Photographs of the Meander to be Destroyed

Watch a slide show of photographs taken between the fall of 2014 and the winter of 2017 of the middle meander in the Harris County Flood Control District’s project area on Buffalo Bayou in Memorial Park. This healthy wetlands area in the middle of the city is to be filled in and covered with turf grass, the ancient high banks leveled, and a new, shorter channel for the bayou cut through the riparian forest on the south bank. This is the plan despite the fact that eliminating meanders and shortening and straightening channels are major causes of erosion and flooding. (P. 36)

This beautiful meander, a natural detention area, would be filled in and graded, the woods and high cliffs destroyed, and the entire floodplain area obliterated by a permanent road. Aerial photo on Oct. 3, 2015, by Jim Olive
Edible smart weed and young box elder, black willow, and sycamore building a new riparian forest on a sandy marsh of Buffalo Bayou in Memorial Park. Great white egret in the background. Photo taken on October 6, 2014, by Susan Chadwick.
A white sandy beach on the point of the south bank of Buffalo Bayou where the Harris County Flood Control District plans to cut a new channel for the bayou. The bayou here will be filled in and rerouted. Photo taken on Oct. 6, 2014, by Susan Chadwick.
A thunderstorm approaches on Oct. 6, 2014. On the right is a marsh in Memorial Park covered with smart weed and young box elder, black willow, and sycamore, all native riparian vegetation that indicates the bayou is healing, growing, and functioning as it should. The Harris County Flood Control District's plan will fill in this meander and cut a new channel for the bayou through the forest on the left owned by the River Oaks Country Club. This photo was taken looking upstream. Photo by Susan Chadwick
The sandy south bank of Buffalo Bayou on Oct. 6, 2014, as a thunderstorm arrives. The Harris County Flood Control District's project would bulldoze and cut a new channel for the bayou through this forested area belonging to the River Oaks Country Club. The bayou you see would be filled in. Photo by Susan Chadwick
Sycamore growing on a sandy bank in Memorial Park, vegetation growing on high cliffs in the meander where Buffalo Bayou is to be rerouted. This area will be bulldozed and filled in. Photo on Oct. 6, 2014, by Susan Chadwick
Thunderstorm approaching on Buffalo Bayou Monday morning, Oct. 6, 2014. Looking upstream with the forest of the River Oaks Country Club on the left. All this will be bulldozed and a new channel cut for bayou. Photo by Susan Chadwick
Another bird's eye view of the middle meander taken by Jim Olive on Oct. 3, 2015.
Meander sandy beach and high cliffs. Still standing tall pines died during the years-long drought that lasted through 2015. Photo on March 18, 2016, by Susan Chadwick
Another aerial view of the middle meander in winter taken on Feb. 23, 2017, by Jim Olive.
A second look from another angle on Feb. 23, 2017. Photo by Jim Olive