GCJV NAWCA FY 2018 Standard Grant Projects

Tracts

Project Name: BISCUIT BAYOU MARSH ENHANCEMENT

Location (County): LA-JEFFERSON, LA-TERREBONNE

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Michael Carloss

Grantee Email: mcarloss@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: COASTAL PROTECTION & RESTORATION AUTHORITY OF LOUISIANA, LOUISIANA LAND & EXPLORATION

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount: $935,703.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,117,557.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description This project will help offset Louisiana's dramatic coastal land loss. The installation of structures will prohibit the intrusion of saltwater from the Gulf into the fresh marsh of the project area when river stages are low, which will benefit approximately 3,530 acres of fresh marsh on the southwest side of the Terrebonne Basin. Once the structures are installed, the project area will experience an improvement in the quality/quantity of fresh marsh, mudflats, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds, and shallow water ponds. Vegetation health/vigor will improve due to utilization of available nutrients and lack of stress due to a decrease in salt water impacts. The structures will protect the project area from converting to intermediate/brackish/salt marsh types due to the prevention of inland migration of saline waters. This proposal also benefits 280 acres of salt marsh and scrub shrub habitat in the Barataria Basin. Fifi Island will be restored and protected via the installation of 3,490 linear feet of rock breakwaters along Bayou Rigaud to reduce wave action, lessen shoreline erosion, protect/enhance shallow water habitats, provide greater resilience to storms, and improve the overall integrity of Fifi Island. This project is needed to maintain Fifi Island as viable/productive wetlands and wildlife habitat.

Tracts

Project Name: CAMERON PRAIRIE MARSH RESTORATION

Location (County): LA-CAMERON, LA-TERREBONNE

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Michael Carloss

Grantee Email: mcarloss@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: COASTAL PROTECTION & RESTORATION AUTHORITY OF LOUISIANA, DUCKS UNLIMITED, FOX & BALDWIN, LLC

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount: $999,901.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,109,383.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: The project is located within the Calcasieu/Sabine and Terrebonne Basins of coastal Louisiana. The grantee will construct approximately 35,000 linear feet of earthen terraces on Cameron Parish School Board (CPSB) and Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge (CPNWR) properties, which will benefit approximately 1,865 acres of brackish marsh in the Calcasieu/Sabine Basin. Once constructed, the earthen terraces will decrease fetch/turbidity, reduce erosion, create marsh habitat, increase submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) productivity, improve water quality via nutrient uptake by wetland plants, and restore important habitat for resident and migratory birds. The restoration of barrier island habitat includes 178 acres of salt marsh and 754 acres of dunes (approximately 4.25 miles of Gulf of Mexico shoreline), which will provide ideal breeding and wintering habitat for a variety of birds including species of conservation concern. It will also provide other benefits such as protection to interior marshes, protection to inland areas and communities from storm surges, habitat for fisheries and other marine organisms, and recreational opportunities.

Tracts

Project Name: COASTAL TEXAS II

Location (County): TX-ARANSAS, TX-AUSTIN, TX-BEE, TX-BRAZORIA, TX-BROOKS, TX-CALHOUN, TX-CAMERON, TX-CHAMBERS, TX-COLORADO, TX-FORT BEND, TX-GALVESTON, TX-GOLIAD, TX-HARRIS, TX-HIDALGO, TX-JACKSON, TX-JEFFERSON, TX-KENEDY, TX-KLEBERG, TX-LAVACA, TX-LIBERTY, TX-MATAGORDA, TX-NUECES, TX-ORANGE, TX-REFUGIO, TX-SAN PATRICIO, TX-STARR, TX-VICTORIA, TX-WALLER, TX-WHARTON, TX-WILLACY

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Todd Merendino

Grantee Email: tmerendino@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: AXALTA COATING SYSTEMS, DUCKS UNLIMITED, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT, STATE PARKS DIVISION, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT, WILDLIFE DIVISION, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION, THUNDERBIRD HUNTING CLUB

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount $999,823.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,050,100.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 36-Tamaulipan Brushlands, BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: This proposal will restore and enhance 2,042 acres of decreasing coastal wetland types and prairies in the Texas portion of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture. Proposed activities include restoration and enhancement 1,400 acres of privately owned wetlands, and continuation of a 25-year partnership of landowners, state and federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations committed to the long-term support of wetlands conservation on the Texas Gulf Coast through the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project. Project sites include moist-soil units and seasonally flooded rice fields that will provide important migration, wintering, and breeding habitat for numerous species of waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and landbirds. Project sites will be managed under 10-year agreements with private landowners, and will include projects across the three initiative areas within the Texas portion of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture (Chenier Plain Initiative Area, Texas Mid-Coast Initiative Area, and Laguna Madre Initiative Area). This project will enhance 544 acres (and 611 non-add acres) of managed freshwater wetlands at Justin Hurst WMA via installation of a re-lift pump structure and associated infrastructure consisting of levees and water control structures to convey water to multiple wetland units. Additionally,70 acres of coastal prairie and 28 acres of seasonal wetlands at Sheldon Lake State Park will be restored via excavation of previously converted wetland basins, creation of micro-topography associated with native prairie, and planting of native wetland and prairie vegetation. The project will benefit several priority duck species, including: mottled duck, northern pintail, mallard, lesser scaup, and greater scaup, redhead, canvasback, American wigeon, wood duck, and ring-necked duck.

Tracts

Project Name: FOLLETS ISLAND

Location (County): TX-BRAZORIA

Grantee Organization: GALVESTON BAY FOUNDATION

Project Officer: Mike Lange

Grantee Email: txpartners@gmail.com

Project Country: US

Partner Name: FRIENDS OF BRAZORIA WILDLIFE REFUGES, NATIONAL FISH & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION (NFWF), PARTNERSHIP FOR GULF COAST LAND CONSERVATION, PHILLIPS 66 COMPANY, PRIVATE CONTRIBUTOR(S), TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION, THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount: $1,000,000.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,153,000.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: This project will permanently protect 478 acres of coastal barrier island habitat consisting primarily of salt and freshwater wetlands and tall grass native prairie on Follets Island. The Trust for Public Land will purchase 4 tracts through fee title acquisition and transfer those tracts to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for permanent protection and management. Deemed a nationally significant coastal barrier ecosystem, Follets Island is situated within the Gulf Prairies and Marshes ecological region and borders the Christmas Bay Coastal Preserve and Drum Bay, which are part of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem, and part of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program. The project is also adjacent to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge and is located within the Columbia Bottomlands project area established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve important wetlands through partnership conservation efforts. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department acquired 441 acres of the island in 2014 establishing the Follets Island Conservation Initiative. This NAWCA project proposal is part of a larger partnership effort led by The Trust for Public Land and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to increase the Follets Island Conservation Initiative, a coastal preserve, to approximately 2,000 acres. Through this current NAWCA project the preserve area will be more than doubled in size to 919 acres. Important priority waterfowl species that will benefit from this project include mottled ducks, redhead ducks, lesser scaup, mallards and many other species.

Tracts

Project Name: SABINE RANCH - MCFADDIN NWR

Location (County): TX-JEFFERSON

Grantee Organization: U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE

Project Officer: Tim Cooper

Grantee Email: tim_cooper@fws.gov

Project Country: US

Partner Name: NATIONAL FISH & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION (NFWF), TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION, THE CONSERVATION FUND, THE MEADOWS FOUNDATION

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount: $1,000,000.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,728,500.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: This project will acquire from The Conservation Fund (TCF) 1,515 acres of coastal palustrine freshwater wetlands and coastal prairie to be protected in perpetuity within the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on the upper Texas Coast within the Gulf Coast Joint Venture. This acquisition is contained within the larger 12,376 acre tract known as Sabine Ranch, purchased in September 2016 by TCF to eliminate the imminent threat to the property of fragmentation and development. Sabine Ranch is located within the East Bay drainage basin of the larger Galveston Bay system, which is one of the most productive estuaries for fish and shellfish on the Texas Coast. Sabine Ranch is part of the Salt Bayou sub-watershed, which contains the largest contiguous estuarine marsh complex in Texas and includes freshwater to estuarine marsh, coastal prairie grasslands, tidal flats, creeks and basins and associated aquatic vegetation. Species that will benefit include: northern pintail, mottled duck, mallard, lesser scaup, greater scaup, redhead, canvasback, ring-necked duck, and American wigeon.

Tracts

Project Name: MOTTLED DUCK WETLAND IMPROVEMENTS

Location (County): TX-ARANSAS, TX-AUSTIN, TX-BEE, TX-BRAZORIA, TX-BROOKS, TX-CALHOUN, TX-CAMERON, TX-CHAMBERS, TX-COLORADO, TX-FORT BEND, TX-GALVESTON, TX-GOLIAD, TX-HARRIS, TX-HIDALGO, TX-JACKSON, TX-JEFFERSON, TX-KENEDY, TX-KLEBERG, TX-LAVACA, TX-LIBERTY, TX-MATAGORDA, TX-NUECES, TX-ORANGE, TX-REFUGIO, TX-SAN PATRICIO, TX-STARR, TX-VICTORIA, TX-WALLER, TX-WHARTON, TX-WILLACY

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Todd Merendino

Grantee Email: tmerendino@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: AXALTA COATING SYSTEMS, DUCKS UNLIMITED, TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION

Date approved: 09/06/2017

Grant Award Amount: $999,681.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,005,000.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 36-Tamaulipan Brushlands, BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: This project will restore 364 acres of former agricultural fields at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) to a mosaic of seasonal wetlands and native coastal prairie. The grantee and partners will enhance 1,185 acres of privately owned wetlands, and will continue a 25-year partnership of landowners, state and federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations partners committed to the long-term support of wetlands conservation on the Texas Gulf Coast through the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project. The project will improve nesting, brood-rearing, and molting habitat for mottled ducks. Project sites will be managed under 10-year agreements with private landowners, and will include projects across each of the three initiative areas within the Texas portion of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture (Chenier Plain Initiative Area, Texas Mid-Coast Initiative Area, and Laguna Madre Initiative Area). Other project activities include the installation of 3 solar wells that will provide supplemental water for enhancing waterbird habitat on 15 acres of shallow wetlands and the installation of a passive management water control structure that will enhance 502 acres of coastal emergent wetlands within Lower Neches WMA Old River Unit. This proposal also recognizes a contribution from Axalta Coating Systems, a new corporate partner, which resulted in the enhancement of 17 acres of palustrine emergent wetlands at the Middleton Unit on Anahuac NWR.

Tracts

Project Name: MARSH ISLAND MARSH ENHANCEMENT

Location (County): LA-IBERIA

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Cassidy Lejeune

Grantee Email: clejeune@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: DUCKS UNLIMITED, LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE & FISHERIES

Date approved: 04/25/2018

Grant Award Amount: $999,978.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,200,000.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description The primary objective of this proposal is wetland preservation through enhancement and protection of coastal marshes within the Teche/Vermilion Basin. This proposal will help offset Louisiana's dramatic coastal land loss. This proposal will be located at Marsh Island Refuge which is owned and managed by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). Marsh Island is considered critically important to the Teche/Vermilion Basin. It provides a barrier between the interior bays/wetlands of the basin and the saltier waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This proposal also benefits an additional 4,000 acres of intermediate and brackish marsh at Marsh Island Refuge. Intermediate and brackish marshes of the Big Impoundment will be enhanced as a result of active management provided by the replacement of water control structures. Habitat conditions will also be improved for waterfowl and other bird species. The structure will also regulate salinity levels, improve plant diversity, and sufficiently manage water levels during normal tidal cycles and flood events.

Tracts

Project Name: MIDDLE SALT BAYOU MARSH RESTORATION & PRIVATE WETLANDS

Location (County): TX-ARANSAS, TX-AUSTIN, TX-BEE, TX-BRAZORIA, TX-BROOKS, TX-CALHOUN, TX-CAMERON, TX-CHAMBERS, TX-COLORADO, TX-FORT BEND, TX-GALVESTON, TX-GOLIAD, TX-HARRIS, TX-HIDALGO, TX-JACKSON, TX-JEFFERSON, TX-KENEDY, TX-KLEBERG, TX-LAVACA, TX-LIBERTY, TX-MATAGORDA, TX-NUECES, TX-ORANGE, TX-REFUGIO, TX-SAN PATRICIO, TX-STARR, TX-VICTORIA, TX-WALLER, TX-WHARTON, TX-WILLACY

Grantee Organization: DUCKS UNLIMITED

Project Officer: Todd Merendino

Grantee Email: tmerendino@ducks.org

Project Country: US

Partner Name: JEFFERSON COUNTY, TX, NATIONAL FISH & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION (NFWF), TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT, TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION

Date approved: 04/25/2018

Grant Award Amount: $999,959.00

Proposed Match Amount: $2,000,000.00

Joint Venture: GULF COAST

Bird Conservation Region: BCR 36-Tamaulipan Brushlands, BCR 37-Gulf Coastal Prairie

Project Description: This proposal will restore and enhance 3,355 acres of coastal marsh and palustrine wetlands. Grant and match funds will be used for construction of a siphon and upgrading of a water control structure that will provide hydrological restoration for 2,955(1,100) acres of estuarine wetlands in a portion of J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area (WMA) - Salt Bayou Unit. This is one of two siphons that are significant components of a phased approach described in the Salt Bayou Watershed Restoration Plan to protect and restore Chenier Plain marshes within the 139,000-acre Salt Bayou ecosystem. The siphon will allow excess freshwater from marsh north of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway to flow into marsh south of the GIWW that has been cut off from this source of freshwater inflow for more than 75 years. NAWCA funding will be utilized to enhance 400 acres of privately owned wetlands, and will continue a 25-year partnership of landowners, state and federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations partners committed to the long-term support of private lands wetlands conservation on the Texas Gulf Coast through the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project. Project sites will be managed under 10-year agreements with the Private Landowners, and will include projects across each of the 3 Initiative Areas within the Texas portion of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture (Chenier Plain Initiative Area, Texas Mid-Coast Initiative Area, and Laguna Madre Initiative Area). Project sites will include moist-soil units and seasonally flooded rice fields that will provide important migration, wintering, and breeding habitat for numerous species of waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, and migrant landbirds.