Chester's Island Shoreline Protection

Summary

Chester Island is a bird island located close to the Matagorda Ship Channel on the Matagorda Bay side of the Matagorda Peninsula.  Chester Island is vital habitat to the State and continental waterbird species and remains the most important rookery in the San Antonio/ Matagorda Bay area.   

Every year the island losses habitat area due to consistent shoreline erosion.  Large waves and storm impacts from inlet processes and ship wakes from shipping vessels in Matagorda Bay and the Matagorda Ship Channel (MSC) have generated coastal shoreline processes that induce shoreline retreat along several shoreline areas of the island. Today, about 7,800 linear ft. (which represent the perimeter of this island) are affected by shoreline retreat. Several shoreline protection devices have been installed installed, but limited data for design resulted in transient shoreline protection. The lessons learned from past projects indicate more comprehensive data collection and analysis is needed to provide viable long-term alternatives.  

This project will provide a final design and then stabilize and protect Chester’s Island bird rookery in Matagorda Bay. Beneficial Use sediment will be sourced from the Matagorda Ship Channel Deepening Project, led by the USACE and Calhoun Port Authority. The BU will increase the rookery footprint from 72 acres to 200-400+ acres. The beneficial use placement will be solely paid for by the USACE project. The GLO’s project goal is to complete a protective shoreline structure up to 17,000 linear feet to protect the expanded island.