About Us

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ABOUT US

Buffalo Bayou is our beginning. Our backbone. Our bridge.

From a sleepy port town into a thriving cultural and industrial metropolis, Buffalo Bayou has shaped Houston for nearly two centuries. Since 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership has championed this natural resource for the benefit of all Houstonians.

Buffalo Bayou and Houston are forever entwined.

This natural, 52-mile waterway meandering in gentle twists and turns from its origins in the Texas prairie and out through the Gulf of Mexico is like a scrawled signature of our city itself, as etched in the lowlands of our landscape as the pages of our history.

It was on the banks of Buffalo Bayou that Houston was founded in 1836, and since then the bayou has emerged —and re-emerged—as a vital conduit for commerce, community, recreation, and repose.

WHAT WE DO

Creating and stewarding a vibrant network of welcoming public spaces.

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is the non-profit organization leading the planning, design, activation, and stewardship of inspiring spaces along the 10-mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive through downtown and eastward to the Port of Houston Turning Basin.

Whether it’s reimagining a former barge terminal into a cultural and recreational hub, reinforcing the bayou’s banks with native plants and trees, or constructing the first pedestrian bridge between the historic Fifth Ward and Greater East End—building relationships and mapping change with our communities are essential to our mission.

OUR VISION

We envision Buffalo Bayou as a unifying
and transformative force for Houston.

By drawing people together along and across our bayou—and inviting their ideas and aspirations into the process—we celebrate and perpetuate the vitality and resiliency of our city and its historic waterway.

Our work

Clean & Green Staff

Brett Farley

Field Operations Mechanic

Ned McQuarn

Field Operations Technician

David Rivers

Field Operations Foreman

Roberto Ruiz

Field Operations Technician

Board of Directors

2023 Officers
Gaynell Floyd Drexler
Chair
David Ott, Jr.
Vice Chair
Kellie R. Jenks
Treasurer
Bolivar M. Fraga
Secretary
2023 Board
Ralph Abendshein
Andrea Alexander
Matthew J. Assiff
Veronica Avila
Chris Bilton
Harvey Clemons, Jr.
Shawn W. Cloonan
Jerry Davis
Richard P. Dawson
Olivia Djibo
Clayton Erikson
Zion Escobar
Louis M. Girard
Lisa Helfman
Janet Hobby
Emily Keeton
Marie Louise Kinder
Alisha N. Nathoo
Judy Nyquist
Erin Patterson
Monica Hoz de Vila Radoff
Frem Reggie
Winifred Riser
Shannon B. Sasser
Erin Mincberg Spiegel
Christof Spieler
Anne Whitlock
Geraldina Interiano Wise
Gloria Medina Zenteno
Andrew P. Ziccardi
Chairs emeritus
Toni Beauchamp*
Chuck Carlberg
Brady F. Carruth
Collin J. Cox
Thomas Fish
Mike Garver
Dennis Greer
Artie Lee Hinds*
Sis Johnson
Susan Keeton
Dr. Manuel Pacheco
Bob Phillips
F. Max Schuette*
Raymond Snokhous*
Jeff Taylor
Georgia Wilson
Ex-Officio *deceased
Mayor Sylvester Turner
City of Houston
Judge Lina Hidalgo
Harris County
Kenneth Allen
Houston Parks and Recreation Department
Loren J. Blanchard, Ph.D.
University of Houston Downtown
Commisioner Lesley Briones
Harris County Precinct Four
Allen Douglas
Downtown Redevelopment Authority
Commissioner Rodney Ellis
Harris County Precinct One
Erik Eriksson
Port Houston
Commissioner Adrian Garcia
Harris County Precinct Two
Roksan Okan-Vick
Houston First
Jennifer Ostlind
City of Houston Planning & Development Department
Tina Petersen, Ph.D., P.E.
Harris County Flood Control District
Commissioner Tom Ramsey, P.E.
Harris County Precinct Three