What We Do
Exploration Green Conservancy ("the Conservancy") involves its leadership, membership, volunteers, partners, and funders to maintain a project that is unique in the area.
Plan your visit
What to do, see and learn
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Hike/bike/roller blade six miles of ADA compliant trails along five lakes.
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Scavenger Hunt
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Bird Watch
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Study Nature
Map
What is Exploration Green?
Exploration Green ("the Green") is a 200-acre project that provides storm water management, wildlife habitat, community recreation, and educational opportunities.
History
It took more than a decade to develop the Green. Clear Lake City Water Authority (“CLCWA”) and local civil groups together seized an opportunity to purchase and convert a 50-year-old golf course into a storm water management system combined with natural habitat and recreational green space. While more recent residential developments across Harris County are required to include storm water mitigation facilities in their master plans, this Clear Lake neighborhood predates such requirements. CLCWA ultimately fulfilled its vision of a flood protection system that offers benefits to the community well beyond the traditional scope of storm water management.
Once the property was acquired, a core group of residents worked with the CLCWA to spearhead a project plan. Their efforts resulted in the creation of the Exploration Green Conservancy ('the Conservancy"), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Attaining Conservancy status provided two primary benefits. First, it enabled the Conservancy and CLCWA to recruit and engage volunteers for habitat restoration work and, second, it provided grant eligibility not available to governmental organizations like CLCWA.
Other major players in the creation of the Green include the engineering firm of Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. and landscape architects SWA. Non-profit partners that joined forces with the Conservancy include Galveston Bay Foundation, Trees for Houston, various chapters of Texas Master Naturalists, and Texan by Nature, among other conservation-minded organizations. Also contributing to the effort are numerous governmental entities, including the City of Houston, the Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner’s Office, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and others.
A Word About Hurricane Harvey
The project that would ultimately become the Green broke ground in 2016. By the time Hurricane Harvey passed through the area in August 2017, the first of five planned lakes was nearing completion. Despite its unfinished status, that single lake captured and held back an estimated 100 million gallons of water, saving more than a hundred neighborhood homes from potential flooding. As a result, the project construction schedule was significantly accelerated.
Six years later, construction of the Green’s infrastructure was completed. Habitat restoration efforts continue, and the Green has become the community focal point that was envisioned in the original master plan.
Education
The Green's educational goals include increasing the community's awareness of its plants, animals, ecosystems, and conservation features.
Donate
Creating the Green’s 200-acre park and conservation area has been a major undertaking. Unlike city or county-owned parks, the Conservancy must raise all the funds for the amenities and services offered - native trees and grass, hike and bike trails, educational programs, and other infrastructure like park benches and signage.
Would you like to help? We are always looking for people and organizations to provide financial support for the Green!
Sustainability
The Conservancy's primary goals for the Green are to conserve, restore, and protect this natural space with which we have been entrusted. Since its inception, sustainability has been an important consideration with sustainability being “built into” to the design and management of the Green. As new and diverse programs are implemented at the Green, sustainability will continue to be a key consideration.
