Save Buffalo Bayou | A Ribbon of Life Through the Concrete of Houston

Public Meeting on Buffalo Bayou Dams

Corps of Engineers to Issue Repair Update Wednesday, March 9

March 7, 2016

Updated March 14, 2016

The US Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, is holding a public meeting Wednesday, March 9, 2016, to update the public about progress in repairing the Addicks and Barker dams on South Mayde Creek and Buffalo Bayou in rapidly developing west Houston.

The two earthen dams, completed in the 1940s, were labeled “extremely high risk” in 2009 when engineers noticed seepage around the dams’ gates and ends following a heavy storm. The “extremely high risk” designation did not mean the dams were in danger of failing soon. But the possibility of failure combined with the dams’ location upstream of a major metropolitan area lifted the dams into the urgent category.

As a result, the reservoirs, which are dry reservoirs and contain one of the region’s largest parks and recreation areas, cannot be filled to capacity during storms, which impacts the way water is released from the dams before and after storms: faster and more often. (Correction: The Corps of Engineers says that the structural problems with the dams have had no impact on the capacity limit or release rates.) This unnatural flow regime in turn impacts Buffalo Bayou downstream. (South Mayde Creek joins Buffalo Bayou just below the dams.) However, most of the flooding in Buffalo Bayou during heavy storms is caused by surface runoff from buildings, highways, streets, parking lots, and other paved surfaces below the dams, which are closed during rain events.

Read the rest of this post.

Barker Reservoir. Undated photo courtesy of USACE, Galveston District.

March 7, 2016 No Comments More

Support Your Forest on Buffalo Bayou

Annual District G Meeting with City Officials Thursday, March 3

March 2, 2016

Citizens concerned about our forests on Buffalo Bayou will want to attend the annual District G Capital Improvement Plan meeting tomorrow evening, March 3, 2016. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Stratford High School Auditorium, 14555 Fern Drive, and features the district’s new city council member, Greg Travis, who was elected to City Council District G last November.

Capital Improvement Plan meetings “afford citizens an opportunity to learn, voice their concerns and address their respective City Council Members and City of Houston officials regarding project planning and delivery,” according to a statement on Travis’ website.

District G extends along Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to Barker Reservoir in far west Houston.

Members of Save Our Forest, which was successful last year in persuading the City of Houston to drop its plan to raze forest in Terry Hershey Park for a stormwater detention basin, are urging citizens to “show your support for the forest to our new City of Houston administration.”

“We now have a new city council representative, a new mayor and a new [Public Works and Engineering] director since we began our campaign to Save Our Forest,” wrote community activist George Crosby in an email. “It is important that they know how much you care about Buffalo Bayou.

The banks of Buffalo Bayou in Terry Hershey Park in West Houston. Straightened and channelized by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s to speed storm waters, the bayou has since restored itself but remains threatened by public projects to build detention basins.

Detention Alternatives Without Destroying Forests

“Last year there were two major rainfall events which caused structural flooding in Houston. Regional detention alternatives that can reduce local flooding without having to destroy the forested areas of Buffalo Bayou are not happening. Cooperation between the City, County and Federal governments is required for a successful regional detention initiative.

“A cooperative inter-governmental effort begins with the City of Houston understanding our support for this approach. Please help us give emphasis to Save Our Forest,“ wrote Crosby.

The public forests of Buffalo Bayou are still threatened by a Harris County Flood Control District plan to build some 24 detention basins on both banks of Buffalo Bayou in Terry Hershey Park.

The flood control district is also waiting for a federal permit to raze the forest along more than 1.25 miles of one of the last natural stretches of the bayou as it flows past Memorial Park and the Hogg Bird Sanctuary.

It makes no scientific sense to destroy forests to create detention basins. Forests provide valuable natural detention by slowing, absorbing, and deflecting rainwater, in addition to many other valuable ecological services, including cleansing and filtering the water and protecting against erosion.

In October of 2015, the Obama administration issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to incorporate the value of ecosystem services in their decision-making.

In addition, the Harris County Flood Control District is obligated by state law to conserve forests. (PDF. See page 6.)

March 2, 2016 2 Comments More

Update on the Beaver

We Tried to Find Out

Feb. 13, 2016

Many people were concerned about the mysterious death of the beaver on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou opposite the Arboretum.

The beaver’s corpse was discovered Saturday, Jan. 30, by a group of Boy Scouts documenting wildlife on the bayou as it passes by Memorial Park, an area threatened by a project proposed by the Harris County Flood Control District and promoted by the Bayou Preservation Association. The project, known as the Memorial Park Demonstration Project, would destroy much of the wildlife habitat along some 1.25 miles of the bayou as it passes by the park and the Hogg Bird Sanctuary. The Army Corps of Engineers is currently considering whether to issue a permit for this project, which would otherwise be prohibited under the federal Clean Water Act.

Yes, there are beavers on Buffalo Bayou, and yes, animals do die. We mourn the loss of any creature. But the circumstances of the death of this beaver, which looked otherwise young and healthy, was puzzling, and there was good reason to try to identify the cause. So several days later, we tried.

An anonymous friend generously offered to pay for a necropsy of the beaver. We contacted a veterinarian who was ready to perform it. Where to store the body? Someone volunteered her freezer. Another member of our team went out of his way to climb down the banks and locate the beaver’s corpse using GPS coordinates. By chance a veterinarian happened to be in the vicinity, as the area was near an animal clinic on West Loop 610.

Alas, the corpse was too far gone for a necropsy.

One of our naturalist experts said that while beavers do have accidents (chopping down a tree that falls on top of them, for instance) he agreed that the strange place and position of the beaver was suspicious. He suggested that though there were no obvious signs of trauma when discovered, the beaver might have been shot and tossed. A small caliber bullet hole might not be noticed, he pointed out.

Thus ends the tale of the beaver body on Buffalo Bayou.

Beaver discovered dead by Boy Scouts and guides on Buffalo Bayou, Jan. 30, 2016

February 13, 2016 No Comments More

Myths about Rivers

Courtesy of Steve Nelle, Riparian Notes, Note Number 28, December 2012.

February 7, 2016 No Comments More

Sad News

A Beaver Has Died

Boy Scouts Documenting Wildlife on Buffalo Bayou Make Unexpected Find

February 2, 2016

A beaver dead of unknown causes on the sandy bank of Buffalo Bayou just east of Loop 610. Photo taken Jan. 30, 2016

A beaver dead of unknown causes on the sandy bank of Buffalo Bayou just east of Loop 610. Tool in front of nose for scale is four inches long. Photo taken Jan. 30, 2016

A group of Boy Scouts researching wildlife on Buffalo Bayou came across a sad scene on a sandy bank opposite the Arboretum last Saturday, Jan. 30.

Paul Hung is a fifteen-year-old Boy Scout from Bellaire who is working with Save Buffalo Bayou on a project to inventory the wildlife on the 18,000-year-old bayou as it flows past the Arboretum, Memorial Park, and the Hogg Bird Sanctuary. The project is Paul’s Eagle Scout Service project, and he had organized a group of six Boy Scouts with Troop 55, Sam Houston Area Council, to float down the bayou looking for and photographing wildlife tracks on the sandy banks. Paul had carefully organized his float trip, checking first to see that the water level was low enough to see the banks, and accompanied by several adults, the group put in at the recently re-opened boat launch in Memorial Park at Woodway west of Loop 610, a wooded area known as the Old Archery Range.

Boy scouts and guides putting in at the Memorial Park Woodway boat launch Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016

The group floated round a bend and another, passing under the West Loop 610 bridge, working in pairs in canoes to identify and photograph tracks and record their locations. But on a sandy south bank below a high-rise parking lot, the group encountered something surprising: the corpse of what appeared to be an otherwise healthy beaver.

According to witnesses, the deceased beaver showed no signs of trauma and there were no tracks surrounding the beaver’s final resting place in the sand, which was near an area of willows known for beaver activity.

Deceased beaver on Buffalo Bayou. Photo by Paul Hung, Jan. 30, 2016

Otherwise, he and his fellow scouts had a “great trip,” reports Paul. They saw an “amazing” amount of wildlife.

“I was surprised by how many animal tracks we found on the Bayou,” he writes in an email. “My partner and I alone found over 30 tracks. We saw Great Blue Heron, Coyote, Turtle, Raccoon, Beaver, and Great White Egret evidence.

“This gives us a better appreciation of the Bayou, because it is right in the middle of Houston. This is the first of many expeditions on the Bayou. It will take 6 to 8 months to complete [the wildlife inventory], and I hope this will be helpful for Bayou education.”

Save Buffalo Bayou and Paul plan to publish the results of his Eagle Scout Service project as a pamphlet in order to educate the public about the abundance of wildlife living on Buffalo Bayou.

February 2, 2016 7 Comments More

Woodway Not-a-Boat-Launch Now a Boat Launch Again

Maybe the Best Boat Launch on the Bayou

Jan. 20, 2016

Yes, the boat launch in Memorial Park on Woodway at 610 Loop is finally open, and it’s maybe the best boat launch on Buffalo Bayou in the entire city.

This official Texas Parks and Wildlife Paddling Trail access to the river has been closed for more than three years while the City of Houston Parks Department and the Galleria-area Uptown TIRZ razed the forest and put in a huge drainage outfall for stormwater runoff from Post Oak Road. They used our public parkland, even denying for a time that the boat launch was a boat launch, and according to some legal experts, under state law they probably should have given notice and had a Chapter 26 hearing to change the use of our parkland like that.

But the City rarely holds such legally required hearings when it comes to our public parkland.

Read the rest of this story.

The not-quite-finished entrance from the rebuilt parking lot to the boat launch recently reopened in Memorial Park on Buffalo Bayou at Woodway. Photo taken Jan. 19, 2016

January 20, 2016 No Comments More

What’s Going on With the Memorial Park Demonstration Project?

The permit is still under evaluation.

[SBB Note: The “erosion control” methods to be demonstrated in Memorial Park have already failed in Buffalo Bayou Park and Fonteno Park.]

By Dianna Wray, Houston Press, Jan. 4, 2016

The Memorial Park Demonstration project has been a point of contention since the plan was first proposed back in 2013. Since then there have been strident public disagreements and arguments over how the bayou should be handled — or if it should be altered at all — but the ultimate decision on whether to approve the project has been in the hands of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And so far, even though it’s been more than two years, the Corps has yet to actually choose whether to approve a permit that will give Harris County Flood Control the right to alter one of the last natural stretches of Buffalo Bayou running through the city.

At this point, we’re starting to wonder if the Corps is ever going to make a decision at all.

“The permit is still under evaluation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District staff is working to finalize a decision in the coming months,” Dwayne Johnson, regulatory project manager for the Galveston District office of the Corps, stated in reply to our inquiries about where things are in the permit process.

Read the rest of this story in the Houston Press.

January 6, 2016 2 Comments More

A Bend in the River

Photographs of Buffalo Bayou through the Seasons

Dec. 23, 2015

These lovely photographs document the changes in the seasons on Buffalo Bayou, and in the dynamic river itself. Taken (with one exception) 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 is 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.

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.
Late fall at sunrise from the same bend of Buffalo Bayou. Taken on Dec. 9, 2014, by Jim Olive from Memorial Park looking downstream.
Early spring on Buffalo Bayou at high water. Photo by Jim Olive on March 25, 2015.
Summertime view of the same bend in Buffalo Bayou from Memorial Park on August 1, 2015. Photo at low water (base flow) by Jim Olive.
Looking at Buffalo Bayou from Memorial Park from the same high bluff on Nov. 24, 2015. Photo by Jim Olive.
Sun rising over a bend of Buffalo Bayou at low water on Dec. 10, 2015. Photo taken by Jim Olive from a high bluff in Memorial Park looking downstream with the River Oaks Country Club on the right.
Early morning at high water on March 21, 2016, the day after the vernal equinox. The dams in west Houston were open, and water was flowing from the reservoirs at 2,000 cubic feet per second. Photo by Jim Olive, of course, from a high bluff in Memorial Park. River Oaks Country Club on the right.
Summer on Buffalo Bayou after the record high water from the spring rains had finally drained from Barker and Addicks dams upstream. Taken on July 8, 2016, by Jim Olive from the same high bank in Memorial Park looking downstream with the River Oaks Country Club on the right.
Foggy, warm winter morning on Buffalo Bayou at moderate flow, about 800 cubic feet per second. Photo by Jim Olive on Dec. 13, 2016.
Spring 2017, shot by Jim Olive on the morning of March 18 from Memorial Park with birds singing, frogs burping, squirrels quarreling, and warm air drifting up the high bank from the river at low flow.
Summer 2017. Flow was about 500 cubic feet per second after a nighttime storm on the morning of July 10, 2017. Slumped bank was healing. Frogs were a courting. Photo by Jim Olive.
That bend in the river on Sept. 1, 2017, after Hurricane Harvey dropped record rain all over. Flow was around 12,000 cubic feet per second. Photo by SC
The bend in the river on Sept. 11, 2017, around 2:30 p.m. as the floodwaters from Harvey were slowly draining. Flow was about 7,000 cubic feet per second, down from at least twice that. Photo by SC because Jim Olive was flying around taking photos of disastrous flooding all over the Gulf.
After the flood. That Bend in the River post-Harvey on Friday, 13 October, 2017, just after dawn. The flood control reservoirs behind the federal dams on Buffalo Bayou upstream had emptied finally and flow had dropped to base flow, about 200 cubic feet per second (cfs). Large amounts of sand and slumping of the high banks. Many downed trees. Photo by Jim Olive
Winter photo by Jim Olive on Jan 13, 2018. Flow was about 600 cubic feet per second. Temperature was a chilly 34 degrees shortly after sunrise about 7:30 a.m. The banks were much changed after the floodwaters of Harvey, with lots of slumping, fallen trees and missing vegetation. We could hardly find our spot. Note the buildup of sediment on the opposite bank.
That Bend in the River on April 15, 2018. Springtime all over the place. Flow was about 650 cubic feet per second after a brief thunderstorm the day before. Photo by SC
A trackhoe on a barge stuck in the sandy channel bottom of Buffalo Bayou at that bend below the high bank in Memorial Park. Maintenance contractor with flood control was removing fallen trees from the banks and channel. Photo by SC May 19, 2018
Summer sunrise on Buffalo Bayou. That bend in the bayou on July 1, 2018, with flow at about 280 cubic feet per second. Photo by Jim Olive, of course.
Fall 2018 on that Bend in the River. Water was high and the morning was cloudy just after sunrise. Photo by Jim Olive on Nov. 6, 2018.
We were late with our winter shot, and this February morning was gloomy, the trees and banks bare. Flow was very low, about 150 cfs. The bend appeared to have been widened by the damaging dredging done by maintenance contractors working to remove woody debris, some of which should have been left on the banks for stability and sediment control. Photo Feb. 14, 2019, by Jim Olive
Spring again! That bend in the bayou, early in the morning of April 26, 2019. Jim Olive was back in town to continue our series documenting this same spot through time. Photo by Jim.
Summertime 2019 on that bend in the river with some of the destruction of the south bank visible in the distance. Pile of dirt is part of the River Oaks Country Club's costly and excessively damaging bank project. Photo by Jim on July 8, 2019, from that same high bank in Memorial Park.
That Bend in the River on a cool fall day--at last! Tractor is sitting on a pile of dirt dug out of the bank by the River Oaks Country Club for its very discouraging and deeply destructive "bank repair" project upstream and downstream. Photo by Jim on Oct. 12, 2019
Jim Olive's Winter 2019-20 photo of that bend in the bayou with continuing destruction activity on the bank opposite. Photo Dec. 19, 2019
Since Jim Olive was on a general coronavirus lockdown in California, Susan took this Spring 2020 photo around 3 p.m. on March 23. Flow was high, about 900 cubic feet per second. We're hoping JO will be back soon to take a better one.
Jim O. was still locked down in California, where temperatures were shooting past 120, so Susan took this summer photo just after sunrise on July 12, 2020. After nearly two weeks of high flow from the release of stormwaters from the federal dams, flow had dropped to base flow at about 150 cfs as the flood-control reservoirs, Addicks and Barker, were finally emptied.
Fall on that bend in the bayou, looking through the yaupon downstream on Nov. 6, 2020. Photo by Jim Olive
That bend in winter several days after a historic freeze and snowstorm. Photo Feb. 20, 2021, by SC because highways were closed and JO couldn't make it through ice storm.
Jim Olive's late winter photo of that bend in the bayou. Taken on a drizzling, foggy morning just after sunrise on March 2, 2021.
A temporary shot for spring until Jim Olive gets back to town. Taken by SC around 6 p.m. on April 21, 2021.
That bend in the bayou in summer during high flow, over 2,000 cubic feet per second, as the Corps of Engineers continued to release stormwater impounded behind the federal flood control dams. Photo June 18, 2021, by Jim Olive.
Looking lush and green on that bend in the bayou right before the autumnal equinox. Tropical Storm Nicholas had just passed through. Fall photo Sept. 17, 2021, by Jim.
Early morning mist rising on the bend. Photo by Jim Olive on Nov. 12, 2021, showing a bit of fall color.
The bend in spring 2022. Photo by SC on April 7, 2022
The bend in summer, during record heat and drought. Flow was exceptionally low. Photo July 7, 2022 by SC
A misty fall sunrise on the bend in the bayou. High flow from stormwater being released from the federal dams upstream after a big rain. Photo by SC, Oct. 30, 2022
Deep winter morning on that bend in Buffalo Bayou. Looking downstream from the same high bank in Memorial Park. Photo by SC, Jan. 26, 2023
Late Spring 2023 on that bend in Buffalo Bayou. Taken from the same high bank in Memorial Park by Jim Olive on April 21, 2023.
A hot summer morning on that bend in the bayou. Taken July 15, 2023, by SC from the same high bank in Houston's Memorial Park.
Looking downstream on a beautiful fall morning from that same high bank in Memorial Park. Photo by SC, Oct. 16, 2023
The winter sun high above that bend in the river on New Year's Eve morning, Dec. 31, 2023. Photo by SC
From the high bank on a foggy spring morning. Photo April 19, 2024, by SC
That bend in the river on a drippy morning just after the summer solstice. Photo June 21, 2024, by SC
As the sun rises on a fall morning. Taken on Sept. 28, 2024.

December 23, 2015 No Comments More

Why Mowing Grass on Streambanks Is Bad

Grass Cut Short Can’t Grow Long Roots, and Long Roots Protect Against Erosion

Dec. 20, 2015

Short roots can’t hold the soil in place, let alone do their job of feeding soil microorganisms, creating a sponge to hold water, and pulling carbon from the air deep, deep into the soil where it can be sequestered.

This article from On Pasture magazine explains it all, with great photos of amazing grass roots. Though it’s written about grazing, the facts are true for mowing grass along our bayous and streams. Yes, even in parks.

Great “Grass Farmers” Grow Roots

By Kathy Voth / November 9, 2015 / 5 Comments

– See more at: http://onpasture.com/2015/11/09/great-grass-farmers-grow-roots/#!prettyPhoto

Great “Grass Farmers” Grow Roots

Graphic from On Pasture magazine.

By Kathy Voth. On Pasture, Nov. 9, 2015

If you go to enough workshops about grazing, you’re bound to see an illustration that shows how biting off the tops of plants impacts their roots, and how if you graze short enough the plants won’t have enough roots to rebound and produce more leafy material.

Read the rest of this article in On Pasture.

If you go to enough workshops about grazing, you’re bound to see an illustration that shows how biting off the tops of plants impacts their roots, and how if you graze short enough, the plant won’t have enough roots to rebound and produce more leafy material. In fact, if you’ve been with us at On Pasture for any length of time, you’ll have seen a version of that illustration. It looks like this: – See more at: http://onpasture.com/2015/11/09/great-grass-farmers-grow-roots/#!prettyPhoto

short roots can’t hold the soil in place, let alone do their job of feeding soil microorganisms, creating a sponge to hold water, and pulling carbon from the air deep, deep into the soil where it can be sequestered. – See more at: http://onpasture.com/2015/11/09/great-grass-farmers-grow-roots/#sthash.jQYZ3qFB.dpuf

December 20, 2015 No Comments More

The Waters of Our Lives

The fight for Texas’ prairie wetlands

They’re crucial to our water quality and flood control. But we’re losing them fast.

By John S. Jacob and Jen Powis, Gray Matters, The Houston Chronicle

December 18, 2015

Save Buffalo Bayou Note: Riparian areas, the trees and plants and soil along our bayous and streams, serve the same function as wetlands.

A flock of blue-winged teal flies over a Texas coastal wetland.

To Texas developers, a coastal prairie wetland looks like profit waiting to be made: The expanses of grassland are easily bulldozed, easily platted and paved. So it’s no wonder that they’re disappearing quickly: According to a report from Texas A&M University, of the Texas coastal prairie wetlands that existed in Harris County in 1992, more than 30 percent have been lost.

If you’ve lived in the Houston area awhile, you know what that means: The more we develop, the more we flood. Our wetlands serve as natural detention basins, absorbing and holding stormwater that would otherwise rush through our houses and streets.

And that’s not all that those wetlands do. While wetland plants and soil retain that water, they also filter it, cleaning it before releasing it. They keep Galveston Bay healthy and fishable, and provide major habitat for the migratory birds that crisscross our area. The more scientists study Texas’ coastal wetlands, the more important we realize they are.

Read the rest of this article in The Houston Chronicle.

John Jacob is board chair of Galveston Baykeeper. Jen Powis is a Galveston Baykeeper board member and an environmental attorney.

December 18, 2015 No Comments More

« Previous Page — Next Page »

A Ribbon of Life Through the Concrete of Houston

Public Meeting on Buffalo Bayou Dams

Corps of Engineers to Issue Repair Update Wednesday, March 9

Support Your Forest on Buffalo Bayou

Annual District G Meeting with City Officials Thursday, March 3

Detention Alternatives Without Destroying Forests

Update on the Beaver

We Tried to Find Out

Myths about Rivers

Sad News

A Beaver Has Died

Woodway Not-a-Boat-Launch Now a Boat Launch Again

Maybe the Best Boat Launch on the Bayou

What’s Going on With the Memorial Park Demonstration Project?

The permit is still under evaluation.

A Bend in the River

Photographs of Buffalo Bayou through the Seasons

Why Mowing Grass on Streambanks Is Bad

Grass Cut Short Can’t Grow Long Roots, and Long Roots Protect Against Erosion

Great “Grass Farmers” Grow Roots

Great “Grass Farmers” Grow Roots

The Waters of Our Lives

The fight for Texas’ prairie wetlands

They’re crucial to our water quality and flood control. But we’re losing them fast.

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