By Brandt Mannchen
A long time ago, almost 50 years, I was a volunteer for the Houston Audubon Society (HAS). My November 2025 visit to the Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary (Sanctuary) brought back pleasant memories.
But first some history. This 17.5-acre Sanctuary on Rummel Creek was donated to the HAS in 1975 by Edith Lotz Moore as a nature preserve for birds. Ms. Moore lived with her husband on this site for 43 years. The log cabin that exists here is a part of that donation and has been preserved and is used for educational programs.
My memories are of wading Rummel Creek and taking trash out, including shopping carts. I was privileged to spend a week in the log cabin in 1977, when the caretakers took a vacation. I remember spending nights impressed by the quiet and natural sounds that I heard. The night was jet black and its personality gave me a feeling of being far away from Houston.
I enjoyed not only the memories but also the reality of what grows in the Sanctuary now. There are about 1.5 miles of trail, boardwalks galore to protect wet or erosive areas, ponds, overlooks, and of course, Rummel Creek.
Rummel Creek has been forced to serve as the City of Houston’s flood drainage way to Buffalo Bayou. This was required a long time ago and Harris County Flood Control District lined its banks with rocks to reduce erosion from flood waters that drained from development in the Memorial City area. The erosion continues and has resulted in the end of several trails that are now a part of Rummel Creek.
Today, I enjoyed the forest that exists alongside Rummel Creek. Some of the vegetation I saw included:
Yaupon Holly, American Elm, Cherry Laurel, Black Hickory, Loblolly Pine, Willow Oak, Hackberry, Water Oak, White Ash, Post Oak, Farkleberry, Mexican Plum, Black Cherry, greenbriar species, Carolina Moonseed, American Beautyberry, Parsley Hawthorn, Little Hip Hawthorn, Trumpet Vine, Eastern Red Cedar, Rusty Black Haw, Red Mulberry, Southern Red Oak, Coral Bean, Cedar Elm, Winged Elm, Muscadine Grape, American Sycamore, American Basswood, Bald Cypress, Southern Magnolia, American Hornbeam, American Elderberry, Dwarf Palmetto. Swamp Chestnut Oak, White Oak, Buttonbush, Lizards-tail, Common Persimmon, Bur Oak, Red Maple, White Oak, Rattan Vine, and Pecan.
I’m sure I didn’t see all the woody plants that are found in the Sanctuary. But there were many and it reminded me of East Texas, in miniature. Large trees, Loblolly Pines, Post Oaks, Southern Red Oaks, White Ashes, etc., are found everywhere and give a glimpse of what an “old forest” looks like on a Buffalo Bayou tributary.
In addition, I don’t remember ever seeing more White Ash (maybe some Green Ash too) in one, small area, than I did at the Sanctuary. What a treat especially since they were turning yellow and red. Leaves and leaflets were slowly drifting, spiraling down as I looked up into the canopy.
American Basswood is also found in surprisingly large numbers. I don’t see American Basswood often, in East Texas and certainly not in Houston. What a gem!
Gray Squirrels were everywhere. I saw a large Cottontail Rabbit searching for a tasty morsel to munch on. Songbirds were drawn to bird feeders by the cabin where people watched and took photos. I observed, via binoculars, a crow-sized woodpecker, the Pileated Woodpecker, pound on a branch of the Southern Red Oak. There must be something tasty up there in the air!
It was a joy to see the “lost forest” that the Edith L. Moore Sanctuary protects and remember when I saw it as a younger man. Visit Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary soon. You’ll get lost too, and enjoy it just as I have.
Photo by Brandt Mannchen