There was a time when every request that Burhans, Sacks and other Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy board members and supporters made was met with a firm “no.” But that has changed. They’re in the middle of a capital campaign to raise $15 million.
ust as Bill Burhans and Howard Sacks mention the coyotes, bobcats, opossums and raccoons that roam thein southwest Houston, a stray cat emerges from tall grasses and starts a stare-down.
There was a time when every request that Burhans, Sacks and other Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy board members and supporters made was met with a firm “no.” They could barely get assurances that the grass would be mowed a few times a year. But that has changed. They’re in the middle of a capital campaign to raise $15 million to pay for paved trails, picnic tables and gazebos, a fishing pier, kayak launch, dog park and additional parking, among other bells and whistles.
“I’m incredibly impressed with that all-volunteer group,” Hagstette said. “They have 60-some Eagle Scout projects. Trees for Houston has given them trees. I also came to understand they hadn’t been able to break out. People like them, and they get small donations or grants here and there, but they hadn’t been able to make the big move. I was straightforward. I took Nancy out there and said, ‘What do you think?’ She looked at it and said, ‘This is amazing.
There are eight miles of trails, much of it grass and the remainder a combination of crushed granite or paved concrete. The Kinder donation will, in part, go toward paving more than half of it, with money from“Willow Waterhole is a shining example of government at its best,” said Ellis, who likes to ride his bicycle at the park. “It’s a flood infrastructure project for a community that for too long was left behind.
Sacks and Burhans note that almost as soon as the greenspace was finished, wildlife showed up. Birds are a constant, and Houston Audubon Society bird counts have listed more than 200 species who either live here or pass through on migratory routes. “It is a good place for our sisters to take walks. We go there on our bicycles and take our elderly sisters there on golf carts. We are so grateful for the park,” said Sister Maria Theresa Nguyen, who has lived at the convent for more than 30 years. “We go there to get in touch with God, who is our ultimate creator. He uses the talents of men and women to make it more beautiful with trees and the ponds and, now, the wildflowers.
Sacks, 72 and retired from broadcast advertising, joined in a little later, and the two — along with a legion of volunteers — have devoted much of their retirement time to generating ideas and funding for the greenspace. Prairie grass grows around Westbury Lake at Willow Waterhole in southwest Houston. The detention basin was created to help absorb and detain potential flood waters in the area around Willow Waterhole and Brays Bayous.
People use the Bob Schwartz Gazebo as the sun sets, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, at Willow Waterhole in Houston. The Gazebo sits over Westbury Lake, the largest of the six lakes that form the Willow Waterhole detention basin.Shanley saw his plan as a two-for-one deal: Dig a hole deep enough for flood control, but not so deep that fish won’t live.
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