Habitat Restoration and Creation Remains at the Fore

CCA Texas and its habitat initiative, Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow, along with the CCA National habitat initiative, Building Conservation Trust, have funded over $9.3 million to habitat restoration and creation projects along the Texas coast. These funds have come primarily from grassroots fundraising efforts of CCA Texas chapters across the state, and also through grants from private individuals, foundations, and corporate gifts. Through the grassroots efforts and community grants and gifts, CCA Texas has supported and been a part of 46 habitat creation and restoration projects along the Texas coast. 

The CCA Texas Management Committee recently approved $41,000 in funding for a 15 acre marsh cordgrass planting project on the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge.  The San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge is located in Brazoria and Matagorda counties, and encompasses over 70,000 acres that protects salt marsh and saltwater lakes, coastal prairies, freshwater lakes and marshes, intermittent streams, and riparian and bottomland forests in the Brazos and San Bernard River floodplains. The refuge borders approximately 10 miles of shoreline along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW).  Since its establishment in 1968, the refuge has historically seen shoreline erosion along the GIWW due to major storm events, heavy rains, and continuous wave action. In the most recent decades, this erosion has begun to consume roughly four feet of refuge marsh shoreline annually. This project will use smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) plantings to protect the area’s coastal estuarine marsh and help ensure continued protection of nearby communities from storm events. The refuge has recently added 4 miles of breakwater to minimize erosion and plans are underway to continue adding subsequent projects for protection annually. Sediment will accrete behind these breakwaters and support marsh establishment. These plantings behind the breakwaters initiate new marsh creation, while also creating a strong living shoreline to protect against future storm events.

This project will also address eroding interior estuarine marshes at the refuge. These areas have been impacted by storms, subsidence, or other causes. Conversion of estuarine marsh to open water lessens the value of the refuge as a barrier to community storm impacts, and more importantly a loss of critically important estuarine habitat, that is the basis for much of the coastal eco-systems. These areas can be replanted with smooth cordgrass, and the planted areas will experience sediment accretion, followed by the eventual establishment of typical estuarine marsh plant species that occur at higher elevations than smooth cordgrass. 

Execution of this project will be accomplished by working with local contractors specializing in plant harvest and transport to re-planting sites to sow the plugs (actual clumps of cord grass). Cordgrass plugs are either raised in nurseries along the Texas coast or are hand-picked from the marsh locally. Once the plugs are on site, CCA members, other volunteers, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) staff, and chosen contractor employees will plant them. Plugs are typically planted by using a small spade shovel in water 18 inches or less. When planting is completed, monitoring will be done monthly by FWS staff to ensure the plants are growing and spreading along the coastal area. While contracted professional help will ensure that the planting acreage goal is obtained, community and volunteer grass plantings are being planned. This effort is a great opportunity to educate people about the importance of the coastal marsh to their communities. Outdoors enthusiasts such as birders and anglers will benefit from access to these areas as this project will increase habitat resiliency for many years to come.  Working with the community will only better educate the importance of the marsh and its sustainability for the future. FWS has many public areas and projects like this one.  Working with CCA Texas members and the general public will introduce new visitors to the refuge, strengthen environmental education, and support further work between the refuge and local communities. CCA Texas staff and volunteers are excited to work closely with the US Fish and Wildlife Services employees on this beneficial project.

For more information about CCA Texas and its habitat projects, please visit www.ccatexas.org.

New Chapter Success Continues

CCA Texas recently started its third new chapter of 2022 with the Gonzales, Come and Catch It chapter. The Come and Catch It chapter held their first event on August 11 and followed the path set this year by the Salt Grass and Bastrop County chapters with a great first time event. Over 300 conservation minded anglers attended the event held at The Expo and JB Wells in Gonzales. The energy and excitement were high and the local volunteers are looking forward to 2023. The CCA Texas staff and leadership are excited for the growth of the organization and the great success of these three first-year events. If you live in these communities or/and other communities with chapters, CCA Texas welcomes you as volunteers, supporters and donors. For local chapter information, be sure to visit www.ccatexas.org or contact CCA Texas staff at (713) 626-4222.

CCA Texas Weighs in on Draft EIS for Channel Deepening Project

In late July 2022, CCA Texas provided comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Corpus Christi Ship Channel Deepening Project (Project). In our recent letter to USACE, we expressed our serious concerns that Sections Three, Four and Five of the Draft EIS are deficient and contrary to requirement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Draft EIS does not address the full scope of the overall impacts to fisheries and habitats of Texas coastal ecosystems. Briefly, we find deficiencies in impacts to oyster reefs, recreational fisheries, salinity regimes in Corpus Christi Bay, estuarine fauna, and most importantly, significant deficiencies in the overall cumulative impacts of related projects on coastal processes, physical oceanography, water quality, wetlands, seagrasses, and aquatic resources.

Oyster Regulatory and Oyster Restoration Ad-Hoc Panels Begin Meetings

In late July and early August, two Ad-Hoc Panels began to meet at the directive of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (Commission). While these are not long-term advisory committees, these groups have some important work ahead of them as they will provide the Commission with recommendations on how to proceed moving forward on any future oyster fishery management actions (license buyback, ideas to improve sustainability, and oyster reef protections) and reef restoration activities across the coast. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff updated the Commission on the progress of the panels in late August and we ask all CCA Texas members to remain engaged on this issue.