Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel: Blueprint for the beneficial uses of dredge material

Date

2000 Oct

Authors

Wagner RJ

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

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Abstract

The beneficial uses of dredge material from the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel (HGNC) to create large-scale wetlands represents a blueprint for other large U.S. ports. The port authority's interagency coordination team, the Beneficial Uses Group (BUG), successfully developed an innovative 50-year plan to deal with dredge material disposal from the channel widening and maintenance project. The creation of intertidal wetlands will initiate the restoration of the United States' second most productive estuary, in concert with the Galveston Bay National Estuary Plan, while capturing increasingly scarce government financing for port maintenance and improvement operations. An overview of the various beneficial uses of dredge material in the HGNC enlarging project is presented with a detailed investigation of the Bayport Demonstration Marsh. The HGNC project is analyzed as a prototype for successful extensive wetland creation ventures, and several key design criteria for similar large-scale marsh creation projects are given

Description

337-352

Keywords

beneficial uses of dredge material, coastal resource management, GALVESTON BAY, Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel, intertidal marsh, wetlands creation

Citation