A Green Infrastructure Plan for the Galveston - Houston Region of Texas

Why should the Galveston - Houston region plan for green infrastructure now?

The Galveston - Houston region, the sixth largest metroplex in the United States, is projected to grow to 9.5 million people by 2040, making the need for thoughtful decision making on conservation, local food production, water resources, and development very important. Without a strategic look at where to locate development and conservation, more than 985,000 acres of Houston’s critical natural assets are forecast to become developed between 2008 and 2035. 

Local leaders believe a comprehensive, unified approach is needed to ensure that the economic and ecological value of the region's natural assets are fully realized. They also believe these development and conservation decisions should be data driven, science-based, and address key sustainability issues.

The Galveston - Houston region's natural assets

The Greater Galveston - Houston region is blessed with abundant natural assets that help sustain long-term economic health. Galveston Bay is one of the most productive estuaries in the nation, with commercial and recreational fishing resources valued at over $3 billion annually.

The region also includes the Sam Houston National Forest, sections of the vast Pineywoods, and a series of bottomland hardwood forests that are the region’s lungs. Coastal prairies and rice farms are a part of the landscape of the southern edge of the region, with Brazos River, San Bernard River and Colorado River all emptying into the Gulf through a series of coastal wetlands and wildlife refuges. The City of Houston has over 100 miles of hiking and bike trails and 56,405 acres of parkland.

What is the green infrastructure plan?

At the request of local leaders, the Fund is working on green infrastructure planning and implementation initiative for the Galveston – Houston region. Our green infrastructure plan will:

• help balance conservation and development by finding the best opportunities to preserve and restore natural systems that mitigate downstream bayou and creek flooding;
• help minimize development of coastal prairies and marshes that absorb surge tide and provide flood abatement;
• help county and municipal leaders work toward channeling growth and reducing the land consumption footprint;
• estimate the economic value of ecosystem services such as flood abatement, carbon sequestration, and fish and wildlife habitat that are provided by the region’s wetlands, coastal prairie, upland forest, and bottomland forest. When these areas are developed, society incurs hidden costs—increased flooding, impaired water quality̬that are typically not accounted for in the marketplace;
• estimate the value of ecosystem services and propose a protected, interconnected resource network that takes advantage of the services provided by natural systems, thus saving counties millions of dollars to replace lost features and functions with water treatment plants and flood retention infrastructure
• outline a comprehensive implementation strategy that includes land acquisition opportunities, approaches to leverage key Federal and state conservation incentive programs, and new mechanisms for obtaining conservation and restoration capital.

How will the green infrastructure plan be developed?

With our unparalleled expertise in strategic conservation planning, we will help identify resource conservation, restoration and enhancement opportunities for the region. This is just one element of a comprehensive strategy to achieve the region’s sustainable development goals.

The Fund is working in collaboration with Houston Wilderness (a consortium of government agencies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations) and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) and with support from several local foundations.

We're working with H-GAC, as part of their Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant project, to engage the public in a thoughtful discussion of the future of the region within this larger effort on sustainability. There will be many opportunities for the public to participate and contribute on vision and goal setting session, scenario development and implementation strategies.

The green infrastructure plan will build on previous and ongoing effort’s including the Houston Wilderness 2010 report: A Strategy for Realizing the Economic Value of the Ecological Capital of the Greater Houston Region. The plan also will incorporate the Sam Houston Trail and Wilderness Preserve, a ribbon of undeveloped land encircling Houston and connecting existing parks, refuges, beaches and waterways. The plan will take advantage of the Center for Houston’s Future’s quality of life analysis of air quality, parks and trails, and trees; H-GAC’s 2040 long-range transportation plan, the Texas State Wildlife Action Plan, and dozens of other recent resource planning efforts.

Photo: Judy Ledbetter, iStockphoto.com (top); Galveston Bay / Army Corps of Engineers (middle); wetlands near Galveston / Propoganda Photography, Flickr