Renewal 2024 Vision

From fields of waving prairie grasses to forested wetlands to unspoiled bayou systems, Armand Bayou Nature Center is a place like no other. At the crossroads of three vulnerable gulf coast ecosystems, ABNC protects and restores 2,500 acres of rich ecological habitat.

The survival of these ecosystems is important for the wildlife that depend upon them, for people seeking the wonder and comforts of nature, and for the range of ecosystem services they provide, including carbon sequestration, storm water retention, flood abatement and water quality improvement.

Renewal 2024 will raise funds in phases, over a 3-year period for the implementation of a comprehensive interpretive plan to revitalize our aging buildings and exhibits so that we can achieve our environmental aspirations to:

• Engage our visitors and enhance their experiences

• Help us create meaningful connections that result in a call to action

• Boost volunteering, donations, and memberships

• Inspire people of all ages to respect and protect the environment

Letter from ABNC’s Executive Director

Dear friends,

Armand Bayou Nature Center (ABNC) was established 47 years ago as one of the first nature centers in the state of Texas. Its goal then, as now, is to protect and preserve the wetland prairie, forest, and marsh habitats with which it has been entrusted and to reconnect people with nature.

The vision of ABNC’s founders was extraordinary—to protect more than 2,500 acres of pristine wilderness within the midst of a booming metropolis. And as the saying goes, “if you build it, they will come.” From a few hundred visitors in 1974, ABNC has grown to nearly 50,000 annual visitors and counting.

These ever-increasing numbers show that our founders were right. People yearn for experiences in nature where they can disconnect from the chaos of daily life and find the universal pleasures that come from seeing a field of fireflies or watching a river otter swim or spying an alligator as it comes up for air.

I am proud to report that ABNC has done an incredible job in restoring and maintaining the native ecosystems within its boundaries. Our experienced stewardship department, along with an army of community volunteers, has restored the tidal wetlands along the edges of Armand and Taylor Bayous, protected one of the most extensive holdings of coastal tall-grass prairie in the lower Galveston Bay watershed (900 acres!), and mastered invasive species control.

We are now focused on efforts to propel ABNC into the next 50 years of its existence. Our future depends on elevating our visitor experience; therefore, we have commissioned and adopted an interpretive plan, entitled Renewal 2024 that will serve as a guide for creating and enhancing spaces where visitors can learn why places like ABNC are so important to all of us and internalize our mission to preserve and protect our nature.

Please join us as we extend and broaden our legacy for future generations with ABNC’s Renewal 2024.

With humble gratitude,

Tim Pylate

Executive Director

For questions regarding donations to Renewal 2024, please contact Tim Pylate, Executive Director, at 281-474-2551 or by email at tim@abnc.org