Explore Your Green
Conservation of green space will enhance hike, bike, recreational & nature watching opportunities for Clear Lake area residents in an area with a substantial shortage of park space.
Wildlife habitat will be expanded by creating wetlands for wading birds, ducks, amphibians, turtles, fish, and dragonflies, and by planting native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers which support a wide variety of wildlife.
Flooding and Stormwater Detention
As development in the Clear Lake area has increased over the past 40 years, so too have flooding issues. It isn’t just named storms like Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Harvey, and Tropical Storm Imelda that have caused flooding. Smaller storm systems, even “pop up” thunderstorms that can produce several inches of rain within a few hours have caused street flooding and even home damage.
Stormwater Wetlands
The construction of stormwater wetlands, led by wetland experts from Texas A&M Community Watershed Partners, is a key element to Exploration Green. As even greater amounts of storm water runoff from a number of area neighborhoods to the stormwater detention lakes, wetlands are needed to naturally filter the water as it flows in tributary streams to Horsepen Bayou, Armand Bayou, Clear Lake and on to Galveston Bay.
Creating Habitat
Conservancy experts, award-winning design organizations and citizen volunteers have all come together to create the Clear lake City Water Authority’s (CLCWA’s) Exploration Green Master Plan. SWA Group (Houston’s award-winning landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm with projects at Buffalo Bayou and Hermann Park) has applied advanced design approaches to citizen input to create the project’s master plan with numerous conservation elements.
Community Engagement
Active community engagement uniquely enabled the Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) to accomplish three things simultaneously: 1) create community resilience through large-scale stormwater detention project, 2) create a native habitat for local residents to enjoy near their homes, and 3) retrofit modern amenities such as hike and bike trail systems newer communities take for granted.