| $1.25M for damages to Packery -
City must pay to reduce the effects of dredging
March 7, 2003 By Matthew Sturdevant Corpus Christi Caller Times P.O. Box 9136 Corpus Christi, TX 78469 361-884-2011 SturdevantM@caller.com or 361-886-3778 To submit a Letter to the Editor: support@caller.com (250-word limit) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given city officials a way to compensate for the environmental impact of the city's plan to dredge Packery Channel on Padre Island. A final environmental review by the Army Corps of Engineers will be published on March 14, but a copy arrived this week at the city secretary's office with guidelines, including environmental requirements, for the $31.8 million city project. The Corps of Engineers said in the study that dredging the Packery Channel could temporarily displace birds living in dunes and grasslands, remove critical feeding habitat for the endangered piping plover and reshape the underwater landscape that is home to a variety of fish, crabs and shrimp. To lessen these problems and still proceed with the project, the Corps of Engineers will require the city to ease the impact of dredging on the environment. The city will pay $1.25 million to the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program this summer for protection and improvement of wildlife habitat at nearby Shamrock Island, which is owned by The Nature Conservancy. Pat Suter, chair of the Coastal Bend Sierra Club, said she is not in favor of the dredging project and has two observations about the environmental requirements. She said the critical feeding area for the piping plover could be protected if the dredging project is moved about 300 feet south. "And I just think it's interesting that the amount the city is required to pay in mitigation is about the same as what they're getting from the General Land Office," Suter said. About $1.2 million will come from the Texas General Land Office and the sale of bonds to private investors. Mitigation process The mitigation process could include adding about 1,000 feet to an existing wall near Shamrock Island to break waves which destroy marshy areas and watery grasslands that are nurseries for all manner of fish, shrimp and crabs, said Ray Allen, executive director of Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program. In addition, sea grasses will be planted to prevent continuing erosion on the north and south sides of Shamrock Island, Allen said. The Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program will team with The Nature Conservancy to analyze what is needed to restore wildlife habitat on the island, Allen said. Storm waves have been the primary reason for eroding sediment around the island, he said. "We're really looking to The Nature Conservancy to provide us with guidance to protect Shamrock Island," Allen said. The Nature Conservancy's South Texas senior land steward, Mark Dumesnil, was out of town Thursday, and could not be reached by phone. Dredging for development Packery Channel is a sand-filled pass through Padre Island from the Laguna Madre to the Gulf of Mexico. Officials think they can stimulate development of the area by dredging the pass for yacht owners and local fishermen. City Council members approved a plan last week to begin selling bonds to pay for the city's part of the $30 million dredging project. The estimated $31.8 million cost will be paid through federal funding and a local contribution of $10.5 million. The local money will come from a $1.2 million grant from the state's General Land Office and from the sale of bonds to private investors. One of the sticking points has been the location of mounds where the dredging spoils will be placed. Some of the sand will be moved to a beach in front of the seawall just south of J.P. Luby Surf Park. Some sediment will be put just north of the channel on Padre Island. Agreement forthcoming City engineers have said the city plans to dump the refuse on small islands near the channel already used by the land office and the Texas Department of Transportation for dumping dredge spoils. The city will sign an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers later this month or by early April, said Corpus Christi's acting City Manager Skip Noe. The project will go to bid after that, and contractors are expected to begin digging the channel by mid-July, said Tom Utter, a city consultant for the dredging project. "We never had any indication from the Corps of Engineers that there was any problem ... and we're anxiously awaiting the start of the project," said Mayor Loyd Neal. http://www1.caller.com/ccct/search/1,1642,CCCT_800,00.html -----related article----- $1.25M to go to Shamrock Island will replace lost habitat from Packery Channel March 16, 2003 By Neal Falgoust Caller-Times 361-886-4334 or falgoustn@caller.com As soon as planning began for the dredging of Packery Channel, city and federal officials knew they would have to implement a plan to replace wildlife habitat. They knew early on that the proposed channel would cut through a delicate ecosystem that provided food and refuge for endangered birds and delicate sea grasses. An environmental review of the dredging project published Friday in the Federal Register designates $1.25 million for a project to rehabilitate Shamrock Island, a popular bird rookery and fishing hole in the Laguna Madre roughly five miles north of Packery Channel. Local officials have touted the project as an important move to protect a critical habitat that will also replace areas lost to the dredging of Packery Channel. The island is home to thousands of birds, including roseate spoonbills, terns, herons, cranes and gulls. Its diverse habitat is attractive to wildlife that use the island for nesting and feeding. But despite the island's popularity in environmental preservation circles, it was actually the third choice on a list of proposed remedies for the dredging of Packery Channel. Packery Channel is a sand-filled pass through Padre Island from the Laguna Madre to the Gulf of Mexico. Officials think they can stimulate development of the area by dredging the pass for yacht owners and local fishermen. Examination of the dredging's effects on the environment began in October 1999. The Army Corps of Engineers has spent more than $2 million since then to prepare a draft and final report on the project. The draft report was issued last summer and determined that dredging the channel would destroy more than 6 acres of land used by the endangered piping plover. After its publication, several environmental and natural resource agencies said they were not satisfied with the plan to offset the effects on the piping plover habitat and the sea grasses. Third time's a charm In the draft report, officials suggested planting sea grass along the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. But the ship channel was too far away from the dredging and wouldn't have provided a place for the endangered birds to roost, critics said. A later proposal suggested planting sea grass and replenishing a beach on Coyote Island, just north of the JFK Causeway near Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. But officials said they didn't think it was a good idea to build a habitat for endangered birds in the flight path of military training planes. Shamrock Island came up as a third option, one that made sense to a lot more people. But why didn't it come up earlier in the planning process? "I think it's because we didn't have everybody sitting down talking about it," said Tom Utter, a consultant for the city working on the dredging plan. To ease the effects of the dredging on the environment, the city will pay $1.25 million to the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program this summer. The money will be funneled through the program to The Nature Conservancy, which owns the island. Although officials do not know exactly how the money will be spent, it is likely that they will construct a wave barrier to slow the effects of wave-related erosion, plant sea grasses to replace the grass lost at Packery Channel and build a beach to replace lost piping plover habitat. Tip of a peninsula Before the start of oil and gas exploration on the island in the mid-1900s, Shamrock Island was the tip of a peninsula that extended from the leeward side of Mustang Island into the Laguna Madre. But when exploration began, companies began cutting channels through the island. Those channels opened the island up to erosion, which has been eating away at the shoreline ever since. The Nature Conservancy bought the 110-acre island in 1995 through a partnership with the state's General Land Office. Since then, it has worked to close off the island to outsiders during the spring nesting season, when as many as 20,000 birds use the island for mating and nesting. In 1998, the state's General Land Office and the Nature Conservancy began a project to protect the island by building a 4,000-foot-long barrier along its northern reach. Since then, the protected shore has filled in with sea grass, and sand placed along the barrier has migrated around the island as planned. Protecting the island Conservancy officials think extending that barrier and planting more sea grass can protect the island even more and provide a sanctuary for more endangered birds. Liz Smith, an associate director for the Center for Coastal Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said protecting the island from any more erosion is a high priority. "I think we're most concerned about the breaching of the lagoons and the fragmenting of the island," she said. "Keeping the island in one piece is critical." If the lagoons are breached, erosion would rapidly increase and wash away the island, said Mark Dumesnil, a land steward for The Nature Conservancy. "A lot of people consider it one of the most important roosting islands in the western Gulf of Mexico," he said. "The important thing for people to realize is that this is an important resource for the Coastal Bend." |