Somewhere in Texas there was a beach that kept shrinking. Each storm took a little more of the shoreline the birds needed to raise their chicks. That was the problem on Sundown Island. According to a December 2014 news release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District, the solution came from an unlikely spot: mud dug from a nearby ship channel.
An island under constant erosion
Sundown Island is an Audubon Society sanctuary for waterbirds that nest in colonies. The island was under constant attack from strong currents, wind, ship wakes, and storms, Corps operations manager George Dabney said in the release. That led to erosion of the shoreline and the loss of more than 20 percent of the island's 60 acres, or more than 12 acres.
Why a ship channel was on the table
The Matagorda Ship Channel was designed in the 1960s to allow deep-draft vessels to travel between Matagorda and Lavaca bays and the Gulf of Mexico, the release said. It is part of the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort. The Corps reports that the channel carries about 11.6 million tons of commerce a year. Ships need the channel kept clear, and maintenance dredging is required every year to keep it available, according to Dabney.
Where the mud went
A $5.77 million dredging contract in 2014 removed about 1.2 million cubic yards of material from Matagorda Peninsula to Point Comfort, per the release. Some of the work was funded by the Calhoun Port Authority with non-federal funds for dredging port berthing areas. Of that work, about 126,000 cubic yards fell on Sundown Island. He called that a unique benefit of the contract. This came through cooperation with the Audubon Society and state and federal resource agencies.
