| | | | | | | |
|
|
|
|
The City of Port Aransas Completes One More Step To Fight Beach Erosion
130 Views ::
0 Comments ::  |
The City of Port Aransas Completes One More Step To Fight Beach Erosion
A newly completed cure for erosion will help foil Mother Nature and the passing ships that have been carving as much as 17 feet a year off the coast of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
 Roughly $6.35 million in local, state and federal funding went to protect that coastline for tourists and residents who use it as a recreational area and ensured that a waterway into one of this booming resort town's prime neighborhoods does not silt in. The money also goes toward preserving the 1,200 acre Port Aransas Nature Preserve, where an average 17 feet of preserve upland is eroded each year as ships pass.
The project, which has been several years in the making, got off the ground after city officials including former mayors Glenn Martin and Georgia Neblett worked to address ongoing erosion concerns with Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries, a nonprofit agency dedicated to bay and estuary restoration and preservation. The completion of the project was marked Thursday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Of the money, $2.9 million came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, $2 million from the Texas General Land Office, $1.2 million from the Airport and Channel Corp., which serves as a neighborhood association for Island Moorings residents, and $250,000 from Cheniere Energy and the city of Port Aransas. Work started in February.
What the money bought is a 6,132-foot long rock revetment made up of roughly 50,000 tons of limestone that protects the coast of the nature preserve on the western shore of the ship channel.
The preserve is an ongoing city park project that will include trails for hiking and biking, a primitive campsite and observation points, according to master plan designs. The preserve's shoreline already is a prime fishing spot and recreational area, though it has not officially opened.
The city will open the preserve a piece at a time during the next several years, as funding becomes available, said Port Aransas City Manager Michael Kovacs. The city recently awarded a $215,000 design contract for the preserve's first section, which includes trails and birding towers for the upland areas of the preserve, with wetland improvements to follow.
The rock wall along the coastline is designed to allow the free flow of water into and out of the preserve, which is a complex habitat of marshes, estuarine areas and tidal flats that are home to a wide variety of species including endangered sea turtles, alligators, birds, opossums, squirrels, jack rabbits and feral hogs.
The money also paid for two 800-foot jetties at the mouth of Piper Channel, which prevents coastal erosion with added benefits for two-legged Port Aransas residents.
Piper Channel weaves back from the shoreline into the Island Moorings neighborhood, which has roughly 260 homes. The two black metal and rock jetties will keep ship traffic from silting in the channel, which in turn will allow neighborhood residents to get their boats out of the Island Moorings canals and marina.
"It has not always been easy to keep it open," said Airport and Channel Corp. spokesman Paul Page. "This has been engineered to the best of ability. We will still have to dredge, but the design should reduce the amount of dredging we have to do."
The federal government and the state got involved for environmental and economic reasons, said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who was in town for the opening of the project Thursday.
"It's the same issue at a different location," Patterson said. "Erosion is impacting recreational activities and the environment as well as the tax base along the Texas coast. This helps environmentally and it helps the economic viability of tourism and of Port Aransas' Island Moorings."
By Jaime Powell
Caller.com
Beach erosion is a problem throughout the different areas of the Texas Gulf Coast. South Padre Island and Galveston are other areas that have implemented different projects to deal with this issue. Click on the links below to learn more about the efforts taken in these areas.
Articles:
South Padre Island Is Now Preparing For The Largest Beach Recovery Project In Texas History
Galveston Island Beach Restoration Project |
|
|
|
|
| Comments | Currently, there are no comments. Be the first to post one!
Click here to post a comment |
|
| | | | | | | |
|
|