Houston Wilderness Takes Lead from Chicago

Anyone who happened not to be in Houston, Texas, this past April 16 missed the formal launch of a regional conservation effort modeled in large part on Chicago Wilderness.

Houston Wilderness encompasses more than 19,000 square miles of diverse landscape, including prairie grasslands, upland forests, marshes, bayous, and seashore.

Rosie Zamora, president of a public opinion research concern in Houston, led a group of committed individuals in conceiving the organization. They searched for groups engaged in similar efforts and felt Chicago Wilderness was a close match. "Once we learned more about Chicago Wilderness and what you've achieved," Zamora said, "the consensus was that we needed something similar in our region." The 24-county region included in Houston Wilderness extends north of Matagorda Bay and south of Sam Rayburn Reservoir, east to the Louisiana border and west through the post oak savanna of Washington County.

Zamora is pleased with the progress the organization has made to date. "We are working on a geographical information system (GIS), an atlas on biodiversity, and a passport program to acquaint the general public with the over 100 recreational sites."

The group has set lofty goals for its first ten years. These include getting at least 45 percent of area residents to visit a designated Houston Wilderness site each year, making sure every child has been on at least one school-sponsored outdoor environmental education experience by the time they complete seventh grade, receiving 15,000 hits per day on their Web site, and getting more than 90 percent of the area chambers of commerce to support the organization.

— Karen Tornberg