Environmental Impacts

Reclaim and Restore

The landscape of the San Antonio River lies at a geological and climatic confluence that has produced a wide variety of habitats and eco-regions. The unusual diversity of plants and animals, and the long history of human settlement in the region, create exciting potential for a responsible collaboration between man and nature.

All new reaches of the San Antonio River Improvements Project will benefit from this important sensitivity, but it will be most dramatic in the eight-mile Mission Reach to the south of downtown.

• The previously straightened channel will be returned to a more natural, meandering river
• Flood control will be improved; and erosion will be reduced
• Native vegetation will be introduced — specifically 24,000 native trees and 56 acres of native grasses.
• Habitats will be restored — specifically 113 acres of aquatic habitat and 320 acres of riparian habitat.
• Eight miles of state-of-the-art hike-and-bike trails will be added or reconstructed to provide access to this natural wonderland.