Friends of The Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve (formerly known as West 11th Street Park) is a 501(c)(3) Texas corporation that was formed to assist in the acquisition and long-term management of the Park, located at 2400 West 11th Street in Houston, Texas.
We have been in existence since 1998, when a group of concerned neighbors came together to negotiate with the Houston Independent School District about their plans to build a new campus for the High School for Performing and Visual Arts on the site. We organized a neighborhood petition drive that resulted in signatures from 90% of the 1,245 homes in Timbergrove in favor of preserving the park. The petition was an important factor in securing support from Houston City Council and HISD. We won the active support of HISD trustee Jeff Shadwick who advocated to arrange a 5-year lease of the property to the City for use as a park.
With the park now under the direction of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, we worked with them to implement a forest restoration plan to allow the interior understory to grow back and create an interesting natural habitat, while mowing the perimeter to create the manicured impression desired by some neighbors. We publicized the property as a natural area by contacts and presentations to local naturalist groups, TV stories, and newspaper articles. We built over 1 mile of trails that have been heavily used and widely appreciated. As participants in the Park Advisory Council program of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, we were honored as one of the outstanding PACs of the year in 2004.
We have conducted biological inventories of the park, including: a count of all the adult trees; mapping of wetlands in the park; identification of trees, shrubs, vines, and wildflowers; a bird list containing over 150 species, and a butterfly list compiled by members of the southeast Texas chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. We have in the past publish a quarterly ecology newsletter about the park, and are currently in the process of refurbishing our park website.
In 2005, we incorporated as Friends of West 11th Street Park. In 2022, due the City of Houston renaming the Park we became Friends of The Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve, with our organization dedicated to the following vision statement for the park:
“to foster the responsible use and enduring protection of this natural habitat and to ensure that everyone, regardless of age, ability, or means, can access and be immersed in the forest to enrich their quality of life, stoke curiosity, and promote learning, appreciation, and enjoyment.”
In keeping with this, we are embarked on our Wireless Wilderness project in 2010 and trademarked the name in June of 2017. This innovative project is designed to maximize the educational potential of this beautiful native Texas forest, with minimal impact on the ecology. To learn more about this project, please go to the Wireless Wilderness page of this website.
West 11th Street Park was acquired by the City of Houston in 2007. On June 9, 2021, City Council unanimously passed the recommendation from Kenneth Allen, Director Houston Parks and Recreation Department to rename the City of Houston West 11th Street Park, located at 2400 West 11th street, to The Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve.
Donate by mail to Friends of The Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve, P.O. Box 7679, Houston, TX 77270-7679 or give online.