About Exploration Green
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.
Questions about Exploration Green Construction?
The Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) manages the construction (excavation) phase of the Exploration Green stormwater detention lakes. Please visit the Clear Lake City Water Authority's Exploration Green Detention Facility web page for announcements and the the most current updates on construction activities and progress.
If you cannot find the information you need on the CLCWA's web page, please contact them at (281) 488-1164
Exploration Green Remains Open, Please Exercise Caution due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
The Clear Lake City Water Authority will follow orders of Harris County and the City of Houston concerning the public access to county and city parks during the current coronavirus outbreak. Exploration Green will remain open to the public as long as county and city parks are open but will close on the same schedule as Harris County and Houston parks in the future.
Upcoming Events
Wetland Walkabout is BACK
Join our exhibitors and sponsor for some outdoor fun!
Sponsored this year by Wild Birds Unlimited
Saturday, May 6 from 10 am- 2 pm
Texas Master Naturalists will be available for guided tours.
Texas Community Watershed Partners will have native wetland plants information.
Family & pet friendly! Bring a chair or a blanket to picnic on! Don't forget binoculars to view wildlife!
Parking is available on the street and on the main lot located at 16205 Diana Ln., Houston TX 77062!
Click graphic at left to see full flyer.
First Moth Night of 2023
Join our Texas Master Naturalists for the first Moth Night of 2023
Saturday, May 6 beginning at sunset
Parking is available on the street and on the main lot located at 16205 Diana Ln., Houston TX 77062!
Exploration Green Tree Nursery Work Days
The Exploration Green tree nursery holds volunteer work days to "up-pot" (transplant growing trees to larger pots and unbind the roots), weed the tree pots, clear other weeds from the mats, and check the irrigation system). These work days are scheduled as needed, depending on what work needs to be done. They are not scheduled months in advance as before. When they are scheduled, they are held on Saturday mornings, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM (noon).
Please e-mail explorationgreen@gmail.com if you are interested in being added to the distribution list for future tree nursery maintenance events.
Exploration Green has relaxed COVID-19 limits on the number of tree nursery volunteers per event, and no long requires volunteers to wear masks. Volunteers are encouraged to wear masks and maintain social distancing while volunteering.
Volunteers should continue to bring their own water and snacks.
Exploration green Featured in US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Study
Excerpt of Summary:
"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."
To read the full technical note, please click here or the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) logo at left.
Exploration Green in the News
Exploration Green in Clear Lake final phase set for summer completion
By Jovanna Aguilar | 12:40 PM Apr 3, 2023 CDT
Updated 12:40 PM Apr 3, 2023 CDT
The final phase of Exploration Green, a project to convert a Clear Lake golf course into a nature conservatory with a series of detention ponds, will be finished this summer.
The Clear Lake City Water Authority, an entity that provides water, sewer and drainage services to the Clear Lake area, began the Exploration Green project in 2005. Phase 5, the final phase, was originally projected to be completed by the end of 2022 or early this year but was delayed due to weather, said John Branch, vice president of the CLCWA board of directors.
Click the image at left to read the full article.
Exploration Green's Clear Lake detention ponds will soon be complete, capture 500 million gallons
John DeLapp
Feb. 9, 2023Updated: Feb. 9, 2023 6:17 p.m.
The flood detention component of a $43 million project in Clear Lake that includes greenspace and trails is nearing completion.
The 200-acre Exploration Green, 16205 Diana Lane, occupies a former golf course that is being transformed into detention ponds that double as wetlands.
Excavation of five 100-million gallon ponds began in 2016, and the final one is expected to be finished by early summer, with about 55 percent of excavation complete.
Click the image at left to read the full article.
TX Climate Change Mitigation Project Could Benefit Other Communities
Thursday, January 19, 2023
By Katie Watkins for Houston Public Media.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
On a muggy Monday morning at Exploration Green in Clear Lake, walkers are on trails that meander along natural-looking ponds. Red-winged Blackbirds chirp in the distance and rabbits hide in the tall grasses and reeds.
It’s a public greenspace and nature preserve — it’s also a massive flood detention project.
"What you’ll see most of the time is just a square hole in the ground with a chain link fence around it, and it really doesn’t support much in the way of life," said David Sharp with the Exploration Green Conservancy. "You can see this is nothing like that."
Click the image at left to read the full article.