Harris County to remove unauthorized bike trails, citing safety and flood-control concerns

Harris County is moving to remove jumps, ramps and other technical features from mountain-bike trails on flood-control land in Precinct 3, saying the structures were built without authorization and create safety and liability concerns. The dispute has put one of Houston’s most established off-road riding networks on uncertain ground, especially along the Cypress Creek and Cypresswood trail systems.

The Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association said it was told Harris County Flood Control District was ending efforts to reach an agreement over trail use in Precinct 3. Feature removal is expected soon on those trails, while the Anthills system on Buffalo Bayou won a temporary reprieve until December as talks continue among GHORBA, HCFCD and Precinct 4. Thousands of riders use the trails across Precincts 3 and 4 on flood-control land, making the county’s decision more than a maintenance issue for a small club.

GHORBA president Benjamin Drews said taking out the features would push the region further behind on biking connectivity and said bulldozing the Anthills dirt jumps would be an “emotional throat punch” for the community. At Anthills, Trailforks lists the route at about 2.5 miles and notes a large dirt-jump area on the eastern portion, underscoring how closely the trail’s identity is tied to the features the county wants gone. Trailforks also says some trail there was previously removed for flood-control retention ponds.

County policy leaves room for trails on district land, but not by informal agreement alone. Harris County Flood Control District says trail projects on its rights of way need written project descriptions, construction-plan approval, legal permission where needed and final approval from Harris County Commissioners Court. The district, created by the Texas Legislature in 1937 and governed by Commissioners Court, has long tried to balance recreation with drainage and flood-risk duties across a county that remains vulnerable to severe storms.

That tension has surfaced before at Anthills, part of Terry Hershey Park. In 2011, HCFCD’s Charting Buffalo Bayou initiative covered 32 miles and was slated for completion in early 2012. GHORBA warned at the time that detention basins of roughly three to four acres each could wipe out the trail system as it existed, without a replacement. The same basic question now hangs over riders in Precinct 3: if the county removes unauthorized features, what, if anything, can legally replace them.

The issue reaches deep into northwest Harris County, where Precinct 3 under Commissioner Tom S. Ramsey stretches from Cypress and Tomball to Huffman, Baytown, the Memorial Villages and Spring Branch. For riders there, the battle is about more than dirt jumps. It is about whether a volunteer-built trail culture can survive inside a floodplain where Harris County is still weighing recreation against the next major storm.