|
The Bahia Grande is showing its resurgence as a critical coastal wildlife ecosystem after the completion of a successful project aimed at increasing tidal exchange through the pilot channel connecting the wetland complex and the Brownsville Ship Channel.
The Bahia Grande Restoration Project to expand the Carl "Joe" Gayman channel to 250 feet and deepen the channel to nine feet concluded last year. The $5 million multi-agency project, led by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on behalf of the Deepwater Horizon Texas Trustee Implementation Group, is considered the largest coastal restoration project in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. The Port of Brownsville partnered with the GLO and other key stakeholders in restoring the Bahia Grande as a major fish, wildlife and waterfowl nursery.
The Bahia Grande is a 10,000-acre coastal ecosystem and wetland complex that includes three shallow basins located within the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, immediately north of the Brownsville Ship Channel.
The effort significantly enhances water flow, improves water quality, enriching thousands of acres of wetlands, and expands critical habitats for marine life and other wildlife in the 10,000-acre Bahia Grande wetlands area.
| 
