AUSTIN, Texas—Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., announced that the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge Beach and Dune Ridge Restoration Project was awarded the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association's (ASBPA) 2025 Best Restored Beaches Award. The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is committed to monitoring the project for at least five years to measure its success and identify future management needs.
This prestigious award recognizes community beach restoration projects nationwide that support shoreline resiliency, help beaches decrease their susceptibility to storm damage and flooding from hazardous storms, and enable beaches to adapt to intermittent sea level rise as essential parts of coastal ecosystems.
"As a Texan who grew up near our coast and lived on Galveston Island for over a decade, safeguarding our beaches is a mission near to my heart. I am thrilled that the GLO's outstanding work to preserve McFaddin Beach's crucial coastal ecosystem and storm flooding mitigation capabilities is being recognized," said Commissioner Buckingham. "I thank our Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act Project managers and collaborating GLO divisions for their hard work to complete the largest beach nourishment project in Texas and protect the wildlife and Texans who call the coast home. As the GLO continues delivering victories for the Texas coast, we remain dedicated to serving the people we’re supposed to serve and doing it well."
The beach at McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge in Sabine Pass, Texas
ASBPA evaluates each restoration project on three areas including, economic and ecological benefits for coastal communities, the immediate and overarching success of the projects, and the obstacles communities overcame to complete the projects.
The Project area is situated on the Texas Chenier Plain in Jefferson and Chambers counties within the Salt Bayou ecosystem, the largest contiguous estuarine marsh complex in Texas. This ecosystem is approximately 139,000 acres of habitat ranging from freshwater to estuarine marsh, coastal grasslands, tidal flats, creeks, basins, and associated aquatic vegetation. This project restored beach habitats in and adjacent to the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge.
The project involved stakeholders from the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Jefferson County, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) RESTORE Program, United States Fish and Wildlife Service - Refuges Program, and the Natural Resources Damage and Assessment (NRDA) Deepwater Horizon Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas TIG).
Partial funding support was provided by the NRDA Deepwater Horizon Texas TIG, which includes GLO, TCEQ, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of the Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Click the Button below to learn more about all the ways the GLO works to restore, enhance, and protect the Texas coast:
Coastal Resiliency, Planning, and Protection
RELATED: Commissioner Buckingham Announces Completion of Texas’s Largest Beach Nourishment Project
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Dr. Dawn Buckingham made history in 2022, winning a statewide election to become Texas' first female Land Commissioner. As Land Commissioner, Dr. Dawn Buckingham is committed to helping Texans after a disaster, supporting Texas energy, ensuring that every child in Texas receives a high-quality public education, serving Texas Veterans, and securing the border to keep our communities safe.