GALVESTON, TEXAS - Galveston Bay houses a "living laboratory", thanks to the planning and efforts of the Beneficial Uses Group (BUG), the Port of Houston Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The laboratory, a man-made, 220-acre Gorini Marsh, will enable the BUG to study and identify ways to create ecologically viable marsh.

This information is important because the BUG is working to build 4,250 acres of wetlands in Galveston Bay using material dredged from the Houston Ship Channel, which currently is being widened and deepened. The BUG is responsible for determining the best uses for the dredged material, and wetlands creation is only one of several projects planned for the next 50 years.

In 1995, levees were constructed, the area was filled and vegetation was planted, creating a 220-acre Gorini Marsh.

"The Gorini Marsh is a living laboratory for us to study," says Dick Gorini, chairman of the BUG and former Environmental Affairs Manager for the Port of Houston Authority. "By monitoring and documenting the growth and changes within the marsh, we have learned a number of valuable lessons that are helping us as we work to restore wetlands in the area and improve the quality of life on Galveston Bay."

Since 1995, when the 220-acre Gorini Marsh was initiated, the BUG has learned a number of lessons. For example, the group is studying circulation channels and refining ways to initiate channel development within the marsh. A wetland area must have creeks and ponds throughout its surface area to provide access to habitat and nutrients for juvenile shrimp and other species. With the Gorini Marsh as a model, the BUG is investigating effective ways to pattern a marsh from criteria learned while studying naturally occurring marshes.

The marsh also has revealed the most effective methods of spacing plants and seedlings for healthy vegetation. The BUG continues to turn to its living laboratory for answers to a host of other questions about salt marsh creation.

The Gorini Marsh is proving successful. Vegetation on the marsh is thick and lush, marine life is using it as a spawning ground and a variety of birds - including some endangered species - are making their home on the marsh.

With the marsh, the BUG is gaining an understanding of the requirements and factors involved in constructing wetlands. The Group will continue monitoring the Gorini Marsh and other created marshlands for the next 50 years, with the hope that lessons learned can be beneficial not only to the Galveston Bay area, but also to others who want to maintain and restore wetlands around the world.

The Beneficial Uses Group is a subcommittee of the Interagency Coordination Team (ICT). The ICT, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, formed to make long-range plans for the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel improvements. The purpose of the BUG is to find environmentally responsible ways to utilize material dredged during the expansion of the Ship Channel.

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