Rusty Banks of Boggy

Rusty metal and concrete are so ingrained in Boggy Creek that the literally hold it in place and concrete carves a path down the middle. Bumpers make up the banks and surprise visitors since they expect to see a rock outcropping when they peer over the edge but are greeted by disintegrating cars. Over time the beauty of the slowing vanishing vehicles grows on you as you watch roots entwine with them and imagine the path that led them to hold up the creek bank.

English lovers can't help but think of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" as you wander along the banks.
          What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow 
          Out of this stony rubbish?

 

 

 

 

 

This Fall, Boggy is going to begin its transformation into a more naturalized creek.  Details are posted on the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department's page: www.austintexas.gov/boggycreekrestoration  While many neighbors have a sentimental attachment to our cars parts creek, we look forward to one that's safter for kids to play, will have stable banks and reduced erosion, more native plants, and still have points where we can access the creek.

 

Artist rendering of what one of the drainage areas that flows from Nile Street to the creek will look like with native flowers and grasses in bloom.

 

 

Stay tuned to this blog for photos as the project progresses.