Creation, Enhancement and Conservation Project.

The Memorial Tract Site Project is designed to mitigate for the loss of wetlands resulting from the Bayport Container and Cruise Terminal construction. PHA is replacing the lost wetlands at a rate of more than 3.4 to 1. The site is located on the northwest side of Red Bluff Road across from the Armand Bayou Nature Center. The primary components of the mitigation project are:
• Wetland creation
• Wetland enhancement
• Coastal prairie enhancement
• Wetland and upland habitat protection under a permanent conservation easement.

What is a Wetland?
Wetlands are lands that are transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. Simply stated, wetlands usually contain water, aquatic plants and water-saturated soils. There are several types of wetland habitats due to varying amounts of rainfall. Marshes, swamps, bogs, hardwood bottomlands, riparian corridors, wet meadows, prairie potholes and playa lakes are all examples of wetland habitats.

Wetlands are a valued part of an ecosystem for their ability to control floods and enhance water quality. They provide flood conveyance, barriers to waves and erosion, floodwater storage, sediment control, recreation, and habitat for waterfowl, as well as endangered/ threatened species and other wildlife.

Other beneficial uses include water supply, food production, water quality, sediment trapping, removing of pollutants from water, chemical detoxification, aquatic food chain support, ground water recharge, education and aesthetic value. Certain wetlands are protected by law. Various government agencies require mitigation to replace wetland function within the same watershed.

Wetland Creation
PHA is constructing about 75.3 acres of new wetland habitat on the 173.5-acre Memorial Tract. The project design consists of two interacting freshwater wetlands separated or bounded by coastal prairie habitat. Excess water from the wetlands will drain into the Harris County Drainage Ditch and from there to Taylor Bayou.

Water levels within the wetlands will fluctuate during the year due to varying amounts of rainfall and evapo-transpiration. However, they will contain some amount of water each month of the year. The wetlands will be planted with a variety of emergent wetland species to augment the existing plant diversity. The primary species are Soft-stem bulrush, Arrowhead, Pickerelweed, Common rush, Squarestem spikerush and Giant cutgrass.

Habitat Enhancement
In conjunction with wetland creation other habitat will be enhanced at the Memorial Tract mitigation project site. Livestock grazing at the site was halted in March 2002, and the site is now protected from this and other agricultural practices. This change in land use will benefit and enhance the naturally occurring 12 acres of wetlands and the remaining 86.2 acres of upland forest, shrubland and coastal prairie.

Tallow control measures have been implemented across the site and will be maintained for a period of five years. This will result in improvements in wetland habitat quality with increased species diversity and density of desirable wetland vegetation. Tallow control will also take place on the approximately 71 acres of coastal prairie, which will also result in increased native plant diversity and density in the upland areas.

Selected coastal prairie areas will be sprigged with Eastern gammagrass, Indiangrass, and Switchgrass to speed colonization of these important species. The coastal prairie restoration portion of the project has been designed to complement the neighboring Armand Bayou Nature Center Management Plan and coordinated with Armand Bayou personnel.

Habitat Protection
The entire 173.5-acre project area will be placed under a permanent conservation easement protecting the coastal habitat, including about 12 acres of existing wetlands, 66.8 acres of created wetlands, 71 acre of coastal prairie and the remaining 23.7 acres of upland forest and shrublands, from development. The habitat protected under this conservation easement will provide valuable wildlife habitat for numerous resident and migratory species.

Port of Houston Authority
111 East Loop North • Houston, Texas 77029
P.O. Box 2562 • Houston, Texas 77252-2562
Phone: 713-670-2400

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