West Bay Dredging - 2015 Proposed Disposal Sites

[Gater]

Thanks Kenny, Ill do some checking on the Parks & Wildlife and CCA. Who did you send the email to
at TPWD.

[philglass]

I am currently working with several West Bay landowners and the Corps to help the Corps find 'beneficial use' disposal sites for the material in nearby marshes that have been eroding / subsiding / suffering saltwater intrusion the past few years. This will help reduce the need for open-bay disposal, but the Corps (and we) are also concerned about the erosion of the spoil banks along the GIWW which help prevent shoreline erosion.

As most West End Angler members know, the previous (2010-11) cycle did nourish the eroding spoil banks somewhat and nourish some of our eroding marshland, but MOST material spilled directly onto the healthy seagrass meadows between Green's and Carancahua Cuts. And these meadows have NOT recovered as the Corps and other biologists predicted they would by now.

So, West End Anglers needs to speak with a clear and unified voice to the CORPS well BEFORE the July 2015 bid opening. And to provide assistance and local info to the Corps to help them find alternate sites, methods, and perhaps even FUNDING to allow them to develop confined 'beneficial use' disposal sites similar to the ones down at Chocolate Bay. This will greatly help fishing not only by protecting seagrasses but also by creating / restoring intertidal marsh nursery and food-source sites.

Remember, GBF, NMFS, TPWD, USFWS are all great conservation organizations and can / will help. But the CORPS OF ENGINEERS is the ACTION agency paying the bills, following Congress' orders to keep the waterway open, and doing the dredging. And they are the ones who need to be made aware of the DIRECT IMPACTS to bay fishermen from dredged material being put on these great seagrass beds. They are very responsive to your Congresspeople, county judges, mayors, etc. And they DO listen to them because that's where their funding comes from. They can and HAVE, in other locations around the state, found additional $$$ to develop better beneficial use sites for this dredged mud, so they can do it here also. They can just be a little 'hard of hearing' at times and listen better to the clear, unified message of concerned and involved organizations like West End.


Phil Glass
409-750-2340

[philglass]

Kenny,

Pls. see my recent post.

I.e., it is good to alert and share info with conservation groups like GBF and state agencies, etc. But the CORPS OF ENGINEERS is in the end the ONLY entity that really matters. Because the CORPS has all the funding, does all the work, and makes all the final decisions.

And the CORPS needs to hear a clear and unified message from West End WELL BEFORE their (July 2015) bid deadline. Not just 'protests' and such, but specifics on types of impacts that occurred last dredging cycle, rates of (non)recovery, and constructive technical advice on better 'beneficial use' locations, methods, etc.

Phil Glass
409-750-2340

[kenny]

Thanks for the info Phil, and you work for who? You are right about the ACE, they are in control, and we were pretty unified before and it did some good. See the following from Scott at GBF. He mentions working to find other spoil options including private land North of the ICW.

Hi Ken-
I have made inquiry with Bob Stokes, our president, but this week he has been out of the office more than in. I wanted to hear from him first if he was part of an agreement to place material in alternate locations before I checked with the agencies. He just sent me some correspondence from 2012 showing some recommendations that we shared with the Corps. They were:

a. The Corps will immediately do a seagrass survey at placement area (“PA”) 62 to determine how much seagrass is there and where it is located specifically.
b. The Corps will monitor impacts at PA 63 where the dredging has already taken place so we have a formal record of what the long term impacts to the seagrass there are.
c. The Corps will create an inter-agency coordination team to discuss the dredging on the Inter-Coastal between Sabine Lake and Matagorda ahead of time in the future and also develop a full monitoring plan for disposal at PA 63 and PA 62.
d. The Corps will attempt to minimize impacts to seagrass from the disposal that has yet to occur in PA 62. First, you will look at taking up to half the dredge material that is still set to be placed in PA 62 and place it on private property north of the intra-coastal as beneficial use material (this idea was actually first suggested by e-mail Thursday by Carolyn Murphy, rather than discussed in person Wednesday). Second, for what material still must go in PA 62, you will work to ensure the dredge material is placed on the upland part of the island and not directly into west bay. You will also move the dredge pipe multiple times to ensure no more than a thin layer will be placed onto any one area.
e. If the monitoring shows that the disposal has killed any seagrass in the disposal areas, you will consider mitigation for those impacts. We did not discuss any details about what exactly that mitigation might be, but we agreed to discuss it in the future if it becomes necessary.

Not sure if you have already looked at it, but if you get a chance, take a look at the North GIWW Interagency Coordination Team info on the Corps Navigation webpage at http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation.aspx and have looked at the Bellaire Environmental report. So, some of the items above were addressed.

I need to find out if the other recommendations were followed as well as get some answers to some related questions, so I just sent an email to staff at Corps, USFWS, NMFS, TPWD to see if the following questions can be answered; I gave them your email and I asked any staff that have an official agency response to cc me if they reply to you directly:

1. In the last round of maintenance dredging, was there an agreement made as a result of conversations by the Corps, resource agencies and perhaps GBF that the materials would be placed in alternate areas as Mr. Luce contends? I personally just recall email and conversations that the contractor would move the pipe around some so material did not pile up as much, but I am not sure if that recollection is accurate.
2. In the last round of maintenance dredging, did the contractor place the material as ultimately directed by the Corps?
3. In the last round, did agency personnel perform any monitoring of the contractor’s placement of the material?
4. In this round, will agency personnel perform any monitoring of the contractor’s placement of the material?
5. As a result of the last round of placement of material onto the seagrasses, will the Corps have the contractor do anything differently this round to minimize impacts?
6. How about in future rounds, i.e. will the ICT look into practices to further reduce or even eliminate impacts (e.g. lots of movement of the dredge material pipe so that material does not pile up any deeper than a agreed to depth, BU placement to the west of the GIWW, and/or placement into other areas that do not have seagrass?)
7. I see from the Bellaire report that there were some substantial impacts to seagrasses. Are we at a point where we can say those impacts are only temporary or are they permanent? If not, when might we be able to make that determination? If the impacts are temporary, will the Corps perform any type of mitigation for temporal impacts? If permanent, will the Corps perform any type of mitigation?

To me, the biggest questions are #4, #5, #6 and #7.

Will get back to you with any responses I receive. If you get any responses and I am not cc’ed on them, can you forward to me?

We have been doing our best to make sure the impacts are minimized or eliminated, and will continue to do so. Woud be great to have some eyes on the work, but we first need to confirm what the placement plan is for this cycle, so folks will know if the contractor is doing the right thing.

Feel free to call me at the number below if you want.

Thanks-
Scott

[kenny]

And this from TP&W...
The Corps reinitiated the Upper Coast GIWW Interagency Coordination Team (ICT) on Nov. 12th which involves the GIWW High Island to Brazos River Dredge Material Management Plan study but this study will not be completed for a minimum of one year (more likely two). TPWD has staff (Cherie O’Brien) participating on this ICT. The dredging of the Galveston Causeway to Bastrop segment is scheduled to be awarded in Sept. 2015 with the plans and specs to be completed Mar. 2015. Cherie is also participating with the Project Delivery Team (PDT) for this segment specifically trying to coordinate with the Corps project manager for alternate placement areas and/or minimizing impacts to seagrass in Placement Areas (PA) 62 and 63 from the placement of dredged material within them.

As you know there is nothing TPWD can do to prevent the Corps from using PAs 62 and 63 and impacting seagrasses in these PA’s unless we come up with a no-cost alternative which appears to be unlikely. Our best opportunity is to work with the COE to minimize impacts to seagrasses within the PAs. The COE has an interest and need to restore the “spine” of the old PA islands adjacent to the GIWW. At a few locations these islands have breached or are very thin and will breach over time. It’s Cherie’s opinion that seagrasses will deteriorate and disappear at these breach sites unless restored.

Recovery of the impacted (Dec 2011 and Jan 2012) seagrass has taken longer than other areas along the Texas Coast (e.g. lower coast), 3 years, but recovery is occurring.

The COE project manager for this segment is Seth Jones (409-766-3068; seth.w.jones@usace.army.mil). You may wish to contact him directly to discuss your concerns.

SO WE NEED POLITICAL HELP WITH THE ARMY CORE!

[kenny]

Everyone who wants to express their interest in the Army Corp. finding alternative spoil sites for the ICW dredging please email this guy with you concerns. seth.w.jones@usace.army.mil Be respectful and clear about what you want to happen.

[kenny]

I got this email from Galveston Bay Foundation. I'm not sure if there is any change in what happened before, happening again. When the dredging starts next fall we'll keep an eye on how and where the dredge operator is placing the dredge material.



"I wanted to thank you and the other West Bay fishermen for your concern and action on the West Bay seagrasses and serving as eyes on the water. It is invaluable.

I have a follow up to our December/January communications about the West Bay seagrasses. Philip Smith, GBF’s Director of Conservation and I met with Seth Jones, Aron Edwards and Brenden Somlinsky of the Corps on Jan. 23rd about GIWW dredge material placement and the impact/response of the seagrasses. Seth is the project manager. They were very responsive, helpful and answered our questions.

As far as the past impacts to seagrasses from the placement of dredged materials, he showed us the Digital Globe imagery that I have attached in both jpeg and PDF formats. Digital Globe provides imagery to government agencies including Department of Defense and for other commercial applications. It is much better than the Google Earth imagery, and being from October as opposed to May, is more recent. That imagery shows that the seagrasses have come back quite back nicely. We, the Corps, the state and federal resource agencies, will certainly keep an eye on things. And you all can continue to help with that.

Going forward, we are optimistic that temporary impacts will be minimized by applying lessons from the last dredging cycle’s placement and by the materials being used beneficially for marsh creation/restoration where possible. An interagency coordination team of state and federal agency experts collaborate with the Corps to find ways to minimize negative impacts and try to find beneficial uses. The Corps is already working with Ducks Unlimited and others to use the materials in locations that are relatively close to the dredged areas. We also talked about the possibility of GBF using some of the material in the upcoming cycle beneficially in our Pierce Marsh complex off of Jones Bay, but that is tough logistically due to the distance and the cost. We are not sure if we can make that happen this upcoming dredging cycle, but we will do our best to work out logistics and find funding.

I also understand that the dredge volume will be lower this coming cycle. The volume the last cycle was much more than normal due to delays in the dredging which allowed more sediment to build up in the channel and thus more having to be placed on and adjacent to the islands. So, there should be a thinner layer placed this year between the reduced volume and beneficial use.

I do understand that the Corps, to keep the channels navigable needs to shore up areas where the islands have been eroded away and that their plan is to restore/place barrier islands that run to the south towards Chocolate Bay. I also understand that, if done right, this placement to the area south actually has the potential to provide the depth that is needed for more seagrasses to grow in this area of West Bay.

So bottom line, we feel encouraged by what we are seeing and grateful for the collaboration between all the parties. To me, the West Bay seagrass issue is a microcosm of Galveston Bay. We are all trying to balance the needs of humans and the environment. If we can continue to communicate, we can minimize negative impacts while we all carrying on with our daily life and commerce."

[Root Canal]

Thanks Kenny!!

[kenny]

N.Shoreline before right after and now.

These are the images that were attached to the email from the GBF.

[plugger]

So the dark area is sea grass ?

[SJonesGalvBayFoundation]

Seagrass imagery

So the dark area is sea grass ?

Yes, that is correct. The darker area immediately offshore of the barrier islands (dark red area in the October 2014 image) is the seagrass. Compare that seagrass coverage with that of the brownish red area in the March 2012 image, which corresponds to the seagrass coverage after the dredged material was placed in the last cycle. You can see that the grass is coming back in to this whole area including the area where the material was thickest closest to the dredge pipe outfall locations. If you compare October 2014 to the August 2011 image, taken prior to the last cycle's placement, where the seagrass is represented by the black areas then it appears that the current seagrass coverage is getting closer to being like it was before that placement. GBF is hopeful that it will keep trending that direction.

[52M-28]

I am glad that the GBF is working with the Corps to monitor and try to do it right.
It is great to see the seagrass recovering, to the levels almost "like it was before the placement" in 2011.
It is also a shame that every 3 years or so we go back and kill it again and then hope that they didn't dredge up some new contaminate that will eradicate it completely.
Nature is resilient up to a point, I hope we don't ever discover what that point is!

[kenny]

Time for more emails and questions. The bids are already done or being done this month. I'll check and see where the Army Corp are in the process. Least we forget or become complacent, here's a reminder!

[kenny]

Scott Jones Gal. Bay Foundation sent me a heads up, that the contract has been signed and dredging may have already begun. He has talked with Seth Jones (no relation) heading up this project at the Army Corp and sent him some more questions that he should be emailing back to Scott tomorrow. It looks like the ACoE is excited about this collaboration between GBF and we fishermen, to have a better result on this round of dredging. There's a lot more information but Scott asked me to wait until he get's the email tomorrow to make the full report.
I made it very clear to Scott that we'll need eyes on this dredging as it works NE. You folks can look for it along the North shoreline and report back with photos anything that looks anything like the picture above.

[Gater]

Dredging

Scott Jones Gal. Bay Foundation sent me a heads up, that the contract has been signed and dredging may have already begun. He has talked with Seth Jones (no relation) heading up this project at the Army Corp and sent him some more questions that he should be emailing back to Scott tomorrow. It looks like the ACoE is excited about this collaboration between GBF and we fishermen, to have a better result on this round of dredging. There's a lot more information but Scott asked me to wait until he get's the email tomorrow to make the full report.
I made it very clear to Scott that we'll need eyes on this dredging as it works NE. You folks can look for it along the North shoreline and report back with photos anything that looks anything like the picture above.

I have been been keeping tabs through your updates. Thanks for staying on top of this. I'm coming off of heart surgery a week ago so I'm going to be taking it easy for a little while. Thanks again and keep the updates coming.