KRAMER REMAINS DEFENDER OF ARMAND BAYOU PRESEVE

By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

Houston, the Bayou City, has Mark Kramer to thank for recreating a peaceful bayou for everyone to enjoy. He led the brigade in restoring the natural grasses on the Armand Bayou Preserve, which allowed for nature and her animals to return to the area. 

“I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mark because if it weren’t for his and his team’s work, I might be sitting in front of a T.V. on weekends instead of in my kayak on the bayou,” said Gary Seloff,  a frequent visitor to the Armand Bayou Preserve.

Friends and colleagues describe him and his driving passion for nature as an empowering force, amazing and diligent. He is known for being unapologetic in his conservation work. 

For decades, he was the one who took guests out on pontoon explorations of the bayou. His voice guided visitors into the experience of an osprey flying overhead or maybe an alligator over yonder. Meanwhile, if there wasn’t a moving creature, there were the non-native water hyacinth worthy of noting for their potential hazard to the natural habitat. 

Kramer has been attached to the Armand Bayou Preserve since before it was a preserve. 

He spent many days maneuvering his paddles and fishing gear on the Armand Bayou while he was in high school. Before that, he had explored every inch of the prairie within a walking or bicycling radius of his home on Prairie Street in Pasadena.

From an early age, he knew he was called to the water and to nature. He sought out numerous adventures, learning more intensely with each outdoor encounter about the need to respect and care for nature. 

Moving onto the Armand Bayou Reserve property in 1985, he started his journey as the keeper and builder of a place of natural solace in the middle of one of the nation’s most populous metropolitan regions. 

While listening to his intriguing lectures, his audience didn’t know he was the reason for the natural wonder of the preserve. He became the master of the bayou and was careful to educate without being boastful.

Though he didn’t boast about his accomplishments, they have been noticed and admired. 

 “Mark is such an instrumental part in the success of the Armand Bayou Nature Center. He is so knowledgeable, and his tours were always fascinating. It has been a blessing to know him,” said Pasadena Mayor, Jeff Wagner. 

“Mark has unequivocally done more than any other person for this watershed,” said Tim Pylate, Executive Director of ABNC. 

“Every ounce of this place Mark has touched,” said his wife, Jennifer.

“Mark took care of the preserve like people take care of their own families. No one’s heart and soul were as dedicated to the preserve as Mark’s,” said Candy Donahue, former director of the preserve.  

In 2020, he retired from his 40-year career as Conservation Director and Chief Naturalist. Retirement didn’t mean he stopped serving the bayou; on the contrary, he continues to advise on conservation issues and assist with program development.

It was after his retirement he felt called to document in a book the journey he and the preserve had taken. 

Armand Bayou Illustrated: a Life on the Bayou, written by Kramer, copiously details his personal experiences from his early childhood, including for example a vivid description of his grandfather’s tackle box and a lively description of fishing for redfish. He narrates his growth into becoming a naturalist. 

Then he weaves into the founding years of the preserve and outlines the labor of love he and others gave to restoring the preserve to its natural coastal prairie habitat status. The flora and fauna, accompanied by photographs, are described in detail. 

Meditation has been part of Mark’s journey, “It keeps you focused and grounded through struggles and stress, it lets you disconnect,” said Kramer. Some of the struggles and stress he faced in his years of developing a natural preserve in the middle of a metropolitan area are also detailed in his book. 

Mud Lake, which forms the mouth of the Armand Bayou, was renamed Lake Mark Kramer in 2020. “Dedicating Mark Kramer Lake was one of the highlights of my administration” said Wagner.