Salado Creek Foundation

What is the Salado Watershed?

Aug 30, 2000

In East San Antonio the Salado Creek is usually a lazy little stream. Creeping under the bridges of our major thoroughfares, it is hidden by a cover of dense vegetation, and ignored by most. One community leader even said he never, ever considered the Salado an asset because he never considered it at all, except during the flood of October 1998. So what do we know about this treasure hidden in our midst?

According to the Salado Creek Watershed Study and Drainage Master Plan, completed in March 1997 for the city by Vickrey and Associates Engineers, the Salado drainage basin is 190 square miles of territory. The creek itself is some 43 miles long, from the Camp Bullis area in the north to its juncture with the San Antonio River in deep south Bexar County.

The watershed looks like a giant misshapen slice of pie, running across the eastern part of Bexar County. The slice is wide across the northern part of the county where a number of small creeks feed into the Salado, and it is narrow down south.

This abundantly rich area features of three of the ten physiographic provinces of Texas, according to a recreational analysis by the Architecture Program at UTSA. In the upper reaches, above Loop 410, the Salado runs through the scenic limestone hills and canyons of the Edwards Plateau. From Loop 410 to Southeast Military Drive, the creek meanders over Blackland Prairie that nurtures huge Pecan, Willow and Cedar Elm trees. The lower reaches, below Military Drive, are the beginning of the Rio Grande Plain, where thorny Mesquite, Retama and Prickly Pear are some of the more prevalent species.

The UTSA study reports that these unique features add up to..." an ecosystem which is not only a self-sustaining parkland but an asset to San Antonio in the way it abates noise and air pollution, provides aesthetic relief and urban form, controls temperature and humidity, and offers a rich background in which to pursue any type of recreational activity."

Homeowners say recreation is nice, but what about flood control?

In a three page summary of the two volume Vickrey study, the report states, "An important feature that should be preserved is the natural condition of Salado Creek?…Alteration of the natural conditions will create an increase in flooding in downstream areas."

Along with the completion of a major dam project that is already underway upstream, the Vickrey study recommends regulating future development in the flood plain to prevent problems and clearing the creek of debris and rubbish so that the creek can function as nature intended.

If we follow the professional recommendations that have been made, then during the occasional deluge, the Salado will be an efficient conduit serving our neighborhoods well, and the other 98% of the time when it?’s not raining, we?’ll have a beautiful and alluring place to play.

In short, the Salado can become San Antonio?’s Real Riverwalk.

Want to learn more about issues relating to the Salado watershed? E-mail questions or comments to: clubsalado@aol.com or call 210.333.7181.