About Mystery Creek and why it is Important
This here’s the story of Mystery Creek.
Back in the day, there was a big meadow about three miles south of future Austin.
During storms, there were three creeks that would collect acres worth of water and send it up to present day Little Turtle Creek; where it would pool and overflow into Williamson Creek, close to where South Congress and Ramble Lane are now.
In the 1930’s a little town called Pleasant Hill sprang up on the Southern end of our big meadow, bordering the Old San Antonio Highway (South Congress and Stassney). That’s us. The Bird Streets. One of the oldest neighborhoods in South Austin.
Fast forward to today… Our meadow and three creeks are covered in houses and crisscrossed with streets, underground pipes and what not. All that remains of those creeks is a tiny section over here in the Bird Streets Neighborhood… Mystery Creek.
Because the houses in the neighborhood are older, they retain their rural nature; and when we say “nature”, we mean Nature.
We’re surrounded by wildlife thanks to our little ephemeral creek.Ephemeral creeks are creeks that flow above the water table after rain events. They are as essential to our creek systems, as capillaries are to our own circulatory systems.
These “dry” creeks are Nature’s Way of making sure rainfall makes its way into the ground, where it can hydrate the soil.
Mystery Creek is an ephemeral creek (with a perennially pooling spring attached). At present Mystery Creek is only three and a half blocks long, but it’s impact on the area’s habitat is profound. Without it, a whole groves of pecan trees will most likely croak during our next extended drought.
Where will the mama fox that uses the creek bed for cover, transportation and shade turn to for an alternative? A concrete drain?
Our beautiful trees depend on this water source to survive during our increasingly long hot summers. Our trees are the homes for squirrels, birds and a host of tree frogs. Trees are our protection from the dreaded Heat Island Effect. Trees are synonymous with Austin for many of us.
Recent pushes by developers to increase “Urban Density” has led to new, more permissive rules for siting those huge apartment structures that tower over South Lamar and Burnet Road.
Thanks to these new “rules”; one of those massive structures is being proposed for the lots that Mystery Creek uses to get to Little Turtle Creek.
The proposal requests for a Variance (a permission slip) to ignore Mystery Creek’s “creek-ness” and channel it into a concrete culvert leading to the City’s storm drain system and AWAY from Little Turtle Creek!
The Friends of Mystery Creek say “No freakin’ way!”
That water belongs to nature. We have been challenging the notion that our natural environment is a commodity to be exploited for the enrichment of already uber-rich billionaires and their narcissistic attempts at urban engineering.
One of the incredibly sad things about our fight is, there are “lost creeks all over Austin. When we win, there will still be hundreds of unprotected springs and ephemeral streams all over Austin.
We sometimes forget, Ladybird Lake, Town Lake and Lake Austin are in actuality; The Colorado River. We live in a river valley stretching from Mansfield Dam to Montopolis. North and South; all streams, creeks and tributaries flow to the Colorado.
The Friends of Mystery Creek are on a quest to identify these hidden gems, so we can afford them the protection they deserve. Join us as we work to save our city’s nature from the ravages of mindless development.
Do you have a temporary creek in your neighborhood when it rains? You might be harboring one of these ephemeral creeks as well.
Sign up to The Friends of Mystery Creek email list and we’ll send you updates on the latest information regarding our ongoing campaign; Mystery Creek and the Lost Creeks of Austin.