• What are wetlands or marshes?
Wetlands, or marshes, are areas where a significant amount of water saturation in the soil determines how the soil will develop and what it will support. The saturation level affects the types of plants and animals that live in the soil and on its surface.

There are many varieties of wetlands, depending on the climate, topography, landscape and proximity to an open body of water. For instance, Galveston Bay has "inter-tidal salt marshes", marsh dominated by plants that have adapted to the high level of salt in the environment. Similar wetlands can be found along the Gulf of Mexico and portions of the North American coastline.

• What is wetlands restoration?
Wetland restoration returns wetlands that have been disturbed, due to forces of nature or human intervention, to their condition before the disturbance.

• Are wetlands in danger?
Wetlands have diminished gradually in the United States. A 1991 report by Dahl and Johnson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States, mid-1970's to mid-1980's, estimated that half of the 221 million acres of wetlands that existed in the lower 48 states at the time of European settlement have been destroyed, and an additional 290,000 acres continue to be lost each year.

A report produced jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Coastal Wetlands: Status and Trends, Mid-1950's to Early 1990's, revealed that, of the estimated 4.1 million acres of wetlands in Texas that existed in the 1950's, fewer than 3.3 million acres remained at the beginning of the 1990's. Saltwater wetlands declined from 165,000 to 52,773 acres during the same period.

• Why are wetlands being lost?
Several factors contribute to the decline of wetlands, including natural threats such as erosion, subsidence, a rise in the sea level, droughts, hurricanes and other storms, and overgrazing by wildlife. Humans also have had an impact on decreasing wetlands acreage through drainage, deposition of fill material, diking and damming, overgrazing by domestic animals, and mining.

• Why are wetlands important?
Wetlands are essential to the ecological system of the country. They provide habitat and nesting grounds for wildlife. They decrease pollution, help prevent erosion and flooding, and provide recreational opportunities.

Wetlands also aid marine life. The Texas Coastal Wetlands report estimated that 80 percent of commercial and recreational coastal fisheries in the United States rely on wetlands as spawning areas, nurseries and food sources. Approximately 95 percent of marine species in Texas bays and the Gulf of Mexico depend on wetlands during at least some time in their life cycle.

• Is anything being done to protect Galveston Bay's wetlands?
The Beneficial Uses Group (BUG), the Port of Houston Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have made a commitment to protect and restore the environment by establishing and maintaining marshlands in Galveston Bay. Based on recommendations from the BUG, the Port and the Corps are enacting this commitment by creating a resource from material, which often is not utilized, that is being dredged from the Houston Ship Channel during its expansion. The BUG feels it is necessary to protect the established wetlands and help restore areas that have eroded or otherwise been destroyed to ensure a balanced and thriving ecosystem in the Bay.

The Beneficial Uses Group has the responsibility of finding environmentally responsible ways to utilized the material dredged from the Ship Channel during the expansion project. The BUG is a subcommittee of the Interagency Coordination Team (ICT). Formed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel expansion project, the ICT is a problem-solving team charged with overseeing the planning, engineering and post-project monitoring of environmental issues concerning the expansion of the channel.

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