CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-2, SPO-3, SPO-4, RES-8, ACS-3
Grantee/Contractor: The GeoTechnology Research Institute through The Houston Advanced Research Center
Total Project Budget: $136,108
Project Period: September 2018 – June 2023
Project Description: The final output of this project will be a companion document to the Galveston Bay Plan and will provide resiliency adaptation considerations for implementers of the Galveston Bay Plan. The document will be developed in coordination with subject matter experts and/or members of the Galveston Bay Council and its subcommittees through workshops or existing meeting structures. The project will follow the requirements identified in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program Funding Guidance Document.

CCMP Actions Implemented: ACS-1, ACS-2
Grantee/Contractor: Houston Advanced Research Center/GeoTechnology Research Institute
Total Project Budget: $350,228
Project Period: September 2020 – August 2025
Project Description: The Regional Monitoring Database will gather environmental datasets related to the lower Galveston Bay watershed in cooperation with federal, state, and local governments, as well as universities and research organizations, to evaluate progress in reaching a sustainable Galveston Bay ecosystem and identify gaps in monitoring programs. The Regional Monitoring Database will consist of an interactive, web-based application with data download capabilities and will be developed with input from stakeholders.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-2, SPO-3, SPO-4, PEA-1, PEA-2
Grantee/Contractor: Houston-Galveston Area Council
Total Project Budget: $40,000
Project Period: September 2022 – May 2025
Project Description: The Coastal Communities water quality outreach project was designed to support implementation of management measures and outreach requirements in watershed-based plans. This proposed project aims to identify more underserved populations and test different engagement strategies to determine what barriers prevented engagement. Resources would then be adapted or developed to specifically address those barriers, whether they are language limitations, lack of reliable internet or transportation, etc.

Engagement with these populations will provide information on all focus topics of the Coastal Communities project. However, residents will be targeted primarily based on low-income levels and high risk of On-Site Sewage Facilities (OSSF) in need of repair or replacement, which can have detrimental effects on resident and public health, and local waterways. Partnerships with local organizations and institutions will assist with identifying audiences and developing or testing engagement strategies. In this proposed project, H-GAC will expand the coastal communities support of watershed-based plan implementation.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-1, SPO-3, PEA-2, PEA-3
Grantee/Contractor: The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)
Total Project Budget: $25,000
Project Period: September 2022– August 2024
Project Description: This project supports Texas’s largest, single-day, volunteer-based waterway cleanup event—River, Lakes, Bays N’ Bayous Trash Bash®. Supporting the personnel costs of the Houston-Galveston Area Council regional coordinator for Trash Bash® ensures continuity throughout the process and consistency in planning and execution from year to year. Trash Bash planning is a year-round process and requires ongoing planning, maintenance, and attention every month.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-2, SPO-3, PEA-1, PEA-2
Grantee/Contractor: Houston Advanced Research Center
Total Project Budget: $65,000
Project Period: September 2022 – March 2025
Project Description: This project will strengthen and advance the GBRC – a community-driven, scientific analysis of the health of Galveston Bay. Twenty-two indicators across six categories (habitat, water quality, human health risk, pollution events and sources, wildlife, and coastal change) are graded to identify areas for improvement within the bay’s ecosystem. The GBRC provides learning opportunities for the general public and scientific guidance on the direction of environmental work in the area. These outreach efforts connect approximately 5,700 people to the GBRC each year and the program serves as the model for watershed report cards. In this project, outreach and engagement activities will be targeted to the Vietnamese community surrounding Galveston Bay. According to the 2020 United States Census, 104,689 Vietnamese Americans lived in Harris County in 2019 and the Asian population is noted to be one of the fastest growing populations in the county. This project specifically aims to reach and engage this Vietnamese-speaking community surrounding Galveston Bay, known users of the Bay that are often overlooked in environmental engagement efforts, to create a more inclusive GBRC.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-1, SPO-2, SPO-3, PEA-2
Grantee/Contractor: Harris County Department of Education
Total Project Budget: $58,140
Project Period: September 2022 – August 2024
Project Description: Bayou Land Conservancy, Armand Bayou Nature Center, HCDE, and Katy Prairie Conservancy, under the coordination of BPA, have formed a Cooperative Partnership to provide more effective stewardship and volunteer activities for underrepresented communities across the Houston region to Galveston Bay. The partnership will create equitable opportunities for deeper and broader interorganizational collaboration with nonprofits and community groups led by BIPOC communities, as well as educational institutions and agencies that serve historically underrepresented communities. The partnership will provide for the extension of community members’ roles from passive participant to active facilitator through an interpretive guide training program and recruitment strategy.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-2, SPO-3, PEA-3
Grantee/Contractor: Harris County Department of Education
Total Project Budget: $89,323
Project Period: September 2020 – May 2023
Project Description: Audubon Texas is partnering with the Harris County Department of Education. The project aims to engage local, underserved schools and communities within the Galveston Bay watershed in citizen science research concerning colonial waterbird foraging habitats within the school’s backyard. Teachers and students will develop an understanding of the scientific method, observational, and problem-solving skills through the study of conservation education and the collection of local bird data.

CCMP Actions Implemented: NPS-2, SPO-3, PEA-1, PEA-2, PEA-3, RES-2, RES-3
Grantee/Contractor: University of Houston Clear Lake
Total Project Budget: $114,458
Project Period: September 2020 – May 2024
Project Description: This project expands an ongoing citizen science project with Florida SeaGrant and Mississippi State University looking at microplastics Gulf-wide. This project will expand the program to connect the entire Galveston Bay watershed. The project also includes watershed education opportunities for classrooms with lesson plans connecting students and schools to Galveston Bay throughout the region. Turtle Island Restoration Network will partner with the University of Houston Clear Lake to additionally characterize the spatial distribution of plastic debris along the bay shorelines.

CCMP Actions Implemented: SPO-1, SPO-2, SPO-3, SPO-4, PEA-1, PEA-2, PEA-3
Grantee/Contractor: University of Houston Clear Lake
Total Project Budget: $80,000
Project Period: September 2021 – May 2024
Project Description: The University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Environmental Institute of Houston (EIH) and Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) will facilitate prairie education programs to increase knowledge and awareness of the ecological services provided by native coastal prairies and wetlands for K-12 students, educators, and the community at large. This two-year project seeks to address the low science and math test scores and workforce development of students in Texas Region 4 communities by providing STEM activities on the Deer Park prairie and at EIH through field trips, summer camps, and teacher/administrator workshops. Activities can be adapted to virtual formats if needed.

CCMP Actions Implemented: HC-1, HC-2, HC-3, SC-1, SC-2
Grantee/Contractor: Galveston Bay Foundation
Total Project Budget: $600,000
Project Period: September 2017 – August 2023
Project Description: The overall goal of the CAP is to support the Estuary Program and its partners’ efforts to preserve wetlands and other important coastal habitats to protect the long-term health and productivity of Galveston Bay. The CAP will continue to accomplish these goals by:

• identifying priority conservation properties with the help and consensus of conservation partners;
• building funding strategies through grant identification, grant writing, and fundraising;
• working with willing sellers to negotiate fee simple or conservation easement transactions;
• carrying out legal, title, and other due diligence transaction support; and
• finalizing the sale and transfer of title to a third-party organization or government entity.

CCMP Actions Implemented: HC-1, SC-1
Grantee/Contractor: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Total Project Budget: $125,000
Project Period: September 2021 – May 2024
Project Description: The proposed acquisition tracts in Galveston, Texas will directly benefit and protect approximately 19.2 acres of temporarily flooded palustrine emergent persistent marsh habitat, 10.1 acres of seasonally flooded palustrine emergent persistent marsh, less than an acre (0.2 acres) of semi-permanently flooded open water, and 58.5 acres of upland coastal prairie.

CCMP Actions Implemented: HC-2, HC-3, SC-1, SC-2
Grantee/Contractor: City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department
Total Project Budget: $75,300
Project Period: September 2021 – May 2024
Project Description: HPARD is currently working on a multi-phased project that will result in 72 acres of coastal prairie and riparian habitat. This phase (phase III) of the project will complete the restoration of the final 19 acres of prairie. Invasive tree species will be removed, leaving a mulch layer that will improve soil quality and provide the basis for a new prairie habitat. The site will be seeded with native prairie plant species and will be planted with grasses and forbs. HPARD will host two community planting events to educate the community on the importance of prairie habitat and promote stewardship and appreciation of nature parks in local communities.

CCMP Actions Implemented: HC-2, HC-3, SC-1
Grantee/Contractor: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Total Project Budget: $75,000
Project Period: September 2021 – May 2024
Project Description: The Jones Bay Oystercatcher Habitat Restoration Project conducted by TPWD in partnership with Galveston Bay Foundation, aims to restore up to four remnant islands in Jones Bay to provide more sustainable nesting habitat for native American oystercatchers to reverse declines in their reproduction success. The project will also enhance and/or create up to one acre of oyster reef complex near each nesting island, thus providing foraging habitat for nesting oystercatchers and their young.

CCMP Actions Implemented: PEA-2, RES-2, RES-3, RES-6
Grantee/Contractor: Lee College
Total Project Budget: $127,191
Project Period: September 2022 – November 2024
Project Description: This project will collect comprehensive data at Living Shorelines sites throughout the Galveston Bay system to assess the resiliency and functional aspects of small-scale restoration projects over time. Data will include biological community (e.g., plants, fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, sediment microorganisms), contaminants in sediment (e.g., heavy metals, organic pesticides, microplastics), and low altitude aerial imagery (to determine trends in shoreline erosion and elevation). Data will be compared to unrestored natural marsh reference sites and traditionally armored sites.

CCMP Actions Implemented: NPS-2, PEA-1, PEA-3, RES-3
Grantee/Contractor: Texas A&M University at Galveston
Total Project Budget: $90,427
Project Period: September 2020 – April 2023
Project Description: The project aims to quantify (per gram of living tissue) types and amounts of microplastics in Galveston Bay oysters. Researchers will concurrently sample surface water for microplastics to determine whether oysters are selectively filtering or retaining certain types. Project researchers will also examine variation across major bay regions, as well as any relationship between microplastics loads and oyster physiological condition. Researchers will coordinate with other GBEP project leaders to align sampling locations so that findings can be linked spatially.

CCMP Actions Implemented: RES-2, RES-3
Grantee/Contractor: Texas A&M University at Galveston
Total Project Budget: $36,939
Project Period: September 2020 – December 2022
Project Description: The project aims to 1) investigate how microplastic exposure affects physiological and swimming performance in filter-feeding (clupeid) fishes (this study = gulf menhaden and bay anchovies), and 2) investigate the trend of plastic accumulation in filter-feeding fishes in Galveston Bay over the last 77 years using a Galveston Bay specific collection at Texas A&M University. Clupeid fishes hold importance at the base of marine food webs and are particularly susceptible to microplastic pollution due to their feeding mode.

CCMP Actions Implemented: RES-2
Grantee/Contractor: Texas A&M University
Total Project Budget: $108,438
Project Period: September 2020 – March 2024
Project Description: The project aims to conduct quarterly field observations over two years in Galveston Bay to understand the distribution, fate, and transport of a group of emerging contaminants, including per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP) in water and sediment. The project will extend a currently funded quarterly time series beginning in June 2017 to five years.

CCMP Actions Implemented: RES-3
Grantee/Contractor: Texas A&M University at Galveston
Total Project Budget: $69,305
Project Period: September 2021 – October 2023
Project Description: Shoreline marsh areas are a critical habitat that provides protection from erosion and floods. Shoreline marshes are sometimes sheltered behind breakwaters or sills (typically rock or oyster shell) meant to further reduce erosion. Breakwaters and sills are designed to reduce the exchange of momentum (wave impacts and other hydrodynamic forces) and materials (especially sediment) between the open bay and the marsh. Because of this, they could also affect populations of animals living in marsh habitats, but whether such impacts are beneficial or detrimental remains poorly explored. This project asks: How does the presence of erosion control structures influence species populations and productivity within shoreline marsh areas? To address this question, this Contract will survey nekton and zooplankton in Galveston Bay shoreline marsh areas with and without breakwater or sill structures and quantify primary producer productivity.

CCMP Actions Implemented: RES-2
Grantee/Contractor: Texas A&M University at Galveston
Total Project Budget: $105,549
Project Period: September 2021 – October 2023
Project Description: This Contract aims to increase the current understanding of the fate of emerging pollutants in Galveston Bay biota. This Contract will generate data on the body-burdens of PFAS in fish and shellfish collected from Galveston Bay. Biomarkers of stress will also be measured in these organisms to determine the effect(s) of PFAS exposure on Galveston Bay fish and shellfish health.

CCMP Actions Implemented:  NPS-1, NPS-2, NPS-4
Grantee/Contractor: Houston-Galveston Area Council
Total Project Budget: $30,000
Project Period: September 2022 – May 2025
Project Description: H-GAC is currently working with TCEQ on a Clean Water Act Section 319 watershed protection plan (WPP) development project for Clear Creek, initiated in 2021 and continuing through FY 2024. The effort will produce an EPA 9-Element watershed-based plan and conduct NPS education and outreach elements during the project. Preliminary work was completed as part of a TMDL project, during which strong local support for full development specific to this watershed was expressed. Water quality issues impacting recreation, local economies, public health, and the environment persist in this subsidiary watershed of the greater Galveston Bay Watershed.

CCMP Actions Implemented: NPS-1, NPS-2, NPS-3, PS-2, PS-3, SPO-1, SPO-4,
PEA-1, PEA-2, RES-4
Grantee/Contractor: Houston-Galveston Area Council
Total Project Budget: $120,000
Project Period: September 2019 – August 2024
Project Description: The goal of the Targeted Bacteria Monitoring Project is to reduce bacteria concentrations in impaired streams in the Bacteria Implementation Group (BIG) project area. The objectives are to: (1) investigate bacteria sources in the most bacteria-impaired waterways in the BIG project area; and (2) work with local jurisdictions to reduce or eliminate those sources. This project focuses only on the most impaired assessment units with the aim to identify relative differences in bacteria levels for the purpose of narrowing down geographic locations of potential sources. When potential sources are identified, the information will be passed on to local authorities in a targeted monitoring report.