watershed story The soil is the great connector of lives, the source - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Houston: a soils and watershed story “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” – Wendell Berry The Dirt on Watersheds: The Quest for Healthy Soils Carolyn White October 30, 2019 Conservation Director

Regional Context • Coastal plain deposits and sediments transported and reworked and during periods of lower sea level • Houston Younger sediments deposited further out into Gulf • Ancient, sediment-filled channels once formed delta and floodplain; now areas of wetlands • Further, wind action formed landscape – dunes and isolated prairie potholes • Bayou soils associated with fine grained, low permeability sand, silts and clays of Beaumont Formation

Regional Geology Willis Fm • Willis Fm • Pliocene (5.3 - 2.6 Mya) • Clay, silt, sand, pebble gravel, some petrified wood with iron Lissie Fm oxide concretions • Lissie Fm • Mid Pleistocene (0.8 - 0.1 Mya) • Sand, silt, clay, minor gravel; deltaic plain deposits, entrenched by streams • Dispersive clays present • Beaumont Fm Beaumont Fm • Late Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.012 Mya) • Clay and mud, low permeability • Lenses of fine sand, decayed organic matter

Poorly to moderately drained Somewhat to poorly drained Somewhat to Poorly drained

Regional Eco-Types Big Thicket Bottom -land Pineywoods Savanna Coastal Prairie Marsh Bottom- land

Harris County Watersheds

Fluvial Geomorphology A river that is able to maintain its – dimension, – pattern, and – profile Dimension without aggrading or degrading its channel bed Pattern Profile

Harris County Channel Modifications

Land Cover

Land Cover and Hydrology

Bayou Greenways

Watershed Challenges Soils Hydrology • Urbanization • Native soil conditions • Detention releases • Agriculture practices • Channelization • Lawn practices • Direct soil impacts • Subsidence – compaction • Increased erosion • Construction impacts • Sedimentation • Pollutant loading • Pollutant loading Vegetation • Riparian constraints • Grazing/haying practices • Fire release • Invasive species • Impervious cover

December 1978 Challenges

Challenges January 1995

February 2004 Challenges

April 2006 Challenges

February 2010 Challenges

January 2014 Challenges

February 2017 Challenges

April 2019 Challenges

Watershed Opportunities Resiliency Sustainability • Soil Health • Green Stormwater • Promote infiltration Infrastructure • Natural Stable Channels • Erosion control • Riparian health • Native vegetation • Native vegetation • Reduce urban sprawl Research & Education • Highlight great projects • Gather data • Publish data • Soil Health Assessments • Multi-agency task force