Marsh Reclamation
Galveston Bay and all the other estuarial bodies along the Gulf of Mexico comprise one of the worlds most productive breeding grounds and nurturing beds for all manner of sea creatures, but most importantly for fish, shellfish and other seafood. The myriad of shallow coves, bayous and tidal pools that are rimmed and filled with salt marsh plants and lined with sea grass beds combined with the ideal mix of fresh water from rivers and salt water from the Gulf make the Bay a perfect day care center for fledgling seafood. The bay shoreline of Galveston Island State Park is typical of the bay habitats, and work being done to preserve and resurrect Carancahua Cove in the park should be of special interest to all sport and commercial fishermen and those who enjoy seafood as well as to all the people and groups interested in perpetuating a healthy Galveston Bay for any reason.
Carancahua Cove lies between Butterowe and Jenkins Bayous. Back in the 1930s it was part of the Stewart Ranch which became the park, and it was filled with marshes, tidal pools and interconnecting shallow waterways much like those that are found in the marsh maze between Oak and Butterowe Bayous today. As late as 1984 when it was part of what is now the park, the cove waters deepened, and the marsh grasses and seagrasses disappeared. Some say it was subsidence caused by all the wells on the island that pulled water from under it, and others say it was from erosive water action from activities in the Bay. Undoubtedly it was a combination of causes, but the important point was, the marsh was gone. In the mid to late 1990s a dredge began "borrowing" muck and sand from the cove bottom and piling it into long narrow strip mounds on the floor in a lattice like pattern of squares which protruded above water at high tides. In Operation Marsh Mania in 2000 a multitude of volunteers waded out to swarm over the mounds manually planting marsh grasses.t he result was supposedly instant marsh. For protection against bay water movement, an artificial breakwater of sand filled rubberized textile large diameter tube was laid in overlapping segments across the mouth of the cove.
In 2005 the marsh grass covered mounds stuck out well above water level forming a quite defined symmetrical lattice work pattern of marsh grass edged tidal pools interconnected by waterways of strategically placed gaps in the mounds. It was a not bad looking marsh if you if you like symmetry in geometric patterns. It did not meander as much and was not so enjoyable to kayak as the natural marsh. Paddling trail marker 18 on the northeast corner and 19 and 20 along the northern edge marked a definite line of grassy mounds even at high tide.
For whatever reason one chooses to believe including Hurricane Ike in 2008, the water level in the cove appears to have risen and spread again leaving the tops of the terraces barely above water at any tide level and the grasses by markers 19 and 20 completely below water. Additionally, the breakwater tubes flattened out and mostly disappeared below water. It's getting so that roosting space is at such a premium the birds have to make reservations.
Apparently some experts weren't satisfied with the condition of the Carancahua Cove marsh and the apparent distaste that the marine and bird life had for it. Perhaps they don't warm up to symmetry and prefer to mate in the convoluted random natural marsh. Anyhow, they've conjured up a pot full of federal funds to build a more natural marsh, and work was to begin in early 2010.
On March 11, 2010, a quite foggy morning, hoping to hook up with the work crews, I took my trusty kayak to the parking lot at the end of the east/west park roadway on the bay side. where a survey crew was setting up a GPS base camp. From there, they boated up Jenkin's Bayou and turned into Carancahua Cove where they waded around taking soundings to determine base elevations at various points in the terraces. This was a sight to behold!
By April 3, 2011 a dredge was sitting about 1/3 to 1/2 mile north of the cove mouth pumping the bay bottom out its front end through a pipe that stretched across the bay bottom to the cove where a mammoth tracked vehicle maneuvered the pipe end to where the effluent was to form a sandbar breakwater across the bay mouth. Most likely the dredge had gotten into a shell bed for the gulls, terns and skimmers were raucously making themselves at home as the sand spewed out nearby.
By May 31, 2010 the sandbar stretched from the eastern cove boundary at marker 18 to well beyond marker 20 (now surrounded by sand) almost to Jamaica Beach at the western boundary. Along the way GPS measurements assured the elevation and width of the bar and the slope and extent of the edges. All this commotion went on without disturbing the neighbors.
These pictures show the areas between kayak trail markers 18 and 19 located along the northern and eastern edges of the original reclamation terraces.
These pictures show the same area on July 16, 2010 after about 4 months of dredging and filling. Eventually all the terraces will be filled similarly. A second line has been laid from the dredge to the opposite side of the terraces where another tracked machine is directing fill flow over there. . This is intended to speed the rate at which the terraces are filled, and assure completion of the project by November, 2010.
Another piece of equipment has been added to the project for maintaining the large diameter rubberized transport pipe for the dredge effluent. The pipe develops leaks form being poked and prodded and dragged along the sandy bottom as well as from the high velocity low of abrasive material through it. A large Caterpillar back hoe sits on the barge. Also in the middle of one edge of the barge sits another machine. This is a fusing mold for repairing the leaks. The leaking pipe section is cut out with a chainsaw, a band-aid is applied to the open ends and they are fused together again. The barge has an amusing mode of locomotion. The back hoe stretches out ahead of the barge, it gabs a hold on the cove bottom, and it drags the barge ahead.
A second line from the dredge has been laid to the west end of the cove, and another tracked machine is directing effluent flow there to increase the pumping rate and to insure finishing the project before the November, 2010 target date.
November 13, 2010, Instant Marsh
Weeks ago Carancahua cove had gone silent. The pounding diesels of the dredge in the bay were gone, and the strange looking machinery no longer crawled among the latticed terraces. In fact, the terrace pools were strategically filled with the dredged in sandy mix from the bottom of West Galveston Bay. The $5 million stimulus money was almost completely spent on the Carancahua Cove project by an alphabet soup mixture of federal agencies, and the progress was ably directed and monitored by TPWD's Cherie O'Brien. On this rainy and blustery morning, the finishing touch was administered by the Galveston Bay Foundation (BBF) in cooperation with Restore America's estuaries (REA). They had rounded up a scheduled 250 volunteers who donned their rain suits and strapped on their wading boots to tromp and slosh around the destined to be marsh in the cove to plant cordgrass to form an almost instant marsh. We hope that the sea creatures and birds will be sufficiently appreciative as they cavort about their new home and playground. The project was finished on schedule.
At 8:00 AM volunteer planters began to arrive by car, truck school bus and huge touring buses. Soon the vehicles lined Bob Smith Drive on the western edge of Jamaica Beach.
This bus delivered students from Van Vlieck Middle School near Bay City, TX. They certainly had to get up well before breakfast for that trip. The group gathered under a house near the launch canal to keep dry while waiting for the signal to load boats for a short ride out to their designated planting sites.
The marshalling and boat launch site was at the end of a canal in Jamaica Beach. A fleet of small boats waited to ferry volunteers 5 or 6 at a time out to the planting sites about 1/2 miles away.
I sat among a group with people from as far away as Seattle, WA and Boston, MA. We bounced across the choppy water of West Galveston Bay passing the dredge filled mounds where people who departed before us already had planted the stub like cordgrass shoots.
When we approached our assigned planting site mound, we found buckets of cordgrass plants waiting to be stuck into the ground. I didn't stick around for the planting. I didn't get out of the boat along with the more stalwart; rather I just rode it back to Jamaica Beach. On the way back, I passed mounds already planted by the people who had come out earlier.
Perhaps I was anxious to get back to the field dining tent set up in the park where one could sit out of the rain and wind while smelling the barbeque lunch waiting for those who were bussed over after a 2 hour planting stint. Inside the acknowledgement banners and the gift T-shirts awaited the crowds.
Obviously the barbeque was well received, and the tables filled quickly including a group of Japanese from Hiroshima and Tokyo, Japan. Actually they were employees of Mitsui Import and Export stationed in Houston. Everyone seemed satisfied with their accomplishments despite the adverse weather.
November 22, 2010, Instant Marsh with better light
Nine days later the planting pattern is clearer, and the planted cordgrass shoots appear to have taken root, so that now the planting pattern is clear. The first four pictures are of the protective sand bar stretching across the open end of the cove, and the rest are of various mounds deposited in the pools of the lattice patterned structure of the 1990s reclamation project.
The plants were spaced 3 feet apart, in several rows around the periphery of the breakwater and the individual mounds. It is expected that the shoots will quickly multiply and will spread, so perhaps next summer the mounds will be completely grown over. I'll kayak out then to photograph the growth progress.
January 04, 2011
Shown are aerial; photographs of the park and of the dredging fill patterns in the original marsh terraces in Carancahua Cove. The park was in its winter dull brown color, but we'll try to get photos late this spring or this summer when all is green again. Unfortunately the newly planted cordgrass is too sparse and too brown to be discernable from this altitude. By summer, perhaps the growth will have spread and the color will be green enough to be distinguishable.. Nonetheless, one can see the pattern of the filling of the terraces and imagine how dense the marsh should be when fully grown over and more esthetically colored.
Photos are courtesy of John Nichols of RC PPG Systens, LLC.
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March 21, 2011
The cordgrass stubs that were stuck in the ground in January were greening and growing just 2 months later.
June 115, 2011
Just 6 months after being planted, The cordgrass around the perimeter of the mounds has taken on a hearty green, it has begun to spread and it is growing tall. Other growth also has begun to emerge acrtoss the mound surface, and the birds have found a new haven and dining place.
