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Restoring Environment- Maintaining Infrastructure; Tradeoffs for Long Term Sustainability

Restoring Environment- Maintaining Infrastructure; Tradeoffs for Long Term Sustainability Bob Stokes President Galveston Bay Foundation bstokes@galvbay.org (281) 332-3381. Do you know Galveston Bay?. Averages 7-feet deep 660 square miles of water

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Restoring Environment- Maintaining Infrastructure; Tradeoffs for Long Term Sustainability

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  1. Restoring Environment- Maintaining Infrastructure; Tradeoffs for Long Term Sustainability Bob Stokes President Galveston Bay Foundation bstokes@galvbay.org (281) 332-3381

  2. Do you know Galveston Bay? • Averages 7-feet deep • 660 square miles of water • 4 counties: Brazoria, Harris, Chambers, Galveston • 24,000 square mile watershed

  3. Galveston Bay Foundation Mission:To preserve, protect, and enhance the natural resources of Galveston Bay and its tributaries for present users and for posterity. Four target areas: • Advocacy • Conservation • Education • Research

  4. Galveston Bay InfrastructureIssues • Two Main Issues of Balance between Environment and Infrastructure • Massive Industrial Complex • Galveston Bay hosts nearly 1/2 of the total petrochemical manufacturing and 1/3 of the petroleum refining in the U.S. • Navigation Needs of that Complex • ~50 mile channel from Port of Houston to Gulf of Mexico

  5. Subsidence Caused by Groundwaterand Oil & Gas Extraction • Domestic and Industrial Water Needs • Highly Accelerated Rates of Subsidence • Loss of over 35,000 acres of wetlands • Recognition of Problem and Behavioral Change • More surface water, less groundwater

  6. Habitat Restoration • Identified as number one goal in Galveston Bay National Estuary Program Galveston Bay Plan

  7. GBF Habitat Restoration • Actively restoring habitat since 1991 • Diverse habitat types: wetland, sea grass, & reef • Working directly with local citizens for “community based” habitat restoration

  8. Burnet Bay Restoration Project Burnet Bay

  9. Burnet Bay Plantings with Support from Local Industry

  10. Galveston Bay Infrastructure:Major Navigation Channels Houston Ship Channel Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

  11. Houston Ship Channel • ~50 mile channel from Port of Houston to Gulf of Mexico • Much of the growth and development of the Houston area is attributable to its completion in 1914 • Ship channel-related businesses support more than 785,000 jobs throughout Texas while generating nearly $118 billion of statewide economic impact (Martin Associates, 2007).

  12. How to Balance NavigationNeeds and Environment? • Ultimate need for growth for capacity and safety • Impacts from a wider and deeper channel • How to mitigate those impacts?

  13. Houston-Galveston  Navigation Channels Beneficial Uses Group (“BUG”) • Coalition of 8 government agencies formed in 1990 to identify environmentally and economically responsible ways to utilize the dredged material • BUG project goals: • Create approximately 4,250 acres of intertidal salt marsh in Galveston Bay • Create a 6-acre bird nesting and habitat island • Partially restore Redfish Island in Galveston Bay • Restore Goat Island in Buffalo Bayou • Construct 118 acres of oyster reefs

  14. BUG Project: Evia Island • 6-acre island, one mile north of the Bolivar Peninsula built using materials dredged from the expansion of the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channels • Peak elevation of 12 feet above mean low tide, features a 250-foot beach and a lagoon area for young birds

  15. BUG Project: Bolivar Marsh • Several hundred acres of intertidal salt marsh adjacent to the north side of the Bolivar Peninsula • Levees constructed and shaped and erosion protection (geotubes) positioned • Two of the three cells filled with dredge material, third cell is partially filled and will be completed over the next 20 years • GBF and volunteers planted here at Marsh Mania 2001

  16. Gulf Intracoastal Waterway • Important navigation artery in Texas and along entire Gulf Coast • Erosion a significant problem along GIWW around Galveston Bay • How to address erosion and avoid negatively impacting waterway and shipping?

  17. Erosion Control Project on GIWW • Construct rock breakwaters along 34,700 feet of unprotected shoreline on the Anahuac NWR’s GIWW shoreline • Adjoins with East Bay Shoreline Protection Project, which recently completed 32,772 feet, or 6.21 miles, of rock breakwaters • Barge access and placement similar to recent work at McFaddin NWR

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