Project name: #3007 - Goose Island Marsh Restoration
Project status: Complete
Grant Administrator: Gulf of Mexico Foundation (for NOAA)
Grantee: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Project location: Rockport, Texas
Grant period: Jan 1, 2021 - Aug 31, 2021 (extended to Aug 31, 2021)
Grant amount: $45,000
Land Ownership: Goose Island and adjacent submerged lands are publicly owned by the Texas General Land Office.
Goose Island is part of the Goose Island State Park, managed and operated by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
Lat/Long: 25°54’ N, 97°26’ W
Types of Habitat: coastal marsh and open water
Project leader: Kay Jenkins
Program Specialist
6300 Ocean Dr., NRC #2501
Corpus Christi, TX 78412
(361) 825-3245 phone
(361) 825-3248 fax
Species To Benefit From Restoration:
- red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus)
- spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus)
- black drum (Pogonias cromis)
- southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma)
- sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
- eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica)
- blue crab (Callinectes sapidus)
Acres of Habitat To Be Restored:
The created marsh site would be 22 acres in size with 17
acres of it being planted with smooth cordgrass and the
remaining 5 acres left as open water to provide marine
animal ingress and egress within the restored nursery
habitat. The project would restore 22 acres of coastal marsh
including 17 acres of smooth cordgrass marsh (Spartina
alterniflora) and 5 acres of open water. The project
would also enhance approximately 20 acres of oyster reef
habitat, including existing live oyster reefs, by
reducing turbidity in the bay through the construction of
the marsh site. Funding requested from this partnership
would be used to create and plant 35,000 square feet of
high marsh and 28,000 square feet of low marsh (smooth
cordgrass marsh) on the containment levees surrounding
the marsh creation site.
Project Description:
The project is located within Goose Island State Park
on the southern tip of Lamar Peninsula, 12 miles
northeast of Rockport in Aransas County, Texas. The park
currently has an eroding shoreline approximately one mile
long on the Aransas Bay (southern) side.
To address the continued shoreline erosion problem
along the unprotected shoreline of Goose Island, a study was completed
in August 2003 and the resulting project is now in the final
engineering and permitting phases.
Phase I:
In phase one of the project, a containment levee and an offshore rock
breakwater approximately 2,000 to 4,400 feet long
will be constructed in the fall of 2004 to stabilize the
southern shoreline of Goose Island. This is the phase
of the project that the Gulf of Mexico Foundation/NOAA
CRP grant will fund.
Phase II:
Phase two of the project, the marsh restoration
component, would restore intertidal emergent marsh on the
north side of the island by raising the elevation of
submerged land with up to 60,000 cubic yards of dredge
material from two nearby boat channels.
Project Goals:
- Restore wetland habitats that are integral parts of
the Texas Gulf coast and the Aransas Bay estuarine
ecosystems
- Construct a 22-acre marsh site on the north side of
the island
- Raise site’s submerged land to an elevation
suitable for supporting smooth cordgrass marsh with
dredge material from two nearby boat channels
- Plant 17 acres of the created marsh site with
Spartina alterniflora in a community-based effort.
- Restore marsh habitat behind breaches that have
formed in the island to reduce wave energy and erosive
forces and improve water quality in the bay behind the
island
- Involve the local community and visitors, either
through direct participation in the restoration efforts
or through monitoring and educational outreach efforts
during and following the marsh restoration
