Dr. Anna Weiss, who became executive director of the Bayou Land Conservancy on September 1, told ReduceFlooding in an interview published Saturday that her opening priorities are listening to the 30-year-old organization’s staff and partners, working out which policy levers at the local, state and federal level would make land preservation easier, and explaining to the public what conserved land actually does. She also said she would like to see the Scarborough property west of Lake Houston conserved rather than developed, calling it important to protecting everyone downstream from flooding.
Weiss holds a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and previously led Green Galveston Initiatives. She succeeds Jill Boullion, who retired after ten years. ReduceFlooding publisher Bob Rehak conducted the interview.
Why This Matters in the Lake Houston Area
The conservancy’s primary footprint is the Lake Houston watershed, roughly 2,500 square miles draining toward the lake that supplies drinking water to more than 2.2 million people. The group buys and holds land along the streams that feed the lake, which is flood storage as much as it is habitat. A change of leadership there is a change at one of the organizations shaping how much undeveloped ground is left upstream of Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita.
Lake Houston Today reported the appointment itself on September 14 in Bayou Land Conservancy Names Anna Weiss Executive Director. The Scarborough tract she discusses has its own local history: the Harris County Flood Control Task Force voted to oppose the 5,300-acre development proposed there, which we covered in Harris County Flood Task Force Opposes 5,300-Acre Scarborough Development.
