SAN ANTONIO – Chainsaws, skid steers, and woodchippers will join the sound of birds and running water along the Mission Reach portion of the San Antonio River for the next four months.
San Antonio River Authority will cut down and mulch trees as part of its annual Stem Density Removal program to prevent the area from becoming overgrown in the event of a flood.
“If you were to leave this in place as it exists naturally, it would start to hold that water back, and we’d be above that 100-year flood plain mark,” SARA Watershed & Park Operations Manager Tommy Mitchell told KSAT. “Some of these homes that are maybe outside the floodplain, we could put those in the floodplain.”
Most of the work will be performed along a 2.4-mile stretch between South Alamo Street, near Blue Star, and Confluence Park, by Theo Avenue. Depending on timing, two smaller areas by Hot Wells and Espada Dam could also be tackled.
Though SARA originally said the work would last through January, officials now say it could last through February.
About 22,000 trees and shrubs were planted along the Mission Reach as part of the efforts to restore the habitat. However, SARA does annual tree removals to ensure the areas don’t become too overgrown, using the fall and winter seasons so crews don’t disturb birds during their nesting season.
The river authority targets what it calls “volunteers,” which are trees that have sprouted on their own.
Non-native species like chinaberry trees are at the top of the removal list, but SARA will also cut native trees like elms, sugar hackberries, mesquites, and huisache if new ones have grown too densely.
The mulch from the felled trees is used for plant beds in SARA’s formal areas or scattered among the remaining trees along the riverbanks.
SARA’s engineering department uses a model to determine how many trees to leave in an area while still allowing floodwaters to flow downstream.
“We have actually 500 trees that are going to stay in this section here,” Mitchell said Monday near Concepcion Park, where crews were beginning to remove trees. “So we make sure we’re going to keep those 500 trees in this area and remove anything that’s of excess to that.”
TRAIL CLOSURES
SARA posted an alert on its website Monday stating that trails near Confluence Park and Concepcion Park will be closed while crews work on them, though they did not provide an exact map.
A spokeswoman told KSAT they have also sent out postcards to nearby homes, emailed local neighborhood associations, and posted on social media about the expected work.
You can read more about the program HERE.
