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GBF’s 2014 Accomplishments

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With help from you Galveston Bay is a healthier, more enjoyable place today. Your support in 2014 made positive changes in the bay and in the lives of those who depend on it. Here are some of the impacts that you have made:

Advocacy

  • Advocated for more meaningful water conservation goals in the City of Houston by making written comments on the draft 2014 City of Houston Water Conservation Plan, authoring a Houston Chronicle op-ed that generated an editorial and front page article, and addressing Mayor Annise Parker and City Council members
  • Cultivated partnerships with members of the Gulf Coast Water Efficiency Network by leading the efforts to launch a water conservation yard sign campaign targeting discretionary outdoor water use
  • Advocated for environmental and water conservation considerations to be included during the rulemaking process of House Bill 4/State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) through oral and written comments to Texas Water Development Board
  • Continued Clean Water Partnerships with 19 marinas, 2 schools, and 4 cities, including a new partnership with the City of La Porte
  • Reviewed 45 applications for Corps of Engineers permits and provided letters of concern or comments on 20 of them
  • Activated as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Texas City Y Oil Spill and managed the “Sentinel Program” for 17 days, mobilizing 230 volunteers in walking 100 miles of Galveston beachfront looking for incidences of oil and oiled wildlife

Conservation

  • Removed three derelict and abandoned steel barges from Cedar Bayou
  • Completed the Pine Gully Wetlands Restoration project by constructing a pair of jetties at the mouth of the gully, dredging sediments out of the gully, and planting the banks with smooth cordgrass to restore about 2.5 acres of wetlands
  • Completed construction on one private landowner living shoreline project and began construction an another, got seven through permitting, and identified four new projects to undertake in 2015
  • Obligated Knobloch funds to members of the Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation to help pay for due diligence costs associated with 13 land acquisition projects targeting Deepwater Horizon settlement funds for the conservation of more than 42,200 acres across all five Gulf States
  • Closed on a 17.23 acre tract of land in Beach City bisected by Cedar Gully and with scenic views of Trinity Bay that is intended to serve as the site for GBF’s new outdoor education center, allowing GBF to greatly expand our current outdoor education programs
  • Closed on the Cotton Bayou property, a 30.975-acre property in Chambers County adjacent to the NRG cooling pond, Cotton Bayou, and Cotton Lake near the Trinity River delta
  • Signed a conservation easement on Exploration Green, a 178-acre easement in Harris County protecting an abandoned golf course and transforming it into a series of engineered lakes designed to provide stormwater retention, water quality improvements, wildlife habitats including extensive wetlands and rookery islands, and significant public access amenities for local residents and area visitors
  • Purchased a conservation easement on Lone Pine Farm in Brazoria County utilizing $1.3 million in funding from the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program to permanently protect 1,100 acres of agricultural land and native habitat and help improve water quality in the West Bay watershed
  • Hosted TPWD’s annual Abandoned Crab Trap Removal event at the Fort Anahuac Park site and removed 273 crab traps (over 80% of the total traps collected in/around Galveston Bay) with the assistance of 40 volunteers, 8 airboats, and 4 outboard boats
  • Hosted the Trash Bash event at Bay Area Park, with 832 volunteers collecting an estimated 7.5 tons of trash and recyclables from the Armand Bayou watershed
  • Hosted marsh grass planting events, including Marsh Mania events in the fall and spring, at Pine Gully in Seabrook, Bay Harbor, East End Lagoon, Oyster Lake, and Shipe Woods involving 403 volunteers in planting 4.63 acres of estuarine intertidal marsh
  • Continued recycling oyster shell from Tommy’s Oyster Bar, Topwater Grill, the Kemah Boardwalk, Crazy Alan’s Swamp Shack, and Number 13 at Pelican Rest Marina, reclaiming an estimated 127.8 tons of shell during 2014
  • Installed oyster bags along the shorelines of the Sweetwater Nature Preserve, including 80 feet along Sweetwater Lake and 55 feet along West Bay

Education & Outreach

  • Hosted Bay Day 2014 at the Kemah Boardwalk, with 33 exhibits, support from 30 volunteers, participation by 120 kids in the Blue Crab Scavenger Hunt, and an estimated attendance of over 5,000 visitors
  • Concluded the 2013-14 Get Hip to Habitat year by serving 1,100 students at 18 schools during the 2013-14 school year and kicked off the 2014-15 school year with participation by 22 schools
  • Launched the Dockwalker pilot program, which concluded that about half of the boaters surveyed at six marinas did not know the consequences of illegally discharging sewage overboard, justifying the need for continued education about the impacts of boater waste on the bay
  • Hosted eight Rain Barrel Workshops in Baytown, Dickinson, Galveston, Houston, La Porte, and Nassau Bay with 507 people in attendance and 517 rain barrels and kits distributed, reducing a potential of 540,000 gallons of stormwater runoff and conserving water for Galveston Bay
  • Installed an additional 46 seafood consumption advisory signs at 23 fishing and crabbing locations on local waters, ranging from the upper Houston Ship Channel at Brays Bayou down to Upper Galveston Bay in La Porte
  • Cemented 180 storm drain medallions at storm drain openings on the east end of Galveston Island in the residential areas south of UTMB with the help of Ball High School students
  • Kicked off the Galveston Bay Report Card project, beginning with input about bay health topics obtained from more than 540 member and public surveys and 31 presentations to 800 individuals from various stakeholder groups
  • Debuted a new website and mobile-friendly e-news format

Research

  • Grew the Water Monitoring Team to 53 volunteers who sample from 52 sites, including 18 who sample for Enterococcus bacteria from 20 sites
  • Partnering with Texas Living Waters project, researched Rangia clam distributions and densities and found far fewer clams in a historic northeast inlet of the bay, suggesting that not enough fresh water is flowing from the Trinity River to protect the ecological health of a drought-plagued state’s most bountiful estuary

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