Trees taking root on Goat Island
Map showing the northern and
southern portions of
Goat Island
Volunteers from the University
of St. Thomas plant trees
Overview
North Goat Island and South Goat Island were important natural features of the lower San Jacinto River system until the mid-twentieth century, when severe land subsidence and resulting erosion doomed both. This reach of the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channels (HGNC) needed disposal capacity for the dredge material which would be generated by the deepening and widening project (initial construction completed in 2004). So the Beneficial Uses Group (BUG) determined that the reconstruction of this feature would serve both habitat and land protection purposes and designed a two-island plan.
2002
The restoration of Goat Island in Buffalo Bayou began in fall 2002. Dredged material from the deepening and widening (and continued maintenance) of the bayou section of the HGNC Project was used to restore the island.
The Goat Island restoration was designed as a two-island concept with a connecting breakwater. The north island is approximately 123 acres and the southern island is approximately 136 acres constructed to an elevation of 8.5 MLT. The connecting breakwater is approximately 2,800 linear feet. Because of the need for disposal capacity and the water depth, the BUG decided that minimum wetlands should be built here, so the restoration was planned to utilize the islands as terrestrial habitat. To this end, 2,500 pine and bare-root hardwood tree seedlings were planted in 2006 by volunteers, BUG members, Port of Houston Authority (PHA), and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
2008-2009
In an effort to eliminate the University’s carbon footprint, the University of St. Thomas’s Sister Damien Marie Savino and the students in her Environmental Science and Study Program developed a plan to plant approximately 1,500 trees in the fall of 2008 and an additional 1,500 trees in the spring of 2009. The planting was conducted by several volunteers, PHA staff, BUG members, and students from the University of St. Thomas. The plants were provided through a grant program from Apache Oil
2010
Goat Island currently serves as a wildlife upland habitat island. Several different habitat niches were created on this island, with the hope of attracting native bird species such as brown pelicans, least terns, sandwich terns, gull-billed terns and black skimmers. Dredged sand placed in the central part of South Goat has provided nesting habitat for nesting pairs of 190 black skimmers, 30 least terns, and 34 gull-billed terns during the 2007 and 2008 nesting seasons.
The BUG Plan for the bayou reach of the channel also includes restoration of 40 acres of land along the San Jacinto State Park. The Port of Houston Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the marsh restoration, and the TPWD will maintain the area as part of their effort to restore the park.
|
Overview
