Lake Livingston Restoration Celebrated
On Sept. 13, former first lady Laura Bush and senior officials of the Lake Livingston Friends of Reservoirs, the Trinity River Authority and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department celebrated community-based efforts to foster aquatic habitat around Lake Livingston, Texas’ second-largest lake.
The event was held at Wolf Creek Park in Coldspring and included a demonstration of American water-willow plantings in the lake by local high school students.
The Friends group created a community-based, multigenerational volunteer pool ranging from local high school students to retirees and including inmate horticulturists from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Ellis Unit (Huntsville) who are developing improved methods to grow healthier plants in less time. They’ve planted more than 10,000 American water-willows at 18 sites, mostly in the southern portions of Lake Livingston.
Lake Livingston Friends of Reservoirs was designated a Conservation Wrangler by Texan by Nature, a program highlighting the very best Texan-led conservation projects occurring in Texas. Texan by Nature was founded in 2011 by Mrs. Bush to align the broad interests of conservation groups with business, health care, schools, the scientific community and faith-based organizations. For more information, visit texanbynature.org.