Showing Off
KPC Hosts Flat Out Fun Day - November 14
Nelson Farms Preserve | 10 AM - 4 PM

It is still hot and dry on the prairie but soon we expect that some cold fronts will move in to provide relief from the heat.  These fronts will also bring the flocks of geese and other migratory waterfowl that winter on the Katy Prairie and that make it the international avian destination it is today.  The cooler weather portends another major event as well - Flat Out Fun Day on the Katy Prairie, our annual event to show off the many wonders of the prairie.


The Conservancy's Nelson Farms Preserve will serve as locus operandi for Flat Out Fun Day again this year.  Expect to enjoy many activities that will provide your family and friends, children and grandchildren (or even the child within you) an upfront, close, and personal look at the prairie.  Take a hayride and explore the many different habitats on Nelson Farms - the riparian corridors, the natural and agricultural wetlands, prairie, and woodlands.  Discover the different wildlife species that use Nelson Farms - river otters, beavers, bobcats, Gulf Fritillary butterflies, cricket frogs, coyotes, and too many species of birds to list.  Talking about birds, you will have a great learning experience at our beginning bird watching station.  You can learn how to use binoculars and scopes and see what different species of birds would look like if they would just stand still and pose.

Come learn how rice is grown and harvested.  Check out the huge farm equipment that makes harvesting hundreds of acres of rice possible and efficient.  Learn how rice gets from the Katy Prairie to your supermarket shelves.  Be the first to hike the Green Darner Trail - first through a tallgrass prairie, next through a stand of oak trees, along a rice field, and down to the Crayfish Pond. At each stage of the trail, you can participate in hands-on activities - making seed balls to start your own native prairie at home or dipping a net in the pond to sample the aquatic wildlife that use our wetlands and lots of other projects.

Other groups will also be on hand to add to your enjoyment of the prairie, including the Houston Audubon Society, the Houston Zoo, Texas Wildlife Association, and many others.  Come see live animals and learn more about their programs and events.

Or just come out and spend the day outdoors.  We anticipate that November 14 will be cool and breezy - just the kind of day when residents think - "Wow, this is the kind of weather we should have all the time."  So come explore, come play, come learn, but just come.  It won't be a party without you.



Mary Anne Piacentini
Executive Director