Habitat

Restoration

Erosion, marine debris and other factors can harm and degrade our natural Galveston Bay habitat. By prioritizing programs that restore and protect our shorelines, remove potentially toxic substances from our waters, and reintroduce lost habitats, we’re able to work with you to ensure that Galveston Bay remains a healthy and productive place for generations to come.

Explore our ongoing efforts

0

Acres of marsh has been restored through plantings and events

0

Tons of oyster shell recycled through our Oyster Shell Recycling Program

0

miles of shoreline protected through restoration projects

Restoring The Bay’s

Natural Resources

Coastal wetlands in Texas provide critical nursery habitat for more than 90% of the recreational and commercial fish species found in the Gulf of Mexico. They also naturally filter polluted runoff and improve water quality. Healthy wetlands buffer against tides and storm surges, store floodwaters during heavy rainfall events, and help reduce shoreline erosion.

Galveston Bay Foundation has restored over 780+ acres of vital coastal habitat.

Wetlands

Galveston Bay has lost more than 35,000 acres of coastal wetlands and over 88,000 acres of freshwater wetlands since the 1950’s.

In Texas, Coastal Wetlands:

Provide nursery habitat for over 90% of the recreational and commercial fish species found in the Gulf of Mexico
Provide natural filtration for polluted runoff
Buffer for tides and storm surges, storing water during heavy rainfall events reduce shoreline erosion

The disappearance of wetlands from a large portion of Galveston Bay means that our area is more vulnerable to flooding and water quality issues. To date, Galveston Bay Foundation has restored over 780 acres of this vital coastal habitat.

Coastal Wetland Projects

Featured Project: Pierce MarshPierce Marsh, located near Hitchcock, Texas, is a preserve owned in part by the Galveston Bay Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. Since 2015, we have collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to utilize dredge material from Gulf Intracoastal Waterway maintenance activities to restore a salt marsh complex including sand flats and protected shallow water. By 2024, approximately 250 acres of salt marsh complex was restored and we hope to restore an additional 200+ acres of marsh habitat at this site.

Featured Project: Rich Sanctuary Rich Sanctuary is a 192-acre preserve in Chambers County adjacent to Trinity Bay. Galveston Bay Foundation partnered with the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Wetland Reserve Program to restore the abandoned agricultural land into a functional wetland/prairie system by excavating shallow, isolated wetlands and planting native coastal prairie grasses. Long-term management goals for this property are to enhance mottled duck nesting habitat, promote high-quality habitat for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds, and increase the diversity within the coastal prairie plant community.

Wetlands

Oyster Reefs

Oyster Reef Restoration

Did you know one oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day, helping to remove unwanted pollutants? However, oysters and their habitat are threatened by increasingly powerful storms (60% of oyster habitat was lost in Hurricane Ike), overharvesting, and pollution.

Unlike most sea creatures, oysters don’t just live in the water – they settle and live on other oyster shells or hard substrates. That is why GBF’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program is so important. It focuses on increasing the population of Eastern oysters by returning shucked oyster shells collected from local restaurants back to Galveston Bay to create new oyster habitat and a healthier Bay for all.

The resulting oyster reef also serves as shelter for crabs, shrimp, and juvenile fish, which in turn serve as a food source for other wildlife. In addition, the oyster reefs help stabilize sediment on the Bay bottom and can prevent erosion along shorelines.

Oyster Reef Restoration

From Restaurants to Reefs:Creating a healthier Bay for allTypically, restaurants send all the shells from shucked oysters to a landfill along with the rest of the restaurant’s trash. However, when shucked shells are returned to the water, they create a future habitat for oysters. Through our Oyster Shell Recycling Program, we partner with multiple Houston, Galveston, and Clear Lake area restaurants to collect shucked oyster shells and return them to the Bay to create oyster habitat.For more information, please contact Shannon Batte at sbatte@galvbay.org or 832-536-2265.

It might sound strange, but oysters can be gardened! We work with bayfront property owners interested in becoming oyster gardeners (or oyster foster parents, if you prefer) to improve the health of Galveston Bay. Every spring, Galveston Bay Foundation staff train volunteers in each participating community to create and maintain oyster gardens using recycled oyster shells. In May and June, each volunteer suspends their oyster gardens in the water below their dock or pier then monitors the gardens for fouling, predators, and (hopefully) the growth of baby oysters—or “spat”—on the shells. By fall, those spat will grow up to one inch or more, at which point they’re ready to be transplanted onto nearby restoration reefs and continue their important water filtration work. For more information, please contact Shannon Batte at sbatte@galvbay.org or 832-536-2265. Please note that all of the oysters produced through our oyster gardening efforts are strictly for restoration purposes and are NOT for consumption. Oyster Gardening Information Request Form Become an Oyster Gardener Oyster Gardener Training

We work with volunteers to build linear oyster reefs, also known as oyster shell breakwaters, along eroding shorelines to create habitat and stabilize the shore. An oyster shell breakwater is created by placing mesh bags filled with recycled oyster shells parallel to the shoreline in a pyramid formation. The oyster shell breakwater not only provides new homes (the recycled shells) for baby oysters, it also protects the shoreline from wave action and thus reduces erosion. In addition, sediment will slowly build up behind the oyster shell breakwater, creating a protected habitat for marsh grass to flourish.

For larger-scale oyster reef restoration, we work with partners to place cultch material, such as river rock, limestone, or concrete rip-rap, on the Bay bottom and often place recycled oyster shells on top to provide the ideal habitat for native Bay oysters. These projects are typically constructed in deeper water and require the involvement of contractors to place the cultch, including shell, in large quantities, sometimes upwards of hundreds of tons in a single day. All of this material will then serve as homes for baby oysters.

Living shores

Living Shorelines

For Galveston Bay landowners who are concerned about erosion, we encourage the use of “living shorelines” to provide erosion control benefits while enhancing natural habitat. Through the strategic placement of natural materials such as plants, rock, or oyster shells, living shorelines reduce wave energy and erosion while supporting plant growth, marsh creation and improving water quality.

Shoreline Projects

The Galveston Bay Foundation’s Sweetwater Nature Preserve is a 449-acre preserve located on Galveston Island. Over the last 10 years, the Sweetwater Lake shoreline has eroded at a rate of 1-2 feet per year. In order to protect the shoreline from further erosion, enhance native oyster populations, and restore salt marsh, we are working with volunteers to construct up to 1,900 linear feet of an oyster shell breakwater. The breakwater is being created with recycled oyster shell sourced from our Oyster Shell Recycling Program.

Shipe Woods is a 14.26-acre property located on the eastern shoreline of Trinity Bay that Galveston Bay Foundation acquired as a conservation property in 1991. As a result of severe wave energy and subsidence, over 100 feet of shoreline was lost in 10 years. To curb this erosion and prevent further habitat loss, Galveston Bay Foundation constructed a 725-foot rock breakwater in 2013. Volunteers helped plant smooth cordgrass near the shoreline which has now spread throughout the protected area behind the breakwater.

Are you interested in a living shoreline on your property? We can help!

A common response to erosion control is to install a bulkhead. Unfortunately, bulkheads can increase erosion on adjacent, unprotected shorelines and are prone to structural failure over time. Along with our partners, Galveston Bay Foundation offers property owners assistance in creating individually designed living shoreline structures for your unique situation and property. For more detailed information about living shorelines or the services we provide, please contact Sally Clark sclark@galvbay.org.

Coastal Prairie Restoration

Coastal tallgrass prairies historically dominated the landscape on the upper Texas coast. Most of the Houston-Galveston region we call home was once a vast and diverse grassland system that cleaned the water coming into Galveston Bay and supported hundreds of plant and animal species. Unfortunately, less than 1% of those native prairies remain in a high-quality, functional condition. Our goal is to work diligently to locate, protect, and manage the exiting coastal prairie habitats within the Galveston Bay Watershed and restore native grasslands within our coastal preserves.

Featured Projects

Coastal Prairie

Wetlands

Saltwater Wetlands

Freshwater Wetlands

Oyster Reef Restoration

Oyster Shell Recycling

Volunteer Oyster Gardening

Volunteer Reef Restoration

Large-Scale Reef Restoration

Living Shorelines

Sweetwater Lake

Shipe Woods

Coastal Prairie Restoration

Gordy Marsh

Angleton Prairie

Subscribe to Our Newsletter