TOMBALL, TX: LSC-Tomball and Bayou Land Conservancy (BLC), owner of the Arrowood Preserve, have recently formed a partnership that will support land conservation, create unique learning opportunities for students, and benefit the community.
Dr. Lee Ann Nutt, Ph.D., LSC-Tomball President, has been passionate about this partnership since its inception. “This new partnership will allow us to give more to our community and support the educational goals of our students in innovative ways,” she said.
Working with an architecture firm, BLC has submitted permitting papers to begin construction on an outdoor classroom, a place students will use as a lab to physically interact with the ideas they are learning about in textbooks or online. The unconventional learning space will serve students studying natural resources, biology, environmental sciences and offer opportunities for archeology excavation, cartography experience, and lifelong learning nature courses.
LSC-Tomball students will not be the only people benefiting from the partnership. “Everyone, even if they never set foot on the preserve, benefits from land conservation,” said Jill Boullion, BLC Executive Director. Community benefits include flood mitigation, cleaner raw water and habitat protection. Water from the Arrowwood Preserve feeds into the Lake Houston watershed, the primary source of drinking water for Houston and surrounding areas.
In 2020, through a generous gift, BLC acquired Arrowood, a 117-acre ecologically diverse forest located in Montgomery County, across Spring Creek from LSC-Tomball. Ownership of the land presented the land conservation group with some special opportunities.
“Once we had the land rights in hand, we knew immediately we wanted to form a partnership with LSC, because of their history of caring for the community,” Boullion said. “In the pandemic, we all realized in new ways the value of our outdoor spaces.”
Outdoor classroom construction is predicted to start in the fall coinciding with plans to lay a natural surface trail, but BLC hopes to have LSC faculty and students out sooner. Together, LSC-Tomball and BLC want to protect the Arrowwood Preserve and make it a place for the community for years to come.
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