Those who went before us and can help show the way.
Preservation & Protection
We preserve land along streams for
flood control, clean water, and wildlife.
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Flooding in our region is one of the greatest threats to the health of our communities.​ If kept on their present trajectory, current construction patterns and practices will continue to lead to more frequent and even more dangerous floods.
A growing international reputation for disastrous flooding could be the greatest threat to the Houston region’s economic development.​ The preservation of natural floodplains is critical to reducing flood risk to people, homes, schools, and businesses. Protecting and preserving natural land is the best first line of defense against flooding.
Exceptional Achievement
Preserve, Restore, and Enhance Memorial Park for the enjoyment of all Houstonians, today and tomorrow
Successful Transition
In Southeast Houston, dedicated groups of volunteers are transforming a defunct golf course into an innovative stormwater detention center and green space.
Exploration Green provides an integrated, natural solution for catastrophic seasonal flooding holding up to 500-million-gallons of stormwater while also serving as a nature preserve and recreation area. Located near NASA's Johnson Space Center, this 200-acre urban green space provides the community with countless opportunities to explore, offering 40 acres of both wetlands and permanent detention lakes, home to over 1,000 native species.
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PROJECT BRAYS
Significant Solutions
Since the early settlement of Houston, residents have had to contend with flooding. While the potential for flooding will always be present in our area, with expert engineering and planning, the Harris County Flood Control District (Flood Control District) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) have steadily worked to reduce the risk and damages resulting from flooding events.
In the mid 1980's the Corps conducted a watershed study, examining Buffalo Bayou and surrounding watersheds, their findings concluded a flood damage reduction project would be extremely beneficial to the community, outweighing the costs. As a result, the Corps joined forces with the Flood Control District and began work on the Brays Bayou Federal Flood Damage Reduction Project, now known as Project Brays.
As of today, Project Brays is nearing completion. With new approaches and state-of-the-art technology, flood damage reduction is more effective and efficient than ever before. Residents and businesses along Brays Bayou can look forward to benefiting from the Project Brays initiative, a $480,000,000 project, in the coming years.
Designing A More Livable World
Designing for a more livable world. Â SWA is an international landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm renowned for the creativity, responsiveness, and resilience of its work.
From urban parks to city districts, university campuses to commercial complexes, premier resorts to new communities, SWA’s professionals create beautiful, high-performing places.
Proven Solutions
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Talley Landscape Architects, Inc. is a full service landscape architecture firm engaged in the planning, design, and construction management of large scale public projects such as parks and recreation facilities. The firm has also led teams providing complete design services for a number of master-planned communities, and prepared several comprehensive parks master plans for Municipal Utility Districts in preparation for park bond sales. TLA is uniquely qualified to consult on projects involving a wide range of stakeholders with multiple priorities. They are often sought after as a facilitator in creating a practical vision for public agencies, non-profit and philanthropic entities, as well as corporate clients.
Originally established in 1999, Talley Landscape Architects, Inc. is committed to integrating the process of planning and design with the preservation of environmental sensitivity. TLA transforms the buzzword of 'Sustainable Design' into the practical application of 'Regenerative Design and Development.'
Acclaimed Landscape Architects
n 1985, Warren Byrd and partner Susan Nelson founded Nelson Byrd Landscape Architects. They established a vibrant and growing practice that would eventually become Nelson Byrd Woltz in 2004, when Thomas Woltz became a partner. Together, Byrd and Woltz forged an internationally recognized practice with 45 staff members and offices in Charlottesville Virginia and New York City. Both are Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects, among the highest honors achieved in the profession. Woltz, who became the sole owner of the firm in 2013, has expanded upon the original philosophical mission creating opportunities that use design to facilitate the restoration of damaged ecological infrastructure within working farmland and urban settings, thereby creating new models of biodiversity and sustainability.
Committed to design excellence, education, and conservation, the firm is engaged in a broad array of public and private projects including public parks, academic institutions, botanic gardens and arboreta, memorial landscapes, corporate campuses, and urban planning. The firm actively seeks a diversity of project scales and types to cultivate the creativity of the professional staff. The varied backgrounds of the staff include studies in the fields of landscape architecture, architecture, anthropology, biology, economics, theology, philosophy, zoology, horticulture, history, art, art history, and architectural history. This broad knowledge base supports the firm’s collective creativity and ability to respond to diverse client needs.
To date, the firm has practiced in over 25 states and 10 countries, and has garnered over 100 awards within the past 15 years, including the prestigious Amanda Burden Public Open Space Award for Citygarden in St. Louis. The work of the firm has been featured in numerous national and international publications and is the subject of a monograph published by Princeton Architectural Press.
The nature of form, function and a little fun.
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From parks and paths, to full development, Clark Condon brings a vision and passion to common areas for communities.
Bountiful Efforts
Urban Harvest’s mission is to cultivate thriving communities through gardening and access to healthy, local food.
We are improving the lives, soils and plates of Houstonians.
Founded in 1994, Urban Harvest has garnered a well-deserved reputation as a leader in the local food movement. We’ve earned this role by adhering to clear and simple values and a focused mission.
Over 30 years ago, two Fourth Ward activists, Deacon Malcolm McLemore and Deacon Jean Cameron, started a community garden in their neighborhood along with Dr. Bob Randall, one of the founders of Urban Harvest.
Their garden grew and grew. The simple act of growing food brought neighbors together to share recipes and seeds, to solve problems about crime and blight, and to eat and celebrate together.
The seed that was planted by the success of this garden led to the creation of Urban Harvest seven years later. Since 1994, Urban Harvest has cultivated communities of gardeners, educators, farmers and neighbors to launch thriving gardens and farmers markets.
Under the direction of an all-volunteer board, Urban Harvest has grown from humble beginnings to employ a full-time staff and literally thousands of volunteers. Check out our recent annual report.
Intentional Planning
A Cypresswood area community garden sponsored by WCID 132.
A Legacy of Care
In 1985 the Wolf River Conservancy was formed as a non-profit local land trust in order to be able to protect lands along the Wolf River as a public natural resource.   A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in fee-land or conservation easement acquisition, or by its stewardship of such land or easements. Land trusts work with landowners and the community to conserve land by accepting donations of land, purchasing land, negotiating private, voluntary conservation agreements on land, and stewarding conserved land through the generations to come. The Conservancy goes above and beyond the traditional roles of a land trust by also educating youth and the public, engage the community through the Wolf River Greenway, and provide guided paddle trips.
Collaboration & Cooperation
Mission: To improve the natural qualities of, increase the public concern for, and promote the enjoyment of the Deckers Creek Watershed.
Friends of the Clinton River Trail is committed to promoting the Clinton River Trail as a safe and enjoyable recreational destination.
The Clinton River Trail is a rail-trail that extends across 16 miles of Oakland County, Michigan, through suburban, urban and rural portions of Detroit's northern suburbs.
The CRT follows a former rail line once known as the Michigan Airline through the heart of Oakland County, including the cities of Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester. It connects with the West Bloomfield trail to the west and the Macomb Orchard Trail to the east, and the Paint Creek Trail branches off to the north. The CRT is part of a planned cross-state trail, the Great Lake to Lake Trail, which will extend from Port Huron to South Haven when completed.
The first segments of the CRT opened in 2003, and the trail is complete except for a 3.5-mile temporary route section through parts of Pontiac. The temporary route includes both street and sidewalk sections. A complete, downloadable PDF map of the CRT is here.
The trail has a variety of surfaces, ranging from crushed limestone to pavement. The majority of the trail is unpaved, and while some users handle the trail on a road bike with no problems, please be aware that bicycles with very narrow tires may not be optimal for use on the CRT.