EverGreen Austin

Stormwater management doesn’t have to mean concrete pipes, clogged drains, and giant detention ponds. 🌧️

Instead, we can use the beautiful, multi-purpose systems the earth already created and science has proven, like bioswales, rain gardens, and biofiltration ponds.

These natural systems might be part of the answer to the street flooding we see today. They add permeable ground and give plants and trees the chance to soak up and slow the water that, left on concrete, has nowhere to go but pool or rush.

Better flood prevention doesn’t have to be gray. Sometimes the smartest infrastructure is the greenest. 🌱



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El manejo de aguas pluviales no tiene que significar tuberías de concreto, drenajes tapados y enormes estanques de detención. 🌧️

En su lugar, podemos usar los hermosos sistemas multiusos que la tierra ya creó y que la ciencia ha comprobado, como los biofiltros, los jardines de lluvia y los estanques de biofiltración.

Estos sistemas naturales podrían ser parte de la respuesta a las inundaciones en las calles que vemos hoy. Agregan suelo permeable y les dan a las plantas y árboles la oportunidad de absorber y frenar el agua que, sobre el concreto, no tiene más opción que estancarse o correr.

Una mejor prevención de inundaciones no tiene que ser gris. A veces la infraestructura más inteligente es la más verde. 🌱

Green vs. gray infrastructure? It’s not a competition. The best cities use both. 🌳

Gray infrastructure is man-made: pipes, drains, gutters, and concrete channels.
Green infrastructure is natural: trees, creeks, rain gardens, and permeable ground.

Here’s the difference. Gray does one job. Green does one job and more. When you use trees or plants to manage water, they’re not only doing their assigned job, they’re also filtering the air, cooling the streets, and making a more beautiful city, often for less.

And when they work together, the results are even better. Trees give better results than man-made shade structures, because they don’t just provide shade, they naturally cool the air around them. Permeable pavement doesn’t just carry cars, bikes, and pedestrians, it also lets water soak back into our aquifers.

It often costs less, too: the EPA has found green infrastructure can make projects significantly cheaper than conventional ones.

The greener the balance, the healthier, cooler, and more resilient our city becomes. 🌱

Big win for Austin’s parks, and we’re proud to have been part of it. 🌳

Until recently, a public park in Austin could be condemned and closed with almost no warning, and no consistent process to protect it. So we got to work.

Since early spring, Evergreen Austin partnered with City Council to change that, and in August, the ordinance passed.

Here’s what’s different now:
🌳 Any proposed parkland condemnation must be brought to a public Council meeting
🌳 The city must evaluate impacts on parkland access, equity, and service levels
🌳 Any money from a condemnation must go toward replacing that lost parkland, and can’t be spent on anything else

Thanks to Council Member Ryan Alter, who worked closely with us to bring it to council.

This is a genuine step forward, and we’re keeping our eyes on it. We hope it’s the first of many green wins to come. 🌱



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Una gran victoria para los parques de Austin, y estamos orgullosos de haber sido parte de ella. 🌳

Hasta hace poco, un parque público en Austin podía ser expropiado y cerrado casi sin aviso, y sin un proceso consistente para protegerlo. Así que nos pusimos a trabajar.

Desde principios de la primavera, Evergreen Austin colaboró con el concejo municipal para cambiar eso, y en agosto, la ordenanza fue aprobada.

Esto es lo que cambia ahora:
🌳 Toda propuesta de expropiación de parques debe llevarse a una reunión pública del concejo
🌳 La ciudad debe evaluar los impactos en el acceso a los parques, la equidad y los niveles de servicio
🌳 El dinero de una expropiación debe destinarse a reemplazar ese parque perdido, y no puede gastarse en otra cosa

Gracias al concejal Ryan Alter, quien trabajó de cerca con nosotros para llevarla al concejo.

Es un avance real, y seguimos atentos. Esperamos que sea la primera de muchas victorias verdes por venir. 🌱

Once land is developed, you can’t get it back. The best way to protect Austin’s green future is to buy the land now, before it’s gone. 🌳

That’s land banking: securing green space before development prices it out of reach. Treviño Park is one example of how it actually saves the city money. Austin bought those 330 acres in 2003 for $8 million. Today, that same riverfront land would cost nearly ten times as much.

But we’re not doing enough of it. Every year we wait, the lots that could be your future park get more expensive, or covered with concrete. And green space isn’t a luxury, it’s what makes a city healthy: cooler streets, cleaner air, and places to get outside. Parks come from a city willing to plan ahead. 🌱

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Una vez que la tierra se desarrolla, no se puede recuperar. La mejor forma de proteger el futuro verde de Austin es comprar la tierra ahora, antes de que desaparezca. 🌳

Eso es land banking: asegurar espacio verde antes de que el desarrollo lo ponga fuera de alcance. Treviño Park es un ejemplo de cómo esto le ahorra dinero a la ciudad. Austin compró esos 330 acres en 2003 por $8 millones. Hoy, esa misma tierra frente al río costaría casi diez veces más.

Pero no lo hacemos lo suficiente. Cada año que esperamos, los lotes que podrían ser tu futuro parque se encarecen, o se cubren de concreto. Y el espacio verde no es un lujo, es lo que hace sana a una ciudad: calles más frescas, aire más limpio y lugares para salir. Los parques vienen de una ciudad dispuesta a planear con anticipación. 🌱

We are so excited to see this project come to life. 🌳

Buying this land over 20 years ago was a huge win for the city, and now, finally, we’re going to see it happen. But we can’t talk about a park like this without talking about the decades of inequality between East and West Austin.

In 1928, the city adopted a master plan that drew a hard line down East Avenue, now I-35, and pushed Black residents into a designated East Austin district by cutting off their utilities and barring them from parks and schools on the west side.

And in the decades that followed, East Austin became where the city put everything it didn’t want elsewhere. Industrial sites, warehouses, and pollution-heavy development took over the land, with little regard for green space, tree canopy, or quality of life. The west side got the greenbelts and the parks. The east side got the fuel tanks and the freeways.

You can still see it today. East Austin has less tree canopy, less shade, and fewer parks than the wealthier west side, a gap the city has only recently started to map and work to close. Treviño Park is one real step toward that.

Construction on Phase 1 begins this fall. 🌱

Want to see the full vision plan? Comment TREVIÑO and we’ll send you the link.