![\"Wild](\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Vista-1-a-cropped.jpg\")
<\/a>Wild Buffalo Bayou, a ribbon of life, as it flows past Memorial Park, on the left, in the center of Houston. Photo by Jim Olive.<\/p><\/div>\n
Updated May 2, 2017<\/h4>\n
Updated May 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n On April 19, 2017, the Corps of Engineers issued a permit that grants an exception to the Clean Water Act<\/a> and allows the Harris County Flood Control District to destroy our beautiful Buffalo Bayou. The Corps, without legal basis, initially refused to send us the formal Environmental Assessment of the impact of the project required by the National Environmental Policy Act<\/a>. We first asked for this important public document on April 6, 2017, through the Freedom of Information Act. On May 16, 2017, the Corps finally sent us the Environmental Assessment. Absurdly, the Corps found that the project would have “no significant impact” on the environment. Read the Environmental Assessment here<\/a> and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the flood control district now says that the project will cost some $12 million — double the original estimate<\/a>.<\/p>\n What to do now: Write or call Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle<\/a>. It’s his territory and he’s in charge. Write or call your own county commissioner<\/a>. City and county taxpayers are going to have to fork up a lot more money for this wasteful, pointless project to eliminate a rare, public natural asset in the middle of the city. Write or call the mayor<\/a> and your council member<\/a> and say no. This is using public funds for private benefit and public detriment. And write or call the Memorial Park Conservancy<\/a>. They are supposed to be protecting Memorial Park. Contact the Houston Parks Board<\/a>. They are supposed to be advising the city council and parks and recreation department. Tell them to put their Bayou Greenways hike and bike trail through the nice woods along the east-west power line easement, rather than along the forested bank of the bayou in Memorial Park. And let your federal representatives<\/a> know that the Corps of Engineers is not doing its job protecting our wetlands and waterways. Contact the Houston Parks Board<\/a>. They are supposed to be advising the city council and parks and recreation department. Tell them to put their Bayou Greenways hike and bike trail through the woods along the east-west power line easement, rather than along the forested bank of the bayou in Memorial Park.<\/p>\n Nature is a public trust<\/a>, and we are obligated to protect it.<\/p>\n Here’s a link to the permit<\/a>, which despite years of delay, protest, and criticism, contains basically the same old unscientific and contradictory plan that it’s been all along. We have good reason to believe that it will fail<\/a>. Also please donate<\/a>. We need your support to fight this.<\/p>\n Here are the Top Eleven Phony Arguments they make for destroying our wild bayou and How to Answer.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What to Say\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Some points to make:<\/p>\n Update March 23, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n Though we had hoped that the many sound and scientific arguments against the bayou destruction project were enough to dissuade its promoters, the discouraging word is that the project still appears to be undead.<\/p>\n The Army Corps of Engineers reports that an Environmental Assessment has been completed, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act<\/a>. Dwayne Johnson, regulatory project manager for the Corps\u2019 Galveston District, says the Office of Counsel is conducting a legal review of the assessment.<\/p>\n An Environmental Assessment would result in either a Finding of No Significant Impact or a requirement that the Harris County Flood Control District conduct a full and costly Environmental Impact Statement. Johnson could not say when or if an announcement would be made about the decision.<\/p>\n The Memorial Park Conservancy continues to promote the project as does the Bayou Preservation Association. The Conservancy in December hired as its conservation manager Carolyn White, who worked for the flood control district for ten years, most recently as a project manager in the Environmental Services Division.<\/p>\n Contact the Memorial Park Conservancy <\/a>to let the board know what you think about the proposal to raze the bayou forest in the park, fill in a meander, level ancient high banks, dredge, reroute and rebuild the channel and banks, and plant it all with turf grass. The board chairman is Steve Jenkins.<\/p>\n Also contact the Bayou Preservation Association<\/a> as well as your county and city representatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n Update August 8, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n The second period for public comment to the Army Corps of Engineers about the proposed project to bulldoze our wild Buffalo Bayou closed June 5, 2015. During the first public comment period last spring, several hundred comments were sent to the Corps, the vast majority of them critical or flat out opposed to the Harris County Flood Control District\u2019s plan to destroy and rebuild one of the last natural stretches of Buffalo Bayou in Houston.<\/p>\n This time around the comment period was shorter (thirty days as opposed to sixty days) and little publicized. Still, comments opposing the project vastly outnumbered comments supporting it. There were more than fifty comments critical of the project, including from public agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. There were only two in support\u2014one from the River Oaks Country Club and the other from the Bayou Preservation Association, which, shockingly, initiated this project several years ago.<\/p>\n Armoring with concrete rip rap and dirt a south bank of Buffalo Bayou by the River Oaks Country Club. Photo taken Aug. 7, 2015, at very low water.<\/p><\/div>\n The next move is up to the Corps. In the meantime, the River Oaks Country Club, which owns the entire south bank of the project area, has lost patience and armored two of its steep banks with rip rap and dirt<\/a>.<\/p>\n So What to Do Now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Talk to as many people as you can about this. See What to Say at the bottom of this page for points to make. Let your city and county representatives know what you think. Tell the mayor, the parks department, the parks board, and the Harris County Flood Control District. (The flood control district has a comment form on its Memorial Park Demonstration Project page<\/a>.) Tell the Memorial Park Conservancy<\/a>, since they support this project, and the Bayou Preservation Association<\/a>, which not only initiated the project but also continues to promote it<\/a>. Download a flyer from our website<\/a> and hand it out. You can also distribute a Plain Facts sheet<\/a>, and the Top Eleven Phony Arguments <\/a>in favor of the project and the right answers.<\/p>\n Update May 16, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n The Harris County Flood Control District has revised its plan to strip the riparian forest<\/a>, grade, dredge, shorten, and reroute one of the last natural stretches of Buffalo Bayou as it flows past Memorial Park. These revisions were made in response to comments and criticisms of the district\u2019s so-called \u201crestoration\u201d project made during the initial public comment period last May and June.<\/p>\n The Army Corps of Engineers, which is considering whether to issue a permit for the project, announced on May 5, 2015<\/a>, a new public comment period on the flood control district\u2019s revised plan. The public now has until June 5<\/strong> to comment on the new plan and on the flood control district\u2019s responses to the overwhelmingly negative comments to the original plan.<\/p>\n Here is where you can view the revised plan.<\/a> Here is where you can read the flood control district\u2019s recent responses to comments about the original proposal.<\/a> And here are the district’s\u00a0complete responses<\/a> released on October 8, 2014.<\/p>\n Our view is that this project, known as the Memorial Park Demonstration Project<\/a>, is a pointless, expensive boondoggle that is needlessly destroying a healthy, natural, historic stretch of the river (and natural flood detention area) in order to re-engineer it with dubious methods that often fail. Rather than making the banks more stable, the project will de-stabilize the banks and cause greater erosion both within the project area and downstream.<\/p>\n Rivers erode and regenerate their banks. We are in favor of letting this river be a river.<\/a> It\u2019s an invaluable public asset in the middle of the city.<\/p>\n This proposed project violates every Best Management Practice for riparian zones<\/a> and demonstrates to landowners on the bayou exactly the wrong thing to do for controlling erosion of their property. Landowners have problems with erosion when they remove the trees and vegetation along the banks of the bayou (the riparian buffer).\u00a0 That’s what this misguided project is proposing to do.<\/p>\n Let’s work with nature, not against it.<\/a><\/p>\n In your comments be sure to reference file number SWG-2012-01007. <\/strong>Ask for more time to comment, for a public hearing, and for an environmental impact statement that takes into account the cumulative effect of all the flood control projects on Buffalo Bayou, the operation of the Addicks and Barker dams, development, and increasing impermeable surface in the watershed.<\/p>\n Demand scientific evidence that this project is necessary and would achieve its goals, and that the methods proposed work.<\/p>\n The law requires a more practicable, less damaging solution. Say that a more practicable, less damaging solution would be for better, more natural detention methods up and downstream and for private landowners in the project area to protect their banks by practicing better land management for riparian zones<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reference file number SWG-2012-01007 <\/strong>and send your comments to:<\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson<\/p>\n Regulatory Branch, CESWG-RD-P<\/p>\n U.S. Army Corps of Engineers<\/p>\n P.O. Box 1229<\/p>\n Galveston, Texas 77553-1229<\/p>\n 409-766-6353 Phone<\/p>\n 409-766-6301 Fax<\/p>\n swg_public_notice@usace.army.mil<\/a><\/p>\n Send a copy of your comments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The TCEQ, which asked critical questions about the project in its comments<\/a> to the Corps, must certify that the project complies with state water quality standards.<\/a><\/p>\n Lili Murphy<\/p>\n Texas Commission on Environmental Quality<\/p>\n Water Standards Team<\/p>\n 401 Coordinator, MC-150 lili.murphy@tceq.texas.gov and And tell everyone you know what is happening.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Update Feb.8, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n The Army Corps of Engineers reports that it is continuing to supply the Harris County Flood Control District with their comments on the Flood Control District\u2019s responses<\/a> to the public comments on the district\u2019s application for a federal permit.<\/p>\n Dwayne Johnson, regulatory project manager for the Galveston District office of the Corps, wrote in an email to Save Buffalo Bayou on Jan. 20, 2015, that the Corps expects to have a response and a possible new Public Notice about the permit application within thirty to sixty days. The new Public Notice would request new public comments only on the changes to the project plans made since the original Public Notice<\/a> last April, said Johnson.<\/p>\n A federal Clean Water Act permit<\/a> is required for the project because it will dredge and fill navigable waters of the United States. The Corps is responsible for that. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must certify that the Corps\u2019 permit meets Texas Surface Water Quality Standards<\/a>. The Environmental Protection Agency also has the authority under the Clean Water Act to overrule a federal permit, although the EPA has rarely done that.<\/p>\n In addition, the Houston City Council, as the governing body for Memorial Park, must give public notice, hold a hearing, and vote on whether the project is a proper use or taking of public parkland under Ch. 26 of the state Parks and Wildlife Code<\/a>.<\/p>\n Memorial Park has some protection from the deeds establishing the park. The Hogg Family, which sold the parkland to the city at cost in the early 1920s, set up the multiple deeds so that ownership of the park reverts to their heirs if the land is used for other than park purposes. These reversionary rights have been left to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas<\/a> and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plus, the City of Houston Floodplain Management Office must issue a development permit<\/a> for the project because it involves construction activity within a city floodplain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Updated Oct. 30, 2014:<\/strong><\/p>\n Find out what is happening and what else you can do now about the $6 million plan to bulldoze the riparian forest<\/a> and dredge and channelize the last remaining natural stretch of Buffalo Bayou in Houston. Read our latest post about who needs to do what and when.<\/a><\/p>\n The Harris County Flood District has posted online its responses to comments<\/a> (caution: big pdf) made about the destruction project to the Army Corps of Engineers during the public comment period. The Corps is now considering whether to approve or deny a permit to allow the flood control district to bulldoze the beautiful wild banks of Buffalo Bayou in the middle of our city. The period for public comment on the permit application<\/a> (warning: big pdf file) closed on June 30. But we should continue to tell the Corps<\/a>, as well as the flood control district<\/a>, the mayor and Houston City Council, Harris County commissioners<\/a>, the Bayou Preservation Association<\/a>, the Memorial Park Conservancy<\/a>, and others that we oppose the plan to destroy our majestic prehistoric cliffs and one of the last remaining riparian forests<\/a> in Houston. Tell them the people demand a better plan that protects our mysterious, slow-moving bayou, enhances the natural ecosystem, and preserves wildlife.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What Else To Do 1. Talk to your friends and neighbors about what is happening. Most people don’t know about this. And many who think they do don’t realize the extent of the destruction that is planned. Raise awareness! Download a flyer<\/a>, print a bunch, and pass them out.<\/p>\n 2. Write to US Representatives John Culberson and Ted Poe and tell them Harris County’s plan is a senseless and destructive use of taxpayer money. They have the power! Here is their contact information.<\/a><\/p>\n 3. Tell Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Houston City Council, Harris County Commissioners, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, and the Memorial Park Conservancy you are against destroying our wild and unique southern bayou, a valuable public resource in the middle of our city. How to contact.<\/a><\/p>\n 4. Donate<\/a> to Save Buffalo Bayou. We are building a legal fund for the inevitable challenge to the project permit that the Army Corps of Engineers is likely to grant. (The Corps rarely turns down a permit.) We must also file an injunction to stop to the flood control district from immediately starting to bulldoze our park and forest. Funds will also go towards the development of\u00a0 plans to make sure this never happens again and programs to educate the public and our political and civic leaders about best land management practices on and around our streams. See our Mission Statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Updated May 2, 2017 Updated May 20, 2017 On April 19, 2017, the Corps of Engineers issued a permit that grants an exception to the Clean Water Act and allows the Harris County Flood Control District to destroy our beautiful Buffalo Bayou. The Corps, without legal basis, initially refused…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-32","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":77,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4067,"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32\/revisions\/4067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/a>
\nP.O. Box 13087
\nAustin, Texas 78711-3087<\/p>\n
\n401certs@tceq.texas.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n