Coastal Projects

Region/County: Nueces

Recipient: Coastal Bend Bays Foundation

Summary: The Coastal Bend Bays Foundation (CBBF) will develop a new annual program for marsh planting and restoration in the Coastal Bend. As a consequence to performing this program, the CBBF also plans the development of a volunteer corps which provides an opportunity for the community to come together to conduct on-the-ground activities.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology

Summary: The Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program (THSCMP) engages people who live along the coast in the study of their natural environment. High school students, teachers, and scientists work together to gain a better understanding of dune and beach dynamics on the Texas coast. Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin provide the tools and training needed for scientific investigation. Students and teachers learn how to measure the topography, map the vegetation line and shoreline, and observe weather and wave conditions.

Region/County: Lower Coast

Recipient: Gulf of Mexico Foundation

Summary: The Gulf of Mexico Foundation’s (GMF), Science & Spanish Club Network, (SSCN) is an ecosystem-based and multi cultural approach to coastal environmental education established in 2000. This project proposal, “Science & Spanish Club Network: The Only Barriers Along the Texas Coast are Islands” continues to build upon previously CMP funded projects. This project also builds upon the successes of past and present collaborations with a mix of working partnerships that continue to strengthen the SSCN sense of confidence in carrying out activities that lead to tasks deliverables.

Region/County: Upper Coast

Recipient: Texas AgriLife Extension

Summary: The WaterSmart Program of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, part of the Texas A&M University System, will conduct a concerted educational and outreach initiative that includes the installation of a minimum of three demonstration rain gardens in high visibility areas. These will be easily accessible public displays with accompanying signage that clearly show the environmental and aesthetic benefits rain gardens provide. In addition, a how-to manual, addressing the unique soils, topography, and hydrology of Texas coastal communities would target residential and commercial entities.

Region/County: Nueces

Recipient: Nueces County

Summary: The Nueces County Coastal Parks Department will develop a comprehensive public awareness and educational outreach program focused on promoting sound responsible environmental stewardship targeting the problem of littering and illegal dumping focused on both youth and adult audiences within the Coastal Bend area. Initially the program would focus efforts in the communities of Aransas Pass, Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, Ingleside, and North Padre Island.

Region/County: Upper Coast

Recipient: Texas A&M University at Galveston

Summary: Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) will compare several restored brackish tidal wetlands that were or will be constructed in different formations from a variety of soil sources. These restored wetlands, located at the Old River Unit within the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Port Arthur, Texas), are in close vicinity to each other and are of similar age, providing an ideal scenario for comparisons among marsh restoration techniques.

Region/County: Harris

Recipient: Galveston Bay Foundation

Summary: The Harris County Seafood Consumption Advisory Public Education Campaign will focus on public education and outreach about the risks of human consumption of seafood contaminated with toxic substances within Harris County, particularly in low income areas and areas with a high concentration of immigrants in the eastern part of the county.

Region/County: Lower Coast

Recipient: Valley Proud Environmental Council

Summary: Valley Proud Environmental Council will continue to educate residents of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and northern Mexico and visitors to the beaches of South Padre Island and Boca Chica that it is unhealthy and unlawful to litter beaches.

Region/County: Upper Coast

Recipient: Galveston Bay Foundation

Summary: The project involves the development of social marketing messages suitable for, but not limited to, personal communications via presentations and exhibits, print, billboard, and Internet use. GBF focuses on communicating the message directly to boaters and marinas. This has been achieved by contacting marinas to arrange special events, presentations, and/or exhibits where boaters will be exposed to the campaign message. The campaign emphasizes 1) environmental harm caused by raw sewage and 2) how boaters can properly dispose of their waste.

Region/County: Coast Wide

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

Summary: Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) will review and analyze NOAA’s revised guidelines for the 2011-2015 funding cycle, when they become available. Based upon these new NOAA guidelines, the previous Assessment and Strategy Report, and input from a core group, HRI will establish the scope and organization of the new Report. Throughout this process, HRI will coordinate its efforts with researchers associated with the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve to enhance collaborative opportunities and avoid duplication of study.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: Texas A&M University - Texas Engineering Experiment Station

Summary: Texas Engineering Experiment Station will investigate the impact of coastal dunes and wetlands on mitigating hurricane impacts.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: General Land Office

Summary: The GLO will contract with vendors to obtain up-to-date aerial photography of the Texas coastal shoreline to help identify critical eroding areas by comparing previous aerial photography to current aerial photography, monitoring CEPRA project performance, delineating impacts from hurricanes and tropical storms, and supporting other studies such as the Bureau of Economic Geology's shoreline change study.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: General Land Office

Summary: The CEPRA statute requires the Land Commissioner to evaluate the natural resource and economic benefits of CEPRA projects and report these measured benefits to the Texas Legislature for each biennium that the Legislature provides CEPRA project funding. This project will quantify economic benefits associated with representative CEPRA Cycle 5 and Cycle 6 construction projects, including calculation of storm damage reduction benefits and will provide an evaluation of natural resource improvement associated with habitat restoration and projection projects using established methodologies.

Region/County: Coast Wide

Recipient: General Land Office

Summary: The University of Texas – Bureau of Economic Geology will build on work conducted in previous CEPRA cycles to determine shoreline change rates and develop digital elevation models using aerial photography and LiDAR surveys to assess Hurricane Ike-induced shoreline change. The CEPRA statute mandates this work for reporting to the Legislature.

Region/County: Brazoria

Recipient: General Land Office

Summary: This project will build on the Phase I study completed in April 2009 during CEPRA Cycle 5 which documented the impacts on, conditions and recovery of the gulf-facing shorelines of the upper Texas coast immediately after the landfall of Hurricane Ike.

Region/County: Harris

Recipient: City of LaPorte

Summary: This project consisted of an alternatives analysis for a stretch of shoreline located along the historic Sylvan Beach area, within the City of La Porte in Harris County. The alternatives analysis evaluated methods of slowing the shoreline retreat of an area approximately 2,000 feet in length through the use of engineered shoreline protection structures as well as enhancing public access to the shoreline. The incorporation of a recreational beach to replace the historic beach lost to erosion was also considered.

Region/County: Harris

Recipient: City of LaPorte, Harris County

Summary: The project constructed a revetment and pocket beaches enclosed by rock groins at a popular recreational bay beach. CEPRA funds were combined with City of La Porte and Harris County funds to construct the project that was designed and permitted during CEPRA Cycle 2 (FY02-03).

Region/County: Galveston

Recipient: Galveston County

Summary: This project will be conducted under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to beneficially use beach quality sand produced by the USACE during its maintenance dredging of the GIWW to renourish the beaches adjacent to Crystal Beach and possibly other segments of Bolivar Peninsula around the Rollover Pass area.

Region/County: Galveston

Recipient: City of Jamaica Beach

Summary: During Cycle 3, preliminary engineering and permitting tasks were conducted for a beach nourishment project that will restore the eroded beach at the City of Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island. Because construction was postponed until after the 2005 turtle-nesting season, the construction phase of the project was carried forward into Cycle 4. The dune restoration phase of the project was completed in August of 2006. The beach nourishment phase could not be constructed during Cycle 4 due to sand source and USACE permit issues.

Region/County: Galveston

Recipient: City of Jamaica Beach

Summary: This project will restore the beach site to pre hurricane Ike condition by placing beach quality sand on Jamaica Beach.