In 2001, downtown Houston, Texas, faced an historic 1,000-year flood as a result of Tropical Storm Allison, shutting down the 700-acre Texas Medical Center Complex. While rebuilding the Center to withstand future floods, Texas Medical Center implemented a stormwater management plan that increases green space and improves water absorption through advanced landscaping techniques and permeable paving systems.

Clear Lake City, TX has a history of intense flooding from hurricanes and other storm events. Exploration Green is a project to transform a former 200-acre golf course into a public park and flood-control area. The park will have 5 detention basins to store floodwater during storm events. 

Dredged material was used to nourish the beach at 61st Street on Galveston Island, TX. This project increases recreational opportunities on the beaches and increases tourism to Galveston and nearby Houston, TX. This project is part of a long-term strategy to provide storm protection, increase property value, and reduce erosion. 

Led by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), this project aimed to apply the integrated pest management (IPM) approach to control the invasive giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) in Lake Raven, a 203-acre reservoir located in the Huntsville State Park, Texas.

The native Guadalupe Bass had become locally extirpated in the San Marcos River and its tributary due to hybridization with non-native Smallmouth Bass, habitat degradation, and reduced water availability. With funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) led a project to restore the native Guadalupe Bass population

The Nature Conservancy restored a 54-acre oyster reef in Matagorda Bay, Texas. This project successfully restored large, thriving oyster reefs that have enhanced biodiversity in the bay. This increase in biodiversity has improved recreational fishing opportunities and fishing-related tourism in the area. The increase in fishing at Half Moon Bay reef adds around $691,000 to Texas’ gross domestic product annually.  

Land managers from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are working to restore grassland habitat through the removal of western honey mesquite surrounding Calamity Creek of the Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area (EMWMA). They implemented two herbicide treatment plans through Individual Plant Treatment (IPT) and aerial application.

Clear Lake City, Texas is located south of Houston and experiences frequent flooding from hurricanes and urban runoff. After conducting an impact study on how to reduce flooding, the Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) worked to purchase a 200-acre golf course to transform it into a park and stormwater retention area. 

King Fisher Beach in Port O’Connor, Texas is a major destination for tourists and local recreation. It is increasingly susceptible to the impacts of storm surge, sea-level rise, and erosion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nourished King Fisher Beach with 58,305 cubic meters of dredged sediment. 

This project aimed to restore the Lavaca Bay from being contaminated by discharged mercury from a chlorine-alkali processing unit at its Point Comfort. A staged approach to restoration was adopted with the first stage focused on recreational fishing service losses. The second stage focused on natural resource injuries and service losses of an ecological nature.

The San Antonio River was historically modified to reduce flooding, leaving it devoid of its ecological function. The Mission Reach Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation Project aimed to reduce flooding, restore the riverine ecosystem, and provide recreational opportunities to a 13-kilometer stretch of the river.  

Pierce Marsh, 971 hectares of salt marsh, shallow open water, and salt prairie in Hitchcock, Texas, is threatened by subsidence, erosion, and freshwater intrusion. Restoration efforts have been underway since 1999, and in 2016 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers restored 32 hectares of marsh through beneficial use of dredged material.  

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) in Alpine, Texas, collaborated with local landowners to prioritize areas for pronghorn-friendly fence modifications. The team removed old, unused fences and accompanying fence posts, and adjusted the height and bottom strand of existing restrictive fences to allow pronghorn passage.

Multiple organizations are working with public and private landowners to restore the riparian woodlands and enhance grassland habitats throughout the Terlingua Creek watershed. The project involved revegetating riparian plants (specifically Fremont cottonwood and Goodding’s willow), increasing sediment retention and riparian aquifer recharge, and establishing nurseries to generate sustainable native plant material for harvest.

The Dixon Water Foundation utilizes rotational grazing regimes to rehabilitate grasslands at Mimms Ranch in the Chihuahuan Desert, which was previously degraded by overgrazing. Rotational grazing mimics historical bison movements, allowing pastures long periods of rest and recovery after short disturbances. This promotes soil health and reduces runoff and erosion.

The Dixon Water Foundation employs grazing techniques that mimic historical bison movements to rehabilitate the Chihuahuan Desert grassland from the impacts of overgrazing, which have led to increased erosion, runoff, reduced aquifer recharge, and carbon sequestration. Such rotationally grazed practices improve soil health as cattle fertilize soil with manure and break up surface to allow seeding and water infiltration.

Researchers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley partnered with The Peregrine Fund and USFWS to evaluate grassland management strategies that address honey mesquite and huisache shrub encroachment in the Bahia Grande coastal prairie, with the goal of protecting the habitats for endangered falcon populations.

The Trinity River is a channelized and levee-managed river that runs through downtown Dallas, Texas. The river has contributed to major flooding events in the city, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created the Chain of Wetlands plan to improve infrastructure and reduce flooding risk. 

Beginning in 2004, the National Park Service began experimenting with mulch, branch mulch, rock mulch, and various planting techniques in highly degraded and eroded soils in Big Bend National Park (BIBE) in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of western Texas. The goal was to restore the banded vegetation to naturally direct rainfall and runoff, assist water infiltration, and reduce erosion.