But the calculation of \u201ccheapest and easiest\u201d does not include future repair and maintenance costs where now there are none. A similar project on the once-forested opposite bank has required many millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for maintenance and repeat repairs to the bank<\/a> in the decades since trees were cut.<\/p>\n Nor does this calculation include the additional flow into the bayou from the loss of trees and vegetation, which significantly slow and absorb rainfall and runoff. A study by the University of Arkansas reports that removing forest can increase runoff into streams by as much as four or five times. (p. 3)<\/a><\/p>\n It does not consider the financial value that the forest provides by cleansing the water and the air for free. Studies have shown that riparian vegetation<\/a> is cheaper and more effective at cleansing our polluted water than even sewage treatment plants<\/a>. A study of Houston\u2019s urban forest by the US Department of Agriculture<\/a> found that even including invasive trees, our modest tree cover captures carbon and other pollutants from the air worth hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n Also not included: the value of the mental and physical health benefit that trees provide<\/a> to Houstonians, who suffer from a deficit of nature, many of whom were traumatized by the flooding from Harvey<\/a>. Since ancient times wise people have known that the experience of even a small piece of nature<\/a> has health benefits. (See also here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Looking downstream on the straightened channel of Buffalo Bayou in the area where trees are to be removed and basins excavated in Terry Hershey Park in west Houston. Photo June 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Nature is the Best Engineer<\/strong><\/p>\n Making room for the bayou to overflow is a good thing, as is a focus on detention or “slowing the flow.” Cutting down trees and removing vegetation next to the bayou is not.<\/p>\n \u201cEngineers have a hard time understanding,\u201d says Bob Freitag, director of the Institute for Hazards Mitigation Planning and Research<\/a> at the University of Washington and co-author of Floodplain Management, A New Approach for a New Era<\/a><\/em>. \u201cTrees aren\u2019t in their model.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want trees,\u201d says Freitag. \u201cTrees do a lot of good things.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a new field of engineering that understands and imitates the process of nature<\/a>, melding engineering and biology and valuing ecosystem services<\/a>, points out Freitag. \u201cBut those who do it are few and far between. It\u2019s a pretty new field.\u201d<\/p>\n No Reduction in Flooding<\/strong><\/p>\n The planned detention basins next to the bayou channel do not even reduce flooding, despite a popular belief that they will. Officials confirm that the small basins will do nothing to reduce flooding downstream. \u201cNo, they\u2019re not going to save people from flooding downstream,\u201d said Matt Lopez, the Harris County Flood Control District\u2019s Precinct 3 coordinator. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to save folks from Harvey or any other storm.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.savebuffalobayou.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/15-Looking-ds-lovely.jpg\")
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