Acres of Habitat Restored
Entire scope of the multi-year Bahia Grande project involved re-flooding and re-vegetating of three large, dried-out basins covering 11,000 acres outside of Brownsville, Texas. The portion of the project funded by the Gulf of Mexico Foundation/NOAA CRP grant involved renovation of a greenhouse/educational center to grow plants for the re-vegetation efforts and an initial mangrove planting field trip done by local school children in one portion of the basin.

Local school children gather at the recently constructed greenhouse
during an educational field trip to Bahia Grande - May 15, 2003.

• Enhance ecological functions and soil stability within Bahia Grande through the re-vegetation of native grasses and estuarine plants
• Establish a community-wide coalition to provide support for Bahia Grande.

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Accomplishments
The overall objective of the project was to enhance the ecological functions and soil stability within Bahia Grande through the re-vegetation of native grasses and estuarine plants and to establish a community-wide coalition to provide support for Bahia Grande. Specific tasks identified in the proposal were:

• to expand Ocean Trust’s mangrove nursery and high school program to include native wetland grasses
• to establish germination and nursery grow-out capability for native grasses and other plants to support the long-term re-vegetation needs associated with the restoration of Bahia Grande
• to distribute germinated seedlings to schools participating in Ocean Trust’s mangrove program
• to involve the seafood, recreational fishery and conservation community in the restoration process.

Project Time Line
The project was awarded in April 2003. Ocean Trust (OT) met the project objectives through the following activities:

• April 28, 2003 - Initial meeting with commercial and recreational fishery groups
• April 29, 2003 – Bahia Grande greenhouse meeting with USFWS and site visit. View slide show.
• May 5-20, 2003 - Expansion of OT mangrove nursery for native grasses
• May 15, 2003 – School planting of mangroves on Bahia Grande water interface. View slide show.
• June 30, 2003 – BG site visit with USFWS and local organizational meetings
• Nov 5, 2003 – School planting of mangrove seeds and coastal saltgrass in nursery
• Nov 6, 2003 – OT presentation on BG to University of Texas Brownsville/TSC
• Feb 24, 2004 – OT/BG organizational community outreach meeting for fishery (recreational & commercial), conservation, county, congressional, regional groups
• June 28, 2004 – Finalized MOU with UTB/TSC for second greenhouse construction
• Sep 8, 2004 – BG plant identification and seed collection, UTB greenhouse visit
• Sep 9, 2004 – BG community planning meeting for main channel construction
• Sep-Nov, 2004 – BG greenhouse construction with 38 growing tables holding over 7,000 native plant and grass species collected and propagated through project
• Dec 7, 2004 – UTB/BG greenhouse dedication
• Jan 28, 2005 – Propagation of 10,000 big sacaton seeds at Episcopal Day School
• Feb 26 – Mar 5, 2005 – Planted 2,391 Carolina wolfberry in BG for soil stabilization with local girl scout and boy scout troops
• Feb 28 – Mar 5, 2005 – UTB greenhouse construction of seven outdoor water tight holding pens/ponds for nursery plant grow-out and rescue of native plants and grasses from BG channel construction sites for use in re-vegetation
• July 16, 2005 - Reflooding of Bahia Grande. View slide show
• Sept 19, 2005 - Bahia Grande Dedication. View slide show

As presented in the preceding timeline, Ocean Trust completed the expansion of a nursery on site at Bahia Grande, sponsored a mangrove re-vegetation outreach event with a local school in Bahia Grande, and restocked the nursery with mangroves and native grass seedlings with assistance from a local school.

We also established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with University of Texas Brownsville/Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC) to build and manage a second native plant nursery for Bahia Grande, effectively increasing our plant propagation capacity almost ten-fold.

Ocean Trust purchased raw materials, pumps, solar-electrical, plumbing, water storage and distribution supplies and built the infrastructure for the UTB/TSC greenhouse which resulted in a larger greenhouse and grow out capability than originally envisioned. The water collection and distribution system is uniquely self-sufficient storing rainwater from the roof for the nursery water supply. UTB/TSC built grow-out tables and finished an outdoor grow-out area. The UTB/TSC facility now holds several thousand of the following native plants and grasses:

• 6,000 black mangrove (Avicennia germinans)
• 1,000 Gulf cord grass (Spartina spartinae)
• 200 Coastal saltgrass (Distichlis spicata)
• 100 Shoregrass (Monanthochloe littoralis)
• 45 Sea-ox-eye daisy (Borrichia frutescens)

In between these project mileposts and highlights, Ocean Trust held many conference calls, site visits, and planning meetings to organize events and followed through with event management. The project required much hands-on involvement by Ocean Trust as opposed to more of an administrative oversight role originally envisioned in the proposal. As a result of our cooperative effort with the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, we have a far greater capacity for native plant and grass propagation than we could have ever envisioned, one that will be maintained by UTB/TSC and managed by professional PhD staff from their biology department and the JASON project coordinator, and we have an active community coalition dedicated to the restoration of Bahia Grande. We have accomplished the objectives and thank the Gulf of Mexico Foundation for its support.

Project Evaluation
The restoration of Bahia Grande has drawn strong community support. The size, visibility, press coverage and momentum of the project together with negative impacts of not restoring the estuary (i.e., dust storms, barren basin, loss of fish and waterfowl habitat) made the Bahia Grande restoration project interesting to the community and created a latent interest in joining a successful project. The outreach initiatives sponsored through the Gulf of Mexico Foundation grant tapped into this community interest generating very positive response and level in participation. Ocean Trust received letters of appreciation from schools thanking Ocean Trust for giving them the opportunity to be involved. The lesson learned is that if restoration project is meaningful to the community and project managers provide easy means for volunteer participation, then the community will respond.

With respect to native plant germination and growth in the nurseries, native plants responded well. Survival within Bahia Grande after planting expeditions was not as good. Initial mangrove mortality was caused by high evaporation of water in Bahia Grande and a receding water line. With the flooding of Bahia Grande, this should not be as dramatic. Planting schedules should also be designed around seasonal rain patterns of the region, and not around school or project schedules in order to maximize survival.

Through the support of this grant from the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, Ocean Trust doubled the size of its Bahia Grande nursery and constructed a nursery ten times the size of the expanded nursery on Bahia Grande at University of Texas Brownsville/Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC). This partnership with UTB/TSC worked very well. Both of these nurseries were constructed to be self-sustaining using PVC pipes and storage tanks to hold and distribute rainwater collected from the roof with a solar panel power source thus reducing future expenses for nursery maintenance. The partnership with Marco Sales and their design and construction crew also worked well. A major result of this project is that both nurseries will continue to provide a base of support for the re-vegetation of Bahia Grande and for community outreach programs long after this project has ended.

Lessons Learned
The restoration of Bahia Grande is an enormous undertaking that provides some experience and lessons future projects can benefit from. These fall into the following categories: Public Outreach & Participation, Funding Support, Permitting & Timelines.

In terms of public outreach and participation, one of the prime lessons learned is that if the restoration project is meaningful to the community and project managers provide easy means for volunteer participation, then the community will respond. The Bahia Grande property is highly visible located along a major highway connecting Brownsville to Port Isabel and South Padre Island. The fact that it is barren is visible to both residents and tourists that drive between these locations along Highway 48.

Problems associated with the lack of water in Bahia Grande are also well known in the communities of Port Isabel, Laguna Vista and Laguna Heights which surround the Bahia Grande property and are subjected to dust storms that originate from Bahia Grande. So the size of the general population knowledgeable about Bahia Grande and interested in restoring it extends beyond those in the community who might typically be interested in conservation. Problems associated with Bahia Grande also have been well documented by the local press. When it came time to ask for volunteers to help with the project both from the public and the academic community, the response was very positive. The restoration area was well known and there was a common interest among a large segment of the population in its restoration.

As a project manager, we provided easy means for public participation and extended an open invitation to all groups interested in the project. This meant giving everyone an opportunity to play a role and take ownership in the restoration. This project was never promoted as an Ocean Trust project, but as a community project. As an organization outside the community we also were able to act as a disinterested neutral party when it came to chairing meetings, so that all local groups were not competing but given equal opportunity to speak, express their interest and participate. Thus, we have had great diversity of groups participating in planning meetings and when individuals expressed an interest in moving ahead with some part of the restoration, we worked with each local partner to keep their interest and provided assistance as needed. In some instances, this included providing generic PowerPoint presentations that people could use within the community to build support, organizing site visits by having local project leaders with keys to the refuge, and helping gain access to Bahia Grande allowing our permit to be used by university researchers. So the lessons here were make participation easy, allow everyone to take ownership and play a role in the project, delegate roles and responsibility to those who express an interest, and provide tools needed for people to participate.

With regard to school presentations, we did the legwork so no additional work was required by science teachers other than to open their classrooms. We provided all the material and organized presentations by local officials so there was no extra work for teachers to become involved. Where outings to Bahia Grande planned, we made all the arrangements planning logistics of travel and programs on site so events ran smoothly. We always contacted the local press providing a press release and whenever possible photos from the event to make the story interesting. This made Bahia Grande events more interesting and memorable for students and teachers and also promoted the project to the public as well.

In terms of funding support, we pursued the same strategy as we did in enlisting public participation. We marketed the project as a unique opportunity to be involved in a successful restoration. We presented Bahia Grande as a community project, not an Ocean Trust project, and we used local connections and individuals in approaching potential partners. In this way, we were able to bring University of Texas Brownsville/Texas Southmost College in a major partner and contributor to the restoration of Bahia Grande. Our initial and subsequent meetings with UTB/TSC always involved individuals who knew the leadership in the university. We pooled resources and ended up with a greenhouse ten times the size of the one we originally envisioned.

In reaching out for funding support to the community, Ocean Trust did not make the presentations we only provided presentation material and let people from within the community make the pitch. This has been a successful approach as we continue to gain private and local financial support. Lesson learned: give local people an opportunity and meaningful role to be involved and support their efforts.

In terms of permitting and timelines, the restoration of Bahia Grande has taken much longer to move forward than envisioned. We have had to take a step by step approach with each stage of the restoration process and address each requirement and hurdle as they came. This involved addressing questions and issues in response to obtaining permits needed for the project. As a nonprofit group working with a federal partner who had the prime responsibility in getting the permit we were not directly responsible for delays in completing the permit requirements. Our role was to use funding we had to help meet the permitting requirements. This involved contracting for a hydrologic and an archeologic survey. In this instance, it was faster to use a nonprofit organization to do this work than to issue a contract for the work through a federal agency. We are pursuing the same strategy in terms of channel construction dividing the tasks between our federal partner (Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge) and ourselves based on which group can leverage the funds best and in the most efficient timeline. Here the lesson has been to work closely with federal partners who have had the lead in this project.

BAHIA GRANDE SLIDE SHOWS:

• Bahia Grande Dedication - Sept 19, 2005
• Reflooding of Bahia Grande - July 16, 2005
• Marsh Mania Event - May 2003
• Greenhouse Dedication - Dec 2004

BAHIA GRANDE ARTICLES:

• Brownsville Herald newspaper - Sept 20, 2005
  "Bahia Grande becomes research lab"
• Brownsville Herald newspaper - July 17, 2005
  "Water refloods Bahia Grande"
• Brownsville Herald newspaper - Dec 12, 2004
  "Greenhouse to help with restoring Bahia"
• Texas Shores Magazine - Fall 2003
  "Public-private partnership leads restoration effort for the Bahia Grande"
• Houston Chronicle newspaper - Nov 4, 2003
  "Estuary project brings new life to wetlands"
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine - April 2003
  "Efforts to restore wetlands in South Texas receive a major boost"

Partners Involved: