Armand Bayou Nature Center preserves 4,000 acres of forest, prairie, marsh, and bayou habitat in Pasadena and southeast Houston, in a heavily developed Gulf Coast setting. Native peoples including the Attakapa, Cohuilletan, and Karankawa once camped, hunted, and fished here, and later residents lived from the waterway then called Middle Bayou. After plantation, oil, and development pressures transformed the surrounding land, local advocates fought to save the bayou. Renamed for environmental advocate Armand Yramategui after his 1970 murder, the preserve was established in 1974 and now supports rich wildlife, especially migratory and resident birds along the Central Flyway.