The Prairie that b u i l t H o u s t o n Houston’s Prairie Heartland and the fight to save this historical landscape

Jaime GonzálezCommunity education Manager, Katy Prairie ConservancyPresident, Coastal Prairie Partnership

Halloween PennantCelithemis eponina

ASSUMPTIONS FOR THIS TALK

★ Teaching history without respect to the natural environment is like oil painting without a canvas

★ Houston was built on the prairie but the prairie helped build the city and helped forge our character in the process

★ Prairie restoration is an act of living historic preservation and is also a memorial to those who built this place.

★ The history and the prairie community are natural allies - we are both trying to get Houstonians from running away from their history.

★ All schoolchildren deserve to know their own history and the history of the community in which they live - this requires an integrated approach as yet not done.

TEACHING ABOUT THE PRAIRIE + HISTORY

Ladies Tresses OrchidSpiranthes sp.Photo by Carolyn Fannon

HOUSTON’S HEARTLAND

Mottled DucksAnas fulvigulaPhoto by Greg Lavaty

Heartland: A central area of a country or region that has special economic, political, military, or sentimental significance.

A CITY, ITS PRAIRIE, AND THE STORY OF TRANSFORMATION

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Houston on first impressionVoices from the Past

Queen ButterflyDanaus gilippus

WHERE IS HERE?

Where is here?Ghosts of the Prairie

Yellow StargrassHypoxis hirsuta

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Where is here?

Eastern MeadowlarkSturnella magnaPhoto by Greg Lavaty

Katy Prairie

Where is here?

The grassland that help win Texas. The tallgrass prairie, which was “as tall as a horse’s belly”, found at San Jacinto allowed the Texians to sneak up on the unsuspecting Mexican Army at San Jacinto.

WHERE IS HERE?THE PRAIRIE: SAM HOUSTON’S SECRET

WHERE IS HERE?IT STARTED WITH THE SOIL

OUR HEARTLAND THE PRAIRIE SHAPED OUR HISTORY

The Coastal Prairie in our History

1. Marketing - Houston area first marketed as the “Coast Country”

3. Growth - Prairies spurred the growth of transportation networks

4. The Port - Ultimately, led to the building of the Port of Houston

Early Advertisement

Houston City Seal

Early Advertisement

Tomball City Seal Loading Cotton

Houston & Texas Railroad Map

Southern Leopard FrogLithobates sphenocephalus

WHERE IS HERE?RANCHING THE HEARTLAND

Black cowboys on Galveston Island - 1870s

Warren Ranch - 1920s Pre-Civil War Cattle Trail Post-Civil War Cattle Trail (Chisholm)

WHERE IS HERE?FARMING THE HEARTLAND

Bringing in the Harvest in Wharton County- Early 1900s

Seabrook 1907League City 1920sPearland 1920

WHERE IS HERE?PRAIRIE BUILT US TOO!

WHERE IS HERE?THE WIDESPREAD HEARTLAND

Rice University circa 1916 Tomball in 1896

Katy 1912 Tanglewood 1950’s

WHERE IS HERE?OUR VANISHING HEARTLAND

WHERE IS HERE?THE VANISHING HEARTLAND

Project Blazing StarLooking across the flat prairie, Mrs. Palmer Hutcheson chose the lot on North Boulevard that had a single huiscahe tree growing on it. This huisache tree had always been used to tie up horses by the young men riding out from town to shoot prairie chickens.

-Marguerite JohnstonFrom Houston: The Unknown City - 1836 - 1946

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR

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Mead’s Sedge Carex meadiiPhoto by Carolyn Fannon

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR

Silver BluestemBothriochloa laguroidesPhoto by Carolyn Fannon

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONMD ANDERSON PRAIRIE - SUMMER 2012

DickcisselSpiza americanaPhoto by Greg Lavaty

Green Treefrog on Rough ConeflowerRudbeckia grandifloraPhoto by Carolyn Fannon

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONTHE MEADOWS ON BUFFALO BAYOU - FALL 2013

A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPRAIRIE BUILDER SCHOOLS

Bee Prairie BirthdayBerry Elementary School Photo by Jaime Gonzalez

Rams Prairie-Butterfly GardenKashmere Gardens Elementary School

Coastal Prairie 101 website

TEACHING THE PRAIRIESPREADING THE WORD

★ Place-based prairie lessons needed for both formal and informal educators

★ We need to develop historical-cultural-biological storyline(s) to “justify” the prairie

25PrairiePartner.org

TEACHING THE PRAIRIESPREADING THE WORD

A CLOSING THOUGHT

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ornate Box TurtleTerrapene ornata ornata