Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

The Goose Island Shoreline Stabilization and Marsh Restoration Project is mitigating damage from wind and wave erosion.

The first step we completed was in 2005, and that was constructing the offshore breakwater.

Kay Jenkins is Project Manager. The breakwater is designed to protect the mile long southern shoreline of Goose Island from erosion due to wave action. And later this year, phase 2 begins.

What we want to do to restore some of the marsh that we’ve lost is dredge two of the nearby boat channels that are near the park. We’re going to use that dredge material beneficially and place it in these twenty-four acres of marsh creation site.

If all goes as planned, next summer the public gets a chance to help restore marsh habitat.

Texas Parks & Wildlife and its volunteers and partners can go out there and transplant marsh plants from our existing marsh into the new marsh to help it stabilize quicker. I think this is where we’re going to get a lot of the community familiar with the project and supporting the project because they’ll get to come out and actually be a part of restoring that habitat.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Goose Island -- Saving Shoreline & Marsh Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

The Goose Island Shoreline Stabilization and Marsh Restoration Project is mitigating damage from wind and wave erosion.

The first step we completed was in 2005, and that was constructing the offshore breakwater.

Kay Jenkins is Project Manager. The breakwater is designed to protect the mile long southern shoreline of Goose Island from erosion due to wave action. And later this year, phase 2 begins.

What we want to do to restore some of the marsh that we’ve lost is dredge two of the nearby boat channels that are near the park. We’re going to use that dredge material beneficially and place it in these twenty-four acres of marsh creation site.

If all goes as planned, next summer the public gets a chance to help restore marsh habitat.

Texas Parks & Wildlife and its volunteers and partners can go out there and transplant marsh plants from our existing marsh into the new marsh to help it stabilize quicker. I think this is where we’re going to get a lot of the community familiar with the project and supporting the project because they’ll get to come out and actually be a part of restoring that habitat.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Goose Island -- Saving Shoreline & Marsh Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Goose Island is shrinking. Between 1961 and 1995, approximately 17 acres of this island near Rockport ended up underwater.

Goose Island is a small island in Aransas Bay, therefore it gets all the prevailing winds from the southeast which creates pretty large waves. And those waves have eroded the southern shoreline of Goose Island State Park over the years.

Kay Jenkins, Natural Resources Coordinator for State Parks.

The erosion has lead to a reduction in the amount of estuarine marsh, or salt marsh that once was located on the island. They basically provide a lot of food, as well as protection, especially for juvenile fisheries species.

Texas Parks and Wildlife and its partners developed a plan to stabilize the shoreline and restore the marsh.

With continuing erosion, relative sea level rise, development along the coast, these marshes are becoming more and more valuable because we’re losing them. They’re slowly being converted to open water, which is exactly what happened at Goose Island. We have instigated this project to stabilize that shoreline and restore some of that salt marsh that has been eroded away.

More on that tomorrow….

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the SFWR program… providing funding for wetland conservation through the Private Lands Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Goose Island -- Losing Ground Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Shoreline erosion is a fact of nature that can be controlled by an act of man.

In 2005 the Goose Island Shoreline Stabilization and Marsh Restoration Project got underway to halt shoreline loss there. And planners looked to another project for their inspiration.

The other major park that has done this is Galveston Island State Park. They were losing habitat on their bayside of the island mainly from northers blowing across Galveston Bay. So they started a marsh restoration project. And not only was it successful, but sea grasses came back that had been missing in the Galveston Bay for over 20 years.

Kay Jenkins is Natural Resources Coordinator for State Parks.

Even though the project was successful in restoring marsh and restoring seagrasses, we just looked at it and said, ‘Well, it just isn’t quite as natural looking as we had possibly thought.’ And so adjacent to Galveston Island State Park, other marsh restoration projects started using some different methodologies. Creating mounds, which created circular marshes rather than a grid-pattern marsh. And this appeared a lot more natural and that’s the technique that we’re going to use at Goose Island.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration program…which provides funding for the Private Lands and Pubic Hunting Programs.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Galveston Island Restoration Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Dove season signals the beginning of fall hunting opportunities in Texas. And, Saturday September first is opening day in the north and central zones…with the south zone opening later in the month.

And that is to protect late-nesting mourning doves. We have indications from studies that a significant proportion of young are produced after September first in South Texas. And obviously, we want to set the hunting seasons when we’re not going to affect the survival of the young that are still in the nest.

Jay Roberson is the leader of the webless migratory game bird program at the agency. He says protecting the species not only makes good conservation sense, it makes good economic sense.

A Southwick Economic Survey, in 1995, indicated that about two hundred sixty million dollars are generated annually to local economies from dove hunting. Over five thousand four hundred jobs are created because of dove hunting, and about ten point five million dollars in sales tax is generated annually from dove hunting. This comes from leases, gasoline, groceries, hunting licenses, goods and services at local stores. So it is an extremely important species.

Plan on hunting dove this season? Then get your license early to avoid long lines.

That’s our show…made possible by the Wildlife restoration Program…providing funding for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Programs.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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2007-2008 Hunting Seasons [Adobe Reader required]
Where to Get Information and Licenses
Hunting & Fishing Requirements/Restrictions

Dove Hunting: An Economic Boon Play Now | Play in Popup | Download