Gulf Coast Restoration Initiative
Restoring our Coastal
Habitat and
Strengthening our
Communities
Who are the Partners?
National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation
(NFWF) Gulf
Environmental Benefit
Fund
The Nature Conservancy
(TNC)
American YouthWorks
Texas Conservation
Corps (TxCC)
The Corps Network
(TCN)
Climb CDC Career
Development Center
What were the Objectives?
• Collect baseline data from 29 sites across 9 streams
that all feed into the Mississippi Sound.
• Promote community resilience by training local
members of the community to enrich the local
economy, rather than outsource these employment
opportunities.
• Assessing deteriorating natural spaces in preparation
of making steps to restore them.
• Providing young people in underserved areas a
satisfying and productive pathway from the
challenges of their socioeconomic climate.
• Increasing awareness of the Conservation Corps
model and its advantages to the natural
environment as well as the community environment.
Corps member Martin King at Magnolia Bayou
In the Field
Corps members assess bank conditions
using a qualitative rapid stream
assessment guide and document their
finding in waterproof notebooks, as well
as with GPS units and with
photographs. Their findings are then
evaluated in the classroom.
In the Classroom
Stream assessment is quite academic
compared to some other types of
conservation work. Once members
collected their data, classroom
discussions were held to help organize
the data. Members were then taught
how to track their data in Excel
spreadsheets. This was an important
part of providing a well-rounded
learning experience.
Bear Point Bayou 1 Data Summary
ELEMENT
AVERAGE SCORE
2.25
1. Channel Condition
DO
2. Hydrologic Alteration
3.75
DO %
3. Bank Condition
3.63
Current
4. Riparian Quantity
2.00
Salinity (ppt)
5. Riparian Quality
2.25
Temp (C)
6.Canopy Cover
1.00
7.Water Appearance
2.75
8. Nutrient Enrichment
4.75
9. Manure/Human Waste
9.75
10.Pools
3.00
11.Barriers to Movement
4.00
12.Fish Habitat
0.75
13. Aquatic Invertebrate Habitat
1.25
14.Aquatic Invert. Complexity
1.00
15.Riffle Embeddedness
0.75
16.Salinity
4.25
Total Average
GPS: N30 21.123 W089 08.239
2.95
9.31
97
0.2516
0.1
17.4
“ At First sight this was a ‘no-go’ but with the
confidence of my instructors they slowly
persuaded me to do it. We learned what invasive
species were and all sorts of other things.
Hopefully this will continue.”
-Brandon Mclaurin- Corps member