By Brandt Mannchen

Roy Campbell Burroughs Park (Park) is a Harris County Park in Precinct 3 in the extreme north of Harris County.  This Park is 320 acres, has 9.78 miles of trails, and is open 7 am to 10 pm.

This Park is linear and about ½ mile wide, 2 miles long, and ends at Spring Creek.  It’s at Hufsmith Road in Tomball, Texas, not far from Kuykendahl Road.

The Park has one of the largest dog parks that I’ve ever seen with a sturdy hurricane chain-link fence and a lot of large trees that provide shade during dog walks.   

Most of the Park is forested and the trails are very wide, 10 or more feet, graveled, and crisscross the property. When I visited the Park, the forest contained many large Loblolly Pine and a few Shortleaf Pine trees and Sweetgum, Post Oak, American Holly, Black Hickory, Sugarberry, Cherry Laurel, Yaupon Holly, Cedar Elm, American Hornbeam, Dwarf Palmetto, Eastern Hop Hornbeam, River Birch, Bald Cypress, Water Oak, Red Mulberry, Southern Red Oak, American Elm, and American Sycamore.

Blooming plants that I saw included Oxalis (pink flowers), Bull Nettle (don’t touch this one, it stings), Bitterweed, Dayflower, Rattlepod, smartweed species, Frost Weed, and Axocatzin.

Herbaceous or understory plants included Peppervine, Moonseed, Switchcane, Poison Ivy, Dog Fennel, elephant-foot species, American Beautyberry, American Elderberry, blackberry species, Coral Bean, greenbrier species, Resurrection Fern, Bracken Fern, and grape species. 

There are many swales, flats, and low places which provide habitat for wetland plants like smartweed species, Inland Seaoats, Lizard’s-tail, fern species, and Dayflower.

Unfortunately, in the moist or wet places, non-native invasive plant species like Chinese Tallow, Chinese Privet, and Trifoliate Orange compete with native plants.  These non-native plants should be removed or treated to provide room for native plants to grow and function in their ecosystem.

Birds were common and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, and Turkey Vultures were seen or heard in the forest. Roy Campbell Burroughs Park is a great place to stroll, think your own thoughts, and commune with Nature.