The FoGISP monthly meeting is held the first Wednesday of every month at 3 p.m. Feel free to join us.
2009
The Lady is a Bulldog
Article originally published in the Galveston County Daily News
On Saturday August 29, 2009 The Friends of Galveston Island State Park (Fogisp) conducted its annual meeting. As usual we held the self congratulatory wine and cheese and mutual back patting soiree, but once the socializing was over, we got down to a most heartfelt celebration of a unique lady who rightly should be recognized as the savior of the park as it exists today and as it will be wholly resurrected in the future.
Shirley Foster took over as President of FoGISP with only a couple of years left on her last allowable term on the Board of Directors. Her tenure promised to be relatively uneventful with no major alterations in the park on the horizon, however hurricane Ike came over that horizon and altered the face and fate of the park almost terminally. Severe erosion almost eliminated the east end of the beach, the dunes were completely lost. almost all major structures and facilities were flattened or gutted, debris was strewn over the prairie grasses, trees and shrubs, and the saltwater inundation killed what shrubs and trees had survived the controlled burn of last summer. Worst of all, word came down from TPWD in Austin that the park gates might remain closed for 5 to 7 years while the bureaucracy spun its wheels deciding if the park should be rebuilt and what it should look like and if they wanted to fight the legislature for the needed funding. Well, Shirley and the FoGISP board read this as a death knell for both the park and FoGISP. Years of a padlocked park with an uncertain future would erode both public and legislative support for funding to rebuild and would discourage the membership and volunteer base FoGISP relied on for its support efforts. Besides, what would we FoGISP old folks do to fill our time without a park to tinker with?
The short version of a long story is that Shirley led a FoGISP contingent that convinced Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) that the bay side of the park could be salvaged with volunteer cleanup labor and that FoGISP could oversee and operate the truncated park on weekends along with conducting beach and bay nature walks and kayak tours. On March 21, 2009 the bay side was reopened. The public response of fishing enthusiasts, kayakers and nature lovers in general was gratifyingly large. Such an enthusiastic response to half a park and, as the cynical half of me is sure, the more than $1,000,000 per year in fees from day use and overnight RV and tent camping fees that the park previously collected soon generated a flurry of activity. The beach was completely regenerated, dunes were rebuilt and planted, beach parking and access were reestablished and 36 beach side and 20 bay side RV stations along with 10 bayside tent camping sites were recovered. The entire park was reopened for every day use before July 4th, 2009. Today these facilities generate revenue at a rate of over $300,000 per year.
For her efforts and as a show of our affection, we gave Shirley a single orchid plant to nurture with the same mixture of tenacity and gentle care as she used to nurture the park
We did conduct other less important business, and Walt Dabney, Manager of Parks for TPWD, laid out the schedule for full rebuilding of the park.
Bids will go out at the end of August for a Consultant to design the park according to TPWD specifications.
A Consultant will be contracted by January 2010.
Analysis, planning and design will take 16 to 24 months. This will include public input meetings. Watch for notice of these meetings and plan to attend. We plan to.
Upon completion, final plans will be presented to the legislature for funding which they promised for the rebuilding.
We also recognized State Representative Craig Eiland with two awards. As chairman for the relevant committee, Craig was responsible for TPWD being given $12,000.000 for design and planning for the reconstruction of the park.as well as an understanding that when the final plans are complete TPWD also will get funding for the reconstruction. Thanks, Craig, and long enjoy your plaque of recognition and your lifetime membership to the Friends of Galveston Island State Park both proffered with our heartfelt gratitude. We look forward to watching you hold the legilative feet to the fire when the time comes for full funding.
It has been a challenging year for FoGISP, but with the help of our many friends who volunteered their labors, it has been a most rewarding year. Come on out to the park and see what these labors have produced. Put it all in perspective by dropping by the Welcome nee Nature Center and watch the DVD presentation showing the park damage and the recovery efforts. We’re proud of the results, and we would be proud to have you join us as members of FoGISP. Go to our website at www.fogisp.org to get details of how to join us and to see other exhibits of the damage and the recovery.
The earlier minutes have been lost. If you have electronic copies, please send them to the webmaster.
Copyright © 2007 Friends of Galveston Island State Park. All rights reserved. Last updated April 18, 2008.
