Texas City Prairie Preserve
- Address:
Texas City Preserve, 4702 Highway 146 North
Texas City, TX 77590 - Phone:
409-945-4677
The Texas City Preserve, with 40 acres open to the public and 2000 acres on tours, features rare coastal prairie habitat and supports wild Attwater's Prairie Chickens. Restoration is a primary stewardship activity on the preserve. Since the late 1800s, cattle grazing has provided a substitute for the wandering herds of bison that are no longer present. Through the use of prescribed burning, the Conservancy staff is returning natural fire to the preserve.
At the turn of the century, there were approximately 1 million Attwater's Prairie Chickens along the Texas coast. However, loss of coastal prairie habitat over the years devastated the population, and less than 50 remain in the wild today, making the bird one of the most endangered in North America. Texas City Prairie Preserve includes the introduction of captive-bred juvenile birds into the wild at the preserve each summer.
Flora/Fauna:
At the Preserve, visitors will find big and little bluestem, the occasional rare coastal gayfeather, nesting colonies of least terns and black skimmers, brown pelicans, white-faced ibis, black rail, American peregrine falcon, white-tailed hawk, reddish egrets, Forster´s terns, and American oystercatchers.
Amenities/Activites
* Birdwatching
* Boardwalks
* Group camping
* Prairie studies
* Seining
* Identify wildlife
* TEKS-aligned lessons