Burnet Bay Wetlands Restoration

Historical aerial images dating back to 1944 show that Burnet Bay between the northwestern shoreline and Crosby-Lynchburg Road was bounded by rather extensive wetlands. A gradual loss of these wetlands occurred between 1944 and 1969. A large water reservoir was constructed on the opposite side of Crosby-Lynchburg Road in the 1970s, and by 1978 nearly all of these wetland habitats were lost. Today, only two small emergent landforms remain: the larger is a short peninsula attached to Crosby-Lynchburg Road, the smaller is a small island about ¼ of the way across Burnet Bay. Land surface subsidence in this area equaled nearly 8 feet between 1906 and 1987. Since the late 1970s, subsidence largely has been abated along the ship channel and in the Baytown and Pasadena areas in the coastal lowlands south and east of Houston owing to a reduction in ground-water pumping.

The Burnet Bay restoration project aims to restore intertidal marsh elevations within the heavily subsided segment of Burnet Bay adjacent to Crosby-Lynchburg Road. Probing has revealed that this area consists of a shallow, hard bottom, making it very conducive to wetlands restoration work. Raising the elevation of this area to levels which would support intertidal marsh vegetation and planting marsh vegetation would result in restored marsh functions, including habitat and feeding grounds for fish, water quality improvements, and shoreline protection.