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Project Summary

Salt Bayou, McFaddin Wetlands, Texas

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1. Project Identification

Name Salt Bayou, McFaddin Wetlands, Texas
Region Gulf of Mexico
State TX
Location Jefferson County, near the city of Port Arthur, about 90 miles east of Houston, Texas
Date of this update  

2. Problem(s) addressed (check one or more)

Habitat Restoration/Protection   X
Wetlands
River systems
Beaches/Dunes
Offshore areas
Mangroves
Assisting Species at Risk
Pollution Mitigation
Non-Point Source Pollution
Other (describe)  

3. Project Description (100 words or less. Please include qualitative information, e.g. acres of habitat restored, miles of steam reopened to migration, and legislative authorization, e.g. WRDA, ISTEA, CWA/NEP, CZMA, etc.)

Construct a water control structure to both prevent salinity intrusion from the Sabine-Neches and Gulf Intercostal Waterways and provide fish and wildlife management capabilities on about 60,000 acres of publicly owned wetlands located on the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Sea Rim State Park and the Murphree Wildlife Management Area

4. Goals/Benefits (quantify where possible using measures of success list) Was a cost-benefit study conducted for this project? yes/no If yes, provide a summary of findings.

Historically, the wetland area located on the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Sea Rim State Park, and J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area consisted of fresh to brackish marshlands. Construction of the Sabine-Neches Waterway and GIWW introduced salt water to the marsh which caused conversion of vegetated areas to open water and reduced wildlife habitat values. With struc-ture at Salt Bayou, in conjunction with an existing struc-ture at Star Lake, will re-stored historical estuarine condition-. The structure has been designated the highest priority project in Texas by the North American Water-fowl Management Plan.

The Salt Bayou structure in combination with the existing Star Lake structure will allow implementation of a joint State and Federal water management plan on 60,000 acres of coastal wetlands. The area is a major waterfowl wintering area, an important wildlife area, and a significant estuarine nursery area for marine organisms of sport and commercial fishery importance. This project will restore the historical vegetative community to improve utilization of the area for a wide variety of fish and wildlife.

5. Partners (include each participant's responsibilities - funding, permitting, etc.)

6. Funding/Contributions (organization and amount)

7. Legislative authorities used by each participant

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8. Value added by Coastal America Partnership including Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals achieved through this collaboration (500 words or less)

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9. Project Status

Initiation date April 1991
Completion date November 1995
Current stage Completed

10. Contacts

11. Any additional information/comments

Environmental personnel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CE)have an exciting opportunity that is unique within their professions. That is, to bring the knowledge and resources of the world's foremost engineering and construction organization to bear on environmental problems. This project is an example of applying engineering solutions to environmental restoration of tidal wetlands.

At Salt Bayou, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) requested a water control structure to prevent saltwater intrusion and restore the historic salinity gradient across the marsh lands on the two refuges and state park. The CE recognized three alternatives; 1) not invest the public funds necesarry to build the project and allow the marsh to continue deteriorating, 2) simply plug Salt Bayou to stop saltwater intrusion, and 3) construct the requested structure to stop saltwater intrusion and allow for habitat management by TPWD. The alternative which provides the most habitat improvement per dollar of cost and meets the needs of TPWD and the requirements of the CE is a water control structure.

The control structure will allow restoration- of good qual-ity habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. It will also al-low- State and Federal refuge personnel to man-age sa-lini-ty and wa-ter lev-els to influ-ence the marsh veg-etative com-mu-nity. At the same time, the area will continue to function as habitat for marine animals such as fish, shrimp, and crabs. They will be able to freely migrate to and from the marsh through Keith Lake Pass at the easternend of the project area near the Gulf of Mexico.

Because of the remote location, all equipment and material had to be transported to the construction site by water. To construct the project, the existing bayou was blocked and a new channel dug. The structure was built on pilings because of the soft soils in the marsh. The structure itself contains five gated culverts equipped with slide gates on the marsh side and flap gates on the GIWW side. Stone riprap was placed around the structure and along the ICW shoreline to protect the structure from erosion. Also, a boat roller ramp was installed for the portage of small boats over the dam between the marsh and ICW. This will allow fishermen and duck hunters to have continued access to the marsh.

Construction of the water control structure at Salt Bayou was the culmination of about 4 years of effort by the Galveston District, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and Ducks Unlimited. The structure was officially dedicated on December 13, 1995 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a shrimp gumbo dinner at the project site. A project such as this demonstrates that when both engineers and biologists from construction and resource agencies combine their engineering skills and environmental knowledge and dedicate themselves to solving environmental problems, the fish and wildlife resources of our Nation benefit.

This page was last updated on Saturday, 24-Jun-2000 11:48:47 EDT
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