• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    important ecosystem

    Healing our waters: The Gulf of Mexico Summit looks at the state of Texas'seawater

    Melissa Gaskill
    Jan 2, 2012 | 10:30 pm
    • Sunset from a research ship in the Gulf of Mexico.
      Photo by Melissa Gaskill
    • A tug at work along the Gulf Coast.
      Photo by Melissa Gaskill
    • Gulf coast dunes and grasses.
      Photo by Melissa Gaskill
    • Deepwater Horizon disaster site from a Coast Guard plane, July 2010
      Photo by Melissa Gaskill

    A host of high-level officials from the federal, state and local governments, scientists from a whopping 66 academic institutions, representatives of businesses such as seafood and oil and gas and leaders of nearly a dozen conservation organizations recently met in Houston for the second Summit on the State of the Gulf of Mexico.

    Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for the Gulf of Mexico at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and one of the organizers, said the event was intended to get people moving in a common direction.

    Its four days covered everything from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to new drilling activity, efforts to deal with sea-level rise and land subsidence, research on what exactly a healthy Gulf ecosystem looks like and everything in between. There’s no way to cover even a fraction of the subjects discussed in one article, but here are some highlights.

    First, why you should care: The planet’s ninth largest body of water, the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 90 percent of offshore oil and gas produced in the U.S., and a third of our seafood — 1.2 billion pounds worth $661 million a year — as well as 44 percent of the recreational fish catch. Like tuna? The Gulf is the only place Atlantic bluefin tuna spawn.

    If the five states around the Gulf — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — were a country, its economy would rank seventh in the world, at about $234 billion annually.

    If the five states around the Gulf — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — were a country, its economy would rank seventh in the world, at about $234 billion annually. The Gulf’s ports receive seven of every 10 pieces of cargo arriving from ocean transports in the US.

    Texas has 367 miles of shoreline include the bays, lagoons, and estuaries and you’re talking more than 3,000 miles — and our 18 coastal counties are home to 26 percent of our population, and four of the top ten ports in the country.

    More than half of the continental US drains into the Gulf, through the Mississippi River watershed as well as dozens of lesser rivers. Those rivers carry freshwater into coastal bays and estuaries, shallow, calm bodies of water that make great nursery habitat for the young of many economically important fish and shellfish in the Gulf.

    Without enough healthy estuary habitat, you can kiss goodbye sea trout, red drum and other tasty fishes.

    The increasing human demand for water means less of it from our rivers actually reaches the Gulf these days, though. The water that does get there is increasingly laden with chemicals from urban and agricultural run-off.

    Nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers used on crops promote excessive growth of algae, which causes a decrease in oxygen in the water. This creates a “dead zone” where most marine life can’t live, that grows larger every year. In summer of 2011, it covered roughly 7,000 square miles.

    In response to the problems caused by what rivers carry to the Gulf, federal officials announced at the conference a $50 million allocation to the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service for projects in seven river basins to improve water quality, conserve water and create wildlife habitat.

    One of the seven is the San Antonio Bay watershed, which includes the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers. San Antonio Bay is home to our famous whooping crane population.

    Nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers used on crops promote excessive growth of algae, which causes a decrease in oxygen in the water.

    Also at the conference, The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, established by executive order Oct. 5, 2010, released its final strategy report. This is a restoration blueprint that represents input from nearly every possible interested party in the region (the task force held more than 40 public meetings).

    The strategy lays out a series of actions that member agencies can take, based on existing authorities. The document itself recognizes that it is only a first step; whether or not any of its recommendations are ever acted on, only time will tell.

    Meanwhile, the federal government is still figuring out just who is to blame for Deepwater Horizon and how much damage it did. Those decisions will affect who pays how much in fines under the Oil Spill Pollution Act and the Clean Water Act.

    The total could be as much as $20 billion. Legislation currently before Congress would send that money to the Gulf, which makes sense to a lot of people in the region.

    “It is almost inconceivable that this money would not come back here to do what needs to be done,” says Laura Huffman, director of The Texas Nature Conservancy. “The ability to get the money from those fines is the single biggest opportunity for the Gulf in years.”

    Without new legislation, those billions of dollars (the low-end figure is still $5 billion) go into the general federal treasury, and based on past experience, precious little of it is likely to end up in the Gulf area, or in environmental restoration.

    Senate Bill 1400, the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act, dedicates 80 percent of monies from the fines to restoring the Gulf ecosystem and economy. As we went to press, the bill was still pending and any action before the holiday recess seemed unlikely.

    unspecified
    news/travel

    top camping destinations

    Galveston RV resort charms on new list of best campgrounds in America

    Amber Heckler
    Jun 18, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Stella Mare RV Resort in Galveston
    Photo courtesy of The Dyrt
    undefined

    Two charming Texas campsites – Galveston's Stella Mare RV Resort and Neches Bluff Overlook Campgroundin Davy Crockett National Forest – were just ranked among the best campgrounds in America in 2025.

    Campground review platform The Dyrt combed through the most highly rated and favorably reviewed campgrounds across its website for the "2025 Best Places to Camp Regional Awards." Campgrounds were sorted into six regions: Central, Midwest, Mountain, Northeast, Pacific, and Southeast.

    Stella Mare RV Resort ranked No. 6 on the The Dyrt's ranking of the best campgrounds in the Central region. The resort offers 195 different RV sites just steps away from the beach and is pet friendly, making it an ideal summer vacation destination for Houston-area families that don't want to travel too far from home. Campsite rates range between $39-$598 per night.

    Other amenities provided by the resort include high-speed Wi-Fi, 30-50-amp service, two dog parks, barbecue grills, a heated outdoor pool, splash pad, hot tub, and a 3,000-square-foot observation deck. Stella Mare also hosts weekly events such as craft activities, bingo, and more.

    In one review, a returning guest praised the resort's cleanliness and the attentive staff.

    "We have visited Stella Mare every December for 4 years now. This last winter we stayed for 2 months and really enjoyed Galveston," the reviewer said. "The campground is well maintained. The staff is super friendly. They have events for all ages multiple times a week including kid and adult only crafts, candy bar bingo, wine night, s'mores, and golf cart parades for holidays."

    Thrifty campers will enjoy staying at Neches Bluff Overlook Campground, which ranked as the No. 8 best campground in the Central Region. Neches Bluff Overlook is a free campground located in the Davy Crockett National Forest, which is about 150 miles north of Houston.

    Neches Bluff is a primitive campground that only offers "minimal amenities," according to The Dyrt, which means campers will have to rely on their own preparedness if they want to spend several nights in the East Texas forest. The campground operates on a first-come, first-serve basis, and guests are welcome to pick their own site and "create [their] own adventure."

    Neches Bluff OverlookNeches Bluff Overlook is a very scenic place to pitch a tent and enjoy nature.fs.usda.gov/

    One of the most stunning features of Neches Bluff is the panoramic views of the forest from the overlook, according to reviewer Rachel H.

    “There was a creek nearby that we hiked up and down, even found what appeared to be a natural spring feeding the creek," wrote Rachel. "We used the creek as our water supply, and the water was delicious. Lots of cool rocks, and even found a couple snail shells. 10/10 would definitely go again and explore more. The overlook is so pretty, and honestly, this place gave us the perfect camping experience."

    The top 10 best places to camp in the Central Region, according to The Dyrt, are:

    • No. 1 – The Wall, South Dakota
    • No. 2 – Scoria Pit, North Dakota
    • No. 3 – Buffalo Gap, South Dakota
    • No. 4 – Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park Campground, North Dakota
    • No. 5 – Big Pine Campground, South Dakota
    • No. 6 – Stella Mare RV Resort, Texas
    • No. 7 – Hackberry Hollow Campground - Indian Cave State Park, Nebraska
    • No. 8 – Neches Bluff Overlook Campground - Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas
    • No. 9 – Territory Route 66 RV Park and Campgrounds, Oklahoma
    • No. 10 – Wilson State Park Campground, Kansas
    travelgalvestoncampingvacationssummer vacationrankingscampgrounds
    news/travel
    Loading...