The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum at Rice University

07/28/2026

A beautiful Great Horned Owl as seen on campus this morning! Don't forget to look up when you're out walking around.
Photo by Brent Moon

04/16/2026

It’s spring at the Harris Gully Natural Area!

04/06/2026

Exciting things are "growing" this spring at the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum! We're bringing back native ecosystems to campus, just in time for Earth Month!

Prairie grasses are transported to Harris Gully and other city prairies by volunteers from Rice and the Greater Houston Area.

03/02/2026

Rice's 24-hour challenge, one of the largest funding events of the year, starts and ends on March 4th and the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum is participating in the challenge this year!

Funds raised through this challenge will go directly to the Harris Gully Restoration effort. Please help us keep this momentum going!

https://donate.rice.edu/schools/RiceUniversity/rice-24-hour-challenge-2026/pages/wiess-school-of-natural-sciences/lynn-r-lowrey-arboretum/?a=1

02/24/2026

The rescued MD Anderson prairie grasses have a new home!

These grasses, who previously provided a "nature prescription" for the Texas medical center, will now be providing their services for Rice's campus community.

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum thanks everyone who came out on Sunday to rehome the bunch grasses that were rescued from the MD Anderson prairie. We are proud that a part of this special place will continue to live on as a part of our campus.

02/21/2026

It was a great day for a prairie rescue!

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum joined forces with the University of Houston, the Friends of the Columbia Tap Trail, Texas Southern University, the Hermann Park Conservancy, and individuals from several conservation groups to dig up native prairie plants from the MD Anderson prairie. After 13 years of environmental service, the MDA prairie is giving way to a new medical center building. This is not an end however, but instead a beginning as these native materials find homes across greater Houston.

Volunteers loaded a flatbed trailer full of plants who will be making a new home at the Harris Gully Natural Area. These plants will help to not only help us restore native habitat for our urban wildlife, but will also help Rice achieve it's carbon neutrality goals and improve flood detention on campus.

02/13/2026

Rice's grounds staff and Arboretum Director made some serious ground (pun intended) getting Rice's Harris Gully Natural Area prepped to receive rescued prairie grasses from the MD Anderson prairie.

The MD Anderson prairie, a project faciliated by the Coastal Prairie Conservancy, the Wildlife Habitat Federation, and several other community conservation groups was meant to last five years. The prairie has now served the patients, visitors, and staff of the Texas Medical Center for 13 years. The time has come for the prairie to give way to a building that will serve Houston's medical needs.

Rice is proud to be able to work with our friends at the University of Houston's Institute for Ecological Resilience and the Friends of the Columbia Tap Trail in the rescue of plant materials from this prairie so it may live on. These plants will be given a new home on our campus so they can continue to provide the benefits of nature to our community!

01/31/2026

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum and Rice's Grounds team are grateful to the student and community volunteers who braved the cold weather yesterday to help us with an invasive plant removal workday at the Harris Gully Natural Area. Hand removing invasive species is hard work, but significantly reduces the need for herbicides.

Rice's wetland and prairie complex is shaping up! This progress is only possible because of the support we have from our university community, our neighbors, and the amazing conservation volunteers from the local chapters of the Texas Master Naturalists, Coastal Prairie Conservancy, and the Native Prairie Association of Texas.

12/24/2025

It has been an incredible year for Rice University’s Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum (LRLA)! We have welcomed our first-ever Arboretum Director alongside a fantastic new Director of Grounds. Together, these individuals are revitalizing the mission of the LRLA: educating the Rice community about local ecosystems and championing the Arboretum’s role as a "living laboratory" for institutional research.

This year the LRLA hosted a series of outreach events that bridged both science and the arts, including a Moth Night Bioblitz with local invertebrate celebrities, the Moth Posse, “Geeking out with Graminoids” in collaboration with Fondren Library’s seed bank and the Houston chapter of the Native Plant Association of Texas, and “Harvesting Plants and Words, “ a unique poetry-sharing event organized by a student in Rice’s Master of Interdisciplinary Studies program. We also hosted around 80 Houston area Environmental Educators on campus to learn about our campus arbor and green spaces.

Our crowning achievement this year was breaking ground on an ambitious restoration of the Harris Gully Natural Area. This fall marked the completion of a new wetland, the first piece of a wetland-prairie-savannah complex that will be restored on the south side of campus. By reintroducing the historic ecosystems that once dominated Harris County, we are providing students with a unique resource for ecological study through the support of our local biodiversity. Beyond its educational value, this space will also serve as a nature sanctuary for the health and wellness of our campus community.

This work would not be possible without the generous support of our partners: Wildlife Habitat Federation, The Nature Conservancy – Texas, Greenstar Wetland Plants, Rice Architecture, Walter P. Moore, and the advice and expertise of individuals from the City of Houston Natural Resources Management Dept., Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the UH Institute for Ecological Resilience.

We wish everyone a joyful holiday season and look forward to sharing our restoration progress in the coming year!

04/26/2025

Happy Earth Week from the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum! We celebrated our human connection to our planet through several events, including a restoration workday at the Harris Gully, a native seed ball making event at Fondren Library, and a native plant giveaway event at the Holistic garden.

Small acts can build to make a big difference!