New Page 1

Scene at Galveston Island State Park

Click a thumbnail to see the full size picture. Use the Browser back button to return to this page to view others.

To save or print any photo, right click on the large size photo.

Paddling in the Park

A paddling tour of the park allowed these folks to view sights they couldn't see any other way.

08/02/09

On August1, 2009 Shirley Foster and her band of Master Naturalist volunteers gathered in the day use parking lot to meet the arrival of pots of grasses. The volunteers dug holes and planted the grass shoots on both sides of the sand barrier fence that runs the length of the already vegetated reconstituted dunes. As the grasses grow, they and the fence will trap sand blowing from the beach and deter human incursion onto the dunes and surrounding vegetation.

11/02/09

FoGISP Annual Meeting August 29, 2009

Saturday morning TPWD officials toured the park by trail bike. Afterward a casual lunch with some of the board members saw some gentle last minute arm twisting before Walt Dabney made his presentation just in case he may have forgotten certain vital details.

After Shirley and Holly signed them in the attendees sampled the wine and cheese, mingled and browsed the displays.

After getting well acquainted, they all sat and turned their attention to Shirley Foster up front.

She turned loose Walt Dabney, , TPWD Director of Parks. He laid out wht plans are for the future park. CLICK HERE to read all about the meeting and What Walt had to say.

No annual meeting is complete without recognizing the people who worked hardest for FoGISP.

The Bay Foundation cleanup had 250 participants. The park staff coordinated all cleanup efforts and rebuilt many facilities. Everybody knows Don Ware's contributions. A single orchid tribute to the hardest working of all, Shirley Foster. Shirley finally caught up with Craig Eiland in his office to thank him for diligence with the State Assembly. Hold their feet to the fire in the next session, Craig.

Halloween Party at the Park October 31, 2009

By noon on Saturday, FoGISP volunteers had the inside of the Nature Center decorated and waiting for the evening to come.

Over at the maintenance barn in a field near the Stewart family graveyard, park staff had the bonfire built and the area sprayed for bugs and skeeters ljust waiting for the evening and darkness to come.

By dusk, finishing touches were in place at the Nature Center, FoGISP folks prettied themselves to meet and greet, and the apples were hung for bobbing.

As darkness approached, the bonfire was lighted, and it soon took the chill out of the night air.

Darkness at the Nature Center brought out Jerry Mohn manning the popcorn machine, Mary Jean Hayden ladling the "witches brew", apples waiting for the bobbing and creatures of the young imagination.

Inside the Nature Center, Julie Massey, Gypsy crystal ball gazer discusses fortunes with Carole Bowser, Wicked Witch of the West Beach, while the harvest moon high above and behind the skeleton monster lights the night for the hayride.

Nature Day at Sea Center, Lake Jackson February 27, 2010

Allison Buchtien, Lynn Smith and Frank Bowser traveled to Lake Jackson on Saturday February 27, 2010 to display FoGISP and the park at Sea Center Texas' Nature Day.

We had a combination of passive and touchable displays and information, but by far the most attention, especially among the young, was generated by the tactile displays of sea shells and shark's teeth. Kids love to touch even if tentatively at times.

March 6, 2010

FoGISP held a reception in the Nature Center to welcome Trey Goodman as the newly appointed Park Superintendent. Trey was selected after an exhaustive national search because of his extensive experience in city and county park systems in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Trey now is preparing to present the park and its attributes and needs to social, business and service groups in Galveston City and County. He will stress the need to influence the state legislature to provide the resources needed to rebuild the park. Look for him at such meetings you may be attending, and/or come out to the park to say "hello" to Trey.

March 30, 2010

On Saturday March 27, 2010 the park staff had a party in the residence area on Lake Como. The party was organized to acknowledge one retirement and three new hires, the new Park Superintendent and two new rangers. As you can see, the retiree Linda was radiant looking forward to her last day on the final day of March and hurrying away to a new home on a mountainside in Oklahoma. Everyone else got to know one another better through free socializing on a stomach full of crayfish et al..

April 29, 2010

Like a Good Neighbor, The State Park is There

Since the inception of the park, a line of tall pines was established along the boundary of the park and the abutting houses in Jamaica Beach. These trees provided a privacy curtain and noise barrier for the residents until Hurricane Ike blew in September of 2008. Apparently the trees did not like having their roots covered by salt water, because they died, withered and became a menace to houses and nearby power lines.

TPWD sent a batch of equipment and foresters from the piney woods up north. to take care of the problem.

Where branches were too close to power lines, a man with a chain saw in a cherry picker trimmed the trees down to size first.

A stout rope iwas attached high on the tree trunk, a chainsaw notched the trunk at the base and cut from the opposite side, a tractor toppled the tree away from the houses and wires, and a crew with chain saws cut the tree into bite size pieces.