Houston from a new perspective;
Coalition has formed to promote area's natural treasures
The Houston Chronicle
Gary Clark
April 09, 2004, Friday 2 STAR EDITION
GARY CLARK; Clark is a naturalist and professor at North Harris College.
Kathy Adams Clark teaches photography at Leisure Learning. Contact them at
http://home.houston.rr.com/wondersofnature.
Rosie Zamora knows that if we want to keep enjoying our birds and
butterflies within wilderness retreats, we will all have to work together.
She has formed a remarkable coalition to envision Houston not just as a
place of concrete and steel but a place at the center of a diverse natural region.
The result is a new organization called Houston Wilderness.
Zamora, president of the organization, is a booster of the city's
economic and cultural growth as well as its natural heritage. An inveterate hiker,
she understands the value of wilderness experiences to people's lives.
Here is my interview with her:
Q: What is Houston Wilderness?
A: It's an alliance of government, business and environmental
organizations that have come together to promote the incredible wilderness treasures we
have in the 24-county region around Houston. The region stretches from Matagorda
to the Louisiana border and includes such natural regions as the Columbia
bottomlands, coastal marshes, tall grass prairies and the Big Thicket.
Q: With such an expansive region, why the name Houston Wilderness?
A: One of the things we wanted to do was to create an interest in what we
have in the region among people outside the area. For example, people
outside the country may not know where the Big Thicket or Matagorda is, but they
will certainly know where Houston is. So once we catch their attention with the
name Houston, they will look at the natural beauty that exists in our region.
Q: Was the project modeled on Chicago Wilderness?
A: Yes. Chicago Wilderness, which has been in existence for 10 years,
came about because there was a need to bring in funds to work on land
conservation and restoration. Most people don't think of Chicago as having wilderness,
but it does.
As I started showing Chicago's project to people in the Houston business
community, they said this is what we need here. For example, (developer)
Dick Weekley said that this is the kind of thing we can send all over the world
so people will get a different impression of what we have.
Q: Should homebuilders be interested in wilderness conservation?
A: In order for a builder... to keep building homes, he has to have
people to sell homes to. He has to have corporations moving to Houston with
young people who want to move here and raise a family.
At the top of the list of things young people are looking for is
wilderness recreation, and they don't think we have that in Houston. So if a developer
wants to sell homes, there has to be nature and people aware of nature.
At the same time, Houston Wilderness has the responsibility to educate
developers and homebuilders so that we can work together to build in ways
that will not harm our natural areas. Then we'll all be ahead of the game.
Q: Any other economic benefits?
A: We haven't exploited nature tourism in Houston. Ted Lee Eubanks Jr.,
whose company Fermata Inc. developed the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and
other nature trails, wants to work with us to develop a wilderness trail for
tourism. If we can marry conservation, nature and historical heritage, we will have
an incredible wilderness trail around our region. It's one of the things our
board is moving on.
Q: How diverse is the board of directors?
A: We have people on our board like Jim Kollaer, president of the Greater
Houston Partnership, and Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney, and
representatives from foundations, businesses, government groups and
environmental groups.
We have business organizations sitting right next to environmental
organizations, and they're working through issues that they've been at odds
about in the past. It's the only way we're going to be able to save our
natural resources.
Q: Where can people get information?
A: Visit our Web site at www.houstonwilderness.org. We have an
illustrated map of the ecosystems of the entire region, and you can click on any
ecosystem, and it tells you what's there.
We've identified over 100 sites like Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature
Center, Washington-on-the-Brazos and the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We tell
you where the areas are for birding, hiking, canoeing, kayaking and hunting.
Then we have a kids section. It's one of the most important pieces,
because we really want to turn our youngsters into stewards of our land.
Q: When is the introduction of Houston Wilderness?
A: We will officially introduce the organization to the public at 2 p.m.
on April 16 at the Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center, 3997 River Drive off Park
Place Boulevard.
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