Photographs of Buffalo Bayou through the Seasons
Dec. 21, 2015
Updated Sept. 28, 2024
These lovely photographs document the changes in the seasons on Buffalo Bayou, and in the dynamic river itself. Taken (with a few exceptions) by Houston photographer Jim Olive, they were shot from the same high bank in Memorial Park looking downstream with the River Oaks Country Club on the right. This bend in the bayou was in the stretch proposed for destruction and “restoration” by the Harris County Flood Control District and the Bayou Preservation Association, with the support of the Memorial Park Conservancy and the City of Houston. The country club, which owns the south bank, in April 2019 began a massive and unnecessarily destructive “slope repair” project.
This first summer photo was taken by Susan Chadwick in July 2014. Proponents of Flood Control's destruction/restoration project claimed there was no overhanging tree canopy in the area. River Oaks Country Club on the right.
Beautiful.
Organizations claiming to be protecting and restoring Buffalo Bayou are seeking to employ brutal, expensive methods to destroy its natural function. BPA, MPC and Audubon are not environmental organizations. They work as brokers for business interests aiming to profit from their “environmental” work. Thee non-profit “environmental organizations” are aiding and abetting some of their own members, some of whom are members of the River Oaks Country Club, Memorial Park Conservancy and the Bayou Preservation Association to lay waste the southern bank of the bayou inside Memorial Park. This is public land being desecrated for profit by the powerful engineering contractors and their associates. It is called “The Houston Way.”
Great photos. Enjoy the seasonal change and the year-by-year timeline. I don’t know where this spot is, but am interested in finding it for a look-see. I like that you give Nature a voice, but humans are part of Nature, too. It’s about balance. It’s not a zero-sum game.
Thanks, Bruce. It’s on the well-used trails through the woods off the Picnic Loop. Not officially on the map. You’ll find it. Have a lovely walk through nature.
What a FABULOUS book these photographs would make from over the years & seasons.
Thank you, Ann. Good idea!