East Bay Shoreline Protection
The project area is located
on the north shoreline (approximately 118,272 linear feet) of East Bay,
immediately west of Oyster Bayou to Smith Point, Chambers/Galveston Counties,
Texas. The north shore of East Bay is experiencing significant scouring by wind
driven waves. The scouring has left much of the north shoreline with erosive
bluffs, up to 3 feet in height, and very patchy remnants of intertidal wetlands.
The loss of shoreline (up to 5-10 ft./year) has a significant threat of altering
the productive vegetative communities/habitats located landward of the project
shoreline. Based on an study completed in 1999, there were eight vegetation
communities identified in the project and adjacent areas which include:
non-saline prairie, salt prairie, fresh marsh, wet prairie, intermediate marsh,
brackish marsh, and saline marsh. Continued erosion of the shoreline threatens
to breach shallow fresh to intermediate lakes and depressions, altering
hydrology and salinity gradients of the area. The array of vegetative
communities sustains a diverse population of waterfowl (including nesting
habitat for mottled ducks), shorebirds, wading birds, reptiles, amphibians and
mammals. The wetlands proposed to be protected and restored by the project
provide important nursery grounds for recreationally and commercially important
aquatic species such as shrimp, finfish, and crabs which are important to both
consumptive and non-consumptive users. The purpose of this project is to
cooperatively evaluate alternatives for addressing erosion problem(s) identified
in this proposal, to assess the feasibility, cost, and financing of different
methods of avoiding, slowing, or remedying coastal erosion on the north
shoreline of East Bay, Chambers County, Texas.
Partners: Texas General Land Office, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and the Texas Coastal Program