History

Coastal Prairies
Houston’s Heartland
Biodiversity
A Touring Education Exhibit

Ecosystem
Restoration services

Garden Club River Oaks

of Houston Garden Club
 About the Exhibit
Early pioneers in the Houston area encountered a vibrant, windswept, grassy wilderness known
as the coastal prairie. This grassland, home to the big, the speedy, and the colorful, was replete
with buffalo, pronghorn antelope, red wolves, countless ducks, brilliant butterflies, and more than
1,000 species of vascular plants. Since Houstonʼs founding in 1836, the prairie has nurtured the
city, providing rich soil for crops, room to grow, flood protection, cultural icons, and recreational
opportunities such as bird-watching and hunting. A scan of the Houston metro area today reveals
that only a tiny fragment, less than 1%, of Houstonʼs hometown habitat survives, and fewer and
fewer Texans have a connection to or awareness of the prairieʼs importance or its plight. Will we
save a portion of the habitat that has given us so much for future generations to enjoy?

The goal of Coastal Prairies: Houstonʼs Heartland is to engage a new generation of prairie
stewards by showcasing the dazzling diversity and fascinating history of the prairies and the
extraordinary efforts that Texans are making to ensure the survival of the prairie in southeast
Texas. This first-of-its-kind exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Katy Prairie Conservancy (KPC),
Coastal Prairie Partnership (CPP), The Garden Club of Houston (GCH) and River Oaks Garden
Club (ROGC). Together, we have created an exhibit composed of four independent but
interrelated topics: biodiversity, hydrology/geology, history,
and restoration. These can be displayed together, as they will be at Florescence, or separately. At
Florescence, museum visitors will be given locally collected wildflower seeds to plant in their
home gardens.

After Florescence, the exhibit will tour local nature centers and public schools for a year. Each
venue will receive one of the four exhibit components, along with a prairie curriculum, a grade-
appropriate PowerPoint presentation, videos, pictures, and artifacts. The program is designed to
make the learning and teaching about prairies fun, purposeful, and simple. The objective is to
reach 8,000 schoolchildren! Additionally, wildflowers, grown by volunteers and used to accent the
exhibit, will be planted as part of the Hermann Park prairie restoration effort Project Blazingstar.

The Florescence exhibit will also highlight the private citizens, conservation organizations, and
government agencies that have banded together with renewed purpose and vigor to tackle
challenging ventures such as large-scale prairie acquisition and community education
initiatives. Beyond KPC, CPP, GCH, and ROGC, they include Houston Audubon Society,
Ducks Unlimited, Texas Master Naturalists, Armand Bayou Nature Center, Native Prairies
Association of Texas, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Native Plant Society of Texas—Houston
Chapter, Graeme and Edgar Marston, and others.
Green Treefrog
Hyla cinerea
 Section 1 | Houston: Born on the Prairie
Description: Early pioneers to the Houston area encountered a vibrant, windswept, grassy wilderness known as the coastal prairie. This
grassland, home to the big, the speedy, and the colorful, was replete with buffalo, pronghorn, red wolves, countless ducks, brilliant butterflies,
and more than 1,000 species of vascular plants. Since Houstonʼs founding in 1836, the prairie has been radically transformed, changing the
nature of the landscape both visually and biologically. Today, few would call Houston a prairie city but at one time this basic fact was
inescapable. Visitors will learn about how the prairie helped to shape southeast Texasʼs economy, culture, and even destiny. This piece will
also emphasize “ghosts of the prairie”, animals and people that have gone extinct, and animals currently threatened by extinction. The
Ghosts section will include bison, red wolf, Attwaterʼs prairie chicken, Texas horned lizard, pronghorn, and Native Americans who once
inhabited our area.

Activity: Guests can participate in word search activity that focuses on descriptors from the Ghosts of the Prairie section of the exhibit.

Artists
Interpretation: Jaime Gonzalez
Graphic Arts: Holly Hudley
Photography: Historical
societies
Carpentry: Theo Ostler

8ʼ Spotlighted
Organizations
★ Native Prairies Association of
Texas

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 Section 2 | The Giving Grass
Description: Even in our modern world, prairies continue to play an important role. Prairies help filter and absorb water of millions of gallons
of waters in our flood-prone area, provide some of the best recreational opportunities in the state, provide critical habitat for a variety of
animals and plants, improve air quality by locking up greenhouse gases and cooling the city, and may even help to provide biofuels that
power our future!

Activity: Visitors will view a demonstration of the water-cleaning power of prairies and can measure themselves against a full-sized
switchgrass plant.

Artists
Interpretation: Jaime Gonzalez
Graphic Arts: Holly Hudley
Photography: Land Institute,
KPC, Ducks Unlimited, Carolyn
Fannon
Carpentry: Theo Ostler
Welding: Rafael Gonzalez, Sr.
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Spotlighted
Organizations
★ Armand Bayou Nature Center
★ Hermann Park Conservancy
★ Katy Prairie Conservancy
★ Texas Parks & Wildlife
★ Texas Master Naturalists

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 Section 3 | Prairies are for the Birds
Description: Prairies are not a uniformly flat habitat but one pocketed by “potholes”, elevated by “pimplemounds”, made rich by a patchwork
of dry grasslands, wetlands, and isolated woodlands whose character and resources differ greatly throughout the year. This habitat diversity
makes prairies critical to the survival of our highly diverse avian community. Over 300 species of migratory and resident birds are spotted on
local prairies each year. This display will introduce visitors to seasonal and avian diversity of coastal prairies.

Activity: Guests will use laminated cards to spot seasonally-appropriate cutouts of birds in a recreated prairie made up of both dried grasses
and living wildflowers grown out by local scouts and schools. Following the exhibit, wildflowers featured in the show will be planted in
Hermann Park as part of Project Blazing Star.

Artists
Interpretation: Jaime Gonzalez
Graphic Arts: Holly Hudley
Photography: Carolyn Fannon,
Greg Lavaty
Audio: Steve Upperman
Carpentry: Theo Ostler

8ʼ Spotlighted
Organizations
★ Houston Audubon
★ Katy Prairie Conservancy
★ Nature Conservancy of Texas
★ UH Coastal Center

Nash Prairie UH Coastal Center Katy Prairie

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 Section 4 | Return of the Natives
Description: Although the prairie has diminished greatly over the last 170 years in southeast Texas, a new movement is underway to better
appreciate, protect, and care for our remaining prairies. This display will highlight what Texans are doing to save, restore, and appreciate
prairies including planting city pocket prairies, returning fire and bison to the landscape, raising endangered birds, and purchasing important
properties.

Activity: The new Texas Parks & Wildlife video, Last Stand: Saving the Coastal Prairie, will allow visitors to view some of the conservationists
and educators that are working hard to save the the best of whatʼs left.

Artists
Interpretation: Jaime Gonzalez
Graphic Arts: Holly Hudley
Photography: Steve Upperman,
Michael Morton, Houston Zoo,
8ʼ Carolyn Fannon, others
Videography: Texas Parks &
Wildlife
Carpentry: Theo Ostler

Spotlighted
Organizations
★ Armand Bayou Nature Center
★ Hermann Park Conservancy
★ Katy Prairie Conservancy
★ Texas Parks & Wildlife
★ Texas Master Naturalists

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