The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in a November 20, 2017 Planning Aid Letter (PAL) to the Galveston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), provided recommendations for the “ecosystem restoration” part of the massive mega-study of the entire Texas Coast known as the “Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Feasibility Study” (CTPRFS).  This is the Corps study that is looking at “Ike Dike” coastal barrier and other storm surge project alternatives for Galveston Bay.  The “Ike Dike” is a huge 55-mile long, 20-foot high, and 600-foot wide levee with a massive gate across Bolivar Roads (Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula).

A part of the CTPRFS requires that the Corps identify and propose “ecosystem restoration” projects for the entire Texas Coast.  Among comments made by the FWS, it stated that excessive delays for a formal scope of work meant that the Corps moved forward with a list of “ecological restoration” projects that included “previously completed projects; projects formerly vetted by the resource agencies and eliminated from further consideration; inaccurate project descriptions; and projects not clearly defined as restoration.”  The FWS stated that time constraints “… may have resulted in the Corps not fully vetting these projects with the appropriate Service field offices and National Wildlife Refuges during the project scoping process.”

The FWS also stated that “there is a critical need to restore and protect additional habitats not previously identified by the Corps’ “project list” and that should be included as part of the comprehensive ER plan.”  Some of these habitats that need to be part of “ecosystem restoration” in the CTPRFS include:  coastal prairies, bottomland hardwood forests, and Tamaulipan thornscrub.  These habitats provide a place for a “vast diversity of fish and wildlife species and were not addressed by the Corps.”

The FWS, in its PAL, summarized key focal habitats, environmental concerns, study opportunities, important FWS trust species that lie within the CTPRFS area, and current and future Service coordinated projects.  FWS wants the Corps to use the PAL as a guide and wants to identify measures to avoid impacts on fish and wildlife, critical habitat, and actions that impede natural flows into bays, bayous, rivers, and estuaries on the Texas Coast.

Some of these critical species and habitats that the FWS is concerned about include fin and shellfish, oyster reefs, migratory birds like the Piping Plover, Red Knot, and Whooping Crane, colonial waterbirds, waterfowl, other migratory birds, and sea turtles.

Some FWS recommendations include creation, re-creation, or restoration of bird nesting (rookery) islands.  The FWS supports beach nourishment and dune restoration that is suitable for sea turtles like the nesting Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle.

FWS also recommended that preservation, restoration, and acquisition of coastal prairie habitats is important for migratory bird resting, stopover, and feeding; long-term funding mechanisms for bottomland hardwood (like the Columbia Bottomlands along the Brazos, San Bernard, and Colorado Rivers) acquisition, conservation easements, and restoration and management plans; stabilization of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to protect coastal prairie and wetlands’ habitats; acquisition and restoration of hydrological flows for all wetlands; monitoring and education programs and protection of seagrass beds from maintenance dredging; acquisition of Tamaulipan thornscrub habitat to improve wildlife corridors; and additional monies for research and monitoring for coastal issues.

The Sierra Club supports these “ecological restoration” priorities that FWS has recommended to the Corps.  The Sierra Club will continue to monitor and provide input into the CTPRFS environmental impact statement process.

For more information contact Brandt Mannchen, 832-907-3615 or brandtshnfbt@juno.com.            

Brandt Mannchen
December 19, 2017