Houston Sierra Club Outings

Sierrans and the public are invited to come to “Big Thicket Day” on Saturday, October 10, 2026, 11:30 am to 2 pm, at Colliers Ferry Park, Beaumont, Texas, to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of “Big Thicket National Preserve” (BTNP).

This will be the 62nd anniversary of the “Big Thicket Association” so you have two reasons to come and join in the family friendly festivities along with the National Park Service and others.

For those who haven’t heard, BTNP was the first “National Preserve” that the U.S. Congress created. This legislation has saved about 113,000 acres in Southeast Texas where part of the legendary “Big Thicket” is.

There are beautiful floodplain forests, cypress-tupelo swamps, Longleaf Pine savannahs and grasslands, American Beech-Southern Magnolia-Loblolly Pine slope forests, Village Creek, the Neches River, and much more in BTNP.

For “Big Thicket Day” the focus will be on the Neches River and Big Thicket nature, history, and community. There will be free entertainment, food, rides on the “Ivory Bill” pontoon boat, exhibitors, and more.

On Saturday, October 24, 2026, 9:30 am, the Houston Sierra Club will meet at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area (WMA) at Smith Point, Chambers County. We’ll visit a “Hawk Watch” observation platform to look for raptors and other birds. We’ll also drive to Trinity Bay and look for shorebirds.

We’ll then drive to Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Anahuac) to eat our lunches, bird, and enjoy the natural scenery. If time permits, on our way home, we’ll visit the Texas Chenier Plain Refuge Complex Office and enjoy a board walk through a cypress swamp on Lake Anahuac.

The link below has a participant sign-in agreement (liability waiver). Please read this before this outing so you know what it says and can sign-in quickly at the WMA and we can proceed with the outing. Sign-Up Sheet 2-2020.pdf (sierraclub.org)

If anyone has COVID symptoms or is sick don’t come! We want everyone to be safe. You’ll be with people who are vaccinated/unvaccinated. It’s your choice to participate on this outing.

Group size is limited to 20 people. Bring water, lunch, snacks, sunscreen, hat, field guides, binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, bug repellent, and comfortable shoes/clothes. Long pants are recommended. It may be hot!

Those who want to carpool/caravan meet at 7:30 a.m. in the parking lot west of Starbucks in Meyerland Plaza (4700 block of Beechnut, south side, near West Loop South). Look for a gray Honda CRV.