As befitting its name, Cedar Bayou has many cedar trees along this beautiful riparian waterway. Roseland Park (at the extreme lower section of Cedar Bayou in Baytown) and J.C. Holloway Park (on Cary Bayou) can be linked together into one paddle trail. This is a long and interesting trip with a distinct "Old South" feeling to it in some places, with grand pecan trees along a wide meandering river that passes through a heavily vegetated region. This paddle trail is a great way to see the “bayou to bay” spectacle as the trip starts in fresh water and ends in brackish water.
Cedar Bayou watershed is located in the coastal plains of Southeast Texas in eastern Harris County. Covering 202 square miles, it has a population of approximately 32,592. With half of the watershed in Harris County and the remainder in Chambers and Liberty Counties, the watershed is a series of intersecting marshes, woods, and lagoons. Cedar Bayou watershed originates north of Highway 90 between Lake Houston and Dayton, Texas. With 128 miles of open stream passage, Cedar Bayou flows south from its headwaters in Liberty County, widening into a series of small lakes before eventually emptying into Galveston Bay.
Texas Parks and Wildlife has determined that the estuary around the mouth of Cedar Creek is a critical spawning area for fish, shrimp, and oysters. It also provides winter habitat for ducks, geese, and several aquatic birds. The Cedar Bayou Watershed Partnership (comprised of Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Houston-Galveston Area Council, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Stream Team, Texas Conservation Fund, Clean Rivers Program, and the Galveston Estuary Program) developed a Water Protection Plan (WPP) for Cedar Bayou watershed which was completed in 2015. To find out more about flood control projects along Cedar Bayou: https://www.hcfcd.org/Find-Your-Watershed/Cedar-Bayou.