Coastal Projects

Region/County: Brazoria

Recipient: Brazoria County

Summary: Due to the effects of Hurricane Ike, severe erosion had washed out, or otherwise severely damaged, numerous sections of County Road 257, which runs along Follets Island from Treasure Island to the Village of Surfside Beach. Preliminary engineering work was conducted to identify alternatives to stabilize segments of critically eroding Gulf shoreline along Follets Island immediately adjacent to the road right-of-way and to protect the road, which also serves as a hurricane evacuation route.

Region/County: Calhoun

Recipient: Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust

Summary: To help create a corridor of conserved lands along the Guadalupe river, The Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust is purchasing approximately 170 acres of land within the Guadalupe River Delta and San Antonio Bay system. This purchase will aid in the protection and preservation of water quality with in the Guadalupe Delta system, this purchase conserves floodplain, water quality and fish and wildlife resources along a strategic portion of the Texas Coast.

Region/County: Lower Coast

Recipient: Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Summary: The mission of the expanded Shell Bank Project is to reclaim and stockpile more than 750 cubic yards of shell annually for use in future restoration projects by targeting restaurants and seafood wholesalers in the Texas Coastal Bend. In CMP Cycle #14, the project began its pilot phase in Corpus Christi. In CMP Cycle #15, Texas A&M Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) seek to expand shell recycling efforts by partnering with Alby’s Seafood, a large seafood wholesaler in the Rockport-Fulton area.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas Water Development Board

Summary: This Water Development Board project is part of Phase 1 of a three-phased digital aerial photography project that will result in the acquisition, storage, and distribution of up-to-date digital aerial photography of the entire Texas coastal zone. During this phase the GLO will begin acquiring aerial photography for the 18 counties in the coastal zone. Private contractors will provide aerial photography of approximately 19,000 square miles throughout the coastal counties, including all bays and gulf waters from the barrier islands to approximately one mile into the Gulf of Mexico.

Region/County: Aransas

Recipient: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Summary: The objective of this project is to mitigate the loss of valuable intertidal estuarine marsh habitat due to erosion by completing the 24-acre created marsh site through the beneficial use of dredged material (BUDM). BUDM will raise the elevation of the bay bottom inside the created marsh site to a level that supports smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) marsh. The smooth cordgrass restores and enhances nursery habitat for fishery species and feeding habitat for avian species.

Region/County: Nueces

Recipient: Port of Corpus Christi Authority

Summary: The Port of Corpus Christi Authority constructed a stone breakwater of approximately 1000-1500 linear feet on the northeastern portion of Pelican Island to provide erosion protection. Pelican Island is a rookery in the Corpus Christi Bay area that hosts a wide variety of colonial-nesting, fish-eating wading birds.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas General Land Office

Summary: Remove and dispose of debris from Texas bays, estuaries, bayous, rivers, navigable waterways, and the Gulf of Mexico. Derelict vessels and abandoned structures are located in every coastal county. Structures removed include derelict pilings, abandoned piers, and bulkheads. Abandoned vessels include recreational and commercial fishing boats, pleasure craft, barges and work boats that are in a wrecked, derelict, or substantially dismantled condition.

Region/County: Galveston

Recipient: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Summary: The project is a continuation of two successful similarly-constructed restoration efforts in West Bay along the north shoreline of West Galveston Island by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. A 1200 ft geotextile tube breakwater will be constructed to protect approximately 50 acres of existing estuarine wetlands in West Bay that is currently experiencing shoreline erosion rates of up to 3.2 ft/yr. Following completion of the breakwater and marsh sediment preparation, the wetlands will be planted using a community-based volunteer program sponsored by the Galveston Bay Foundation.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Summary: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Artificial Reef Program develops and enhances reef sites in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast. This project provides for the continued enhancement and creation of existing and new reef sites through deployment of reefing materials acquired by TPWD through provide donations.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas Water Development Board

Summary: The Texas Water Development Board is to provide a web-accessible tool that allows users to easily identify and access data for the Texas coast. The project will focus on water-related physical, chemical, biological, and modeled data, particularly for the bays and estuaries on the Texas coastline.

Region/County: Calhoun

Recipient: Texas Water Development Board

Summary: The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) will continue to study the interactions of ecology and hydrology in San Antonio Bay.

Region/County: Cameron

Recipient: Cameron County Parks & Recreation Department

Summary: Cameron County built a bulkhead to stabilize 1182 linear feet of shoreline at Adolph Thomae Park where erosion had been exacerbated by increased currents from the nearby Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, flooding from storms, and frequent barge traffic in the Arroyo Colorado River. With the bulkhead construction, erosion on the shoreline should be reduced by approximately 90%.

Region/County: Chambers

Recipient: Texas Coastal Partners, Inc.

Summary: The enhanced Cycle 14 project will bolster implementation of the Chambers County Greenprint by: continuing the stakeholder process to guide implementation, identifying funding sources and helping pursuit of them, and coordinating more outreach to landowners. The additional activities will follow on those of the original Cycle 14 grant and would be conducted over a twelve- to fifteen-month period from roughly January 2011 through March 2012 and will include the tasks described below.

Region/County: Cameron

Recipient: Texas AgriLife Research

Summary: This project is the first phase of a larger effort to ultimately construct a two-bank wetland system at the Port of Harlingen. The larger effort would expand this initial project to both banks of the turning basin at the Port, which would lead to even greater water quality and habitat improvements. Due to the time required to obtain permits and construct a wetland, we are proposing to conduct preliminary assessments, develop a conceptual design for the site, and begin the permitting process.

Region/County: Jefferson

Recipient: Lamar University

Summary: The objective of this study is a post-storm analysis of the impact of the tidal storm surge on the marsh communities in southern Jefferson County. Lamar University will examine the recovery of microbial, plant, amphibian, reptilian, mammalian and avian communities, on a longitudinal gradient from J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area and McFaddin and Texas Point National Wildlife Refuges along the coast.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies

Summary: The Shell Bank project is a partnership between the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, and Water Street Seafood Company in Corpus Christi, TX. Its mission is to reclaim and stockpile in excess of 60-70 tons of shell annually by targeting restaurants in the greater Corpus Christi area.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Bureau of Economic Geology - The University of Texas at Austin

Summary: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology will work with science students and teachers at Ball, Port Aransas, Port Isabel, Van Vleck and Palacios High Schools, as well as Tidehaven Middle and High Schools, to monitor selected beaches over a period of one year. The students measure shore-normal beach and dune topographic profiles and make observations on weather conditions, sea state, longshore current, and dune vegetation throughout the academic year. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin analyze the data collected by the high school students.

Region/County: Upper Coast

Recipient: Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin

Summary: This project will continue the coast-wide study of wetlands in inland environments of the Texas coast. Inland wetland status and trends data are needed for mitigation/restoration projects and are of special concern in the context of river deltas and interior palustrine (SWANCC) wetlands. Coastal wetlands are essential natural resources that are highly productive biologically and chemically and are part of an ecosystem on which a variety of flora and fauna depend.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Summary: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will investigate the impact of wastewater discharge on seagrass by study of the potentially-impacted site and a reference site. It will also be a pilot project to test recent recommendations for coastwide seagrass monitoring,

Region/County: Brazoria

Recipient: Brazoria County

Summary: Brazoria County Parks Department will repair Quintana Beach County Park boardwalk and walkover and add an observation deck with interpretive signage. The park is one of the few access points that remain post- Hurricane Ike.