Ike Impacts on Galveston Bay Oyster Reefs

Conservation, ,

According to Texas authorities, at least 60% of the oyster reefs in Galveston Bay have been destroyed by the effects of Hurricane Ike. Reefs have been covered by debris and sediment churned up by the storm, and grass and other vegetation scoured from Bolivar now blanket reefs in East Bay. Similar impacts have been reported from coastal Louisiana. Combined, Texas and Louisiana produce 60% of the total domestic oyster supply in the U.S.

From the perspective of bird conservation, there are a number of issues to be considered. First, the impact on oyster reefs by Ike is evidence of much broader damage to the bay system in general. According to Houston Audubon Society’s Winnie Burkett, North Deer Island (the largest natural island left in the bay, and home to 40,000 birds of 17 different species) lost a third of its vegetation. Because of debris, Audubon Society members have not been able to get a boat to Evia Island (an island constructed of dredge materials) that, in 2001, was home to 3,000 birds, including terns, Black Skimmers, and Brown Pelicans. How these colonial nesters will fare once breeding season arrives (and many return from wintering in south Texas and Mexico) remains to be seen.

Second, what about specialists such as the American Oystercatcher that depends on healthy oyster populations for their survival? The oystercatcher has never been common in the Galveston Bay system, with this isolated population never exceeding (in my opinion) a couple of hundred individual birds. Combined with the direct impacts of the storm surge on their breeding beaches, what are the remaining oystercatchers going to eat as the bay slowly recovers from Ike’s insults?

Finally, we are all optimistic that the oyster population will recover with time. But what if their situation is further compromised by expanded resort development on the west end of the island? For example, the pending Marquette project proposes thousands of new homes on the west end, each with boats and their accouterments (canals, marinas, boat houses). Each boat in Galveston Bay will churn up additional sediments that are already suffocating these reefs. The USACE is now considering a request for a comprehensive environmental impact study concerning any additional development on Galveston’s west end. To ignore Ike’s impacts, I believe, would be unpardonable. Ike is the third most damaging hurricane in American history, and all involved in west end development, particularly the USACE, must recognize that fact.

See more about the plight of Galveston Bay oysters in this Houston Chronicle article. Also, read the testimony from the Galveston Bay Foundation at a recent legislative meeting in Galveston addressing these same issues. Finally, you can send your comments about the proposed Marquette project to the ACOE at their website. Please ask that the Corps conduct a cumulative environmental impact analysis on further development (including Marquette and Anchor Bay) on Galveston Island.

Ted Eubanks

TBCA Old News, New News

Conservation

The Texas Bird Conservation Alliance (TBCA), an ad hoc group of organizations and individuals interested in the conservation of Texas birds, last met in February 2008 in McAllen. That daylong session, held to correspond with the Partners in Flight International Conference, brought together a broad range of conservationists who dedicated the day to discussion Texas bird conservation issues. People left that meeting expecting a quick follow up on the next steps to be taken in the evolution of the TBCA.

Few of us expected to be still waiting, almost one year later. The reasons for the delay are complicated, but the simple truth is that any effort of this sort needs to gather a critical mass of interest and effort in order to move forward. Where we may have interest, in effort we have lagged.

Therefore I have decided to revisit this issue, and to begin to organize this effort in the blogsphere. Of course I have every intention of evolving to a more tangible form, but for the moment this is the perfect medium for pulling together those interest in this issue. With the Texas legislative session underway, and the coast still reeling from Hurricane Ike, the need for the TBCA has never been more acute.

For those interested in being involved, I suggest starting by simply subscribing to this blog. Over time we will build a community of bird conservationists in Texas that will have a physical presence. For now, though, this blog will allow us to jump start the effort and see how we might make up ground toward the promise so vividly exhibited last February.

To that end, I am (finally) making available the podcasts of last year’s sessions. There may be accessed by simply clicking on the links below. Thanks for your patience and understanding, and I look forward to seeing how far we might push this effort together.

Ted Eubanks

February 2009 TBCA Conference
McAllen, Texas

Podcast 1
TBCA Introduction – Ted Eubanks

Podcast 2
Questions for Ted Eubanks

Podcast 3
GCBO – Cecilia Riley
ABA – Dr. Richard Payne
Audubon Texas – Andy Kasner
Houston Audubon – Winnie Burkett

Podcast 4
TNC – Rich Kostecke
TPWD and BBS – Brent Ortego
eBird – CLO (Chris Wood)

Podcast 5
Valley Nature Center – Martin Hagne
Future of TBCA Discussion

Ike Impacts on Galveston Bay Oyster Reefs

Conservation,

According to Texas authorities, at least 60% of the oyster reefs in Galveston Bay have been destroyed by the effects of Hurricane Ike. Reefs have been covered by debris and sediment churned up by the storm, and grass and other vegetation scoured from Bolivar now blanket reefs in East Bay. Similar impacts have been reported from coastal Louisiana. Combined, Texas and Louisiana produce 60% of the total domestic oyster supply in the U.S.

Certainly we are all optimistic that the oyster population will recover with time. But what if their situation is further compromised by expanded resort development on the west end of the island? For example, the proposed Marquette project proposes thousands of new homes on the west end, each with boats and their accouterments (canals, marinas, boat houses). Each boat in Galveston Bay will churn up additional sediments that are already suffocating these reefs. The USACE is now considering a request for a comprehensive environmental impact study concerning any additional development on Galveston’s west end. To ignore Ike’s impacts, I believe, would be unpardonable. Ike is the third most damaging hurricane in American history, and all involved in west end development, particularly the USACE, must recognize that fact.

See more in the Houston Chronicle. Also, read the testimony from the Galveston Bay Foundation at a recent legislative meeting in Galveston addressing these same issues.

Ted Eubanks

The Ike Dike

Sustainability

In the aftermath of Ike there has been talk, once again, about protecting the island with a levee. This surfaced after Carla in 1961 (after which Texas City constructed their levee system), and therefore its return is not surprising. Dr. Bill Merrell (TAMUG) has proposed a series of gates and levees to halt a tidal surge from entering Galveston Bay. Although still in its nascence, this idea has nevertheless already garnered support from local political leaders such as Galveston’s mayor and county judge.

The questions concerning this proposal are numerous. What would it cost? Who would pay for it? What would the environmental impacts be related to the hardening of our coast? Would it work? If so, where exactly does this redirected storm surge go? Wired Magazine recently published an article about how the Dutch are preparing for sea level rise. Many of the remedies being proposed for Galveston have been pioneered in the Netherlands, and therefore a review of their program may give us a better sense of how such an approach would impact us.

Implications of Ike

Politics, Sustainability, ,

Kris Benson has looked at the implications of land use patterns and socio-economic factors on the island before and after Ike, and is generously sharing that information with One Galveston. The following is a preface to the report. Kris has also provided parcel maps to help visualize the data in his report.
Ted

I’m attaching an analysis I developed in support of the city of Galveston’s Long-Term Community Recovery committee’s planning efforts.

I started working on this analysis so that I could better understand the implications of land use patterns and socio-economic factors on the island before and after the storm for my work with NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program. I also think the analysis has value for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s Community Resiliency and Habitat Conservation & Restoration teams.

My appointment to the committee was not explicitly or implicitly related to my professional capacity, but rather to my status as a busybody citizen who regularly attends city meetings and has applied to serve on city committees in the past. While there is a role for NOAA to play in the community’s long-term recovery efforts (perhaps through the Gulf Regional Collaboration Team), the editorial position I take in the notes prefacing the analysis is by no means an “official NOAA” position or recommendation to the committee. None of the data has been peer reviewed or quality checked, so it should not be considered a NOAA work product, and it should be clear that it represents my personal opinion and not an official position.

All that said, I still think it is important to get this information out to the committee members and to the broader community for consideration, and quickly, given the time constraints within which the LTCR committee is working. The data presented here is applicable across a variety of issues the committee is considering, and I’ve tried to highlight the applications most apparent to me in my notes. I look forward to participating in the committee’s deliberations as priorities for recovery actions and funding allocations are developed, and hope that the information presented in the attached document provide useful context for those discussions. Feel free to further circulate this as appropriate, and apologies in advance for cross-postings.

Kris Benson