Coastal Prairie Restoration:  Galveston Island State Park

The Texas Coastal Program has partnered with the State Park to support the ongoing coastal prairie management efforts by the Friends organization at the Galveston Island State Park. Funds will be used to facilitate the implementation of a coastal prairie management plan (including invasive and exotic plant species removal) developed for the Park by Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists. Activities may include, but are not limited to, various methods of herbicide application, roller chopping, mowing, and contracting of labor for manual plant removal.

The Friends organization is a non-profit corporation founded in 2001 by concerned citizens to assist and promote the mission and activities of the Galveston Island State Park. The Park is just over 2,000 acres in size and is one of the only contiguous tracts of land from the beachfront to the bay on Galveston Island. The Park contains numerous habitat types, including beach, sand dunes, coastal prairie, oak mottes, and tidal and freshwater marshes. However, approximately 10% of the Park’s prairie acreage is inundated with invasive or exotic plant species such as Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum) and Eastern baccharis (Baccharis halimifolia). Since its inception, one of the goals of the Friends group has been to work towards removal of these plants and restoration of the native coastal prairie. To this end, volunteer workdays have been ongoing and a few small areas have been cleared of tallow trees. A local Texas and Wildlife biologist has developed a management plan that delineates focus areas as well as options for invasive plant eradication. This project will supplement the Friends work and allow for more aggressive and widespread prairie restoration and management activities throughout the Galveston Island State Park.

Partners: Friends of Galveston Island State Park, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, & the Texas Coastal Program