Educating People About a Healthy Floodplain Environment

12/12/24 – Karastin Katusin gets people to see, touch, and experience a healthy floodplain environment, so they will want to protect such places.

Katusin is a geologist and educator by training. She is also the Community Conservation Manager for the Bayou Land Conservancy, one of the leading environmental organizations in southeast Texas. Her mission: connecting people to nature and educating them about floodplains.

I interviewed Katusin recently about the Bayou Land Conservancy’s Arrowwood Preserve along Spring Creek. It’s one of her favorite places to teach. She frequently guides students and faculty from Lone Star College as well as community groups through this fragile ecosystem so they can experience the many ways nature can make us all healthier and safer from floods.

Giving Water a Safe Place to Go

Rehak: When you teach people how a healthy floodplain can help reduce flooding, what key points do you make?

Katusin: First, in order to have a healthy floodplain, you have to have a floodplain. I’ve lived in Texas now for eight years, and I still am amazed at how you can just build anything anywhere. So, I always try to point out to people that Arrowood, for example, is a great opportunity for us to not develop. The ecosystem is not yet as healthy as we want it to be, but it still gives water a safe place to go.

A two-inch rain along Spring Creek can produce flooding over your head in Arrowwood.
Karastin Katusin

During Hurricane Harvey, water in Spring Creek rose 26.5 feet! As development continues, we need to leave natural places for that water to go, so it doesn’t go into people’s living rooms.

*Group going down the main entry trail to Arrowwood* *to learn about floodplains.*

Same entry trail in winter after a small rain. Where did that hill go?

Teaching and Applying the Fundamentals

Rehak: What do you tell people to help keep them safe from flooding?

Katusin: The number one thing is “get educated.” Learn flooding concepts. A lot of people don’t understand the difference between a floodway and a floodplain. Or a one-year flood, a 10-year flood and a 100-year flood?

I often hear people say, “We just had a 100-year flood. So, how can we have another?” They don’t understand that it’s a statistical estimate that means you have a one-percent chance of flooding EVERY year. So, educating yourself is Step One.

And then Step Two is, “Do the work.” Figure out how these flooding concepts apply to your situation. For instance, people sometimes say, “Oh well. So what if I’m in the 50 year floodplain?”

Rehak: So what! Someone in a 50-year floodplain has a 44.5% chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage! That’s almost like betting your home on a coin toss.

Katusin: Absolutely. I don’t think they understand how dangerous that is. There’s a related concept called system capacity. Can the stream hold a rain of a certain intensity without coming out of its banks? For instance, a stream that has a 50-year system capacity can hold a 50-year rain without flooding.

Rehak: The Spring Creek watershed seems to be a land of extremes.

Katusin: Some parts have a 500-year system capacity. Others out there by 290, right where all the development is happening, have less than a 25-year system capacity.

How BLC Helps Protect People from Flooding

Rehak: So, how does Bayou Land Conservancy help protect people from flooding?

Katusin: Most people want land preserved for wildlife, water and flood control. But they don’t know how that happens. That’s where we can help. We work with landowners to reduce development on property they own. But we do it in a way that lets them still use their land in a productive way, keep it in the family, and save money.

The Value of Conservation Agreements

Katusin: Sometimes people donate land to us outright. But more often, they retain ownership of their land and we put conservation easements on it. The easements restrict the land from being used for development. But they still let the landowner use their land in other ways. For instance, agriculture, forests, hunting, camping, etc.

The agreement stipulates what each party can and can’t do. For instance, we won’t clearcut the land or put in a shopping center. Instead, we will try to create a pocket of land that ideally becomes a sponge for floodwater.

*Preserving wetlands helps store stormwater that would otherwise add to flood peaks downstream.*

It’s great when the public can access the land. But remember, in most cases, we just have a conservation easement. The original owner may still own the land and keep it in their family. That may limit public accessibility.

Rehak: How does the family make money off the agreement? How do they benefit?

Katusin: Often, landowners get some sort of tax break.

Rehak: Why?

Katusin: Because the land has lost some of its development potential, typically the tax valuation decreases.

Rehak: Like on the portion of the land along a creek in a floodplain?

Katusin: Exactly. It doesn’t make any difference to us if it floods. By preserving the land in a natural state, we’re giving water a safe place to go. Wildlife has a safe place to live. And hopefully, the land soaks up excess rainwater. That helps reduce flooding downstream.

Rehak: What do you like most about your job?

Katusin: I love explaining these concepts to groups … in a natural setting. I lead tours of our preserves when groups request them. It’s fun watching people connect all the dots and understand why it’s important to protect land along rivers and streams.