride their horses along designated trails within the park, and parking areas for equestrian trailers are available.
Hours of operation at Pundt Park will be adjusted seasonally, but the park will be open daily Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Carmine Stahl Preserve, located southeast of Pundt Park, has been set aside as a nature preserve featuring a large pristine lake, several wetland ponds, and white sand beaches along Spring Creek. Phase I of the Spring Creek Greenway project includes a trail that connects Pundt Park to the Stahl Preserve.
“I couldn’t think of a more beautiful spot in Harris County that personified Carmine Stahl and his dedication to parks and nature,” Commissioner Eversole stated.
Stahl worked for Harris County Precinct 4 from 1986 until he retired in March of 1999. He was instrumental in the early development of Jones Park during the late 1970s when he was the executive director of the Houston Audubon Society. Stahl has written several books, coauthored Trees of Texas, and is well known for his love of wild edible plants and medicines.
For more information, please contact Precinct 4’s Parks
Administrator, Dennis Johnston, at (281) 353-8100 or visit www.hcp4.net/parks.
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