Brandt Mannchen:
In the thick of protecting the Big Thicket and other natural resources
by Vicki Wolf, February 2008

Brandt Mannchen is the ultimate volunteer environmental activist working for the local, state and national branches of the Sierra Club. He is chair of the Forestry Subcommittee and the Air Quality Committee of the Houston Regional Group of the Sierra Club. With Lone Star Sierra Club, he chairs the Big Thicket Committee, and is the Air Quality Issue and Forest Management Issue chair. Mannchen also serves on the Sierra Club’s National Forest Protection and Restoration Committee.

“Multi-focused” is how Mannchen describes his efforts to take care of natural resources. He is involved in service projects that include maintenance of the Lone Star Hiking Trail in the Sam Houston National Forest; has helped clear the Old Wagon Road Trail in Big Thicket National Preserve, which has been closed because of damage done by Hurricane Rita; and he works on restoration of Marysee Prairie in the Big Thicket.

Recently, Mannchen spent a day in meetings with the U.S. Forest Service on oil and gas drilling in Sam Houston National Forest. “We work to minimize damage and maximize protection,” he says. “Whatever the forest service is talking about doing, we provide our input.” Mannchen says the Sierra Club also supports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in acquiring land in Brazoria County to protect Columbia River Bottomlands for migratory birds, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as well local birds.

Any conversation with Mannchen will transport you into the unique natural features of an area, such as his description of the Columbia Bottomlands: “This unique forest has Live Oak, Pecan, Hackberry and Bur Oak,” he explains. “It’s different from most southern forests. Farther east we have the Piney Woods.”

Mannchen likes to take people to see the forest and he has the discipline to sit down at a desk and do the paperwork it takes to ensure natural resources are protected. He plays a crucial role in bird-dogging agencies where decisions are made that impact the environment. Making sure concerns about environmental issues are on the record by thoroughly and meticulously carrying out the administrative process is Mannchen’s area of specialty -- an area that very few people are able or willing to do. This kind of attention to detail is necessary when a lawsuit is required to prevent or stop harm to the environment or to public health. Mannchen calls himself a “lawsuit enabler.” He says it’s not something one undertakes lightly. “It doesn’t mean you are going to win even when a judge agrees with you, but individuals must be involved in the process.” Mannchen boasts that his forte is reading environmental impact statements and assessments. He’s read over 200 of them since 1977.

Mannchen has training and experience to back up his dedication in protecting the environment, with a bachelor of science degree in Environmental Science from Sam Houston State University and a master’s of science in Environmental Management from the University of Houston, Clear Lake.

Retired from the City of Houston where he was employed for almost 29 years, Mannchen spent about 26 of those years working in the Bureau of Air Quality Control in the Health and Human Services Department. Seeing the regulatory agency from the inside, he realized that protecting the environment needed help from the outside.

“There are two kinds of people who work in these resource agencies: the bureaucratic careerists who are concerned about how they rise through the agency and the conservation advocates who are there to protect the environment,” he says. “A lot of times the careerists do things to keep the advocates from protecting the public commons.”

Mannchen says that when he was with the City of Houston’s Bureau of Air Control, he was punished for his work with the Sierra Club. They tried to get him to quit, but he persevered.

“If you really love the resource and speak out and advocate within the agency, you pay a price,” Mannchen says. “They may try to fire you or put you in a job you hate. You become known as one who makes waves. Your judgment is constantly questioned for advocating too much and not being objective, so a lot of people don’t speak out.”

Working to protect the environment and natural resources can be exhausting and, at times, frustrating. Asked to explain why he continues this work Mannchen says, “I have three choices: do nothing, and that would mean being in denial; second choice, jump off a cliff because everything is bad; and third is to fight when you don’t like what people are doing. I’ve chosen the third choice.”

Mannchen was born in Houston and has lived in Houston all of his life. This work is his hobby as well as his life’s calling. Mannchen likes to hike and get out into nature, and leads hikes for the Sierra Club. “I like to enjoy the places that we are fighting for.”

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