{"id":2767,"date":"2016-06-15T23:43:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T04:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?page_id=2767"},"modified":"2018-03-14T12:18:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T17:18:24","slug":"can-an-urban-stream-restore-itself","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/?page_id=2767","title":{"rendered":"Can An Urban Stream Restore Itself?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, With Room to Move. Free Rivers Are Healthier and Better for Flood Control<\/h3>\n

June 15, 2016<\/p>\n

Updated with August 2016, April 29 and July 11, 2017, photos of self-repaired Hogg Bluff<\/em><\/p>\n

By Susan Chadwick, Executive Director, Save Buffalo Bayou<\/p>\n

This article is adapted from a presentation made at <\/em>the Southwest Stream Restoration Conference<\/em><\/a> in San Antonio, Texas, on June 2, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

Save Buffalo Bayou is a non-profit organization founded two years ago to fight a public project described as a \u201crestoration\u201d project on one of the last natural stretches of Buffalo Bayou as it flows through the middle of Houston, past 1,500-acre Memorial Park and another 15-acre public nature preserve, the Hogg Bird Sanctuary. Since then our organization has expanded into broader, related issues. But today\u2019s topic is restoration.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the most common responses I would get when I would say that this mile-long plus stretch of the bayou is natural, along with what were some of the most common defenses of the project.<\/p>\n

\"Sandy<\/a>

Sandy bank on a meander of Buffalo Bayou in Memorial Park. Photo by Jim Olive on April 2, 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

The river\u2019s not natural because the river changes.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not natural because it\u2019s been altered by high runoff from urbanization.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trees fall into it.<\/em><\/p>\n

It has terrible erosion problems. Look at those steep high banks!<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s terribly eroded. Look at those sandy banks!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s eroding terribly. Sediment from the banks in Memorial Park washes up on the sidewalks of Buffalo Bayou Park we built downstream in the floodway right next to the river.<\/em><\/p>\n

All that sediment carries bacteria. If we stop the banks from eroding so much sediment, we will reduce the bacteria.<\/em> (Although sediment-laden Buffalo Bayou is less polluted than White Oak Bayou, which runs relatively clear and extremely foul due to being encased in concrete.)<\/p>\n

And of course the big one: the river needs to be stabilized because it moves around.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the argument, both implied and explicit, that prompted me to select this topic for presentation today: an urban stream cannot restore itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Profound Misconception About How Nature and Rivers Work<\/h4>\n

All of those statements, of course, indicate a profound misconception about nature, about how a river works and how rivers benefit us.<\/p>\n

A river is a living symbol of change. A living system. A dynamic process of nature that works for our benefit. Even the simple grains of sand work on our behalf to cleanse the water.<\/p>\n

To be fair, I should add this complaint:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s eroding terribly, the golf course is falling in.<\/em> (That would be on the high south bank opposite Memorial Park where a country club cut down the trees, killed off the vegetation, and mows and waters the grass up to the edge, among other things. An excellent example of not<\/strong> Best Management Practice for a riparian area.)<\/p>\n

The country club armored its bank with riprap in two places late last summer. Hardening the bank, as most of you well know, is one of the most damaging things you can do to the ecological health of a stream. Not to mention what it does to your neighbors up and downstream and across the way.<\/p>\n

Another complaint: the Hogg Bird Sanctuary is falling apart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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