PURPOSE: This technical note is part of a series collaboratively produced by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)–Institute for Water Resources (IWR) and the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). It describes the funding process for Exploration Green, a large- scale community initiative that transformed a former golf course into a multipurpose green space with flood detention, habitat, and recreation benefits. It is one in a series of technical notes that document successful examples of funding natural infrastructure projects.

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In Southeast Houston, dedicated groups are transforming a defunct golf course into an innovative stormwater detention center. 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 the NASA 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 lakes providing a home to over 1,000 native species.

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Formally known as the Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) Detention Facilities and Associated Open Space and Park, Exploration Green (EG) stands as an ideal example of what is possible as a result of collaboration within a community to achieve long-term, sustainable mitigation of flood-related damage to residential, civic, and commercial structures, while improving quality of life for the people and businesses in the surrounding community.

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A Planning Guide for the Houston-Galveston region. Walking is a healthy and affordable alternative to traffic congestion, vehicle pollution, and the high cost of automobile ownership. This planning guide lays the groundwork for improving the pedestrian environment......one step at a time.

Stormwater wetlands are emerging as one of the very best ways to clean up polluted stormwater on the Texas Gulf Coast. Wetlands are abundant in our area because we are so flat and wet, and they play a critical role in our natural ecology. And because we are so flat and wet, we have developed a very extensive stormwater detention and conveyance system. Wetlands can easily be engineered into this system — a marriage of engineering and nature that could be our best bet for meeting water quality goals in the face of rapid population growth on the coast. This marriage would also beautify our communities and help to restore some of the functions of the natural wetlands we have lost.

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The Clear Lake Pedestrian & Bicyclist Study, and the recommendations made within this report, represents a significant opportunity for the City of Houston to improve walking and biking for its citizens. This opportunity includes expanding the network of bicycle facilities and connecting to regional corridors and planned projects for both recreational and utility trips. The recommendations also represent an approach to improve safety and pedestrian connectivity in the community while providing options for healthy, active trips. Analysis and
observation within the study area identified many active users and an unmet demand for more opportunities to make walking and biking trips.

Park and recreation departments frequently are viewed as relatively high-cost centers in cities’ annual budgets because operational costs exceed revenues. However, this narrow perspective is incomplete because it fails to recognize that money invested in park and recreation department services does not belong to the city council, rather it belongs to the city’s residents. The purpose of economic impact studies is to measure the economic return that residents (rather than the city council) receive on their investments.

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