&EPA
Armand
Bayou
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4504F)
EPA842-F-95-001D
September 1995
Texas Coastal
Preserves Project
Demonstrating Practical Tools For Watershed
Management Through The National Estuary Program
Galveston Bay, Texas
Galveston
Bay
Characteristics:
• The Galveston Bay watershed, including coastal
embayments and streams such as Christmas Bay and Armand
Bayou, is approximately 600 square miles in size.
• Nearly 3.5 million people live in the Bay area.
• Land use in the Bay area is 19 percent urban. 22 percent
agricultural; the remainder is forest and open space.
The Problem: Lack of an integrated management strategy among
regulatory agencies threatened the ability to protect the water quality
and wildlife habitat of Christmas Bay and Armand Bayou.
• Armand Bayou has lost 91 percent of its wetland acreage.
• Water quality in Armand Bayou is poor, and water quality
IN monitoring in both Christmas Bay and Armand Bayou is
inadequate.
• Although Christmas Bay is relatively healthy, submerged
aquatic vegetation (SAV), such as clover grass and turtle grass,
is vanishing at a steady rate.
The Project: The Texas Coastal Preserves Demonstration Project was designed to
integrate institutions, elevate the level of ecosystem management in Christinas Bay and
Armand Bayou, and serve as a model for similar programs in Galveston Bay. The project
involved designating these sub-systems of Galveston Bay as Coastal Preserves and developing and
implementing comprehensive management plans.
• rP
The National Estuary Program
tLstuaries and other coastal and marine waters are national
resources that are increasingly threatened by pollution, habitat
loss, coastal development, and resource conflicts. Congress
established the National Estuary Program (NEP) in 1987 to
provide a greater focus for coastal protection and to demon-
strate practical, innovative approaches for protecting estuaries
and their living resources.
As part of this demonstration role, the NEP offers funding
for member estuaries to design and implement Action Plan
Demonstration Projects that demonstrate innovative approaches
to address priority problem areas, show improvements that can
be achieved on a small scale, and help determine the time and
resources needed to apply similar approaches basinwide.
The NEP is managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). It currently includes 28 estuaries: Albemarle-
Pamlico Sounds, NC; Barataria-Terrebonne Estuarine Complex,
LA; Barnegat Bay, NJ; Buzzards Bay, MA; Casco Bay, ME;
Charlotte Harbor, FL; Columbia River, OR and WA; Corpus
Christi Bay, TX; Delaware Estuary, DE, NJ, and PA; Delaware
Inland Bays, DE; Galveston Bay, TX; Indian River Lagoon, EL;
Long Island Sound, CT and NY; Maryland Coastal Bays, MD;
Massachusetts Bays, MA; Mobile Bay, AL; Morro Bay, CA;
Narragansett Bay, RI;New Hampshire Estuaries, NH; New York-
New Jersey Harbor, NYandNJ; Peconic Bay, NY; Puget Sound,
WA; San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, CA; San Juan Bay, PR;
Santa Monica Bay, CA; Sarasota Bay, EL; Tampa Bay, EL; and
Tillamook Bay, OR.
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Introduction To Galveston Bay
Cjalveston Bay is a diverse and expansive ecosystem which
lies along the southeast Texas coast and empties into the Gulf of
Mexico. Galveston Bay has been known for its resources for
decades, exhibiting diverse plant and wildlife thriving within and
around its coastal waters. Two important waterbodies of the
Galveston Bay area are Christmas Bay and Armand Bayou.
Although Christmas Bay is considered to be relatively healthy,
resource agencies and the public have concerns about the long
term conservation of its critical resources. Armand Bayou is
subject to immediate and serious water quality and habitat
problems. The Galveston Bay community realized the threats
associated with habitat loss and declining water quality and
recognized that radical changes in the management strategy of
the Bay were needed.
Overview Of Christmas Bay
Ohristmas Bay is a near-pristine 9 square mile embayment
in the far southwestern portion of Galveston Bay. The waters
have been designated as a nursery area by the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department (TPWD) due to their lush seagrasses,
finfish, shellfish, and thriving oyster reef. Three of the four
seagrass species in Christmas Bay are found virtually nowhere
else in Galveston Bay.
Christmas Bay is home to 96 fish species, 68 crustacean
species, 140 mollusk species, and numerous invertebrate
animals. In addition, eight endangered or threatened species,
including the bald eagle, brown pelican, whooping crane, and sea
turtle, call Christmas Bay their home. Three additional endan-
gered species of birds inhabit the adjacent Brazoria National
Wildlife Refuge, while seven waterbird nesting colonies sur-
round the Bay.
Over the past 40 years, some resources of Christmas Bay
have been slowly, but steadily, declining. Evidence of this is
documented in the
amount of
vegetation lost in
both emergent and
submerged
wetlands present
in Christmas Bay.
Vegetation
associated with
emergent wetlands
has dropped from
4,701 acres to
4,304 acres in just
a little over two
decades, and
seagrass meadows,
found in sub-
merged wetlands,
have suffered a
The seagrass meadows of Christmas
Bay have declined at a rate of 3.5
acres per year since 1956.
The combined rate of seagrass and emergent wetland loss in
Christmas Bay has been 3.5 acres per year since 1956. Although
there was a regulatory structure in place for the management of
Christmas Bay, there were many gaps in the regulations,
resulting in continued habitat loss and threats to the numerous
species living in and around Christmas Bay.
Overview Of Armand Bayou
Bayou is a 7 linear mile waterway located on the
western shore of Galveston Bay. It is a hardwood and prairie
bayou surrounded mainly by undeveloped flood plain and several
major urban activity centers, including the NASA Johnson Space
Center, a petrochemical complex, an oilfield, and an airport.
Part of the watershed contains extensive salt marsh and bottom
land hardwood wetlands, as well as diverse flora. It is known for
its wildlife and its scenic, recreational, and educational values.
Armand Bayou's water quality is poor, with high nutrients
which contribute to occasional low availability of oxygen for
marine life. In addition, all 275 acres of the Bayou's naturally
occurring wetlands have been lost to subsidence caused by
groundwater and petroleum withdrawal. Currently, wetland re-
establishment is minimal.
108-acre loss in
just under three
decades.
Like Christmas Bay, Armand Bayou had a regulatory
framework in place. However, a key concern - pollution from
nonpoint sources - was not well managed.
In an effort to be proactive in the preservation of Christmas
Bay and Armand Bayou, local, state, and federal officials, with
much public support, rallied together to designate these waters
as Texas Coastal Preserves. This designation would require the
development of a management plan, accepted by all relevant
agencies in the region, which would provide guidance in the
management of the resources.
Christmas Bay and Armand Bayou were chosen as demon-
stration projects because they typify two valued types of coastal
waterways in Texas. Similar characteristics between these two
waterbodies and other waters in Texas would allow the methods
and results of the demonstration project to be broadly applied.
Additionally, this project provided a unique opportunity to de-
scribe the actions needed to designate and plan for the manage-
ment of a protected preserve. It would serve as a starting point
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for organizing future management plans for the entire Galveston
Bay system.
In 1990, EPA joined forces with the TPWD, the Texas
General Land Office, and the Texas Natural Resource Conserva-
tion Commission (formerly the Texas Water Commission) to
develop and execute the coastal preserves demonstration project.
The Coastal Preserves Project was funded with federal money
and the State of Texas General Revenues.
Project Objectives
L he primary objective of the demonstration project was the
designation of Christmas Bay and Armand Bayou as preserves.
An equally important objective was the development of a
comprehensive management plan for each area to help protect
and enhance the area resources. The expectation was that
comprehensive planning for these two waterbodies would, in
turn, encourage early development and implementation of
comprehensive bay-wide planning in Galveston Bay.
Implementing The Project
L he Texas Coastal Preserves Program is a cooperative
program of the TPWD and the Texas General Land Office/
School Land Board. Under this program, the School Land Board
leases state-owned submerged lands to TPWD for ongoing
management. The success of the entire demonstration project
depended upon this designation, which meant the two preserves
would have permanent preserve status, and consequently,
permanent protection of water quality, living resources, and
human health.
The designation and management plan process began in 1990
and was completed in 1993. Although the act of designating the
two areas as preserves was not intensive, the preparation and
planning for the protection of the preserves after designation
required extensive research of the area. The process of designa-
tion and preserve management planning was as follows:
• Grant Proposal - The first step taken in preserve designa-
tion was attaining funding through the development of a
grant proposal. The proposal listed a series of projects
needed to support the designation of the waterbodies as
preserves and the corresponding management plans.
• Preserve Nomination and Approval - The nomination of
the two areas as preserves was a public policy decision. A
nomination package was developed for the Galveston Bay
National Estuary Program by the University of Texas
Bureau of Economic Geology and submitted to a reviewing
committee. The committee, consisting of the School Land
Board and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission,
reviewed the package and approved the designation.
After attaining preserve designation, the management plans
were developed. The primary steps in plan development
involved:
• Boundary Designation through Tide Gauge Operations -
Tide data were needed to establish the boundaries of public
lands which would ultimately define the preserves and the
future management of each. Two fully-automated water
level measurement systems were purchased, installed, and
activated.
Environmental Inventories - Inventories were compiled for
each preserve on endangered species, permitted point
sources of wastewater discharge, dredging activities,
agricultural practices in the drainage basin, and monitoring
data concerning water quality and living resources. This
resulted in inventories of 29 activities with potentially
negative impacts on Christmas Bay and 32 types of
activities with potentially negative impacts on Armand
Bayou.
Regulatory Surveys - Conducted at the same time as the
Environmental Inventories, the surveys described existing
limits of jurisdiction for numerous agencies at the federal,
state, and local levels and provided a listing of regulatory
gaps, overlaps, and potential avenues for interagency
coordination.
Regulatory Evaluations - Although not funded under the
demonstration project, these evaluations pinpointed critical
regulatory gaps, overlaps, and coverage, developed criteria
to evaluate how effectively priority problems were handled,
and generated ideas that would enhance interagency
coordination.
Management Plans - Advisory groups were convened to
assure broad-based consensus on critical environmental
and regulatory issues and to draft a preliminary manage-
ment plan outline for each preserve. The plans included
specific actions to manage water quality, habitat, living
resources, and human influences on each area.
Action Implementation - Implementation of the Manage-
ment Plans began in summer 1991 and focused on resource
use, including wastewater discharges, fisheries, petroleum
releases, and recreation. To aid in action implementation, a
new level of coordination and local government participa-
tion was sought. The emphasis was on interagency
participation.
Public Participation - Public meetings were held to
accommodate the high degree of public interest and
stimulate public involvement in effective creation and
management of the preserves.
The Texas Coastal Preserves
Success Story
L he Texas Coastal Preserves Project was a success by any
account. As a result of management plan implementation, water
quality monitoring in Armand Bayou has taken place weekly
since 1992. Data from the monitoring activities, performed by a
volunteer citizens group, are being compiled and analyzed for
trends in water quality to help the team identify persistent
problems in the Bayou's water. Christmas Bay has remained a
vital, productive ecosystem, as was intended. The implementa-
tion of the management plan has all but ensured protection of
Christmas Bay from future problems, and has provided local
organizations with a strategy for improving Armand Bayou. The
project not only succeeded in designating the two waterways as
preserves, but also demonstrated the value of comprehensive,
coordinated action.
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In addition, the project has provided good examples of water-
body management for other potential sites within Galveston Bay.
The designation served as a rallying point for six other locations
that may be considered for inclusion in the Texas Coastal Pre-
serves Program.
Other Gulf Coast states are also considering similar designa-
tion projects under the Gulf of Mexico Program. Cost estimates
have been developed for these projects based upon costs in-
curred in implementing the Texas Coastal Preserves Project.
Lessons Learned
/ he demonstration project illustrated that designating
waterbodies as preserves can help ensure that their resources are
protected, conserved, and enhanced on a long-term basis.
Among the other lessons learned:
Printed on recycled paper
In Texas, many levels of government share coastal man-
agement responsibilities, which can lead to inherent diffi-
culties. The Texas Coastal Preserves Project established a
precedent for interagency cooperation to overcome the
problem of fragmented or overlapping jurisdictions. The
new management plan identified existing regulatory re-
sponsibilities and management tools which could be used
more effectively, and assigned these responsibilities to the
participating agencies and interest groups.
Environmental inventories and regulatory surveys are in-
valuable tools in developing management plans. The regu-
latory surveys of the numerous governmental agencies
involved served as a mechanism to identify similar con-
cerns regarding Galveston Bay as a whole.
Sufficient time needs to be invested upfront in identifying
significant management issues that need to be addressed in
the management strategy.
For more information contact:
Ken Teague
U.S. EPA Region 6
1445 Ross Avenue
12th Floor, Suite 1200
Dallas, TX 75202-2733
(214)665-6687 (214) 665-6689 FAX
Galveston Bay National Estuary Program
Bay Plaza 1
711 Bay Area Blvd., Suite 210
Webster, TX 77598
(713) 332-9937 (713) 332-8590 FAX
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
(4504F)
Washington, DC 20460
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300
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