Houston enviroments

[Guest Plastic]

In most citites it is primarily one enviroment. In Houston, it's just not so. Up North it's woods and Forest. Out East it's woods, forest, bayous, lakes, and rivers. The Southeast is prairies,lakes, and bays. Northwest, and Southwest a praire. My question is why? Why do we have such a diverse enviroment? They bays,lakes, rivers, and bayous I can see but the prarie on one side of town and woods on the other I don't understand.

And yes if youu go south we've beaches. If you go North you've got hills. You can even go to the East and get swamps.

[TheNiche]

In most citites it is primarily one enviroment. In Houston, it's just not so. Up North it's woods and Forest. Out East it's woods, forest, bayous, lakes, and rivers. The Southeast is prairies,lakes, and bays. Northwest, and Southwest a praire. My question is why? Why do we have such a diverse enviroment? They bays,lakes, rivers, and bayous I can see but the prarie on one side of town and woods on the other I don't understand.

And yes if youu go south we've beaches. If you go North you've got hills. You can even go to the East and get swamps.

Dude.

[Pumapayam]

In most citites it is primarily one enviroment. In Houston, it's just not so.

"Do tell . . ."

I can see but the prarie on one side of town and woods on the other I don't understand.

Oh, NOW, you use the word "Prairie " (Still spelled wrong).

And yes if youu go south we've [got] beaches.

OMG , where are you finding all this information about the Houston area! I am amazed that we have beaches just south of us in Galvestion??? I knew knew!

What's with all the new posts, mom and dad not giving you enough attention?

[KimberlySayWhat]

TheNiche:

Dude.

[Croberts]

In most citites it is primarily one enviroment. In Houston, it's just not so. Up North it's woods and Forest. Out East it's woods, forest, bayous, lakes, and rivers. The Southeast is prairies,lakes, and bays. Northwest, and Southwest a praire. My question is why? Why do we have such a diverse enviroment? They bays,lakes, rivers, and bayous I can see but the prarie on one side of town and woods on the other I don't understand.

And yes if youu go south we've beaches. If you go North you've got hills. You can even go to the East and get swamps.

Houston is on the western edge of the deciduous and coniferous forest that once covered the eastern united states and on the eastern edge of the great plains: humid tallgrass prairie. If you consider the major biomes, forest, prairie, tundra, desert, houston is on the edge of two of them. Biomes are defined primarily by their vegetation cover.

Physiographically (physical description) houston is entirely on the coastal plain, which runs from the rio grande in the us to the pine barrens of new jersey along the gulf and atlantic coast. However there is a kind of transition that I remember between the inland prairies and the gulf. People refer to salt grass, to coastal prairies. Basically it gets wetter and more humid and you can see the response in things like wild roses: grow to large bushes south of houston as you approach the coast. Houston really should be a lot wetter, but drainage that predates development temporarily removed a lot of water: it should be mostly wetlands. Now there is recognition that we simply cant flush the volume of water that stacks up in the houston area out to sea, and wetland restoration for water storage is the new plan.

So on the edge of the eastern forest and the great plains, but at such a low elevation that the plains are often marshes and the forest is often swamp.

By the way, the best place to see the prairie is Atwater Prairie Chicken Wildlife refuge, several thousand acres preserved. This time of the year, covered in wildflowers. West and south of houston off of I-10

THe coniferous forest is best seen in sam houston national forest, or huntsville state park. The deciduous forest is best seen in big thicket national preserve.

I am not sure where the best place is to view marshes and swamps. For the latter, anhuac national wildlife refuge is probably good.

[houstonmacbro]

In most citites it is primarily one enviroment. In Houston, it's just not so. Up North it's woods and Forest. Out East it's woods, forest, bayous, lakes, and rivers. The Southeast is prairies,lakes, and bays. Northwest, and Southwest a praire. My question is why? Why do we have such a diverse enviroment? They bays,lakes, rivers, and bayous I can see but the prarie on one side of town and woods on the other I don't understand.

And yes if youu go south we've beaches. If you go North you've got hills. You can even go to the East and get swamps.

Has anyone seen the landscaping out near Cy-Fair College (Barker Cypress area)? They have used a lot of zero maintenance grassland type vegetation. Really neat and looks spectacular on the drive up to the college.

[DaTrain]

Blame it on the home builders on the outskirts for killing trees. Times like this, I really wish Houston was surrounded by forests full of 60 foot tall trees. It ain't fair that the rich people in the Village enclaves get to have tall trees and the rest of the city is stuck with a bunch of trees that look like green popsicle sticks 40 years ago.

[Guest Plastic]

I was in Dallas, I know Dallas has Prairie but I don't recall is it had forests.

[Subdude]

Please read the forum rules regarding personal attacks before posting. If you don't like a topic, just ignore it. Piling on to members doesn't add any value to HAIF.

[Trae]

I was in Dallas in January, and it is all prairie except for areas around Cedar Hill. The only place where there are many trees are in the mature parts of the city. People from McKinney (northern Dallas suburb), like to say they have trees like the Woodlands. I have been up there, and it is not even close. They have small pockets of trees surrounded by prairie.

[TheNiche]

Houston is on the western edge of the deciduous and coniferous forest that once covered the eastern united states and on the eastern edge of the great plains: humid tallgrass prairie. If you consider the major biomes, forest, prairie, tundra, desert, houston is on the edge of two of them. Biomes are defined primarily by their vegetation cover.

Physiographically (physical description) houston is entirely on the coastal plain, which runs from the rio grande in the us to the pine barrens of new jersey along the gulf and atlantic coast. However there is a kind of transition that I remember between the inland prairies and the gulf. People refer to salt grass, to coastal prairies. Basically it gets wetter and more humid and you can see the response in things like wild roses: grow to large bushes south of houston as you approach the coast. Houston really should be a lot wetter, but drainage that predates development temporarily removed a lot of water: it should be mostly wetlands. Now there is recognition that we simply cant flush the volume of water that stacks up in the houston area out to sea, and wetland restoration for water storage is the new plan.

So on the edge of the eastern forest and the great plains, but at such a low elevation that the plains are often marshes and the forest is often swamp.

By the way, the best place to see the prairie is Atwater Prairie Chicken Wildlife refuge, several thousand acres preserved. This time of the year, covered in wildflowers. West and south of houston off of I-10

THe coniferous forest is best seen in sam houston national forest, or huntsville state park. The deciduous forest is best seen in big thicket national preserve.

I am not sure where the best place is to view marshes and swamps. For the latter, anhuac national wildlife refuge is probably good.

Your description was thorough and accurate, but the original poster was asking why Houston was at the confluence of different biomes and geographic features. Asking why Houston is located where it is is no more absurd than subsequently asking why Austin, San Antonio, or Beaumont are where they are--each is near the confluence of different kinds of biomes--or for that matter why Hillje, TX is where it is even though it is in the middle of vast agricultural flatlands.

If he'd asked why a major metropolitan area grew here, that'd be one thing...but there are towns all over the place, irrespective of the biomes that exist within 50 miles (or more) of them.

[editor]

Another pointless Plastic thread. Closed.