Pierce Marsh - intertidal habitat restoration

The project will restore 57 acres of intertidal an sub-tidal wetland habitats lost to recent surface subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal and will protect 1,600 acres of coastal wetland habitats through acquisition from willing sellers. The Preserve has been isolated from sheet-flow runoff from the marsh above it by an access road that bisects the marsh and by a canal that largely parallels that road. Acquiring the 1,600 acres of coastal marsh adjoining two sides of the Preserve will not only preserve those wetlands in perpetuity but will make possible the enhancement of the Preserve's habitat values through the restoration of sheet-flow runoff from the Highlands Bayou watershed into Pierce Marsh, providing nutrients and sediments that contribute to marsh maintenance and productivity. Pierce Marsh is an intertidal marsh located in the Central Flyway. It serves numerous waterfowl, shore bird, and wading bird species. Its value to the Galveston Bay system is inestimable as a nursery for marine life, both vertebrate and invertebrate, including redfish, spotted seatrout, and other coastal fishery species that rely on the protected waters of the bays and marshes for breeding and foraging. People benefit, too.