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YEAR 2005 - CRP Project #4007 (Gulf of Mexico)
Project #4007
Long Lake Marsh Restoration
Austwell, Texas
Restoration site location map
Project name: Long Lake Marsh Restoration (#4007)
Project status: Complete
Grant Administrator: Gulf of Mexico Foundation (for NOAA)
Grantee: Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island NWRs
Project location: Austwell, Texas
Grant period: Jan 1, 2005 to Sept 30, 2005 (the presence of the endangered whooping crane will interrupt on-the-ground work on Matagorda Island Jan 1 through April 15)
Grant amount: $15,310
Land Ownership: (public/private) Matagorda Island is a National Wildlife Refuge owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. By agreement, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department administers a state park on the north end of the island.
Lat/Long: 28.16799° N, 96.79311° W
Types of Habitat: Salt marsh composed of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus maritimus)
and open water on a Barrier Island.
Project leader: Darrin Welchert, Wildlife Biologist
P.O. Box 281
Austwell, TX 77950
(361) 286-3559 phone
(361) 286-3722 fax
Species Benefiting From Restoration:
The marshes and open water habitats associated with the project area are highly productive for the living marine resources in the Mesquite Bay system.
Some of the commercial fish species include:
- brown and pink shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus and F. durorarum)
- white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus)
- black drum (Pogonias cromis)
- southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma)
- sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
- eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica)
- blue crab (Callinectes sapidus)
- mullet (Mugil sp.)
- Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus)
All of these species can be expected to benefit from restoration of the Long Lake Culverts.
Numerous species of birds have been documented feeding in the open bays, shorelines and mudflats, marshes and upland habitats in the area.
Approximately 90 percent of avian species traveling the Central Flyway congregate in the Texas Coastal Bend for the duration of winter, and include sandhill cranes, Canada and snow geese, teal, pintail, redheads, ruddy ducks, gadwalls, and many others. The area also hosts a number of
year-round species including white pelicans, brown pelicans, cormorants, mottled ducks, black skimmers, egrets, herons, ibis, plovers, sandpipers and many others.
Acres of Habitat Restored: 675 acres of salt marsh nursery
Community Involvement
(from final progress report by project leader Darrin Welchert, May 23, 2005)
Tivoli High School teachers and students made two site
visits (one before and one after project completion).
Two additional surveys were conducted by Aransas NWR’s
Youth Conservation Corps, which is made up of students
form the Tivoli High School. The students monitored
physical changes in water chemistry and faunal
composition that occur over time as a result of project
efforts. A total of 207 hours were spent doing
conservation education and biological work on the
project. Students learned how to use water quality
probes, cast nets, flow meter, and seines to gather
biological data.
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