Replant’s Bastrop Project

Bastrop State Park made national news two years ago when it burned in the fires that ran wild across Texas. When Replant was asked if they’d help in its recovery process, the group started planning. Aggie Replant coordinates the largest, one-day, student-led, environmental service project in the nation, so they knew they had the training and could get the volunteers. What they weren’t sure about were the logistics.

“Replant would be in charge of transportation, funding transportation and setting safety guidelines,” said Andrea Fonseca ’13, Replant’s past chief student leader. They had to be able to get students out to the site and back again, and that took money.

Thanks to funds from The Association of Former Students, Replant was able to show to the state the Aggie core value of selfless service.

Around 600 student volunteers—so many that they had to close down sign-ups—loaded buses two weekends in February to plant 9,000 loblolly pine seedlings.

“We worked in the parts of the forest where the fire burned most intensely,” said Tarek Abbassi ’13, Replant’s present chief student leader. “Nothing was alive.”

Blackened stumps and trunks whittled away by the fire were all that remained.

Little by little, holes were dug, saplings were planted, and—though it will take years to grow to full height—Bastrop State Park started looking alive. 

“It was a wonderful sight; Aggies were planting trees everywhere,” Abbassi said.

“Students knew they were helping a real cause,” Fonseca said.

Volunteers signed up with their student organizations, with groups of friends, and “some just signed up on their own,” Abbassi said.

“We do a lot of good work for the community,” he said. By serving outside the Bryan-College Station city limits, Replant is able to make a larger impact.

“The funding we received from The Association of Former Students was a huge help,” Fonseca said. “Thank you!”