Stories Sustain Us #29 – Sustaining Communities with Nature-Based Solutions

Summary
In this conversation, Melissa Bryant shares her journey from growing up on a cotton farm in Texas to becoming an environmental engineer. She discusses the influence of her family, her education in STEM, and her experiences in college that shaped her career path. Melissa emphasizes the importance of community service and making a difference in underserved areas through her work with the San Antonio River Authority. She discusses the importance of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in urban planning and community development, and explores how these approaches can provide clean water, enhance biodiversity, and improve quality of life while addressing issues like flooding and environmental justice. Melissa shares her experiences in implementing these solutions in San Antonio and now in Denver, emphasizing the need for collaboration across departments and the community. The discussion also touches on the economic benefits of these solutions and the hope for a future where communities come together for a better world.

About the Guest
Melissa Bryant is the Colorado Water Program Manager for RESPEC Engineering.  She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Civil Engineering and a Certified Floodplain Manager and has her Project Management Program Certification. In her current role Melissa works on Stormwater Master Plans, stream restoration projects, and maximizing opportunities for Green Infrastructure BMPs for municipalities in the Colorado Region. Melissa serves as a technical advisor to the Water Quality and Environmental Committee for the National Association of Flood & Stormwater Management Agencies and is the current Cochair for ACE25. She serves on the Program Committee for the Colorado Association of Stormwater Floodplain Managers.

Show Notes
Melissa Bryant’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissa-bryant-p-e-cfm-pmp-9b395748
RESPEC Engineering: https://www.respec.com/

Takeaways
•Melissa grew up on a cotton farm, which instilled hard work values.
•STEM education was pivotal in her early academic life.
•Being bilingual provided her with unique career opportunities.
•She values nature and wanted to live in a place centered around it.
•Her work focuses on improving water resources in underserved communities.
•Melissa's college experience included extracurricular activities and mentorship.
•Her journey reflects resilience and adaptability in her career.  Providing clean, safe, potable water is essential.
•Nature-based solutions can enhance community resilience.
•Collaboration across departments is crucial for success.
•Integrating social justice into environmental planning is necessary.
•Nature-based solutions can alleviate localized flooding.
•Economic benefits of green infrastructure are significant.
•Community engagement is key to successful projects.
•We must be stewards of our natural resources.
•Hope is a confident expectation for a better future.
•Unity and collaboration can lead to greater achievements.

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Transcript

Steven 
Welcome back to Stories Sustain Us, the podcast where we celebrate extraordinary individuals who are making the world a better place, one inspiring story at a time. I'm your host, Steven Schauer, and today I have the absolute pleasure of introducing someone whose career and personal journey embody the essence of resilience, innovation, and a deep love for our planet. My guest today is Melissa Bryant.

whose incredible story takes us from growing up on a cotton farm to becoming one of the leading voices in water resource management and nature-based solutions. Melissa's journey is a testament to the power of hard work, adaptability, and a commitment to making a difference. From switching her college major after transformative internships to leveraging her bilingual skills to open unique career doors, Melissa has embraced every opportunity with passion,

and purpose. Her current work focuses on improving water resources in underserved communities, integrating social justice into environmental planning, and championing nature-based solutions to address challenges like flooding and water quality. Melissa firmly believes in the economic and ecological benefits of green infrastructure and the necessity of community engagement to drive impactful, lasting change.

Melissa Bryant is the Colorado Water Program Manager for RESPEC Engineering. She holds a BS in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A University and an MS in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at San Antonio. As a licensed professional engineer, certified floodplain manager, and holder of a project management program certification, Melissa brings a wealth of expertise to her work.

With over 20 years of experience, including her tenure at the San Antonio River Authority, she now works on stormwater master plans, stream restoration projects, and maximizing opportunities for green infrastructure in Colorado. Melissa also lends her expertise to national organizations like the Water Quality and Environmental Committee for the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies.

and she serves as the co-chair for ACE25 with the Rocky Mountain American Water Works Association. Now, on a personal note, I had the privilege of working with Melissa for over 15 years at the San Antonio River Authority. Her expertise in nature-based solutions for stormwater runoff and water quality was always a source of inspiration for me, and it still is today.

and I always jumped at the chance to learn from her wealth of knowledge. So you're in for a real treat today with Melissa's story. Today's episode will dive into Melissa's remarkable story, her upbringing, her career, her insights on collaboration and community engagement, and her vision for a future where hope, unity, and stewardship of our natural resources guide us toward a more sustainable world. So without further ado,

Let's welcome Melissa Bryant to Stories Sustain Us, where we are inspiring action through the power of storytelling.

Steven 
Welcome Melissa. Hi, welcome to Story Sustain Us. Thank you for joining me this morning. How are you today?

Melissa Bryant 
doing well. Thank you again so much for having me. I feel humbled that you would ask me to be on your show.

Steven 
Yeah, well, thank

you for saying yes. And I just got done with the introduction. So everybody kind of started to get to knowing everybody. But it's so great to to kind of reconnect with with an old friend and old colleague. So I had a lot a lot of time working together. And I'm sure we'll touch on on some of that during the conversation. But I'm real grateful to see you. And I'm real glad that you said yes to join me on the show. So thank you for being here. So.

Melissa Bryant 
sure.

Thank you.

Steven 
Yeah, let's jump into your life. That's kind of how we do it on the show here. We get to know about the guests before we transition into some of the great work that we're gonna learn about from you as well. So tell me, Melissa, tell me a little bit about you. Where'd you grow up and what's your story?

Melissa Bryant 
Sure.

So I actually grew up in Lubbock, Texas. just something that's very valuable in my life was

I truly grew up in La Mesa, Texas with my grandparents on a cotton farm. So one of my fondest memories was riding in a tractor with my grandfather plowing the cotton fields. yeah, that'll play into my college degree and where I went later on in life.

Steven 
Wow.

Nice.

And then in

Lubbock area that like horizons forever right there. You just see all day. No, yeah, just you're out there on the plains. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
Yes, no trees. We have bushes, sandstorms. Yeah. So then when

I started school, I moved to Lubbock. my mom, she's a single mom, mother of five. So she truly taught me the value of hard work. She always had like two jobs going on.

Steven 
Yeah, wow. And

where are you in the five order? You're the youngest of the five. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
I'm the youngest. But

if you ask my older siblings, I'm probably the bossiest and try to take control. So, yeah. But I had...

Steven 
you

Melissa Bryant 
an aunt and uncle that went to Texas Tech University and so she would always pull me in starting when I was like in junior high to go start doing STEM programs at Texas Tech. So that was super beneficial to me. I knew at an early age that math and science were like my go-to subjects.

Steven 
Yeah, and

STEM, I'm sure most people know that by now, but it's science, technology, engineering, math, that's kind of making sure folks understand that, but that's for kids getting exposure to those types of educational opportunities and career opportunities. So that makes a lot of sense, and you eventually go on the career that you went on.

Melissa Bryant 
Yes.

Yeah.

You know? Yeah.

Exactly,

yeah, and she's been a mentor my entire life. They both have. But she's a chemical engineer, so going into high school, continued to excel at math and science. I had a calculus teacher that was just super motivational and continued to encourage me, like, you're really good at this. You need to go into something related to math, like science and engineering.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And so she pulled me into the decathlon team at the school. So that was really good because the decathlon team is a sprite of, it's math, it's science, it's oral, it's art, it's just a slew of subjects that you have to be well-knowledged in when you go to competition.

Steven 
Nice.

Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. So

statewide stuff, know, is that, did you get a chance to travel a little bit doing that as well from the Lubbock area?

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, usually just like state competitions would be the only thing. Yeah, but it was really good. You know, I went to Lubbock High, which was known as a magnet school. It had AP courses and honors classes. And so definitely was able to take advantage of the AP courses and get college credits before going into college. So that was really nice. Wow.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Now,

having grown up on the farm and did you already have an interest in nature and outdoors and things like that as you're also learning that you're super talented in math and science? Is this already starting to come together for you in these teenage years? Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
It wasn't until

later in life when I was reflecting on my past and childhood and I was like, wow, know, growing up on the farm and just learning the process of what my grandfather had to go through. They had goats, had hogs, they had chickens, just self-sustaining there on a farm. But then also, I mentioned my aunt and uncle.

They

would do a lot of trips and they would actually, you know, I was, my mom was single and she didn't have, you know, the means to be able to take trips, summer trips. And so I would join them and they would come to Colorado. And so, you know, just, I realized my love of nature then, like just being able to hike in these tall pine trees and along the creeks and just my love for nature really started there.

and was rooted there. And it's crazy because, you know, later on in life when, you know, I'm meeting Vernon and I'm dating Vernon, I'm sending him postcards from Colorado, like, we need to move out here when we get married. And yeah, so it's, and it was funny because we didn't even find those postcards until we were moving from San Antonio, packing everything up to come to Colorado. So it's just, yeah, it was just so surreal.

Steven 
full circle. Yeah, that's

a that's great. Thank you for sharing that with me. That's a really that that is wonderful how life can work out that way that things that really are meaningful to you in your younger life you can find your way back to later in life. So that's that's wonderful. Yeah. So you're in Lubbock and you're doing great in STEM and Cathalon and and any

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Steven 
Anything else that in your preteen teenage years, are you active in sports or anything else that is kind of helping to shape your life?

Melissa Bryant 
So.

Yeah, so I did run cross country and I will say that definitely helped me with my endurance. Just in life in general, just from a spiritual perspective, from a mental perspective and physical perspective. So yeah, yeah, like, you know, rely on the Lord for my strength and just keep that endurance going. Yeah.

Steven 
well, yeah.

Sure. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah, just being able to keep going. Yeah.

Push through and keep one foot going in front of the next, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And then the other thing that I did was I actually did heavy lifting competitions. So yeah, I did go to state for that. Yeah. So squatting and bench pressing and deadlifts. Yeah. So that kind of kept me throughout my life just making sure that I was physical and active. Yeah.

Steven 
No kidding. In high school. Yeah, right on.

Yeah.

Yeah, physically and mentally fit. that's, wow,

that's fantastic. So, you ended up, I know from our time together at the San Antonio River Authority, and I know you are an Aggie. Yeah, so.

Melissa Bryant 
I am. Yeah.

yeah, all my tech family, yeah, I was about last week with a family and I was like, I'm not staying in Lubbock. Like this is too flat. There's no trees. You're eating dirt every day in the sandstorms. oh, that's right.

Steven 
You

Yeah.

wife grew up in Lubbock too so I'm

sure she would agree with all of that.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah,

so I was like, I'm going to try to go as far as possible from Lubbock within a second. Yeah. And I had gotten some scholarships. I actually was supposed to go to Rice University. And

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

yeah, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
later on, probably like three months after I had gotten, like I was completing paperwork to go to Rice, I got an acceptance letter from A and they were offering me, you know, pretty much a full scholarship. And so when I made the financial comparisons, like Rice had a really nice scholarship, but I would still end up having to pay a good chunk of it. And it was like, I think I'll go to A So.

Steven 
Right on.

Yeah, it's private school,

Yeah, that's a good choice.

Yeah. And it's not like A is a slouchy academic school. Yeah, not at all. mean, that's in the career that you went into. It's really what it's known for. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, sub.

no no no no. Yeah.

For sure. Yeah.

So I, by the time I made that decision, I couldn't get into the dorms. So I was like one of the few freshmen that had to live off campus. And so I had others, you know, within my high school that were also going to A There were several people that went to A And so I had a couple that had gotten, like they got married out of high school and were going to A And they were like, well, we have a two bedroom apartment.

Steven 
no.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
I was like, okay, I can fuck up with you for a year at least, you know, until I find a roommate. And so ended up living off campus my first year, which, you know, again, is rare because most of time they encourage freshmen to live on campus. But it worked out really well. Like, things just went really well. And like I said, I started out chemical engineering because, you know, I had a great mentor. My aunt was a chemical engineer.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And I did two internships, my freshman and my sophomore year, at a chemical plant in Odessa, Texas.

And they were making polymers and so, you know, did a lot of the chemical engineering work and process blows. But then I, as an intern, I got to go work with the environmental engineers and I saw like just the work that they were doing with, you know, remediation and protection of the natural resources and they were out in the field pretty much the majority of the day. was like, I think I like what they're doing. I think you want to change my

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
major to environmental engineering. yeah, so went back to, went back to A I think started my junior year. And by this time I was already taking P chem. So it's like far along, you know, in my chemistry.

Steven 
Makes sense, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And I decided, you know, I want to change to environmental engineering. Well, unfortunately, at A at that time, they didn't have an environmental engineering program. Tech had one, and I think UT had one. But I was just like, no, I want to stay here at A So I coordinated with my advisors, and they were like the most, the thing that aligns the most with environmental engineering is agricultural engineering. So I switched majors.

Steven 
Sure, makes sense. And for Texas A that also makes a

lot of sense. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
Exactly,

yes. I switched majors, went to agricultural engineering. A lot of my basics transferred, so that was good. But since I had been so focused on chemistry, I had to take like a biology class. And so, you know, and I loved biology growing up, so was like, okay, that's fine. I'll do that.

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
But even my advisors within the agricultural engineering program, they were like, OK, well, if you truly want to do environmental, you need to take these options from the civil engineering department. So those programs are focused more on water and wastewater, and so that I could get the full concept of water resources and water resource engineering.

And so, yeah, that's how I ended up with an agricultural engineering degree. And I think it's been great. they just, it brought me back to the love of the rivers, you know, our water, protecting our natural resources for sure.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

So all these years that I've known you, I didn't realize there's a similarity in our undergrad journeys. I started out in chemistry as well. And it was my junior year, my sophomore year going into my junior year that I kind of switched to environmental science. Where I was going to undergrad had just started an environmental science degree. I think I was the second person to graduate with that degree from the school.

Um, but yeah, I had that kind of eye opening thought of, don't, I don't know that I want to be inside a building my whole life in that the, yeah, the, the environmental science people get to go out and do stuff outside. And that sounds way more appealing. And, and, uh, yeah, it triggered my thought when he said P chem, I was, I, all I needed to take was P chem and I would have graduated with a dual degree. I just didn't.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, all day running computer models and desks closed. Yeah.

Go.

Steven 
I just decided not to take the P chem class to get two degrees. Cause I was like, I know I'm not going to go down the road of chemistry. So why spend the money and time doing the P chem class? But that, yeah, that triggered a thought, wow, P chem, I could have had two degrees, but I'm so glad I did the similar, you know, mid course change like you did and went in the environmental direction that, that, I appreciate that connection to your story. So, so what

Melissa Bryant 
He

Yeah.

Steven 
You know, getting into the world of water then and civil engineering and those types of things, did you do other internships or do, you know, how did you continue to kind of grow into that area now that you made that switch in your college years?

Melissa Bryant 
So, you know, I didn't do additional internships after that. You know, I had a lot of extracurricular activities at A that I was doing and that kept me busy, it was enjoyable. No.

Steven 
Yeah. Were you in the core? Okay.

Melissa Bryant 
But

I was on the A Ballet Folklorico dance group. so, you know, so that was really fun. And then I just did a lot with like the multicultural department and trying to bring in freshmen and help them along their journey and just sharing my story of, you know, statistics that were against me and not falling into play for the statistics that the

Steven 
right on, yeah.

Sure.

Nice.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
puts on you, but you focusing on what's your journey and what's the plan that you see yourself in and moving forward in that. So I got on, it was a program called Excel and so we did lot of freshman orientations and would work with more of the minority students that were coming in.

Steven 
Yeah, right on.

Yeah.

Yeah, right on.

Yeah, that's great.

Melissa Bryant 
So yeah, and then by the beginning of my junior year is when I met Vernon. So also I have that. I will. But no, so I didn't do any more internships, but I certainly got a lot of good advice from my advisors on my future steps once I graduated.

Steven 
Yeah. Good man. Good telling I said hi, by the way. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And a lot of that was going into construction immediately so that you could truly be a good designer and develop things. Yeah. Verna and I got married while we were at A And he graduated a semester before me and moved up to Portland, Oregon. And so when I graduated, moved up there and worked for Q at construction.

Steven 
Okay.

Yeah, good practice, start getting real world practice, yeah.

Yeah.

Okay,

what were you doing there?

Melissa Bryant 
I was a subcontract engineer and so I was actually working out in the field. We were putting in a fiber optic line from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. And so, yeah, on a daily basis, just working with the subcontractors as they were plowing or trenching or boring the fiber optic lines as we continued to move up to Seattle, Washington. And so, again, that, you know,

Steven 
Okay, yeah.

Yeah. Nice.

Melissa Bryant 
that

advice from my mentors at A was super beneficial because there were instances where like we hit a major water line and had to figure out how to handle that. you know, ran across like a heritage tree and had to figure out the like how to redesign it because we had the railroad, you know, next to the heritage. Yeah. Yeah. So just trying to figure out how to maneuver around that. So

Steven 
You're confining, yeah, were, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
just understanding the obstacles that you would run into the field and brainstorming like, okay, well how do we reroute this line and how do we get past this obstacle? So it was really beneficial,

Steven 
Yeah, yeah, great real world experience. Sounds like a wonderful

experience right out of college to get that hands on type of work. Fantastic. did you stay at that corporation the whole time that you were in the Northwest or? Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
I did, yeah.

I worked for Q-IT the whole time. Again, the main project was putting in the fiber optic line from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. So I saw that entire project through. There was a point where we were primarily in Washington working the entire time trying to get it to Seattle. So I actually got an apartment in Tacoma, Washington. Yeah.

Steven 
Yeah, okay.

Sure. Sure. Kind of that midpoint there between

the two,

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah,

to minimize the travel and then I would just go home on the weekends and ride the Amtrak. I love the Amtrak. was so cool. But, well, you've got to do it. It goes along the coast, so it's super nice. Yeah. Really nice. Yeah. It's in your own backyard.

Steven 
Yeah, I haven't done that yet. It's on our to-do list now that we're up here. we want to take it up into Canada as well. So we just got to do it one of these days. So yeah, right on. Yep.

Melissa Bryant 
But the thing that I didn't care for in the Northwest there was just the dreariness to me. It rained like every single day. yeah.

Steven 
Yeah

Yeah, I'm actually

all right with that. Yeah. We were, uh, when we were moving here a few years ago, you know, people in San Antonio are like, Oh, it's going to be raining all the time and everything. And you know, rain in San Antonio, it's like dangerous. It's like storms that could be flash flooding and really harmful here. It's just like, it's just a mist. Like, put a hoodie on and go outside. yeah, I, uh, it's a trade-off that we get all the lovely giant trees and forests that.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah. Yeah. No. It's the drizzle.

Steven 
I'd live 200 days out of the year or more in the rain and that's alright.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Well,

I didn't realize that San Antonio and Seattle area get the same amount of rain.

Steven 
Yeah, I think I

think sometimes San Antonio actually gets more annual rain. just comes in buckets a few times a year, whereas here it just drizzles all the time. But yeah, those are some of those weird things. You don't really equate, you know, a semi arid San Antonio having a similar amount of rainfall as the lush Pacific Northwest. So so how long did you stay then in, you know, that that, you know,

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

No.

Steven 
Portland, Northwest area, you and Verna before you wound up, I think heading back to Texas is where, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
We did, yeah.

It was probably about a year, Brian was probably there year and a half. But yeah, once we completed the project, I was like, okay, I'm ready to go. Like, I need sun. And so yeah, so we moved back to Texas and we ended up in Dallas, Texas. And so.

Steven 
Yeah.

That's unsure. Yeah.

Okay. And what did you

end up doing there? What was kind of the next step of your career?

Melissa Bryant 
So there I worked for a private firm, consulting firm. was...

a small Book of Willis and Rotliff engineering. It was a super small office, probably had about 30 people there. They did water and wastewater and transportation and airport. And so I was one of the few that knew AutoCAD at the time and MicroStation. And so my thought was that I was going to go into like water, wastewater, because that was my background. And that's what I knew. And then they put me on the

on the airport engineering team. So I was like, okay. So I just went with it. So primary focus was designing, rehabilitating airports in Texas.

Steven 
Sure.

Melissa Bryant 
And that was super pulled just because it taught me a lot of the basic principles, especially when I went to take like my engineering exam. Like several of the principles on there were on the exam. But the good thing, like I said, I knew both softwares. And so from the wastewater side, they used micro stations. So I got pulled into some of the community projects of designing water and wastewater lines. And then I got pulled into some of the transportation.

Steven 
Right on.

Melissa Bryant 
and bridge projects. Being a small office, you get pulled into everything. So the good thing about the small office is your experience just grows. And I was also the only one in the office that was bilingual. And so...

Steven 
Okay.

Sure. Yeah.

Okay, that's a benefit, absolutely.

Melissa Bryant 
It was a benefit, yeah. So from the bridge perspective, I would actually go to California, to Mexico, where they would...

create or build the bridge forms and I would go do the inspections. Yeah, because a lot of the plants that were building the forms just spoke Spanish. So yeah, it was a good opportunity to be able to travel and see the plants but then also see the city at night and stuff.

Steven 
Okay. Yeah, sure.

Sure. Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah. So

again, just kind of another maybe brief connection in our past is why I worked for Fugero engineering for a while in my career and not doing the engineering stuff. Obviously that's not my background, but I was the construction materials tech. I would do a lot of the testing for the engineers to make sure that the concrete was meeting the, you know, the PSI standards or the soil was compacted appropriately or not. So

Melissa Bryant 
Mm.

Yeah.

Steven 
when you're inspecting the bridge construction, the piers, were you doing the concrete as well or just making sure it was designed as it was following the designs that you guys created or a little bit of both? What were you doing there? Yeah.

Melissa Bryant
Right. Yes.

It was a little bit of both. Yeah.

I would go in and check like PSIs for sure. And check the plant. there was like a checklist that I would go through. Inspect the beams. Like make sure, you know, there weren't any fractures or anything that would in the future provide an impact to the bridge being built with the beams.

Steven 
Yeah, weak point. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. That's fascinating. Now they're...

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, just making

sure that it was structurally sound before it went into the project design. Yeah, constructed. Yeah.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah, before it got, you know, installed, right? Yeah,

that's awesome. So how long then were you in the Dallas area?

Melissa Bryant 
So we were there like two and a half years and I actually did not care for Dallas. It was very fast paced. Yeah, at my drive I was literally like maybe five miles from my work and it would take me like.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
an hour and a half to get through traffic and I was just like this is insane like I can't do this every day since my life.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah, Dallas and Houston are, yep, yeah,

they're great cities, but I would be hard pressed to be in Dallas or Houston. Yeah, so I feel you.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

And

I also, you know, we eventually lived in Rowlett, which is like a suburb of Dallas, and there was a big lake there. But other than that, like it was difficult to find like the natural connections there. And so I told Vernon, I was like, we need to move to a place where, you know, the river is the center of town, because that's what I loved about Portland. In Portland, the river is the center of town. There's always something going on on the weekend.

Steven 
Sure.

yeah

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And plus like when we had moved to Portland like our apartment was right on one of the tributaries And it was and the golf course was there and it was just like gorgeous and then you you have Mount Hood Mount Rainier and it's just like so much to do and then an hour to the west is the beach and Yeah, so just being drawn to water again and nature and I didn't find that in Dallas

Steven 
Nice.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
very difficult. And so was like, need to move somewhere where the river is the center of town and, you know, we can enjoy trials. And so my best friend was planning her wedding and so I was making frequent trips to San Antonio because that's where she lived. And, you know,

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
one morning I was looking at the paper and I was like San Antonio River Authority. was like, huh, let me look at this. And so, you I circled it and I was like, can I have this paper and get back with me and called about it. And sure enough, got an interview and, you know, they were looking at the time that the major project, I guess, that they wanted me to work on was the Goliad.

Steven 
Yeah,

Melissa Bryant 
system and there you

Steven 
yeah, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
know I guess some some highlights that were a benefit for me was again being bilingual and working water wastewater systems and

Steven 
Yeah, and for those of us,

I know what you meant by that, but for people who may not be familiar with, so the Goliad system that you're referencing is a water system down in the small rural city of Goliad and some of the even smaller, even more rural communities around the little town of Goliad, Berclare and some other places and these were.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Right.

Steven 
very rural, very underserved areas that were... right.

Melissa Bryant 
Right. So they were considered colonias. And

so with the colonias, it's like within 100 miles of the Mexican border. And the majority of them are just Spanish speaking. And what I really loved about this project, it really was...

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
I saw it as, like I'm truly making a difference in this project. Because their water wells were pretty much underneath their septic systems. Their septic systems were bleeding through and contaminating their water wells. So it was.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, uranium

issues in the groundwater as well. So all kinds of...

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, so

it was an opportunity for us to come in and give them clean, safe, potable water. yeah, so we did that for La Bahia, which is a super historic town in Texas. Fannin, Burclay.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, all these

variants where the, you know, Texas independence started for those, know, Texas history and everybody knows the Battle of the Alamo, but there were some very important, you know, Texas independence issues happening down in that area as well. So yeah, very, very historic parts of, but also very underserved and very.

Melissa Bryant 
and

Steven 
depressed socioeconomically as well so the other the work that you did there is commendable minutes it's still providing people potable water today so that that's that's fantastic

Melissa Bryant 
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

so that's how we transitioned to San Antonio.

Steven 
Yeah. So

that's, you know, you, were already there by the time I arrived at the San Antonio river authority. So your, your career was already on the road there. And then, then I had a chance to join you and spend many years together there. And, and, you were one of the people who helped educate me, which I'm going to ask you to help educate the audience now too, on, you know, nature-based solutions and.

Melissa Bryant 
Bye.

Steven 
you know, engineering with nature and those types of terms and that type of, you know, work with stormwater systems and how do we restore creeks and rivers and all of that. I know you've left the San Antonio River Authority as well, not too long after I left a few years ago and you're back in Colorado now. I want to, I guess,

Melissa Bryant 
you

you

Steven 
Tell me a little bit about where you're working. Um, cause I want to be respectful for the corp company and that you're working with now so that they get some, some kudos and, and tell us a little bit what you're doing now. But then we can hopefully transition into you helping educate everybody about the significance of, you know, um, nature-based engineering or nature-based solutions. These are terms that are sometimes intertwined. And I think the core of engineers calls it engineering with nature, all these.

terms kind of mean similar things, but what are doing now? And then maybe help transition us into telling us why this, working with nature is what it is and how we do it and why it's important.

Melissa Bryant 
something.

Yeah, so I retired from the River Authority after 21 years and am now working with RESPEC Engineering. yeah, I've been there, last October was a year, so that was really nice to meet that milestone. Up in Colorado.

Steven 
up in Colorado where you kind of come full circle. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
Full circle, yeah. So it's truly been a joy to be able to carry a lot of the concepts that I learned and did at the River Authority and continue to help some of the Colorado municipalities and districts here. Very interesting. I'll get to a cool story later on about just the connection and being able to use some of the tools that we developed at the River Authority

here in Colorado. as far as nature-based solutions, so the other one is green infrastructure, that's another one that's being tied to it. I think San Antonio led the way with the Mission Reach project.

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
using that as an example of what nature can do, not just for the environment from replenishing the native species there, the aquatic species there, but also from a quality of life. We saw during COVID so many people enjoying the trails. There was an uptick in the number of usage. Yeah, but it's so great to

Steven 
Giant uptake, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
to

like Sean's story about the mussels and not only that, like the avian species, the last time I touched base with the team, they were up to like 219 species. Yeah, which is crazy, because it was double digits.

Steven 
to 219 now, yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
before the restoration happened. so it's so good to see that the transformation that can happen with nature-based solutions. for me, we're trying to carry that concept into the other projects as we continue to work with the city and the county on the Howard Peak trails as they continue to do them and connect.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
giving

them that visualization of how our streams are just so important and being mindful of what goes into them and what drains into them.

You know, we try to incorporate it into the West Side Creeks projects. Of course, San Pedro Creek. And yeah, it was just really good for the River Authority to be advocating for these things. But not only that, you know, NatureBee Solutions are an opportunity to really highlight like the multi-beneficial components that can be tied into it.

one of the...

One of the projects that the River Authority worked on during the bond process was looking at all the bond projects and identifying, you know, trying to break silos between departments because transportation will have one project going on, parks will have one project going on, know, storm water will have another one, but just bringing all the projects together, looking at them holistically, but then identifying, okay, let's

add all these layers because we have so much data available to us. So looking at

traffic incidents and like death rates from bicyclists or pedestrians, looking at environmental equity, looking at social vulnerability, looking at the urban heat island. And then the river authority itself also had water quality, flooding. There were so many things that we could layer on and identify like, wow, this is a good project to focus on and identify.

You know, let's put in some bump outs here because there's so many traffic accidents here in this location We need to slow the traffic down, but we can double it because the urban heat island index is so High in this area. Let's let's plant some vegetation. Let's you know, make a tree line straight Let's you know continue add to components of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions that will address all of those issues

Steven 
Slow traffic down right.

Melissa Bryant 
that the city is seeing. you know, a lot of times it gets engineer valued out because it's too expensive.

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
And so, you know, we were able to break it out by price. Like, this is the cost of trees, and this is the number of trees that we recommend, but here's the cost of trees, so if you want to take a couple out, you can see the benefits. And so for each component that we were recommending, putting a cost that's tied to it so that you don't just completely delete the BMPs, you scale it to what's available in the budget.

Steven 
Right, and BMP for audiences

best management practice. Right, so these ideas of how you can incorporate these multi-benefits.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Right. But the other

side of that was, again, working across the departments. It's like, look.

you're planning a transportation project here, you're planning a park project here, you're planning a, you need stormwater here, so why don't you pull your funds together to really move this forward? Because, you know, there were several locations because of the Howard Peak trails that are being created, there's an opportunity to put, like, add sidewalks or bike lanes to be able to connect the trails, like,

Steven 
Right.

Right.

Right.

Melissa Bryant 
there's an opportunity within less than a mile to connect the trails. And so just justifying that with the city and helping them in their bond projects and how they designed them and how they created them. And so that, go ahead.

Steven 
Yeah.

Well, what I was gonna say and I didn't wanna jump in, but I almost couldn't help myself. What you're describing and what you and your team did and I think is the epitome of sustainability. I we live in an interconnected world. Whether we think we do or not, we do. Everything is kinda interconnected and I think, you know.

Melissa Bryant 
Mm-hmm.

Steven 
20th century engineering and pre 20th century engineering kind of looked at things siloed like you said a street project here a bridge project there a stormwater project there a park over there and everybody did their own thing not really looking at how all of these projects can interplay just the same that we don't always appreciate how nature

is intertwined and interacts with each other. So, I mean, your team really did put together this way of looking at projects that really emphasize the sustainability, not just putting in more trees and improving water quality through the different stormwater mechanisms that can be implemented.

But integrating economics, integrating social and cultural, integrating environmental justice as you were talking about, all of these areas, looking at housing and what areas didn't have historically were provided resources, all of these things integrating. It takes work, it takes effort, but that's the right way to do it. That's the way to get the...

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Steven 
best benefit for the for the most people particularly when we're talking about limited public dollars we can't so I was so impressive watching what you and your team were doing to integrate all of these different ideas and really demonstrating what sustainability should be across the boards what it's how we should be doing things

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, exactly.

Right. And you brought up some good points because several of the areas that we looked at, like we looked at the social vulnerability. And so we identified like where a lot of the need was were communities that they don't own cars. They walk, they bike, they go to the bus stops. so being able and the, you know, urban heat island index is so high, like, you know, San Antonio gets like over a hundred degrees.

Steven 
Right.

Melissa Bryant 
several days. Yeah.

Steven 
Yeah, months and getting worse now with climate

Melissa Bryant 
So it's just so brutal. So being able

Steven 
change. That's right.

Melissa Bryant 
to provide the shade, to alleviate some of that from the community, know, look at the bus stops. And that was the other thing, like we were like, let's try to partner with VIA, like what can we do? Which was the transportation system in San Antonio. But let's identify how we can all partner and work on this together to create those multi-benefit projects.

Steven 
Right.

Right.

Right.

Melissa Bryant 
Green infrastructure or nature-based solutions were also an opportunity, like you said, to provide the water quality benefits because the streams are so close. There's so many streams throughout San Antonio. And we saw several times where just a short rainfall event in the afternoon would flush into the rivers, and then you'd have fish kill because the temperatures were so high because the amount of

Steven 
Right.

Melissa Bryant 
of imperviousness there and would cause the stream's temperatures to just increase and cause a fish to go warm. Right.

Steven 
Yeah, to reduce the dissolved oxygen, know, flushing bacteria

and other, you know, that might not be harmful to the fish, but makes it, you know, super not good for human interaction with the water. So yeah, all of these things again, interacting and, and, you know, they're, they're all connected. So we have to look at them, look at these things as connected systems because they are.

Melissa Bryant 
down.

Bye.

wrong.

And then the other big component from the San Antonio perspective, and I know several communities just because you and I are both on the National Association of Storm Water and Flood Management Agencies. There's so many communities that I hear have issues with localized flooding, and that's not something FEMA funds or that's not something FEMA develops standards for.

addressing those localized flooding events. Like these nature-based solutions and green infrastructure can help address and alleviate some of those areas. And as a team, we understood, like, you can't incorporate nature-based solutions and you can't incorporate green infrastructure everywhere. You know, there's a place for it. I know I was working with the director of transportation.

And she's no longer there, but she was very instrumental when I was talking to her about, you know, green infrastructure, nature-based solutions and like, let's work on these corridors. And she's like, Melissa, you can't do it on this corridor because it's a major highway and we need this for transportation. There's no room for bike lanes. That would be dangerous. And, you know, she really laid it out to me and that was like so beneficial because I was like, I didn't think about that.

Steven 
Right.

Melissa Bryant 
was

straight like, let's do HRB solutions everywhere. And so it was an opportunity to learn like there's a place for it.

Steven 
Sure, sure.

Melissa Bryant 
but really working with the community and identifying where are the appropriate locations. so definitely looking at the bond projects was an opportunity to work with the teams and see like, oh, this would be a great spot because it's not a major thoroughfare and it could link the trails. we're seeing...

bicyclists injured at this location. just, again, the multi-benefits. And the other difficult part of really advocating for nature-based solutions is that when you come to developing your benefit-cost ratio to move forward with a project,

Steven 
Right, right.

Melissa Bryant 
Sometimes it doesn't equate to to one, to move it forward. And so that's something as part of the NASMA group that we're working with to really encourage FEMA, the Corps, and EPA to look at the quality of life benefits.

Steven 
Right, how do you

account for some of these things that aren't just construction costs, but the benefits that, you know, if someone's living now by a multi-benefit project and they have a trail access, you know, is their health improving? Is their diabetes rates might drop because people can be more active? How do we account for those things when scoring projects? Because, you know, it's not just what does it cost to plan it and build it.

Melissa Bryant 
Right. Yeah.

Steven 
what are the benefits that you you know, lifetime of that project and, you know, that's not certainly something that's happening yet and it does make these projects sometimes appear to be more expensive but we're not capturing adequately all the benefits of what the costs are for not doing these things either. all right. So let me,

Melissa Bryant 
Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Steven 
I'm going to maybe set you up for a question here because I want to make sure that everybody watching this or listens to this really can start to understand what nature-based solutions are, green infrastructure are. so I imagine most folks are familiar with the Los Angeles River. You know, even if you didn't know the Los Angeles River, if you've seen Terminator 2 and the big chase scene through a big concrete drainage ditch,

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Steven 
that's the Los Angeles river going, you know, back to, know, you know, grease movie, the musical, the, the, you know, the, you know, the, the drag race in this big concrete drainage ditch. That's, that's the Los Angeles river. And that is, you know, engineering that works engineering 20th century engineering that took a natural river, straightened it, hard surfaced it.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Steven 
primarily not the entire length, but most of that 40-ish mile river in Los Angeles is now a concrete channel. It does what it was designed to do. It moves flood waters through the city rapidly and allowed for economic development to occur in areas that used to flood. So that engineering had value, but it also essentially

Melissa Bryant 
Mm-hmm.

Steven 
destroyed the natural ecosystem in its process. And that is an example that I think a lot of people can understand and see that, and not realize that's a river, they just think that's a drainage ditch, because that's essentially what it became. So that's kind of the older way of engineering, the old way of thinking civil engineering of, and again, it worked and there's value to it.

Melissa Bryant 
Mm-hmm.

Steven 
nature-based solutions, green infrastructure, help the audience understand what we're now looking at is still trying to maintain, in this case, flood mitigation, a flood benefit that provides economic development benefit for the community, but we're doing it working with nature as opposed to fighting nature. So help explain

better than I am. What does that mean? Like what is that, you know, to an average citizen who hears the term nature-based solutions or green infrastructure, what are some examples that you can describe that people can understand that difference between the old way of just putting up a concrete ditch versus this new way? What is this new, newer way of working with nature as opposed to fighting it?

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, so it's really looking from a stream perspective, making sure that you're keeping those meanders. And you can look at historical maps to see what the meandering system was. And that's one thing that we did with the San Antonio River for the mission reach was look like. Where were the previous meanders? And identifying opportunities where you can use natural.

improvements in the area. For example, you know, for bank stabilization, like we would use root wads and we would jam them into the side of the banks to provide that bank stabilization. It provided fish habitat. It provided an opportunity for

not only the bank to be stabilized but also for aquatic species to have some kind of protection from predators. And also just identifying where your streams are flowing and what are some of other...

improvements that you can make in that area. From an engineering perspective, I know in some areas we used cross veins, we used J-hooks, and those were placing a little bit more hardened infrastructure to direct the water to be able to continue to flow and not jam into the side of the bank to erode it even further.

Steven 
Right.

Melissa Bryant 
So looking for opportunities like that, we also used embayments. Those are very similar to like wetland features.

Steven 
They're incredibly important for habitat as,

Melissa Bryant 
Exactly. Opportunities

Steven 
right, right.

Melissa Bryant 
for an area for waters to pool and also looking at the entire length of the river. you providing runs? Are you providing riffles? Are you providing pools to make sure that the stream is healthy?

Steven 
Sure. And for those

who again might not be as familiar with stream terminology, a run is a type of a section of river where it's relatively straight, same velocity, relatively similar depth. A riffle is where it gets a little shallower and the water speeds up going over rapids kind of is what a riffle is and then a

Melissa Bryant 
Go.

Steven 
A pool is obviously an area where the water slows down and gets a little bit deeper. So that I captured that correctly for the audience. And all three of those types of habitat features are important for aquatic systems to have a healthy balance, you know, because some creatures need the riffle and some creature needs the pool. So having that is important for aquatic health and, you know, just having a river system that

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Steven 
serves more of a purpose than just what us humans needed to serve. did I capture all that correctly? You taught me, so...

Melissa Bryant 
Right. You did? Yeah.

And I will say, you know, even within the river stream, like over the years, we identified that there was areas where we did have to hardscape some banks in order to stabilize them. Like we had to, at some of the confluences, the waters were just so strong that we had to put like beams or a steel wall.

to help stabilize the bank and then pretty it up on the upside. But for the most part, the majority of the mission reach is very nature-based. it's been working great. It's been there, geez, since 2012? 12 years. Yeah.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah, we had the grand opening in 2013. This

was the final kind of, so yeah, 12, 13 years now.

Melissa Bryant 
And to say

that that confluence is the only place where we've had to put in a hard structure, that's pretty good.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah.

And I think that's also a great example though too of again balancing how do we do these projects, particularly in urban areas like you used the transportation example, full on green infrastructure solutions or nature-based solutions might not work.

everywhere in a particular urban area. So you do have to make those choices and those decisions about where you might have to use an older traditional hardened surface because we still want to protect the residents that live near the river and the houses and the infrastructure and all the other things. So we can't let necessarily the river do exactly what it wants to do, but the idea behind what

Melissa Bryant 
Right. Yeah.

Steven 
the work is that you're doing is how do you allow these natural systems to function as natural as possible with, where the engineering is more, as you said, redirecting maybe or working with as opposed to just eliminating nature. But there are places that it just doesn't work.

Melissa Bryant 
Right, right. I

will say that even with like, with nature-based solutions when you think about it, you know, you may have to do improvements along the way, but...

you know, or every few years, but when you think about hardscape trapezoidal concrete channels, if those fail, like the amount to replace and improve those areas is so much higher. So when you look at the benefits of long-term operations and maintenance,

That's where you truly see the benefits also. Truly from a long-term benefit, quality of life is huge.

Steven 
ecosystem health and

all of that, right?

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah, but when you're looking

at dollars, even the long term benefits from a cost perspective, it's so much more economical to work in a nature-based solution versus hard and concrete gray infrastructure. Now, when we look at more of the community, green infrastructure and nature-based solutions, you know, that's where you're seeing, when development comes in, having them put in

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
rain gardens or bio swells or you know sometimes they use sand filters but to me you want to do something that's front and center that you continue to operate and maintain not something that's in the backyard that's forgotten for a long time. Bio swells and so things like that are

Steven 
Right.

Melissa Bryant 
something that provides an uplift just because it's like a it's like a vegetated area, a landscaped area, like it looks good and it also provides those multiple benefits of improving the water quality, allowing the parking lots to run into those areas. So you know today we see so many businesses coming in and their parking lots are just so huge and so you just see

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
area of gray infrastructure to be able to break that up where you'd have you know pervious pavement or a bioswell or something between the parking spots is huge because it's providing additional benefits.

Steven 
Right. Well, I think that's a

great point that you're making, Melissa, too, that this idea of using green infrastructure or nature-based solutions, it's not against development, right? It's this, you know, there's for so many years and probably still today in many places, there's this false argument of...

We can't have economic development and growth and building housing and businesses and everything in nature. It's got to be one or the other. And that that's a false argument. That's not at all what your work is proving. Your work is proving. No, we want to support development. Of course we need economic development. We need places for people to live and businesses and places for people to work. And communities, cities need that. So it's not.

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Steven 
It's not this, you know, either or argument anymore. It's how do we develop better in a way that we can have the business that has the parking lot, but it's done in a way that is actually also not as harmful that it that that it can be more even helpful for nature, providing habitat for birds and other things, gathering the water, helping water quality. it's it's minimizing this old outdated fight that

Developers I think used to use often in their arguments for not wanting to put in trees or not following these things is because it's gonna make it more expensive and It's either or and it's it's not that way. It doesn't have to be that way anyway

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah. And I think also, you know, from a city's perspective, like looking for the opportunities to where they can also implement green infrastructure. So again, not just on developers, but from a city perspective, yeah. Right.

Steven 
Yeah, on public lands as well, cities and counties as well, absolutely.

Melissa Bryant 
you know, making sure if you're reconstructing an entire roadway and you're increasing.

the width of the roads or the width of the sidewalks, you know, there's an opportunity to maintain the lanes a certain width, but also like if you have medians, like why are they concrete medians? Like why can't we do vegetated medians that also provide stormwater benefit and have the roads drain into those locations? And then if you think about, again, from...

from a community that you know you want to be walkable, bikeable, then let's provide some protection for them. Maybe that's the area where you put in the green infrastructure and line the streets with trees or allow for pedestrians and bicyclists to be separated from that traffic. So, yeah.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much. know we're coming up on an hour. I could keep talking about this all day because I think it's so... Yeah, please. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Melissa Bryant 
Well, I did want to mention something if I can. It's

so great that I got to work on that on that project, the bond project before I left, because I will tell you now I'm working with the city of Denver on one of their their MS4 projects and they're now requiring their transportation team to.

Steven 
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And that's a federal kind

of stormwater, water quality type of issue MS4. just so again, for people to understand, that's a kind of a federal Clean Water Act responsibility that cities have to do. So go on, sorry I didn't wanna interrupt, but I wanna make sure people understood what you meant, so.

Melissa Bryant 
Correct.

And

so it's so exciting because I'm working with them and I'm actually doing like implementing this tool. So we've created a tool at RESPEC and it incorporates like all those things that we listed for the San Antonio. We did the same thing for them. We're looking at the entire city. We're identifying transportation projects. We're looking at streetscapes where you know they can implement a rain garden or bioswell. Looking at

areas where they can implement pervious pavement, looking at their bike lanes. So again, working across departments and pulling in their bike department, their parks department, their transportation department. So it's worked out really well and it's so exciting to be able to use this tool and see them implementing it also. And when we show them, know, it's almost done until we show them the tool and they're just like super

Steven 
Perfect.

Melissa Bryant 
excited, we show them renderings of what it could look like and and so yeah it's super exciting to be able to see you know the work that I did at the River Authority is now you know I'm using it at RESPEC and I'm being able to use it with communities too.

Steven 
Spreading around, Hopefully

from this, other people will want it in their communities as well. That's what we need to do, spread the word about there's a better way of doing things. I'm so grateful to know you and know the amazing work that you're doing to make the world a better place. And you are, you're having an impact on communities that are gonna...

Melissa Bryant 
Yeah.

Steven 
Long outlive you the benefits that you're making for the world is gonna you know generations to come will Will be seeing and experiencing what you're doing now for them. So thank you for for all of that great work that you're doing and helping today help educate people on on this important work, so What now I want to give you

Melissa Bryant 
Thank you.

Steven 
call to action? Other people have heard all this and they want it in their communities or they want to know more, do more. What can people do? What do want people to do after listening to this or watching this show?

Melissa Bryant 
It would be important for people to be mindful of our natural resources, but particularly with water. We have this concept that we're pushing. It's one water.

You you have your storm, it provides your water, your drinking water, but not only that, you your waste goes to a wastewater treatment plant and gets treated, but a lot of the times it can be recycled, it can be, you know, cleaned up and discharged back into our streams. So not just think about it of, turn on the tap and I have my water. No, like think about...

where your water goes and the benefits of being able to have that water and being mindful of, I know when I lived in San Antonio I had a rain garden in my backyard. You yourself can implement these types of things. be a steward of our natural resources and make sure that you're taking care of them, but you're also mindful of not being wasteful of these things. Really learn to appreciate that we only have one water.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yep,

couldn't be more in support of that. every little rain garden and everybody's backyard or every small project here or there then also start to have a cumulative effect in communities as well that these small individual acts can then grow to be beneficial for a whole area. So, fantastic. So, Hope. We always end every show talking a little bit about Hope.

And hope is not just a fuzzy emotion. It's actually not defined by those who study it. It's not even actually defined as an emotion. It's defined as this idea that you can have a vision for a better future. You can identify some steps that you can take to get to that better future. And you feel you have a sense of self-agency that there are things you can do to get to this better future. So...

You know, we talk about hard things and, you know, climate change and climate crisis and, you know, we're recording this right now. Even though this is going to be airing in February, there's, horrible wildfires going on in Los Angeles right now. So, I mean, there's a lot to be concerned about in our world, but hope is a tool that we can motivate ourselves and inspire others to action. So.

want to talk to you, I'm going ask you three questions about hope and just kind of give your first response. Don't think too long about the answer. So, so the first question, Melissa, is what is your vision for a better future? It can be for you personally, professionally or for the world. What's, what's your vision for a better future?

Melissa Bryant 
So, you know, to me hope is a confident expectation. mean, you you look at it from a biblical perspective, it's a confident expectation. And I think for a better future, would be having people come together with the spirit of unity and not division, to be able to speak with compassion and understanding and to see others how God sees them. And sometimes that can be truly difficult.

But, you know, really loving one another and showing that compassion and understanding. But trying to come together more, working together, collaborating together, because there's so much more we can do together.

Steven 
Yeah, so expand on that and tell me why. Tell me why this is important that we come together.

Melissa Bryant 
You know to me it's important because when you think about From and again, I'm gonna go like biblical perspective

Steven 
Please. Yeah. Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
I love just the spirit in me. When you look back in biblical times, success, successfulness meant that you were able to help your neighbor, to lift each other up. And today we've become so involved with materialistic things and it's me, me, me. And so, I think it's just important that we come together because as a community,

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
There's so much more that we can do. It's thinking about an initiative and moving it forward. It's not about how can I prosper in this time? How can I get more? It's how can we as an entire nation continue to move forward on specific concepts? Like, I'm not against you. I'm for you. Let's learn to be.

for each other and lift each other up. And I think that's just so beautiful to be able to see when people do come together and are able to move forward. You mentioned the wildfires in California, that's so heartbreaking. But then you think about, you

The Bible tells us there will be rivers in the deserts and you see what's going on in the Middle East and it's just like wow like there's truly Rivers being created in the in middle of the desert and so it's just mind-blowing How things can continue to move forward if we come together and and we're moving forward in unity and not

having discord amongst each other and trying to cut each other down and yeah.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

So the last question, I'd love all of that. Last question for you. Imagine, Melissa, that we are in that future and we are coming together. We have come together. do, while we might still have disagreements, but we work together in a more unifying way and the world is that vision that you just described. How does that make you feel knowing that that's how we're living now?

Melissa Bryant 
I think peace at peace and just encouraged. Yeah, just, just you wouldn't be struggling with like, what's coming next or, you know, what's, what's the next battle I have to fight. It's more of.

Steven 
Yeah.

Melissa Bryant 
peacefulness and encouragement to know that we can continue to trust one another and build each other up.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Wonderful. Well, Melissa, thank you so much for your time today and your expertise and your compassion and love for your community and for your world. I've always appreciated our conversations over the years, and I very much appreciate this one as well. So I wish you and your family.

All the best and I'm sure I'll see you at future conferences and whatnot. But thank you so much for joining me today on Story Sustain Us and sharing your personal story and helping to raise awareness about the significance of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure. So thank you for being here.

Melissa Bryant 
Thank you again, Steven. Bye bye.

Steven 
All right, bye bye.

Steven 
And that wraps up another inspiring episode of Stories Sustain Us. Today we had the privilege of hearing Melissa Bryant's incredible journey from growing up on a cotton farm to becoming a leader in water resource management and a passionate advocate for nature-based solutions. Melissa shared her insights on integrating social justice into the environmental planning process, the economic and ecological benefits of green infrastructure,

and the importance of collaboration and community engagement to drive meaningful change. Personally, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to utilize nature-based solutions whenever possible. These solutions not only help address challenges like flooding and water quality, but also foster healthier, more resilient ecosystems and communities. Melissa's work reminds us that advancing sustainability requires both innovative approaches

and a deep commitment to making a difference. I want to thank Melissa for being on the show today and for everything she does to protect our natural resources and support underserved communities. Her dedication and expertise are truly inspiring. And I'm so grateful for my friendship with her and for the time that she shared with us today. To you, the audience, I hope Melissa's story has inspired you to take action in your own community.

Whether it's supporting a local green initiative, advocating for better water resources, or simply sharing these stories of hope and resilience, every effort matters. So if you've enjoyed today's episode, please share it with your family and friends, like and follow the podcast, and leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this subject. Your support helps me continue to shine a light on the incredible individuals working to create a more sustainable world for all.

And don't forget to join me next week for the next episode of Stories Sustain Us, which is going to be released on February 18th. On that episode, we'll be heading back to Scotland to explore some globally recognized efforts to restore, protect and preserve the River Tweed catchment. It's a story you won't want to miss. So again, you can catch the next episode of Stories Sustain Us on February 18th at storiessustainus.com.

wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. So thanks for joining me today and I hope to see you next week. Until next time, I'm Steven Schauer. Please take care of yourself and each other. Take care.