Paving the prairie
The Katy Prairie is precious. A freeway shouldn't slice through it.
Updated 7:43 am, Thursday, January 30, 2014
"The path of least resistance" is how Waller's county engineer, Orval Rhoads, described plans to route a new stretch of highway, Texas 36A, through the Katy Prairie ("Proposed highway could cut a path through prized Texas prairie," houstonchronicle.com, Jan. 22). That attitude - that open land is available for development - is as old as Texas. We wouldn't be here today if settlers in the 1800s hadn't rushed in to tame this state's untamed land.
These days, of course, there's not much wilderness left.
That's what makes the Katy Prairie so special. The Katy Prairie Conservancy currently protects around 20,000 acres of coastal prairie, now one of the world's most endangered ecosystems. About 40 miles west of Houston, bobcats and coyotes hide in the rippling tall grasses. Bald eagles soar overhead. Recently, the National Audubon Society designated Katy Prairie Conservancy land as a Global Important Bird Area. As bird habitat goes, that's as good as it gets.
The prairie is important for people, too. Its tall grasses sequester carbon, keeping it out of our atmosphere. Its wetlands soak up rain, improving water quality and preventing flooding downstream. And it's a rare wild place where city people can hike, bike and hunt, where urban schoolkids can catch bugs and wade through fields of wildflowers.
We need more uninterrupted open land like that, not less.
Alternatives to the Texas 36A plan exist. They include expanding Texas 36 or re-routing 36A so that it doesn't slice through the prairie.
"But you can't go around it without plowing through someone else's property," Richard Fields, an engineer who chairs the Highway 36A Coalition, told Chronicle reporter Matthew Tresaugue. "The highway is going to impact someone."
We understand that. But we don't think that ruining part of the Katy Prairie can possibly be "the path of least resistance."
The Katy Prairie isn't just open land, ready for paving. It's a precious place: a nature preserve. We need to preserve it.