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Preserving Coastal Habitat

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Under the Texas Coastal Management Program, coastal preserves are any lands owned by the state that are designated and used as parks, recreation areas, scientific areas, wildlife management areas, wildlife refuges, or historic sites and that are designated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as being coastal in character.

Under the Texas Coastal Preserve Program, the Land Office leases coastal lands to the TPWD, which manages them as preserves. The Coastal Preserve Program is designed to protect unique coastal areas and fragile biological communities, including important colonial bird nesting sites. Currently, there are four coastal preserves.

Preserving Coastal Habitat
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Armand Bayou (319 acres)
The Armand Bayou Coastal Preserve is located in southeastern Harris County along Armand Bayou. The bayou is an open system that receives substantial inputs of fresh water, sediment, and nutrients from surrounding upland areas and tributaries. The 60-square-mile watershed is surrounded by diverse environments, from bottomland hardwoods and coastal prairies to residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Subsidence in the watershed has virtually eliminated the coastal marshes, extended the zone of tidal influence, and changed the lower reach of the bayou from a fresh to a brackish water environment.
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Christmas Bay (5,660 acres)
The Christmas Bay Coastal Preserve is located in the southwestern portion of the Galveston Bay system in Brazoria County. The preserve is home to migratory and resident waterfowl and shorebirds. Christmas Bay, a small secondary bay at the southwestern extreme of the Galveston Bay system, is an important finfish and shellfish nursery area. Seagrasses are probably the most valuable and productive habitats in the bay. Four seagrass species occur in the bay; however, only widgeongrass is found elsewhere in the Galveston Bay system. Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge is adjacent to Christmas Bay and has been a major, positive influence on the health and maintenance of the Christmas Bay ecosystem.
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Welder Flats (1,400 acres)
Welder Flats is located in the San Antonio Bay System in Calhoun County. This preserve contains submerged coastal wetlands and numerous species of wading and shore birds, including the whooping crane. Welder Flats is located on the eastern shore of middle San Antonio Bay. The characteristic mid-bay wetlands of Welder Flats consist of saltwater marshes, submerged aquatic vegetation, unvegetated sand and mud flats, and shallow saltwater ponds and lagoons. Because of its location near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Welder Flats plays an integral role in bay waterfowl and wading bird ecology, including providing wintering habitat for the endangered whooping crane.
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South Bay (3,400 acres)
South Bay is located in the southernmost extension of the lower Laguna Madre in Cameron County and supports a wide variety of habitat types, including seagrasses, oyster reefs, black mangroves and other salt marsh species, and tidal sand and mud flats. South Bay is a highly productive nursery area for shrimp and finfish and provides excellent feeding, resting and wintering habitat for numerous species of indigenous and migratory birds such as the White Pelican, Brown Pelican, cormorants, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, and Redhead.