Next Big Project on the BC Greenbelt

UPDATE: We’ll be hosting a workday on Sat, July 16th from 9 am to noon and we need volunteers to help haul gravel in buckets and larger rocks with rock cradles.  Please sign up here

Our Barton Creek Trail Corps crew is out removing a very old silt fence along the trail near the Mopac crossover this week as well as doing some Spyglass Access drainage improvements off-trail, but we took some time to look at the next big area we need to tackle.

This is a section of creek bank just east of Mopac where the water can be very deep – so it usually grows a rope swing or two.  As a result of many people loving it, the banks have eroded and this amazing Cedar Elm tree is in danger.

This is also one of the recharge areas where water just disappears through the gravel and rock, which is pretty cool.

Our goal is to rebuild this section. Our crew will use their winch systems to pull in some of the bigger rocks, but we’ll need volunteers to help us haul over smaller rocks using our rock cradles as well as lots of buckets of gravel to help backfill the banks once we start putting rocks into position.

We’re currently looking at the dates of July 16 and August 6, but would welcome groups of volunteers (10 minimum) that might be willing to come out on weekday mornings as well.  Email Charlie at cmccabe@austinparks.org if you are interested.

Deep Eddy Pool Mural Nearing Completion

Stopped by the Deep Eddy Pool Mosiac Mural last night and they are hoping to be finishing up by Friday, it’s looking amazing. This is a great example of a art in parks project with lots of community participation!

Barton Creek Trail Update – June 22

Our Barton Creek Trail Corps crew continues to work on the trail despite heat and humidity.  They have just completed improvements to drainage and rock work at Campbell’s Hole and the Flats, as well as the hiking only section of trail along the chain wall between Loop 360 Access and Twin Falls Access.  Lots of de-berming, small retaining walls with new trail surfacing, removing dead trees immediately along the trail.

 

 

Deep Eddy Mosaic Mural Project Underway

Finishing a rather hot bike ride at Deep Eddy last night around 7:15 pm last night, I saw that the Deep Eddy Mosaic Mural Project is well underway at Deep Eddy Pool and it’s looking great!  Funded by Art in Public Places (a City of Austin program) as well as helped out by many others, this is going to be an amazing addition to the formerly stark hike and bike trail wall.

It’s Open! – Hundreds attend BMX/Skate Park Opening

Congratulations to the Austin Parks and Recreation Dept for a job well done.  It looks like the new BMX/Skate Park will rival the Liz Carpenter Fountain at Butler Park for most popular park feature!

The Mayor and the Media

 

 

 

Austin BMX & Skate Park Opens June 16th

(From the City of Austin – we’re SO excited about this – photos are from the construction phase…)

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department will open the Austin BMX & Skate Park with a Grand Opening Celebration on Thursday, June 16, 2011, at 10:00 a.m., 1213 Shoal Creek Boulevard.

The department will hold a brief program between 10 a.m. and 12:00 p.m and will officially open the park to the public at 12:00 noon. The Grand Opening will feature skate demos, refreshments, music and guest speakers.

The BMX and Skateboarding community is eagerly awaiting the opening of this new state of the art BMX and Skateboard facility. The Austin BMX & Skate park project was funded by citizens through the 2006 Bond Election. The BMX and Skateboard stakeholder community was involved in getting Austin voter’s support for this growing recreational activity and was also very involved throughout the design process of the park.

The artwork for the BMX Skate Park was commissioned through the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places Program, which allocates 2% of estimated construction costs of all eligible capital improvement projects toward the acquisition of artwork for City facilities. Chris Levack was selected as the artist for the public art components for this project through a competitive Request for Qualifications and interview process. He designed, fabricated and installed “Iron Wave,” the skate-able element in the northwest corner of the park, and “Trilobite Arbor,” the shade structure that provides users and visitors a break from the Texas sun. Levack bridges the park’s natural and man-made surroundings with both art pieces, as the “wave” references the water of nearby Shoal Creek and the “trilobites” that shape the arbor canopies are visual reminders of the past life forms that once inhabited the Creek. The artist will be on hand to discuss his work at the Grand Opening this Thursday.

The project was designed by New Line Skate parks out of Canada and was engineered by Baker-Aicklen & Associates and Jose Guerra, Inc. Construction of the BMX & Skate park was done by Prism Development and California Skate parks. The construction contract was authorized by the City Council in May 2010 and construction began in October 2010. The total cost for the park is $1.7 million.

2 New Off-Leash Areas Proposed by the City Parks Dept.

We’re posting this note from the off leash area advisory community (OLAAC) committee. This note was originally sent by committee member Bill Fraser…

Two new off-leash dog parks are in the works for Austin, and we need your help in getting the word out to the community to support these new locations.   Please join us as well as the OLAAC (off leash area advisory community) in supporting these new proposed Off-Leash Areas

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) have two “new” locations selected for off-leash consideration - Yett Creek (walking trail – North Austin) and Mabel Davis (fenced – South East Austin).   Stakeholder meetings for both begin this month.

These two locations represent a stepped up effort by PARD to expand on the number of off-leashed parks.  As park advocates for off-leash environments, it’s important we get the word out and have a strong show of support for these new locations at the community stakeholder meetings.

If possible, please make plans to attend these community stakeholder meetings shown below.  If you cannot attend, email your support to the email addresses list below.  We need a strong showing of support from the dog park community.

Yett Creek Park Proposed Off-leash Trail Community Stakeholder Meeting – June 13th

The meeting will be held on Monday, June 13, 2011, 6:00 – 7:30 PM, at Davis Elementary School Cafeteria, located at 5214 Duval Rd.

Email your support for Yett to YettCreekParkTrail@ci.austin.tx.us

Mabel Davis Park Proposed Off-leash Fenced Area Community Stakeholder Meeting – June 27th

This meeting will be held on Monday, June 27, 2011, 6:00 – 7:30 PM, at Linder Elementary School Cafeteria, located at 2800 Metcalfe Rd.

Email your support for Mabel Davis to MabelDavisParkOffLeashArea@ci.austin.tx.us

If you have questions, please call. Thanks for your support in this effort.

Bill Fraser

Off-leash Area Advisory Committee Member

Photo From the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Dept.

Thanks for a great National Trails Day!

Thanks to our 230 volunteers and our supporters including our partners – City of Austin Parks & Recreation Dept, Hill Country Conservancy, American Youthworks Environmental Corps, our sponsors REI, BMC Software, IESI, Thundercloud Subs and our community partners Greenbelt Guardians, Central Texas Mountaineers, and the Central Texas Trail Tamers.  We had great projects, great volunteer leaders, and despite being pretty hot, a good time.  We hope to see you on Sat, Sept 24th for National Public Lands Day!

Cutting a drain in the trail...

Section of Trail with Downslope berm removed, this will allow water to sheet across the trail rather than pool or gully.

Just a nice stand of Sunflowers...

See You Out on the Greenbelt Tomorrow Morning!

We have over 220 volunteers signed up to work with us on 10 different projects on Barton Creek Greenbelt tomorrow.  We’ll be removing invasive species, picking up trash, building retaining walls, fixing drainage channels and resurfacing access trails from 9 am to noon time.  If you have not signed up yet and want to join us for a little hard work, we start at 9 am and will work until noon.  Both Spyglass Access and Gus Fruh access projects can use a few more volunteers.  All volunteers are invited to a picnic afterward at Zilker.

Downtown Park User Study – Volunteers Needed

Downtown Park User Study

The Downtown Austin Alliance is looking for volunteers to help with a survey of downtown park users during the months of June, July and August 2011.

The focus of the study will be downtown Austin’s historic Republic Square, Brush Square and Old Bakery. Volunteers will count the number of park users and conduct short interviews. Park observation sessions are in 30-minute intervals, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the specified weeks. Volunteers can sign up for as little at 90 minutes (3 observations) per month and as much as 12 hours per month. Volunteers can even choose to buddy up, one person can count the users and the other can conduct interviews. Please feel free to sign up for as many shifts as you would like. The complete schedule is below. In order to ensure consistency in the study methodology, we are asking that volunteers attend a 1-hour mandatory training session on either Wednesday June 15 or Thursday June 16.

You can choose to observe one or several of the following downtown parks:

Republic Square: between 4th and 5th and Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets

Brush Square: between 4th and 5th and Trinity and Neches Streets

Old Bakery Park: at 10th and Congress Avenue

Summer Volunteer Schedule:

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Thursday, June 23, 2011 Saturday, June 25, 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Thursday, July 21, 2011 Saturday, July 23, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Thursday, August 18, 2011 Saturday, August 20, 2011

Each day has 3 available shifts for each park:

8‐8:30am, 12‐12:30pm or  6‐6:30pm

Orientation Sessions:

Wednesday, June 15: 9-10am Where: Downtown Austin Alliance Office 211 E. 7th street, 8th Floor Conference Room

Thursday, June 16: 6-7pm Where: Downtown Austin Alliance Office 211 E. 7th street, 8th Floor Conference Room

Parking is available at the DAA garage on E. 7th Street between Brazos and San Jacinto. Just tell the attendant you are attending a meeting at the Downtown Austin Alliance.

Questions:

Contact Lauren or Melissa with questions.

Lauren Bennett - Bennett.laurend@gmail.com – 512.999.0379

Melissa Barry – Melissa@downtownaustin.com – 512.469.0476