Beautification

Hi! Your beautification chair is Olivia Radke. You can reach out to her anytime with ideas or volunteer opportunities to help keep our neighborhood beautiful <beautification@newcna.org>

Yard of the Month

In April, May, June, July, August, September, October* and December*, NEWCNA selects a Yard of the Month for each neighborhood: North Oaks, Hillside, and Four Seasons.

**In December and October the Yard of the Month is awarded to the house with the best holiday decorations.

If you would like to nominate a Yard of the Month or volunteer to help select YOM, please send me an email!

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Adopt-A-Creek Program

2/1/25 marks the beginning of NEWCNA’s official adoption for the 0.5 mile section of Walnut Creek spanning the pocket park at the intersection of February and January Dr, highlighted in the picture below.

This adoption spans for 2 years and requires that we host a minimum of 4 events per year. We can expand our adoption (duration and mileage) if we have volunteer capacity and interest. With increased creek coverage, # of required events increases.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

If you are interested in helping with creek clean up or riparian restoration efforts in ANY capacity PLEASE sign up for the opportunities and events shared here, via email, on FB, and WhatsApp. Email <beautification@newcna.org> or join our neighborhood WhatsApp group “Creeker People” if you are interested in receiving updates about future girdling and/or creek events.

Creek Access Point Improvement

In 2026, once watershed completes their work on the January Drive Flood Risk Reduction project, we aim to improve access from pocket park into creek by:

  • Adding rope to use for security
  • Removing poison ivy around access point
  • Installing rocks or stones to improve accessibility down into creek
Fairy Cove, a beautiful part of Walnut Creek that runs thru NEWCNA.

Pocket Park at 11605 February Drive

A pocket park for this location has been approved by the city, but this area is currently sits with Austin’s Watershed Department for improvement of the storm drain system to reduce risk of flood.

Until the January Drive Flood Risk Reduction project is complete (~2025-26), the location will not be handed over to the park’s department.

In the interim, the neighborhood is hoping to begin improvements to this area thru the Adopt-A-Creek program.

Past Events & Accomplishments

Keep Austin Beautiful Day Creek Clean Up 4/12/25 from 9-11am- SUCCESS

Each April, in honor of Earth Month, Keep Austin Beautiful hosts Keep Austin Beautiful Day, a city-wide day of service spanning over one hundred sites in all ten city council districts in the greater Austin area.

NEWCNA had a wonderful group of about TWENTY people! I am so proud of the turnout and the teamwork ! The group lugged a BUNCH of trash out of our beautiful creek, including parts of a drum kit, a chair, a tire, numerous metal poles, and about 15 bags of trash.

Next creek clean up will be Fall 2025!!

Ligustrum ID and Girdling Training Session 3/30/25 from 9-11am – SUCCESS

About 5 volunteers attended a training session on identifying and removing (girdling) an invasive tree species that is thriving along our section of Walnut Creek —Ligustrum Lucidum! 

Once the pocket park at January/February Dr. changes hands from Watershed to Austin Parks, we will host girdling sessions there, as well.

It’s My Park Day 3/2/24- Success!

Join your fellow park lovers as we give back at North Oaks Park! We’ll spend the day planting native plants in the new pollinator garden beds. This event is supported by the Balcones Canyonland Master Naturalist group. It is a wonderful time to learn from them about native plants and the creatures that live among us. We are establishing a sharing herb plot for park visitors. We have shovels and plants of many sizes, so all ages are welcome. Volunteers get the satisfaction of giving back and of course, an AWESOME It’s My Park Day t-shirt designed by local artists! We will provide tools. Please bring gloves if you have them or a favorite shovel. PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN WATER BOTTLE and wear work appropriate clothing. We’ll meet at the community garden near the rear entrance of the park and get started right at 9:30.

Learn more and register to volunteer for It’s My Park Day 3/2. Couldn’t make it this time? We’ll have another It’s My Park Day the first Saturday of November! Stay tuned for more info.

Big thanks to Sarah Martin for organizing and to all volunteers for helping make our park even more beautiful!

North Oaks Community Garden Fundraiser – Donations Received

North Oaks Community Garden provides opportunities to grow organic and sustainable food. We have a pollinator-friendly space to foster soil health, root systems and the ecosystem. North Oaks Community Garden is in its 3rd year. It has been a wonderful addition to the park and there are 16 plots. We were able to install a wildlife fence with donations from Amplify Austin in previous years. 

North Oaks Community Garden wants to reach a goal of $2,500 to add 8 new plots to the community garden and a sharing plot outside of the wildlife fence. We will use the funds to purchase soil and landscaping limestone. We currently have a waitlist and hope to add more gardeners this year. We also would like to plant fruit trees for park visitors to enjoy for many years to come. We have partnered with Austin Parks Foundation and have 501c3 status so your donation is tax deductible.

If you would like to donate monetarily through the Amplify Austin website, where your donation will be matched until March 7th courtesy of Central National Bank, please click here.

Thank you for supporting North Oaks Community Garden!

Keep Austin Beautiful Day 4/20/24 – Success!

Big THANK YOU to all the volunteers and neighbors who helped make our creek clean up a success!!

We were able to remove 12 bags of trash, a huge construction cone, lots of metal and other random junk from the creek.

Additionally, we made a big dent in removing the invasive Nandina in the future pocket park at Jan/Feb and spread some native flower and grass seeds there.

Special thanks to neighbors who volunteered their property as access points, as well!

Click here to learn more about Keep Austin Beautiful Day.
If you weren’t able to come out for this event, but would like to be involved in future creek efforts, please email me !

It’s My Park Day – Saturday, November 2nd from 9am -12pm – Success!

North Oaks Community Garden Spruce Up
Join your fellow park lovers as we give back at North Oaks Park! Volunteers get the satisfaction of giving back and of course, an AWESOME It’s My Park Day t-shirt designed by local artists! We will provide tools and gloves but PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN WATER BOTTLE and wear work appropriate clothing. We’ll meet at North Oaks Community Garden near the back of the park and get started right at 9:30. Thank you so much for joining us on It’s My Park Day!

Learn more and register to volunteer for It’s My Park Day 11/2/24. Couldn’t make it this time? We’ll have another It’s My Park Day next March! Stay tuned for more info.

Thank you to Sarah Martin for organizing and to all volunteers for helping make our park even more beautiful!

NeighborWoods Tree Adoption Event

Sarah and I were super bummed to learn that TreeFolks will not be supporting neighborhood events like the one we ran last Fall (see FB post here). Instead, they shared this digital flyer for upcoming tree adoption events in Austin were residents can adopt 2 trees for household for free.

You can always check out the TreeFolks calendar for upcoming events and more info!

Additionally, TreeFolks recently launched a free tree delivery service for our area! Click here to start your tree adoption application! Residents can pick up to two of the following trees per household:

  • Cedar Elm
  • Bur Oak
  • Live Oak
  • Mexican Buckeye
  • Texas Mountain Laurel

It’s My Park Day 3/1/25 9am-12pm – Success!

Join your fellow park lovers as we give back at North Oaks Park! We’ll spend the day maintaining the pollinator garden, mulching plants, planting fruit trees, and learning about bees and other pollinators. We will learn about some of the superstar plants in the pollinator garden and volunteers may take these plants home. 

Couldn’t make it this time? We’ll have another It’s My Park Day the first Saturday of November! Stay tuned for more info.