These days, when it rains heavily in the southeast Houston neighborhood of Clear Lake, residents can rest easy. But that wasn’t always the case. It used to be that when it rained, they’d haul out their mops and buckets. As the storm drains filled, water would routinely back up into basements, causing disastrous flooding. But when the golf course adjacent to residents’ backyards closed in the early 2000s, it was the answer to their flooding woes.

In 2005, the Clear Lake Water Authority bought the land with the intent of creating five massive detention ponds, each capable of holding 100 million gallons of stormwater (the equivalent of 750 Olympic-sized swimming pools). It took approximately six years to complete the purchase and another two to gather community input.

And although residents were happy to see their flooding problems vanish, they wanted more than just detention ponds: They wanted green space, walking trails and a place for nature to flourish. It took a while, but at last, in the fall of 2023 the engineering and water retention part of the project was complete, and other than some ongoing planting of native plant species, Exploration Green is a reality. The former golf course is now part of a 200-acre nature reserve, with a centerpiece of five interconnected lakes attached to the area’s stormwater infrastructure.

A bird habitat island on one of the artificial lakes provides a place for migrating birds to rest and feel protected from predators. Walking trails circumnavigate the lakes, and over 1,000 native plants grow with abandon on what were once perfectly manicured fairways and putting greens. The reserve is a community gathering place not just for recreation but for education, too. During Houston Bird Week in September, residents can register for guided bird walks to learn more about the many species that frequent the reserve. It is exactly what residents hoped for — including having dry homes.