News

Aug 29

One Year Later: Reflecting on Hurricane Harvey

Dear Buffalo Bayou Partnership Friends:

It has been over a year since Hurricane Harvey touched down and hovered over Houston for several long days. While Buffalo Bayou was greatly impacted by the historic flooding, with a record 39 feet at the Shepherd Drive Bridge, the waterway has made a dramatic comeback. Please know Buffalo Bayou Partnership will continue its mission of transforming and revitalizing Houston’s most significant natural resource. Please watch this video of our post-Harvey clean-up efforts.

Thanks to our dedicated staff, thousands of committed volunteers and many generous donors, tremendous progress has been made. Please know that our recovery work continues. To learn more about lending a hand, please visit buffalobayou.org/get-involved.

Jul 24

Waugh Bridge Bat Colony Q&A with Wildlife Biologist Diana Foss

Questions answered by Diana Foss, Wildlife Biologist for the Urban Wildlife Technical Guidance Program at Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

Question: Does Buffalo Bayou use a researcher or research firm to quantify the bat colony and birth seasons?

Answer: I have been researching and managing the Waugh Bat colony since 2003, working with staff from the City of Houston Parks and Rec Dept. and then Buffalo Bayou Partnership when they began managing Buffalo Bayou Park.

I work with a very dedicated and skilled group of trained volunteers, The Houston Area Bat Team, to continue that bat management and research. Our team has several partners – Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept, Bat Conservation International, The Houston Zoo, Houston Parks Board, and Texas Master Naturalist Program (3 chapters).

Early on in 2005, we began conducting crevice counts (estimates of the number of bats residing in the crevice space). Pre-Harvey, that number was 300,000 bats. Because the City of Houston was planning to promote the bat-watching opportunities at Waugh, we wanted to learn everything we could about this bat colony, including bat behavior, seasonal changes, and nightly emergence behavior, to make sure we didn’t impact the bats with our public viewing efforts. During our research, we observed pups (baby bats) in the bridge crevices, so we dedicated considerable time and effort to document seasonal bat activities and timelines. For example, the pups are born at Waugh starting the end of May through June. Each female Mexican free-tailed bat gives birth to just one pup per year – all during this time. The oldest pups begin practice flying during the first week in July. All of the pups are flying by the end of August.

Question: Is the colony expected to return to more than 300,000 bats? Do you think this will happen in 2018?

Answer: I have been amazed by how quickly the bats have returned to Waugh bridge after Harvey’s impacts. In talking to residents who live near Waugh bridge, and listening to what they observed during Harvey, I believe more bats managed to escape the flooding than we originally thought. The population now, with some of the pups flying, is 200,000 or more. So it won’t take much time for the population to reach pre-Harvey numbers. The emergences this month have been really spectacular. By summer 2019, I predict the population at Waugh will be back to pre-Harvey estimates…as long as we do not experience another Harvey in the meantime.

Question: What is it about Waugh Bridge that attracts so many bats?

Answer: The Mexican free-tailed bats choose Waugh bridge due to its structure, location, and warmth. The bridge beams underneath are installed one next to the other, with narrow crevices in between. The crevices are where the bats roost, hanging by their toes from the concrete crevice sides. The concrete holds warmth. When the pups are born, they are hairless – just tiny pink babies, like a human baby. They rely on body heat AND the concrete heat to keep them warm until they can grow fur. The bridge is located over water. The water cools the air in the summer, retains heat in the winter, and provides water and insects for the bats. [These bats eat an estimated 3 tons of insects each night.] Houston’s bayous are beautiful and full of life – for all kinds of wildlife, both large and small.

A few other interesting bits of information:

Because Houston and Waugh bridge stay somewhat warm in the winter, there is a population of Mexican free-tailed bats that live in Waugh through the winter. We don’t know if the ‘winter’ bats are the same individuals as the ‘summer’ bats. Each bat eats enormous amounts of insects and stores fat all through the spring and summer. When the temperatures get too cold, below 50 degrees F, the bats remain up in the smallest crevices and live off their stored body fat. But if we get warm weeks in winter, with insect activity, then the bats emerge and fly. So Waugh bridge is a year-round bat-watching opportunity, depending on the winter temperatures.

Waugh bridge bat colony attracts visitors from all over the world. The Houston Area Bat Team gives Friday Night “Bat Chats” down at Waugh Bridge 30 minutes before sunset on Friday nights (starting first Friday in March through last Friday in October). The bat emergence usually begins around sunset. We usually gather at the southeast corner of Waugh Drive @ Allen Parkway. There is a bat viewing platform there.

Watch the Waugh Bridge Bat Colony emerge every evening, all year round, 15-30 minutes before sunset.

Jul 24

Banking on Buffalo Bayou – Summer 2018

Dear Friends:

Buffalo Bayou offers a host of recreational opportunities. From jogging and biking to canoeing and kayaking, it’s the place to head for fitness and fun. It’s also the spot to experience cultural activities. In May, we hosted the Bayou City Music Series with a concert on The Brown Foundation Lawn at The Water Works. Sponsored by the Kinder Foundation, the event is part of an on-going series of concerts also taking place at Discovery Green and Emancipation Park. Be on the lookout for the fall lineup.

Visitors are flocking to the Cistern, the underground former City water reservoir, where we are exhibiting internationally recognized Carlos Cruz-Diez’s Spatial Chromointerference, a projection of continuously moving color images on the Cistern’s 221 columns, walls, and cubes floating on the shallow pool of water on the reservoir’s floor. You won’t want to miss this amazing installation which will be open through the end of the year.

To ensure Houstonians not only visit Buffalo Bayou Park but other sites along Buffalo Bayou, BBP is working on several trail projects and a major planning effort along the waterway’s east sector. It is exciting for us to be making considerable progress in achieving our ultimate goal of transforming parks, trails and green spaces from Buffalo Bayou Park all the way to the Port of Houston Turning Basin.

Summer is a time to travel and for those of you who will have friends and family visiting, we hope you will stop by Buffalo Bayou. Whether it’s renting a bike, getting a bite to eat at The Kitchen at The Dunlavy or traversing trails all along the waterway, we promise you will see Houston from a unique perspective.

Enjoy your summer wherever your travels take you!

Sincerely,

Tom Fish Anne Olson
Board Chair President

Trail Design and Construction Underway

Planned Buffalo Bayou downtown trail

Design of important trails in the downtown area is underway. Extending from Fannin Street all the way to McKee Street on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou, there are three separate projects being coordinated by BBP and the Houston Parks Board. The western most trail will be constructed in the lower floors of two Harris County buildings and on a property owned by Harris County Flood Control District. This portion will link up with a trail segment on what is now a parking lot at the corner of Austin and Commerce streets. From here, the trail alignment heads east where it will be constructed on property owned by CenterPoint Energy. It is expected that this trail will be completed by the end of the year, with the other two segments constructed in 2020.

East of downtown and US 59/69, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently broke ground on a trail that extends across the Houston Housing Authority’s Clayton Homes property. The $3.7 million project is a key missing link that will tie the trails described above to existing trails east all the way to Lockwood Drive. In addition to the trail, the project includes a pedestrian bridge that will link the north and south banks of Buffalo Bayou. A federal grant and $500,000 in private funds raised by BBP are making the project possible. Expect a ribbon cutting in early 2019.

Pedestrian bridge under construction

BBP’s East Sector Master Plan Project Progressing

BBP’s east sector master planning project has been gaining steam after taking a break for several months due to Hurricane Harvey. Extending east from McKee Street to the Port of Houston Turning Basin, the plan seeks to establish a pioneering precedent where parks and trails can be a catalyst for inclusive growth and community development. In late winter and early spring, more than 400 people attended East End and Fifth Ward neighborhood meetings where they provided their input for reinvigorating the waterfront.

“The number one issue that residents raised is the lack of connectivity to neighborhoods north and south of Buffalo Bayou,” says Anne Olson, BBP President. “A major goal of the plan is to create ‘green fingers’ to link neighborhood parks and other community destinations to the waterway.”

Other notable ideas expressed by meeting attendees include:

Gathering Spaces – From small family picnics to large outdoor festivals and concerts
Recreational Activities – Soccer fields, skate parks, children’s play areas and workout facilities
Water Access – Canoe and kayak launches, boat rentals and water taxis
Public Art – Murals, sculptures and art incorporated into signage, benches and other amenities
Neighborhood Preservation and Culture – Affordable and mixed-income housing and events highlighting East End and Fifth Ward culture and history

With the input received at February’s gatherings, BBP’s consultants developed an area-wide plan draft that was shared at an April community meeting.

“We’ve been gratified by the community’s excitement and enthusiasm,” says Bo Fraga, BBP East Sector Committee Co-chair. “I think residents feel their ideas and concerns are being heard and this is critical to a successful plan.”

Neighborhood residents and stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide additional input at another meeting to be held in early fall.

View Community Meeting Presentations and Read Notes

BBP Participates in Headwaters to Baywaters Project

BBP and four other environmental groups have joined together in the project Headwaters to Baywaters. The coalition, which also includes Bayou Land Conservancy, Galveston Bay Foundation, Houston Audubon Society and Katy Prairie Conservancy, will be working on a study to protect riparian corridors within the multiple watersheds that feed into Galveston Bay. With funding from Houston Endowment and the Kinder Foundation, a comprehensive study will be conducted to accomplish the following:

Complete a literature-based and science-based study to better understand riparian systems and the ecological, economic and social benefits they provide to the region
Identify tracts that should be preserved and those that have the potential to contribute to water quality improvements
Develop a coordinated approach for land acquisition
Create a funding toolkit and implementation strategy for land conservation
Develop a communications plan to educate the public about the benefits of protecting riparian lands

To carry out the initial study, the coalition will be working with the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) and the National Trust for Public Land (TPL). The second phase of the Headwaters to Baywaters initiative will be raising funds and purchasing riparian lands.

“All of the organizations realize that we can achieve greater results by working together,” says Mary Anne Piacentini, Katy Prairie Conservancy President and the driving force behind the collaborative initiative. “We feel this project can serve as a model for economic sustainability and have regional and national significance.”

Strategic Planning Underway

BBP has been working on a strategic planning effort this year. The organization has accomplished an incredible amount of work over the past five years and it was time to once again create a roadmap for the future. As part of the process, half-day retreats, facilitated by consultants, were held both for board and staff.

“We have matured significantly as an organization and we find ourselves taking on roles that we were not responsible for in the past. Due to this transition, it’s been important for us to look at our staff structure, programming, fundraising and a myriad of other areas,” says Tom Fish, BBP Board Chair.

Although the issues and topics discussed at the retreats were quite broad, the following areas were seen as having a higher degree of importance:

Maintenance: The board and staff see maintenance as a very high priority, especially in light of continuing climate change and the likely occurrence of future flooding events. Sustainable and resilient design is a must as we continue to develop parks and trails along the waterway.
Visitor Experience: Operating Buffalo Bayou Park, and owning the historic Sunset Coffee Building and unique destinations along the bayou’s east sector, provide BBP the opportunity to create an exciting and innovative visitor experience program. Whether it’s additional canoeing and kayaking or even water taxis, boating will be a strong focus as BBP moves forward.
Organizational Capacity: Due to the organization’s many achievements towards fulfilling its mission, there is a need for increased administrative support and staff training to acquire new skills.
Funding: While BBP has a strong donor base and wide community support, new sources of funding and revenue streams will be needed in the years ahead. Strong public-private partnerships will continue to be critical to BBP’s success.

To move the strategic planning process forward, BBP’s board committees are now developing five-year goals, deliverables, and outcomes. The final plan should be completed by year’s end.

May 01

Buffalo Bayou Hurricane Harvey Update – Spring 2018

Dear Friends:

Spring is here! If you are like me, it’s time to clean your closet, prune plants in your garden, and get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Here at Buffalo Bayou Partnership, we’ve been spring cleaning and enjoying the weather too!! In addition to doing regular seasonal chores, our team continues to clean up after Hurricane Harvey.

Sediment Removal
Our sincerest thanks to the Kinder Foundation for its generous commitment to support the removal of sediment in Buffalo Bayou Park. You probably still notice significant amounts of sediment at several park areas. Please know these will be removed by Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD). These sites are referred to as flood benches and were specially designed to collect large amounts of sediment that is annually removed by HCFCD.

On-Water Cleanup
Our Field Operations crew has been hard at work removing debris, plastic bags and trash from the waterway. However, recent cleanup efforts have been hampered by periodic low water levels. HCFCD also has a crew removing major logjams along Buffalo Bayou.

Johnny Steele Dog Park Renovation
After careful consideration, we are making changes to the Johnny Steele Dog Park to improve maintenance operations and the park’s functionality. We are confident that the renovated dog park will continue to be a place for dogs and their owners to enjoy. Among the changes being made are:

Large Dog Park Area: Pond removal, lawn expansion and entry portal expansion
Small Dog Park Area: Pond incorporated into large dog park area, new seating wall at edge of pond, lawn expansion, and new entry

We expect the work to be completed by early summer. We appreciate your continued patience.

Tree and Garden Planting
Hurricane Harvey left behind approximately 400 dead trees. Special thanks goes out to the team at Trees for Houston who have stepped up to partner with us, providing new trees, mulch, and much needed volunteers.

We hope you have been enjoying the many colorful wildflowers blooming throughout Buffalo Bayou Park. These and the prairie areas fared quite well during Harvey. However, we want to make sure these sites continue to thrive. In April, with funding and volunteer help from Anheuser-Busch and Silver Eagle Distributors, we installed prairie plants on the north bank near the Rosemont Bridge. Just east of the park along Sabine Promenade, a large garden area has been redesigned and replanted thanks to the generosity of the Four Seasons Hotel.

Over 45 Silver Eagle Distributors and Anheuser-Busch employees volunteered to
get their hands dirty and helped to restore a Buffalo Bayou Park meadow.

Trail Repairs
Our Buffalo Bayou Park team has been hard at work installing more than 500 tons of riprap and 150 tons of stabilized sand to repair numerous footpath segments. We also are currently realigning a footpath to merge with the multi-use trail just west of Tapley Tributary and repairing a major damaged area below the Lost Lake Visitor Center. In addition to this work, Harris County Flood Control District, after receiving federal funding, will be repairing major trail failures at the following locations: northside bank near the Rosemont Bridge, southside bank just below the Wortham Fountain, and southside bank just below the Beth Yeshurun Cemetery.

In downtown, there has been a major trail failure on the southside bank just below Milam Street that was caused by a water main break. The City is developing a plan for future repairs. East of downtown, there has been severe erosion with some banks eroding by 100 feet or more. A collapsed northside trail, just west of the Jensen Drive Bridge, has been barricaded off for safety.

Our Work Continues
Although Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Buffalo Bayou has been significant, we are very encouraged by Buffalo Bayou Park’s and other green spaces’ resiliency. Now that it is spring, grass is coming back, trees are budding out, and the light layers of sediment are disappearing. Visitors were enjoying Buffalo Bayou Park within days of Harvey and they continue to use the trails and green spaces in record numbers. Despite the incredible amount of time that we have been spending on cleanup, we have been able to resume our regular activities such as boat rides, walking tours and our annual Buffalo Bayou Partnership Regatta. We also still have plenty of volunteer opportunities. If you have a few hours to spare over the coming months, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Leticia Sierras at volunteer@buffalobayou.org.

All of us at BBP thank the Houston community and friends from far afield for all they have done to help Buffalo Bayou make a comeback. We are eternally grateful. Enjoy your spring out on Buffalo Bayou!

Sincerely,

Anne Olson
PresidentBuffalo Bayou Partnership is the non-profit organization revitalizing and transforming Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource.
buffalobayou.org

Apr 11

Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference

Carlos Cruz-Diez Art Installation at the BBP Cistern

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contact: Trudi Smith
713.752.0314 ext. 103
buffalobayou.org

Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference
Outstanding art program for Houston’s historic reservoir continues
Opens to the public – Saturday, May 12, 2018

HOUSTON – April 11, 2018 – Building on the success of its inaugural art installation, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is proud and honored to present a unique site-specific environment by world-renowned artist Carlos Cruz-Diez in the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, a 1926 underground city reservoir that BBP restored, repurposed and revealed in 2016. Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference will open to the public on Saturday, May 12, 2018.

The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, a structure reminiscent of the ancient Roman cisterns in Istanbul, is a cavernous, 87,500-square-foot-space featuring more than 200 slender, 25-foot high concrete columns. BBP re-discovered the Cistern in 2010 when it was developing the $58-million Buffalo Bayou Park project, a 160-acre green space west of downtown Houston. Recognizing the significance of the highly unusual site, BBP took a bold step to repurpose the Cistern into a magnificent public space. In addition to tours highlighting the history and architecture of the Cistern, BBP presents an ambitious program of changing art installations in this iconic space. BBP opened the Cistern in 2016 and the inaugural art exhibition, Rain: Magdalena Fernández at the Houston Cistern, was on view from December 2016 to June 2017. Since opening, the Cistern has welcomed over 65,000 visitors.

For the second art installation in the Cistern, BBP commissioned pioneering artist Cruz-Diez to create the site-specific Spatial Chromointerference. Considered to be one of the fathers and greatest figures of Kinetic and Optical art, Cruz-Diez’s wide-ranging body of work includes unconventional color structures, light environments, street interventions, architectural integration projects and experimental works.

“When Carlos Cruz-Diez expressed interest in working in the Cistern, we were not only honored but thrilled about the possibility of bringing his mastery of color and movement into this industrial space. The artist, the entire Atelier Cruz-Diez team and Sicardi Gallery have all been incredibly generous with their time and resources to realize this truly immersive experience that will be unique to the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern,” says Judy Nyquist, BBP Board Member and Co-Chair of the organization’s Public Art Committee.

Cruz-Diez’s Spatial Chromointerference (1974/2018) creates a situation in space involving the dematerialization, transfiguration, and ambiguity of color through movement. By projecting moving chromatic interference modules on objects and people, these become transparent and virtually change condition and form. The spectator becomes both actor and author of a complete chromatic event, which evolves through space.

For the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, Cruz-Diez conceived an ephemeral and participatory work integrated into the architecture of the urban space, the objective being to radically change the experience of color. Thirty-two projectors will be placed in the Cistern to project moving lattices of light on the columns, interior walls, walkways and on cubes floating in the shallow pool of water on the Cistern floor. This aerial projection, reinforced by its reflection on the water, will create a space where everything loses its materiality. Color becomes not merely a visual object to see but a space to be experienced.

“With this presentation of Carlos Cruz-Diez’s outstanding work, Buffalo Bayou Partnership is solidifying a robust organizational infrastructure for the Cistern to sustain an on-going art program of global importance,” says BBP President Anne Olson

The Cistern’s distinctive architecture as well as its sheer size and raw interior, punctuated by a series of rhythmical columns, will make for an intriguing and interactive experience. Visitors to Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference will be encouraged to wear white or light colored clothing and will actively participate in viewing as the color changes creating a sensation of movement.

Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference (#CisterninColor)

On view from May 12, 2018 to January 13, 2019 at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern located at 105 Sabine Street, Houston, Texas 77007. Open Wednesday through Friday from 3:30 to 6 PM; Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 6 PM.

Admission is $10 per person; $8 for Seniors (65+ with ID), Youth (9-17) and Students (18+ with ID). Admission is free on Thursdays. Please note that children under the age of 9 are not permitted in the Cistern. Visitors are encouraged to wear white or light colored clothing.

Timed tickets for Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern can be purchased at buffalobayou.org.

This exhibition is organized by Buffalo Bayou Partnership with major underwriting provided by Leslie and Brad Bucher.

Additional support provided by Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino. Project management by Weingarten Art Group.

Click here for images of Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern. Photo credit is as follows: Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Cistern: Spatial Chromointerference. © Carlos Cruz-Diez / ADAGP, Paris 2018. Photo by Paul Hester.

Talking Color: Celebrating Carlos Cruz-Diez in Houston
Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the University of Houston will co-host a public talk with Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jr., director of the Atelier Cruz-Diez Paris and son of the artist, and Mari Carmen Ramirez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on May 8, 2018 at 6 PM at the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion at the UH Library. The discussion will center on the Cistern presentation as well as the artist’s Double Physichromie on the UH campus.

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About Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Established in 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is the non-profit organization transforming and revitalizing Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. BBP’s geographic focus is the 10-square mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. BBP has raised and leveraged more than $150 million for the redevelopment and stewardship of the waterfront – spearheading award-winning projects such as Sabine Promenade and Sesquicentennial Park, protecting land for future parks, constructing hike and bike trails, and operating comprehensive clean-up and maintenance programs. Buffalo Bayou Partnership also seeks ways to activate Buffalo Bayou through pedestrian, boating and biking amenities; volunteer activities; permanent and temporary art installations; and wide-ranging tours and events that attract thousands.

In 2015, BBP completed transformation of the 160-acre Buffalo Bayou Park that lies west of downtown Houston. Enhancement of the park was a collaboration of BBP, the Kinder Foundation, the City of Houston through Houston Parks & Recreation Department and Harris County Flood Control District. Buffalo Bayou Park includes beautiful gardens and native landscaping; hike and bike trails; paddle craft and bike rentals; the go-to dog park in the city; nature play area; two visitor centers; the Cistern; and gathering places for visitors to picnic, relax and enjoy outdoor activities. Buffalo Bayou Partnership maintains and operates the park with annual funding provided by the Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #3.

About Carlos Cruz-Diez:
The Franco-Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (Caracas, 1923) has lived and worked in Paris since 1960 and is considered to be one of the greatest artistic innovators of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He is a major protagonist in the field of Kinetic and Optical art, a movement that encourages “an awareness of the instability of reality.” He is a master of color and line, adept at creating fluid, participatory visual experiences.

Cruz-Diez’s visual art explores the perception of color as an autonomous reality evolving in space and time, unaided by form or support, in a perpetual present. His artworks are housed in prestigious permanent collections at institutions such as: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Tate Modern, London; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

Mar 05

Encounter: Meeting Points on Buffalo Bayou

Activating and Connecting Six Sites along Buffalo Bayou in the East Sector

SATURDAY, April 7, 2018

WHAT:

Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) recently launched a major planning effort to bring a new network of waterfront parks and open spaces along Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector, stretching from US 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. As part of the organization’s East Sector outreach, Buffalo Bayou Partnership is collaborating with students from the University of Houston Graphic Design and Creative Writing Programs to present Encounter: Meeting Points on Buffalo Bayou on Saturday, April 7^th.

This afternoon event features site-specific, text-based installations at six locations along Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector. Using the sites as inspiration and vehicles for content, the students created large scale typographic/text based messages/stories that activate and animate. The installations express interpretations of the history, economy, resilience, culture and community values of the East Sector neighborhoods as they relate to the bayou and green spaces.

The public is invited to take self-guided tours of the installations and share ideas and opinions related to Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s future plans along the Bayou’s East Sector. Participatory activities ranging from nature walks to boat tours will be offered at the sites and live entertainment and food trucks will be located at the North York Boat Launch site.

This event is made possible in part through the City’s Initiative Grant Program of the Houston Arts Alliance. Encounter: Meeting Points on Buffalo Bayou is funded by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts in the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts.

Visit buffalobayou.org for more information. View more photos here.

WHEN: Saturday, April 7, 2018

WHERE: Six locations along Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector:

Allen’s Landing – 1005 Commerce Street, Houston, TX 77002
Gravel Silos – 507 N. Nagle Street, Houston, TX 77003
Japhet Creek – 4600 Clinton Drive (at Emile Street), Houston TX 77020
BBP Field Office – 723 N. Drennan Street, Houston, TX 77003

Yolanda Black Navarro Buffalo Bend Nature Park – 2300 S. Sgt Macario Garcia Drive, Houston TX 77011

North York Boat Launch – 808 N. York Street, Houston, TX 77003

*Entertainment and food trucks

COST: FREE (food and drinks for sale at the North York location)

TIME: 1-4pm

WHAT ELSE:

Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s goal for this planning project is to reclaim the waterfront for East Sector residents and create green spaces that will catalyze the equitable revitalization of their communities.

BBP is developing a plan that is based on:

Authenticity – Creating unique park spaces that reflect the cultural and industrial legacy of the East Sector
Connectivity – Rethinking how parks and neighborhoods interact by activating the waterfront and connecting it to surrounding neighborhoods
Inclusivity – Establishing a pioneering precedent where green space can catalyze equitable communities
Resiliency – Providing a sustainable waterfront model by limiting environmental or man-made risks while allowing them to adapt in an ever-changing city.

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About Buffalo Bayou Partnership

Established in 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is the non-profit organization transforming and revitalizing Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. BBP’s geographic focus is the 10-square mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. Thanks to the generous support of foundations, corporations, individuals and government agencies, BBP has raised and leveraged more than $150 million for the redevelopment and stewardship of the waterfront – spearheading award-winning projects such as Sabine Promenade and Sesquicentennial Park, protecting land for future parks, constructing hike and bike trails, and operating comprehensive clean-up and maintenance programs. BBP recently completed the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park project that includes major destinations, natural landscaping, footpaths, trail lighting, water features and pedestrian bridges. Buffalo Bayou Partnership maintains and operates Buffalo Bayou Park, with annual funding provided by the Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #3. Buffalo Bayou Partnership also seeks ways to activate Buffalo Bayou through pedestrian, boating and biking amenities; volunteer activities; permanent and temporary art installations; and wide-ranging tours and events that attract thousands. For more information, please visit www.buffalobayou.org.

Feb 27

Welcome to the Buffalo Bayou Blog!

One of the things I have always loved about Houston is how persistent our natural world is. I’m from up north, where each spring you race to coax the season from the ground hoping that life will finally return to the world. Here, you spend all your time hacking back everything you have declared unworthy, hoping to make a bit of room for that rose bush you love so much. This blog is going to be about everything that’s crowding out and nibbling on the rose bush and I hope to help Houston learn to celebrate the profusion of life that will rush into any open space we forget to build on. Most particularly, I’m going to write about Buffalo Bayou Park. I have had a 30 year romance with this park, living just a half mile north. I loved it when it was wild and a bit frightening and I have learned to love it almost as much now because I get to share it with so many people. Buffalo Bayou Park is a wild space and in each blog post, I hope to share with you something I saw on a walk in the park. Sometimes it will be a huge and amazing thing; often, it will be something small and amazing. Life is amazing and it is running wild in Buffalo Bayou Park. I am Alisa Kline, a Texas Master Naturalist, and I hope you join me as I attempt to chronicle the wonders of our Park.

Feb 14

Discovery Green® Hosts Kick Off of Bayou City Music Series on March 1 and Wraps Up at Buffalo Bayou Park on May 19

HOUSTON, TX — Discovery Green, the 12-acre park in the heart of downtown Houston, kicks off its Spring 2018 Season with the Bayou City Music Series. This new concert series honors the great jazz, blues and zydeco musicians of Houston in free concerts taking place in three parks.

Acclaimed Houston rapper Bun B headlines the series kickoff at Discovery Green on Thursday,
March 1, with opening performances by the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) Jazz Ensemble; Milton Hopkins, B. B. King’s bandleader; and Jewel Brown, former vocalist for Louis Armstrong’s Orchestra. This event takes place on the 10th anniversary of Discovery Green’s first-ever event in 2008, “One for Doc,” a concert honoring HSPVA’s nationally recognized jazz program.

On Saturday, April 7, Grammy Award-winning pianist and record producer Robert Glasper returns home for his first performance at the historic Emancipation Park. The HSPVA Jazz Sextet, from Glasper’s alma mater, will open.

The series moves to The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park on Saturday, May 19. The lineup features the full HSPVA Jazz Band; saxophonist Grady Gaines, who has recorded with Little Richard, Sam Cooke and many others; vocalist Trudy Lynn; and the ThunderSOUL Orchestra, a 14-piece orchestra featuring former students of Conrad Johnson from Kashmere High School, which was the subject of a 2011 documentary film.

This free music series resumes in September with one more event at each park. The Bayou City Music Series is made possible by the Kinder Foundation.

Event Details

WHAT:

Bayou City Music Series: Bun B, HSPVA Jazz Ensemble, Milton Hopkins, Jewel Brown Thursday, March 1, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney Street, Houston, TX 77010

Bayou City Music Series: Robert Glasper, HSPVA Jazz Sextet Saturday, April 7, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Emancipation Park, 3018 Emancipation Avenue, Houston, TX 77010

Bayou City Music Series: HSPVA Jazz Band, Grady Gaines, Trudy Lynn, the ThunderSOUL Orchestra
Saturday, May 19, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park, 105 Sabine Street, Houston, TX 77007

COST: Admission is free

IMAGES: http://bit.ly/2GAIrkC

Discovery Green
facebook.com/events/768626063345774/www.discoverygreen.com
Facebook: @DiscoveryGreenHouston Twitter: @DiscoveryGreen
Instagram: @DiscoveryGreen

Emancipation Park
www.emancipationparkconservancy.org
Facebook: @EPConservancy
Twitter: @EmancipationParkHou

Buffalo Bayou Park
www.buffalobayou.org
Facebook: @BuffaloBayou
Twitter: @BuffaloBayou
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Feb 10

Buffalo Bayou Partnership Welcomes Eight New Board Members

Media Contact
Trudi Smith
BBP, Director of PR and Events
tsmith@buffalobayou.org
713.752.0314 x103

HOUSTON – February 12, 2018 –Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) announced eight new members to its board of directors during its annual meeting and luncheon on January 26th at La Griglia.

New board members include Shawn W. Cloonan, Chief Operating Officer & Vice President for the Texas Medical Center; Gaynell Floyd Drexler, Attorney-at-Law; Michael D. Fertitta, SVP and General Counsel for Hilcorp Energy Company; Christina Morales, President/CEO of Morales Funeral Home; Winifred Riser, community volunteer; Shannon B. Sasser, Shannon Sasser Architecture; Carson Trapnell Seeligson, InVista Advisors, LLP; and Christof Spieler, PE, LEED AP, Vice President and Director of Planning for Huitt-Zollars.

The following board officers are continuing with their roles again this year: Thomas Fish, Chair; Jonathan H. Brinsden, Vice Chair; Bas Solleveld, Vice Chair; Paul A. Cannings, Jr., Treasurer; and Nory Angel, Secretary.

“We are delighted to welcome this stellar group to our board,” said Anne Olson, president of Buffalo Bayou Partnership. “Our new members bring a wealth of experience and strong interest for protecting, preserving and improving Buffalo Bayou.”

The 39-member board of directors includes: Ralph Abendshein, Murad Ajani, Richard M. Blades,
C. Ronald Blankenship, Carolyn W. Dorros, Bolivar Fraga, Cristina Garcia Gamboa, Stacey Gillman, Guy Hagstette, Kellie R. Jenks, Samir Khushalani, Lisa Marshall, Ginni Mithoff, Sara-Ashley Moreno, Judy Nyquist, David Ott, Jr., Alison Porter, Karl S. Stern, Judy Tate, Jeff Taylor, Claire Cormier Thielke, Saul Valentin, Anne Whitlock, Renee Wizig-Barrios, Robert P. Wright and Ellyn Wulfe. Chair Emeritus members include Chuck Carlberg, Brady F. Carruth, Collin J. Cox, Mike Garver, Sis Johnson, Susan Keeton and Bob Phillips.

Board members retiring this year include Christina A. Bryan, Clayton Erikson, J. David Heaney,
Lynn M. Herbert, John Mooz, Charles R. Parker, Carleton Riser and Geraldina Wise.

Click to download additional photos.

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About Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Established in 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is the non-profit organization transforming and revitalizing Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. BBP’s geographic focus is the 10-square mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. BBP has raised and leveraged more than $150 million for the redevelopment and stewardship of the waterfront – spearheading award-winning projects such as Sabine Promenade and Sesquicentennial Park, protecting land for future parks, constructing hike and bike trails, and operating comprehensive clean-up and maintenance programs. BBP recently completed the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park project that includes major destinations, natural landscaping, footpaths, trail lighting, water features and pedestrian bridges. Buffalo Bayou Partnership also seeks ways to activate Buffalo Bayou through pedestrian, boating and biking amenities; volunteer activities; permanent and temporary art installations; and wide-ranging tours and events that attract thousands.

Jan 29

Buffalo Bayou Partnership Hosts Community Gatherings

Continues master planning for the waterway east of downtown from US 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin

HOUSTON – January 29, 2018 – Houston’s Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) recently launched a major planning effort to bring a new network of waterfront parks and open spaces along Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector, stretching from US 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. BBP’s goal for this project is to reclaim the waterfront for East Sector residents and create green spaces that will catalyze the equitable revitalization of their communities. The organization will be sponsoring two community town halls to meet with East End and Fifth Ward residents, and business and property owners to shape a vision for the future of Buffalo Bayou. The meetings, which are being co-sponsored with Houston City Council Members Karla Cisneros and Robert Gallegos and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Jerry V. Davis, are being held:

Tuesday, February 6
6-8:30 p.m.
DeLuxe Theater
3303 Lyons Avenue

Wednesday, February 7
6-8:30 p.m.
BakerRipley
Ripley House Community Center
4410 Navigation Boulevard

“We are committed to a strong community engagement process,” says BBP President Anne Olson. “While we want to hear from a range of stakeholders, we are strongly focused on seeking the input of long-time residents and business owners in the East End and Fifth Ward, two neighborhoods that border Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector.” Olson further points out that BBP is developing a plan that is based on:

Authenticity – Creating unique park spaces that reflect the cultural and industrial legacy of the East Sector
Connectivity – Rethinking how parks and neighborhoods interact by activating the waterfront and connecting it to surrounding neighborhoods
Inclusivity – Establishing a pioneering precedent where green space can catalyze equitable communities
Resiliency – Providing a sustainable waterfront model by limiting environmental or man-made risks while allowing them to adapt in an ever-changing city

The communities of the East End and Fifth Ward have long been separated from Buffalo Bayou, its unique beauty, and exciting industrial context. Long-time East End resident and BBP board member Bolivar Fraga says, “We have a great opportunity to bring together communities north and south of the bayou and connect them to the waterfront and to each other.”

Unlike other parts of Buffalo Bayou, the East Sector was not impacted heavily by Hurricane Harvey due to its higher elevation. Because of this, one of the plan’s areas of focus will be more on long-term resiliency needs such as new housing opportunities.

“We want to not only bring new open space, but also to build a model for resilient, mixed-income residential development that can accommodate Houstonians who were displaced by the storm while enhancing the strong vibrant and culturally rich East Sector,” states Olson.

The high caliber multidisciplinary planning team working on the East Sector plan is led by Michael Van Valkenburg (MVVA), an internationally recognized landscape architecture firm, and HR&A Advisors, an industry-leading real estate, economic development, and public policy firm. Other consultant team members include: Utile(Urban Planning & Design), Huitt-Zollars (Architecture and Civic Engineering), Stantec (Transportation) and Limnotech (Hydrology).

MVVA brings to Houston wide-ranging experience and a proven track record of success in creating acclaimed and economically viable parks and waterfronts such as Brooklyn Bridge Park and Hudson River Park in New York City, and Maggie Daly Park and the 606 in Chicago. The firm is also very familiar with Houston as they recently completed plans for The Menil Collection, Hermann Park and Houston Parks Board.

For more than 35 years, HR&A has been working with parks throughout the US and abroad to develop open space real estate strategies, financing plans, programming activation, and sustainable operations and maintenance programs. The High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City, Tulsa Riverfront and Dallas Trinity River are among the more than 100 parks that have benefited from HR&A’s talent.

The Buffalo Bayou East Sector planning project has been funded by Bank of America Charitable Foundation, The Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation, The Carruth Foundation, Inc., The Clayton Fund, Fifth Ward Redevelopment Authority (TIRZ #18), The Garver Foundation, Greater East End Management District, Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority (TIRZ #23), Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., Midway, Anne Whitlock and Michael Skelly, The Winston Charitable Foundation and The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

About Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Established in 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is the non-profit organization transforming and revitalizing Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. BBP’s geographic focus is the 10-square mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. BBP has raised and leveraged more than $150 million for the redevelopment and stewardship of the waterfront – spearheading award-winning projects such as Sabine Promenade and Sesquicentennial Park, protecting land for future parks, constructing hike and bike trails, and operating comprehensive clean-up and maintenance programs. BBP recently completed the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park project that includes major destinations, natural landscaping, footpaths, trail lighting, water features and pedestrian bridges. Buffalo Bayou Partnership also seeks ways to activate Buffalo Bayou through pedestrian, boating and biking amenities; volunteer activities; permanent and temporary art installations; and wide-ranging tours and events that attract thousands.

For press inquiries, email Trudi Smith, Director of PR and Events, or call 713.752.0314 ext. 103.

News Coverage

Big Improvements Coming For Green Spaces Along Eastern Buffalo Bayou Houston Public Media, December 10, 2019
Landscape Performance Series Case Study Brief: Buffalo Bayou Park Landscape Architecture Foundation, November 12, 2019
Nonprofit behind Buffalo Bayou Park plans its next project in east Houston Houston, Business Journal, October 25, 2019
Plans to transform the east end of Buffalo Bayou to be unveiled Saturday Houston Chronicle, October 25, 2019
RBA Director Anne-Marie Lubenau on the Power of Design to Transform Communities Metropolis Mag, August 9, 2019
Continuing Education: Coastal Resilience Architectural Record, August 1, 2019
Ignoring the Typical: Discover Five Emerging Hidden Gems in Houston The Commoner Magazine, July 30, 2019
We Are the Asteroid III: More than a Mere Traffic Sign The Buzz Magazines, July 2, 2019
Bruner Foundation Announces 2019 Medalists for Rudy Bruner Award For Urban Excellence Architect Magazine, June 27, 2019
Experts warn that littering Houstonians are damaging Buffalo Bayou Culture Map, June 13, 2019

Press Releases

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