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Project Title: Indian Point Salt Marsh Restoration (FFS #R2FA)
State: Texas
Project Description: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has approved a cooperative agreement with the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program (CBBEP) and will provide federal stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to help restore lost marsh habitat in Nueces Bay, near Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring bays and estuaries in the 12-county region of the Texas Coastal Bend. CBBEP is partially funded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For more information about CBBEP, visit the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program website.
“We are pleased and excited to have this opportunity to begin restoring precious wetlands and providing habitat for a variety of wildlife on the Texas coast,” said Benjamin Tuggle, PhD, Regional Director for the Service’s Southwest Region, which includes Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. “This is a great example of how Recovery Act funds create work and benefit communities.”
The Service selected the Indian Point Salt Marsh Restoration Project because of its benefits to fish, shellfish, and migratory birds, readiness to begin as well as the jobs that will be created during construction.
Research conducted by CBBEP found a total of 340 acres of salt marsh in Nueces Bay adjacent to Indian Point has been lost. Of that total, 180 acres of marsh were lost due to causeway construction and related dredging, and another 160 has been lost since then due to erosion and subsidence. This project will address those 160 acres of salt marsh.
The CBBEP, with technical assistance from the Service’s Coastal Program, began work in 2006 to plan for the marsh restoration project. Federal Recovery Act money will help pay for the first phase of the project which will restore 30 acres of productive salt marsh. The remaining 130 acres will be restored as more funding becomes available.
These intertidal wetlands are critical because they serve as nursery habitat for a variety of sea life including commercially and recreationally important species such as shrimp, crabs, and fish. They also protect infrastructure from wind and waves.
Construction for this first phase should begin in October 2009, and is expected to be completed by March 2010. The project has been engineered in distinct phases so that as additional funding becomes available more of the marsh will be restored.
March 2010 Project Update: After a long delay, the Service is ready to begin work on the long-awaited Nueces Bay Marsh restoration project. An environmental impact study conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partner Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program (CBBEP) led to the conclusion that dredging soil from one part of the bay to the affected area would yield high disturbance to the habitat, as well as less competitive bidding, and that trucking in soil from another location was a more viable option. The delay on the project, originally scheduled to begin in October of last year resulted from the need for a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit. Service and CBBEP officials will be accepting contractor bids through the middle of April, and hope to begin the project by early summer.
July 2011 Project Update:The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently completed phase I of the Indian Point Salt Marsh restoration. The first phase of the Gulf Coast project, was planned in conjunction with the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program (CBBEP), and funded by the Recovery Act. The Service and CBBEP completed the project, which began planning in 2006, this March.
The Indian Point Salt Marsh restoration project calls for the construction of earthen berms and terraces in order to halt erosion in the Nueces Bay. Over time, project officials expect the work to replace marshland lost to construction and natural causes.
“We’ve seen over 160 new pairs of Least Terns, a local species on the endangered list, as well as a dozen pairs of nesting Black Skimmers,” Says Ray Allen, Executive Director of the CBBEP. “We’re very pleased, in addition to moving earth, we have now planted vegetation and local grasses are starting to grow and expand.”
Over 180 acres of marsh habitat was lost in 1940 due to the construction of Highway 181 through Nueces Bay, and 160 acres has been lost due to subsequent erosion. The project was conceived with three goals in mind
- To restore wetland habitat in order to benefit local fish, shellfish, and migratory birds
- To protect infrastructure (Highway 181) by constructing a buffer against wave energy
- To protect adjacent upland habitat by managing public access to Nueces Bay
An auxiliary benefit of the Indian Point Salt Marsh Restoration was the creation of local employment.
The Service and the CEBEP are now beginning phase II of the project, building terraces on 82 additional acres of marshland on adjacent properties. Officials expect project completion next year
Read more and watch coverage of the Indian Point Salt Marsh Restoration project on KII TV3‘s website! (Note: Clicking on this link will redirect you to an outside site.)
Photos:
 Indian Point Saltmarsh, which with be restored with Recovery Act funding |
 The habitat restoration will benefit fish, shellfish, and migratory birds |
For photos of phase I of the project, view the Upper Texas Coast Coastal Project Photo Page.
Originally posted 07/29/2009
Updated 08/20/2009
Updated 08/25/2009
Updated 03/29/2010
Updated 07/13/2011
