COVID-19 Watch

All Austin parks, trails, greenbelts to temporarily close to curb COVID-19 spread

All Austin trails, parks, and greenbelts will be closed for the holiday weekend.

Shoal Creek Conservancy/Facebook

One of the side effects of COVID-19 seems to be whiplash — at least when it comes to Austin parks and trails being open.

Over the past few weeks, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department has closed all city-run recreation amenities, everything from Barton Springs to golf courses. And though the Trail Foundation issued a release urging people to stay off the Butler Hike and Bike Trail, the news evoked some confusion, since the city hadn't actually closed any trails or green spaces.

That will change, however, beginning Thursday, April 9, to Monday, April 13, when the City of Austin will shutter all parks, trails, greenbelts. and preserves. The closures begin at sundown on Thursday through sunrise on Monday.

The city says the closures are being enacted to help curb the spread of COVID-19 amid the Easter and Passover holidays. Signage, gates, and park rangers will all be deployed to remind residents of the closures.

"[Austin Parks] historically sees an increase in visitors during the Easter holiday," the city said. "However, crowding in parks makes it challenging for visitors to comply with the physical distancing requirements issued with the Stay Home-Work Safe Order."

To be help the public stay up to date on the closures, the city offers an interactive map where users can see that status of public parks, trails, greenbelts, etc. If it is listed, consider it closed.

Previously, the city closed all city-run facilities, including all recreation centers, playgrounds, pools and aquatic facilities, tennis and basketball courts, and more.

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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