A few here, all on Flickr.

Hub and I thought we would go down to look at the progress on the River Walk yesterday. We went down there after 6:30 pm and I took some pictures. One main reason I wanted to see it, in particular, was because of the discussion at City Council about cutting down trees and brush. I wondered what trees were being talked about, because the contractors made the point that some old trees would have to go simply because of the size of the equipment that would be used to slope the bank. Why slope? To keep the bank from eroding. Basically, the contractors were saying that doing this work was optional but that at some point it would have to be done by the city.

Contrast this with pics I took in April 2007-

The reason this was brought up in the Council meeting was that there is apparently at least two visions of what the River Walk would look like-one is that it is a nature trail, the other that it would be more manicured. Of course when the riverwalk has the grass replanted around it and it isn't just dirt, it will have a more restive and *cool* feel to it (it was HOT still last night at 6:30 and there was a stretch right outside of Heritage Park that had zero trees. My perception from last night was that the high weeds lining the bank helped keep that path cool, as well as the trees. But they are talking about taking some more trees out and cutting down the brush. Okay. But which trees exactly? Is it possible to mark the trees to know which ones and then go look and see how that would both esthetically and from a climate perspective change the walk? I recall from the first time, in 2007, I went out there, Karen Richardson talking about picnic tables or some place along the way to hang out. Don't know if that's still a consideration but if the shady areas are taken out or otherwise stripped thinner of trees and brush, wouldn't that be a deterrent to wanting to stop?

I don't know the answer about erosion. But seems like trees where the roots are in the bank help stop erosion. And I used to live near the coast and I specifically remember various things being done around Galveston to shore up water's edges and help prevent erosion). I liked what Mr Stricklin said about planting natural grasses in place of the brush, not only because they have longer roots than *lawn* grass but would add to the feel of the nature walk. I would, also, though, like to keep the trees.