Buffalo Bayou: River of Dreams-- Project Components

Archive
Documents, data, photographs, film footage, maps, illustrations, delineations and historical documentation will be organized into a central repository for access by the general public. Students and researchers alike will find this to be a wonderful resource for information on the region. The archive is envisioned to be accessible electronically through the web and possibly in a CD-ROM format as well.

Documentary
The documentary may trace from earliest times through to visioning to the future the life that has flourished along this major water way exploring the continuous changes, life that has vanished and why, and what can be learned to chart a healthy future for coming generations. It may further explain that what can and is done today creates a better tomorrow. This depiction creates a heritage by revealing a rich and unknown past as well as a legacy of the vision of hope for a greener and more promising future.

Book
The Buffalo Bayou, River of Dreams book promises to educate the general public as a coffee table quality book with a rich and vibrant canvas from which to step into the bayou's intriguing past, understand the present and vision for the future. Many discoveries and issues can be portrayed and discussed in more depth in a book format. Information will be both visually exciting and compelling in its delivery.

The book will portray the rich, yet little known history of Buffalo Bayou, and much like the documentary, will expound on the life that the bayou ecosystem has supported and witnessed from prehistoric times to the present taking an exciting look into the future as plans to revitalize the region and protect the life and health of its' inhabitants are presented.

It will explore the geographical and societical importance of each era and reveal incredibly diverse flora and fauna. Impressions created by Audubon who explored the bayou region will capture these images along with many significant others. The Big Woods on the north banks of this waterway provided a canopy to host many shade tolerant plant species that no longer survive. Readers will discover the wildlife that once enjoyed these woods including brown bear and ocelot. They will learn that the bayou itself serves as a unique and important geographical demarcation between the Big Woods on the north side and the prairie grasslands supporting very different life on the south banks of the bayou. Discover the wildlife that differed and thrived in this setting including the buffalo for which the bayou is quite possibly named.

Readers will also learn what Native American peoples lived in the area and how they experienced the region; find out what European settlers and explorers who visited or inhabited the area found and how they settled and explored the area; consider what changes in the ecosystem were impacted by fur trade, lumbering and many other industries; identify what changes these made and the resultant life changes, uncover a little known yet historic railroad, study the great history of the Port of Houston, and recognize the rich wildlife, commerce and population changes that have made the bayou their home, their lifeblood.

Carriculum
A project-based, interactive, core curriculum including social studies, history, language arts and environmental science will give students in elementary, middle and high school the opportunity to understand the area in which they live, the ways that humans interact with and affect this and the positive difference they can make in the future of the bayou. In depth study and additional research helps students formulate solutions to the challenges facing the health and life of residents in this area today and in the future.

Economic and historical factors will generate much debate as creative energy forges questions and solutions for the future. Many anthropological findings will pose the central questions of what life existed and what can be learned for the future.

This curriculum will be TEKS aligned to facilitate inclusion in the classroom that generates good thinking and problem solving skills while achieving progress structured objectives. Teachers will readily see how this “fits in” to their teaching landscape while providing interesting and compelling learning opportunities.

A pilot curriculum is currently introduced by ESMP for this school term and serves as an introduction to the Buffalo Bayou Project. The learning module includes a social studies, language arts and science component and will culminate in an Earth Day interactive experience at Buffalo Bayou, Bayou City LIVE Education Day on May 6, 2004. Teachers present this community learning module including environmental science, social studies and language arts that incorporates TEKS learning goals for students who then come to Buffalo Bayou to observe the ecology, animals and plants that inhabit the ecosystem.

Students in grades 4-12 are guided through a project based learning module to research and explore the essential question, "What can we learn from vanishing life to protect human and all life?" There is no charge to the schools for this.