Gulf Coastal Plains Wetland Mitigation Bank

East Chambers County, Texas

EcoGENESIS provided design and construction management and monitoring services for the establishment and restoration of the 465-acre first phase.   This flagship tidal marsh and freshwater coastal prairie wetland mitigation bank is located at the confluence of East Bay and Elm Bayous.  Services provided included the design and management recommendations for on-site propagation areas to supply freshwater and tidal herbaceous, emergent wetland plant materials for build-out of all thirteen phases, technical direction and construction management for Phase 1, preparation of planting bid and construction specifications for all three sub-phases (1A, 1B and 1C), evaluation of bids and management of planting and nuisance/exotic species contractors work,  schedule and performance.  As part of this project, EcoGENESIS worked with the client and project engineer, E Sciences, Inc.  to re-design the main tidal channel.  Part of the reason for the re-design of the tidal channel was to create greater resiliency in the freshwater portion (Phase 1C) by limiting the degree of salt water intrusion during extreme events.  The re-design also incorporated the remnant Elm Bayou channel preserved in the former reservoir, saving considerable time and expense in excavation of new channel as originally engineered.

EcoGENESIS also provided as-built reporting and baseline, Year 1 and Year 2 monitoring services, successfully securing the construction credit release after completion of construction and the first performance credit release.  Desirable wetland vegetative coverage for the majority of wetland habitat polygons met or exceeded the long-term, Year 7 cover criteria by Year 2, despite having gone through Hurricane Harvey within a year of completion of construction.  Changes to the grading plan recommended by ecoGENESIS also resulted in the establishment of greater wet prairie acreage than originally anticipated.  EcoGENESIS worked closely with the project engineer and manager, E Sciences, Inc. in the implementation of this pioneering wetland restoration project in the USACE Galveston District.  The project manager for ecoGENESIS, Pamela Fetterman, was the permitting lead and ecological designer of the bank while formerly in the employ of E Sciences, Inc.

EcoGENESIS continues to provide high-level consulting services to the client for this project.