The new Spring Creek Greenway Gateway Complex at 1300 Riley Fuzzel Road at Spring Creek adjacent to the Peckinpaugh Preserve is now open! The 11,000 square-foot facility contains a nature center, community center, the Sheriff’s Patrol District II Office, pavilion with restrooms, and nature trails.

The $2.2 million dollar project was funded by the sale of the Rayford Road Community Center and a Texas Parks & Wildlife grant. The complex is situated on an 11.6-acre site donated by Midway Spring Trails Partners, L.P., the Houston based developer of the adjacent Spring Trails master planned community. The developer donated the land to the Spring Creek Greenway Foundation in memory of Plato Pappas, and the foundation then donated the land to the County.

The site also includes a new parking area and trailhead entrance to Peckinpaugh Preserve. The new trailhead will make it easier to access this beautiful nature area. The old trailhead at the end of Old Riley Fuzzel Road is also being improved to better accommodate equestrians, canoeists, and kayakers.

Established in 2005, the 25-acre Peckinpaugh Preserve merges 10 acres generously donated by Mrs. Patricia Peckinpaugh Hubbard and 15 acres contributed by the Houston Audubon Society.

The preserve is named in honor of Mrs. Hubbard's parents. Mrs. Hubbard's father, William Thomas Peckinpaugh, purchased the land in the 1920s. The preserve is located adjacent to the new Riley Fuzzel Road bridge. Spring Creek forms the southern boundary of this beautifully wooded preserve, with undeveloped forestland and the Spring Trails subdivision to the north. The preserve is protected by a conservation easement held by Bayou Land Conservancy, formerly known as Legacy Land Trust.

The preserve was made possible with the assistance of Bayou Land Conservancey, which helped negotiate a land swap between Houston Audubon Society and the Midway Companies, developer of the adjacent Spring Trails subdivision. Houston Audubon owned a nearby 11-acre parcel that was not on Spring Creek and inaccessible to the public, so they swapped for 15 acres owned by Midway Companies, and then donated the land to Montgomery County for the Spring Creek Greenway.

A canoe launch has opened at the end of Old Riley Fuzzel Road, adjacent to the Peckinpaugh Preserve, which offers direct access to Spring Creek. The preserve contains 2,385 linear feet (or almost one-half of a mile) of frontage along the banks of Spring Creek.

When Bayou Land Conservancy established the conservation easement on the 25-acre preserve, they stated it had the following conservation purposes:

1. Conservation of an important migratory stop-over and wintering area along Spring Creek for waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds.

2. Protection of forested riparian area from development encroachment.

3. Protection of floodway and the 100-year-floodplain of Spring Creek from clearing, so as to retain optimum floodwater retention capacity of property.

4. Inclusion in the Spring Creek Greenway Project, a comprehensive conservation effort to protect both the north and south banks of Spring Creek.

Get The Facts!
Check out the Peckinpaugh Preserve Plant and Animal List and Fact Sheet.

Spring Creek Tree Guide!
Check out the trees along Spring Creek.

View Photos!
Photos from Peckinpaugh Preserve biolgical survey, as well as aerial photography taken from 1944 through 2005 are presented in online galleries.

Location and Information

Peckinpaugh Preserve
1300 Riley Fuzzel Road
Spring, Texas 77386

For more information about the Preserve and Nature Center, contact:

Nature Center
1300 Riley Fuzzel Road
Spring, Texas 77386
281-364-4225
nature.center@mctx.org