Nature-Based Solutions Take Root in Rockport with Community Infrastructure Tour

The Coastal Bend Alliance for Sustainable Stormwater (CBASS) invited residents from Rockport and the surrounding communities to join a tour of green infrastructure installations around the city on June 20.

Green Infrastructure refers to a network of natural and semi-natural systems that help to clean and manage stormwater runoff while providing multiple environmental benefits. The aim is to work with nature to address water quality concerns related to urbanization and human activities.

Clean Coast Texas, a Texas General Land Office initiative managed by the Harte Research Institute (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) worked with Rockport to install two permeable paver projects and partnered with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program to implement a stormwater cistern. The tour was organized to show off these new projects, provide context and information to the community, and showcase best management practices.

Memorial Park

In November 2024, permeable pavers were installed in a portion of a parking lot in Memorial Park. The city of Rockport and Aransas County partnered with Clean Coast Texas to identify a location and best management practice to manage stormwater sustainably. The pavers were installed by Doucet, A Kleinfelder Company, and a representative spoke about the process and benefits during the tour. For the attendees, an infiltration demonstration was performed to show how much water can filter through the pavers.

Rockport Festival Grounds

The next stop was the Rockport Festival Grounds, where numerous green infrastructure practices are utilized.

One is the recent installation of native vegetation around the Cultural Interface statue by Steve Russell, which recently received the designation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. The unveiling provided an immersive experience that goes beyond admiring exceptional artwork and restores the same type of vegetation that would have existed when the European settlers and Native Americans met hundreds of years ago.

Along the shoreline near the statue is a living shoreline installation. Living shorelines are a nature-based solution that uses plants, sand, and sometimes organic or structural materials — such as oyster reefs or coir logs — to protect coastal edges from erosion while preserving or enhancing natural habitat. These structures can also attenuate wave action and protect the shoreline from erosion which mitigates land loss along shorelines.

When the Aransas County Navigation District were planning their new offices, they wanted to ensure they were positively managing the runoff and stormwater in a way that did not adversely affect the water quality. All the water that runs off the building is filtered and cleaned through the landscaping before entering the bay system.

Native Display Garden at Rockport Daily Grind

The tour continued to the native display garden at Rockport Daily Grind, a living example of green stormwater infrastructure in a coastal urban setting.

Designed and installed by the owners of NativeDave, Inc., David and Christy Ilfrey, the garden demonstrates how native plant communities can manage stormwater naturally while thriving with minimal inputs. The plant palette — seaside goldenrod, sea oats, railroadvine, bay elder, gulf muhly, skeletonleaf goldeneye, and flame acanthus — was selected for its aesthetic and ecological value and its remarkable resilience. These species are drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, freeze-hardy, and capable of withstanding the salty air characteristic of the Texas Coastal Bend.

Stormwater Cistern

For the last stop, the tour viewed Rockport’s newest installation, a stormwater cistern. Cisterns are green infrastructure tools that collect and hold on rainwater to reduce runoff into the stormwater system. It acts as a holding cell for rainwater that allows it to be used for other purposes, including irrigation during times of drought. At this site, the building was retrofitted with gutters and down spouts that will be connected to the cistern, ensuring the water that runs off the roof will end up in the cistern and used for the plants that dot the landscape.