NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
SHORELINE RESTORATION
Considered one of the most productive bird nesting islands on the Texas Coast and one of the few natural islands in West Galveston Bay, North Deer Island
has experienced up to 10 feet of erosion per year. The erosion destroyed highly productive habitat for up to 30,000 nesting pairs using this island as well
as nursery areas for commercially and recreationally important finfish and shellfish.
The 144-acre island is made up of upland rookery habitat and estuarine marsh. The young produced here are likely the birds that everyone sees wading
in marshes and bayous throughout the Houston-Galveston area. Habitats like these are important economically: fish and wildlife resources contribute over $8 billion annually to
the Texas economy. These resources are also part of the coastal natural heritage and deserve consideration for their intrinsic value.
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
Galveston Bay Estuary Program
Designated as a Gulf Ecological
Management Site (GEMS) by the
EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program,
North Deer Island in West Galves-
ton Bay is the most important
colonial waterbird rookery island
along the upper Texas coast.
In 2000, the Galveston Bay Estu-
ary Program partnership, whose
mission is to preserve the bay's
economic and ecologic health,
identified the erosion-protection
project at North Deer Island
as part of the region's habitat
conservation goals. The project
is also a key component of the
West Bay Conservation Corridor,
where project partners involved
have preserved 5,000 acres
of coastal habitat and restored
or enhanced over 900 acres of
coastal wetlands.
Partners worked for eight years
and in two phases to restore and
protect North Deer Island's rap-
idly eroding shoreline and highly
populated bird nesting habitat.
Many challenges exacerbated
the duration of the project. These
included: limited funding; rising
fuel and material costs; logistical
challenges, such as avoiding im-
pacts to oyster reefs and archae-
ological sites and the discovery
of unexpected soft sediments;
and timing constraints, includ-
ing short duration of funding
sources and narrow construc-
tion windows to avoid disturbing
nesting and rearing activities.
Despite the numerous hurdles,
partners employed innovative,
cost-saving techniques such
as barging in 24,100 tons of
limestone from a rock quarry in
Missouri—using the Mississippi
River and the Intracoastal Water-
way as a route—to create 6,450
feet of stone breakwater and ar-
mor 1.7 miles of shoreline. The
planning, engineering, and con-
struction costs for the eight-year
endeavor were over $3.2 million
dollars. The protection of this
rookery island is one of several
nationally recognized collabora-
tive efforts to help conserve vital
remaining habitats and restore
lost habitats. By armoring the
shoreline, upland nesting areas,
wetlands, tidal flats, and lagoons
were protected, and three priori-
ty bird species—the endangered
Brown Pelican and threatened
Reddish Egret and White-faced
Ibis, and 16 other bird species
were conserved thanks to the
partners' efforts. North Deer Is-
land has also been extremely
important to the recovery of the
Brown Pelican in Galveston Bay.
Based on a strong and healthy
population, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service proposed re-
moval of the Brown Pelican from
the endangered species list.
The North Deer Island project
won first place in the partner-
ship category for the 2008 Gulf
Guardian Award and received
the 2008 Coastal America Part-
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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nership Award for outstanding
efforts to restore and protect the
coastal environment.
The large and diverse partner-
ship includes, but is not limited
to, the following: Audubon Texas,
EcoNRG, EPA Gulf of Mexico Pro-
gram, Houston Audubon Society,
Harris & Eliza Kempner Fund,
Meadows Foundation, Reliant
Energy, Shell Marine - National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
Texas Commission of Environ-
mental Quality-Galveston Bay
Estuary Program, Texas General
Land Office, Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department, and U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Visit www.gbep.state.tx.us to
learn more about this and other
GBEP efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
Photo Credit: Jarrett (Woody) 0. Woodrow, Jr.
Photo Credit: Jarrett (Woody) 0. Woodrow, Jr.,
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Photo Credit: Jarrett (Woody) 0. Woodrow, Jr., U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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