[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

















                                                                        STATUS AND TRENDS, MID- 1 950s TO EARLY 1990s








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                  STATUS AND TRENDS, MID-1950s TO EARLY 1990s



                                       D. W. Moulton                                                                  March, 1997
                          Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
                                        Austin, Texas                                                                         

                                       T. E. Dahl                                                                               
                              U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
                                   St. Petersburg, Florida
                                          
                                       D. M. Dall                                                                            
                              U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service                                             United States Department of the Interior
                                Albuquerque, New Mexico                                                       Fish and Wildlife Service      
                                                                                                                 Southwestern Region
                                                                                                            Albuquerque, New Mexico                                                         Property of CSC Library
              Shrimp Harvest
              ESTUARINE SYSTEM
              TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT




                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                             








                                                                                                                                  











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                                           Cultivated Rice

                                           PALUSTRINE FARMED

                                           TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT












                                           Coverphoro:                                                                      English/Metric Conversions
                                           Recreational Fisbing
                                           ESTUARINE SUBTTDAL
                                           TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT                                                1 square mile      259.1 hectares


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               2







                  Contents


                  Executive Summary               ..........................................................................................................................    5

                  Introduction          ....................................................................................................................................    6


                  Survey Methods             ...............................................................................................................................    8

                  Results and Discussion                ...................................................................................................................   10


                  Conclusions          ...................................................................................................................................    23


                  Literature Cited           .............................................................................................................................    24

                  Appendix A: Habitat Categories                      .....................................................................................................   25
                  Appendix B: Data Ta6les                  ................................................................................................................   29

                  Acknowledgments               ..........................................................................................................................    32


                  LIST OF FIGURES
                        1. Coastal Texas study area                ..........................................................................................................   4
                        2. Distribution of 754 sample plots within study area                                 ................................................................. 8
                        3a, b. Total wetlands of coastal Texas in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)                                     ................................................  11
                        4a, b. Palustrine wetlands of coastal Texas in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)                                       .......................................... 11
                        5a, b. Estuarine wetlands of Texas in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)                                     ..................................................... 11
                        6a, b. Estuarine wetlands and deepwatcr habitats of Texas in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)                                                  .................. 11
                        7a, b. Distribution of all coastal Texas wetlands in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)                                           ................................. 13
                        8. Distribution of Texas estuarine wetlands in 1992                              ...................................................................  14
                        9. Distribution of Texas estuarine emergent wetlands in 1992                                      ................................................... 14
                     10. Distribution of Texas estuarine unvegetated wetlands in 1992                                         ............................................... 15
                     11. Distribution of Texas estuarine scrub-shrub wetlands in 1992                                       ................................................  15
                     12. Distribution of coastal Texas palustrine wetlands in 1992                                     ...................................................... 17
                     13. Distribution of coastal Texas palustrinc emergent wetlands in 1992                                            ....................................... 17
                     14. Distribution of coastal Texas palustrine forested wetlands in 1992                                          ......................................... 17
                     15. Distribution of coastal Texas palustrine scrub-shrub wetlands in 1992                                             ................................... 17
                     16. Net acreage changes for estuarine wetlands and deepwater habitats of Texas, 1,955 to 1992                                                          ... 19
                     17. Net acreage changes for palustrine wetlands of coastal Texas, 1955 to 1992                                                 .......................... 20
                     18. Net changes in coastal Texas wetland acreages, 1955 to 1992                                        ................................................  21
                     19. Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to agriculture, 1955 to 1992                                       .................................................. 22
                     20. Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to silviculture, 1955 to 1992                                      .................................................. 22
                     21. Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to urban, 1955 to 1992                                    ........................................   ................. 22
                     22. Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to rural development, 1955 to 1992                                             ....................................... 22



                  LIST OF TABLES
                        1. Some valuable goods and services produced by coastal
                            Texas wetlands: environmental quality functions and socioeconomic values                                               .............................7
                        2. Wetland, deepwater, and upland habitat categories used in this study                                           ......................................9
                        3. Coastal Texas wetland, deepwater habitat, and upland trends (acres), 1955 to 1992                                                     .............. 12



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                                                                                                                                                                    Fig. 1
                                                                              Lower Coast                                  Texas Physiographic Regions and Coastal Texas Study Area
                                                                                                                            (comprised of Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Flats and Coastal Zone)













                4






            Executive Summary

            The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepared this          Palustrinc emergent wetlands (fresh marsh, wet
            report on the status and trends of coastal Texas          prairie, etc.) declined by about 29 percent, with
            wetlands in accordance with the Coastal                   an estimated net loss of 235,100 acres, making
            Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration            the average annual net loss about 6,400 acres.
            Act of 1990 (Title III of Public Law 101-646).            This was the largest acreage change for any wet-
            This report is a product of the Coastal Texas             land category studied. Most of the palustrine
            Project completed by the Fish and Wildlife                emergent loss was to upland agriculture and
            Service in cooperation with the Texas Parks and           other upland land uses. Also, there was conver-
            Wildlife Department and the Texas General                 sion of palustrine cmergents to the palustrine
            Land Office.                                              farmed and palustrine scrub-shrub wetland types.

            This report analyzes data collected for the 12.8          Over 96,000 acres (a 10.9 percent decrease) of
            miltion-acre coastal Texas study area (Fig. 1).           forested wetlands (swamps, hardwood bottom-
            The design of the study consisted of a stratified         lands, etc.) were lost or converted to other wet-
            random sample of 754 four-square -mile plots.             land types. Most of the losses were to upland
            Aerial photographs from the mid-1950s and                 agriculture and other upland land uses, with con-
            early 1990s (mean dates 1955 and 1992) for                versions to the palustrine scrub-shrub and palus-
            each of the plots were analyzed to detect changes         trine farmed wetland types and to lacustrine
            in wetlands, deepwater habitats, and uplands              deepwater (reservoirs).
            acreage. Changes were determined to be either
            natural or human-induced. The total wetlands              Patustrine scrub-shrub wetlands showed a net
            acreage estimate for 1992 was subtracted from             increase of over 63,000 acres (a 58.7 percent
            the 1955 total estimate and divided by the 37-            increase). This increase was primarily at the
            year study period to give an estimate for average         expense of palustrine emergent and palustrine
            annual ri@t wetlands loss.                                forested wetland types. Invasion of fresh marsh
                                                                      and cut-over forested wetlands by the introduced
            An estimated 4.1 million acres of wetlands exist-         Chinese Tallow-tree may be responsible for
            ed on the Texas coast in the mid-1950s. By the            much of the expansion of scrub-shrub wetlands.
            early 1990s, wetlands had decreased to less than
            3.9 million acres including 3.3 million acres of          Freshwater ponds showed a net gain of 21,700
            freshwater wetlands and 567,000 acres of saltN-,,a-       acres (a 137 percent increase). About half of the
            ter wetlands. About 1.7 million acres (52 per-            increase came from conversion of uplands to
            cent) of the    3.3 million acres of freshwater           farm ponds, stock tanks, and other small
            wetlands were classified as farmed wetlands. The          impoundments, The other half came from con-
            total net loss of wetlands for the region was             version of palustrine emergent, palustrine
            approximately   210,600 acres, making the aver-           farmed, and palustrine forested wetlands to
            age annual net loss of wetlands about 5,700               ponds. The proliferation of man-made ponds
            acres. The greatest losses were of freshwater             obscured the loss of natural prairie potholes.
            emergent and forested wetlands.
                                                                      The largest land-use category in the region was
            Estuarine (saltwater) wetlands decreased by               agriculture (4.7 million acres). Agricultural
            about 9.5 percent, with an estimated net loss @f          acreage declined by 618,000 acres even though
            59,600 acres, making the average annual net loss          98,000 acres of palustrine wetlands were lost to
            approximately 1,600 acres. Loss of estuarine              agriculture. Urban land use increased by
            emergent wetlands occurred primarily between              529,000 acres, mostly at the expense of agricul-
            Freeport in Brazoria County and Port Arthur in            ture and other upland land uses. There was also
            Jefferson County. The major cause was faulting            loss of palustrine farmed and other palustrine
            and land subsidence, due to withdrawal of                 wetlands to urban and rural development.
            underground water and oil and gas, which has              Approximately 245,000 acres of the upland
            resulted in the submergence (drowning) of                 "other" category, much of it originally native
            marshes.                                                  hardwood and pine-hardwood forest, were con-
                                                                      verted to forested plantation (silviculture).
            Palustrine (freshwater) wetlands showed a net
            decline of 151,000 acres (4.3 percent).
            However, this average figure includes a 96,500-
            acre net increase in palustrine farmed wetlands.







                               Introduction


                               The Texas Gulf Coast is one of the most ecologi-         oyster) and finfish (black drum, flounder,
                               cally complex and biologically diverse regions of        sheepshcad, and snapper) landed commercially
                               the state. The region is comprised of three dis-         from the Galveston Bay system was about $11.6
                               tinct segments - upper, mid, and lower -                 million (Robinson et al. 1994). The total eco-
                               defined by geomorphologic, climatological,               nomic impact at the wholesale level from
                               hydrologic, and ecological characteristics. The          Galveston Bay alone was estimated at $35 mil-
                               upper coast, from Sabine Lake west to the estuar-        lion. The total economic impact of commercial
                               ine drainage area of Galveston Bay, is character-        fishing at the wholesale level coastwide is over
                               ized by extensive western Louisiana-type marshes         $400 million annually, providing jobs for about
                               grading from salt to brackish to intermediate to         30,000 coastal residents.
                               fresh, with coastal prairie and humid flatwoods
                               inland.                                                  There were about 850,000 saltwater sport fishers
                                                                                        in Texas during 1991 (Texas Parks & Wildlife
                               The mid- and lower coasts are both characterized         Dept. 1993). Direct expenditures by these
                               by barrier islands and peninsulas and extensive          anglers totaled about $380 million and support-
                               bays or lagoons. The mid-coast, Galveston Bay to         ed about 11,000 jobs in Texas (U.S. Fish &
                               Corpus Christi Bay, consists of large bay @ncl           Wildlife Service 1993). The total annual eco-
                               estuary systems supplied with freshwater 1'nflow         nomic value of recreational fishing to users of
                               by riv@rs, with extensive coastal prairies inland.       Galveston Bay living in the Houston- Galveston
                               The lower coast consists of the upper and lower          area was estimated to be $75-150 million, with
                               Laguna Madre, which are frequently hypersaline           the total annual value of the bay for all recre-
                               due to lack of freshwater inflow (no rivers and          ational uses (7 million user-days per year) in the
                               low rainfall) and restricted Gulf inlets. The lower      range of $115-200 million (Whittington et al.
                               coast has extensive wind-tidal flats adjacent to the     1994).
                               Laguna Madre backed by semiarid rangeland
                               inland and intensive irrigated agriculture in the        In 1990-1994, 30-40,000 coastal waterfowl
                               lower Rio Grande Valley.                                 hunters pursued waterfowl populations that aver-
                                                                                        aged about I million geese and 1.5 million ducks
                               More than one-third of the state's population            (Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. unpubl. data). In
                               and about 70 percent of its industrial base, com-        1991, the economic impact of waterfowl hunting
                               merce, and jobs are located within 100 miles of          and nonconsumptive waterfowl use in Texas was
                               the coastline (Texas General Land Office 1995).          about $96 million and $240 million, respectively
                               About 4.5 million people live in the 18 counties         (Teisl and Southwick 1995). A substantial por-
                               adjacent to the Gulf. More than half of the              tion of this activity took place on the coast. In
                               nation's chemical and petroleum production is            the spring of 1992, about 6,000 birdwatchers,
                               located on the Texas coast, and the state leads          an important segment of the rapidly expanding
                               the nation in marine commerce with 10 deep-              nature tourism industry, poured into tiny High
                               draft ports and over 420 miles of the Gulf               Island in eastern Galveston County (Eubanks et
                               Intracoastal Waterway.                                   al. 1993). The total economic impact was esti-
                                                                                        mated to be $4-6 million over a 2-month period.
                               Every coastal county supports intensive agricul-
                               ture or grazing. Texas coastal waters support            Although these estimates of wetlands-related
                               major commercial and recreational fishing indus-         economic impacts were generated by mainstream
                               tries. Numerous recreational opportunities are           economists, most classic market economists have
                               afforded by the beaches, bays, marshes, prairies,        not yet fully recognized the concept that ecolog-
                               and other fish and wildlife habitats of the Texas        ical and economic concerns are not only related
                               coast. These resources have contributed to mak-          but inseparable. From an economic point of
                               ing tourism the third largest industry in Texas,         view, market forces are grossly underestimating
                               after oil and gas production and agriculture             the true economic value of existing coastal wet-
                               (Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. and Texas Dept.          lands to society (Whittington et al. 1994). Table
                               of Commerce, no date).                                   I lists some known wetlands goods and services,
                                                                                        many of which provide undetermined monetary
                               The total economic impact on the Texas coastal           values. These ecological and cultural values are
                               region of wetland-based recreation and wetland-          important to the people of Texas and our
                               dependent commercial fisheries is substantial. In        Nation.
                               1993, the dock-side value of shellfish (brown,
                               pink, and white shrimp; blue crab; and eastern


           6














                To conserve and manage Texas coastal wetlands                                and the changes in areal extent (trends) that have
                resources, it is necessary to understand the                                 taken place since the mid-1950s. These data may
                dynamics of the processes, both natural and                                  indicate the impact of existing policies and pro@_
                human-induced, that are affecting them. This                                 grams intended to consene the state's valuable
                report presents data that estimate the extent (sta-                          coastal wetlands resources, and identif@, which
                tus) of Texas coastal wetlands in the early 1990s                            wetland habitats are experiencing change.



                     Table 1. Some valuable goods and services produced by coastal Texas wetlands; environmental quality
                     functions and socioeconomic values (after Tiner 1984 and Hefner et al. 1994).


                           ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY FUNCTIONS                                             SOCIOECONOMIC VALUES


                           Water Quality Maintenance                                                   Products
                              Sediment Trapping & Stabilization                                            Finfish & Shellfish
                              Chemical & Toxicant Trapping                                                 Forage & Hay
                           L  Nutrient Absorption & Cycling                                                Timber
                                                                                                           Food Products
                              rologi( Functions                                                            Fur and Other Vildlife Products
                              Groundwater Recharge/Discharge                                               AquacultuTe/Mari(ulture
                              Saltwater Intrusion Prevention
                           L flow Stabilization                                                        Recreation & Nature Tourism
                                                                                                           Fishing & Crabbing
                           Primary Production/Energy Transfer                                              Hunting & Trapping
                                                                                                           Nonconsumptive Fish & Wildlife Uses
                           Ecosystem Stabilization                                                         Boating & Swimming
                                                                                                        - Camping & Picnicking
                           Biological Diversity                                                         -  Hiking, Trail Walking/Jogging
                                                                                                           Visual Aesthetics & Photography
                           Biogeochemical Cycling
                                                                                                       Water Supply
                           Fish & Wildlife Habitat
                              Invertebrates                                                            Wastewater Treatment
                              fish & Shellfish
                              Reptiles & Amphibians                                                    Flood Control
                              Waterl@owl, Wading Birds, Shorebirds & Other Birds
                              Furbearers & Other Mammals                                               Erosion (ontrol
                              Endangered & Threatened Species
                                                                                                       Storm Buffering


                                                                                                       Education & Scientific Research


                                                                                                       Cultural/Archaeological





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                                 Survey Methods

                                 Statistical sampling procedures for this study                Two sets of aerial photographs were analyzed for
                                 were developed and first used by Frayer et al.                each sample plot. The mean years of the aerial
                                 (1983). Other national (Dahl and Johnson                      photos were 1955 and 1992. This 37-year inter-
                                 1991) and regional (Frayer et al. 1989, Frayer                val was used to estimate average annual wetland
                                 and Hefner 1991, Hefner et al. 1994) wetlands                 acreage changes. The 1950s photos were black
                                 status and trends studies have also used the sur-             and white and ranged in scale from 1:20,000 to
                                 vey procedures.                                               1:36,000. The 1990s photos were color infrared
                                                                                               at 1:40,000 or 1:62,500 scales. Aerial photos
                                 The coastal Texas status and trends study con-                were stereoscopically interpreted and cover types
                                 sisted of 754 plots. Each plot was 4 square miles             delineated using procedures developed by the
                                 (2,560 acres). Plots were randomly distributed                National Wetlands Inventory (U.S. Fish and
                                 within the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Flats subdivision            Wildlife Service 1990a,b). Wetlands, deepwater
                                 (10,400,556 acres; 613 plots) of Hammond                      habitats, and uplands identified on the photos
                                 (1970) plus a Coastal Zone stratum (2,417,589                 were assigned to one of 20 categories listed in
                                 acres; 141 plots) added to incorporate estuarine              Table 2 and described in Appendix A. All
                                 and marine wetlands that extend beyond the                    changes in category acreages were classified as
                                 continuous land mass (Fig 2). The Coastal Zone,               either natural (e.g., natural succession of scrub-
                                 as described here, is not synonymous with any                 shrub to forested wetland) or human-induced
                                 state or federal jurisdictional coastal zone defini-          (e.g., loss of wetlands to agricultural or urban
                                 tions. The total number of sample plots used was              use). Upland areas were assigned to I of 5 gen-
                                 derived to provide a statistically robust estimate            eral land-use categories: agriculture, urban,
                                 of coastal wetlands within this study area. The               forested plantation, rural development, and
                                 study area encompassed approximately 20,028                   "other." Field verification of features on the aeri-
                                 square miles (12,818,145 acres).                              al photos was done for approximately 10 percent
                                                                                               of the sample plots.

                                                                                               Habitat-category delineations on the interpreted
                                                                                               aerial photos were transferred to mylar overlays
                                                                                               on 1:24,000-scale U.S. Geological @urvey topo-
                                                                                               graphic maps. Digital measurements of the vari-
                                                                                               ous categories were made and acreages recorded.
                                                                                               For this study, wetlands 3 acres and larger com-
                                                                                               posed the target population. Changes in area of
                                                             'P
                                                             "I
                                                         I CA
                                                                                               all categories from 1955 to 1992 for each sample
                                                    @0
                                                                                               plot were determined. Estimates of acreage
                                                                                               changes were developed from the sample plot
                                                                                               data using accepted statistical procedures devcl-
                                                                                               oped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
                                                                                               Colorado State University. This study, like previ-
                                                                                               ous Fish and Wildlife Service status and trends
                                                                                               studies, measured wetlands acreages and made
                                                                                               no assessment of wetlands functional quality
                                                             Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Flats       other than changes in areal extent.

                                                             Coastal Zone

                                                             Status and Trends Sample Plot


                                                                      Fig. 2
                                                         Distribution of 754 sample plots
                                                               within the study area






            8














                 Table 2. Wedand, deepwater, and upland habitat categories used in this study. (Detailed descriptions in Appendix A)


                    Saltwater Habitats*                          Common Description
                    Marine Subtidal**                            Permanent open water of Gulf
                    Marine Intertidal Shore                      Gulf beaches, bars, and flats
                                     Jai                         Permanent open water of bays
                    Estuarine Intertidal Emergent                Salt, brackish, intermediate marsh
                  -Estuarine Interticial Scrub-Shrub             Baccharis, Black Mangrove, other shrubs
                    Estuarine Intertidal                         Unvegetated bay beaches, bars, and flats
                    Unconsolidated Shore



                    Freshwater Habitats*                         Common Description
                    Palustrine Forested                          Swamps, hardwood bottomlands, etc.
                    Palustrine Scrub-Shrub                       Shrub-sapling wetlands
                 I  I alustrine Emergent                         Fresh marshes, wet prairie, etc.
                    Palustrine Farmed                            Cultivated rice fields, some natural wetlands
                          ,ine Unconsolidated Shore              Unvegetated pond beaches, bars, and flats
                    Palustrine Unconsolidated Bottom             Permanent open water of ponds
                    Palustrine Aquatic Beds                      Floating or submerged vegetation
                    Biverine**                                   Open water of rivers, streams, canals
                 j  Lacustrine**                                 Lakes and reservoirs


                    Upland Land Use                              Common Description
                 [-Agriculture...                                Cropland, pasture, managed rangeland
                    Urban***                                     Cities, towns, other densely built-up areas
                    Forested Plantation                          Planted or intensively managed forests
                    Rural Development                            Nonurban built-up areas and infrastructure
                    Other Uplands"                               Nonpatterned native forest, brush, and grassland-, barren land


                        Adopted from lowardin et a/. (1979)
                        Deepwater Habitats
                        Adopted from Anderson et at. (1976)














                                                                                                                                                                                             9







                              Results & Discussion


                              Acreage estimates for 1955 and 1992, and                  Lake to Aransas Bay), while estuarine unvegetat-
                              changes over the 37-year period, were developed           ed flats were concentrated along the lower
                              for wetlands, decpwater habitats, and upland car-         Laguna Madre (Figs. 9 and 10). Estuarine
                              cgories within the coastal Texas study area               shrubs were most abundant in three areas:
                              (Table 3). The complex dynamics of thes@ con-             Galveston Island, the Sea Drift area in Calhoun
                              versions were derived from Data Tables 1 and 2            County, and the southern end of South Padre
                              in Appendix B.                                            Island (Fig. 11).

                              STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION                                   Palustrine wetlands
                              An estimated 4,105,343 acres of coastal Texas             There was a total of 3,323,282 acres of palus-
                              wetlands existed in 1955 (Fig. 3a). About 84.6            trine wetlands in the study area in 1992 (Fig.
                              percent of the total was freshwater palustrine            4b). About 52.4 percent (1,741,981 acres) was
                              (3,474,330 acres) (Fig. 4a), 15.3 percent was             farmed wetlands. This acreage was dominated by
                              saltwater estuarine (626,188 acres) (Fig. 5a), and        rice growing operations, but also included some
                              0.1 percent was marine intertidal (Fig. 3a).              natural wetlands that are farmed when dry
                              There were 1,664,698 acres of deepwater habi-             enough. Forested wetlands made up 23.8 per-
                              tats consisting of rivers (59,303 acres), reservoirs      cent (789,808 acres) of the total. Emergents
                              (67,544 acres), and estuarine subtidal bays               made up 17.2 percent (571,867 acres) of the
                              (1,537,851 acres);(Fig. 6a) in 1955. In 1992, an          total, and scrub-shrub wetlands and ponds made
                              estimated 3,894,753 acres of wetlands existed.            up 5.2 percent (171,295 acres) and 1.1 percent
                              About 85.3 percent of the total was palustrine,           (37,621 acres), respectively. Other palustrine
                              14.5 percent was estuarine, and 0.1 percent was           wetlands (unvegctated shore and aquatic beds)
                              marine (Fig. 3b). There were 1,757,595 acres of           made up only about 0.3 percent of the total.
                              deepwater rivers (60,159 acres), reservoirs               Palustrine wetlands were most common in
                              (147,363 acres), and estuarine bays (1,550,073            Jefferson, Chambers, Liberty, Orange, Hardin,
                              acres) in 1992.                                           Brazoria, Wharton, Jackson, Matagorda, and
                                                                                        Calhoun Counties (Fig. 12). Palustrine emer-
                              Areas of wetlands concentration did not change            gents were most prevalent in Jefferson,
                              significantly between 1955 and 1992. Wetlands             Chambers, Brazoria, Calhoun, Refugio, Aransas,
                              distribution is shown in Fig. 7a and Fig. 7b.             Mcberg, Kenedy, and Cameron Counties (Fig.
                              Areas of greatest wetlands concentration                  13). Palustrine forested wetlands were found
                              appeared to be in Jefferson, Liberty, and                 mostly on the northern half of the coastal plain
                              Chambers Counties (Fig. 7b). Substantial                  (Fig. 14). Newton, Jasper, Orange, Hardin,
                              acreage also existed in Orange, Brazoria, Fort            Liberty, Harris, and Brazoria Counties had sig-
                              Bend, Wharton, Matagorda, Jackson, Calhoun,               nificant forested wetland acreage; Jefferson,
                              and Kenedy Counties.                                      Chambers, and Matagorda Counties supported
                                                                                        some acreage. Palustrine scrub-shrub occurred
                              Estuarine wetlands                                        mostly in the upper coast counties of Newton,
                              Texas estuarine wetlands totaled about 566      ' 570     Jasper, Orange, Hardin, Liberty, and Harris,
                              acres in 1992 - about 10 percent of all estuar-           although some concentrations of shrub wetlands
                              ine wetlands of the conterminous U.S. About               were found in Jefferson, Victoria, and Cameron
                              62.8 percent (0355,632 acres) was emergent,               Counties (Fig. 15).
                              36.3 percent (205,972 acres) was intertidal               REGIONAL TRENDS
                              unvegetated (unconsolidated shore) mud or sand
                              flats and bars, and less than 1 percent (4,966            Overall, coastal Texas wetlands sustained an esti-
                              acres) was estuarine shrubs (Fig. 5b). There were         mated net loss of 210,590 acres from 1955 to
                              also 1,550,073 acres of estuarine subtidal open           1992 (Table 3). This was an average annual net
                              water bays, classified as deepwater habitats, in          toss of about 5,700 acres of wetlands. This com-
                              1992 (Fig. 6b). Estuarine wetlands were most              pares with 259,000 acres average annual net loss
                              common in the areas around Sabine Lake,                   observed for the other 10 states of the southeast-
                              Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay, San Antonio                 ern U.S. (Hcfncr et al. 1994). Deepwater habi-
                              Bay, Aransas Bay, and the Laguna Madre (Fig.              tats gained an estimated 96,203 net acres.
                              8). Estuarine emergent wetlands were concen-              Upland categories had an estimated net gain of
                              tratcd along the upper and mid-coast (Sabine              114,387 acres.




          10






                                  I                   i                                                                                                  Fig. 3a-6b
                   Total Wetlands
                                                                                                                               Change from 1955 to 1992 by type of wetlands

                                    -:R


                       1955
                                                                                                                                              Fig. 3a
                                  07%                                                                                                                                                          4,105,343 "acres

                                                                                       . . .....
                       1992
                                                                                                                                              Fig. 36
                                                                                                                                                                                      3,894,753 acres

                   Palustri         Wetlands




                                                                                                                 OR

                       1955                                              25.5%                                 47.4%                                                                  fig. 4a
                                  0.                                                                                                       . . . .... .............
                                                                                                                                                                 1 3,474,330 acres
                                             M                                                                                                                   [..
                       1992                                                                          52.4%                                                                       Fig.A

                                  0.3% 1.1%                                                                                                                   3, 23,282 acres


                   Estuarine Wetlands


                                  2 9


                       1955
                                                            Fig, 5a
                                  0.4       626,1 BE! acres

                       1992                               Fig. 5b

                                  0,9     566,570 acres


                   Estuarine Wetlands and DeepwaterIlHabitats

                                        4,00

                                    Is I
                                      g
                                    @!g
                                              k


                       1955                                                                                                   Fig. 6a
                                  0.1%                                                                       2,164,03   acres
                                                                                                                                                                                      b

































                       1992
                                                                                                                             Fig. 66

                                  0.3%
                                                                                                          2,116,6436cres
                                  0                   5                   10                   15                    20                   25                     30                   35                  4 0
                                  Acres X 100, 000







                                      Table 3. Coastal Texas wetland, cleepwater habitat, and upland trends (acres) - 1955 to 1992. Standard error, in
                                      percent, shown below acreage estimates; percentage of total acreage for each category included for comparison.


                                                                                                                                                    NETCHANGE
                                        CLASS                                     1955                             1992                             Acres        %

                                        WETLANDS
                                        Marine Intertidal                         4,825       0.1%                 4,901       0.1 %                  +76       +0.02%
                                                                                     22                               20                              817
                                        Estuarine Emergent                      387,211       9.4%              355,632        9.1%                 -31,579     -8.2%
                                                                                     12                               11                               47
                                        Estuarine Scrub-shrub                     2,563       0.1%                 4,966       0.1 %                +2,403      +93.8%
                                                                                     38                               30                               40
                                                                                236,414       5.8%              205,972        5.3%                 -30,442     -12.9%
                                        Estuarine Unvegetated Shore                  15                               17                               57
                                        Palustrine Forested                     886,285       21.6%             789,808        20.3%                -96,477     _1H%
                                                                                       8                                7                              24
                                        Palustrine Scrub-shrub                  107,951       2.6%              171,295        4.4%                 +63,344     +58.7%
                                                                                       9                                9                              23
                                        Palustrine Emergent                     806,996       19.7%             571,867        14.7%                -235,129    -29.0%
                                                                                       6                                7                              10
                                        Palustrine Unvegetated Shore            11 285        0.3%                 8,937       0.2%                 -2,348      -20.8%
                                                                                     21                               21                               59
                                        Palustrine Ponds                        15,872        0.4%                37,621       1.0%                 +21,749  +137,0%
                                                                                       8                                5                                8
                                        Palustrine Aquatic Beds                     449       0.01%                1,773       0.1 %                +1,324   +294.9%
                                                                                     29                               19                               25
                                        Palustrine Farmed                    1,645,492        40.1%           1,741,981        44.7%                +96,489     +5,9%
                                                                                       6                                6                              42
                                        TOTAL                                4,105,343        100%            3,894,753        100%                 -210,590    -5.1%
                                                                                       3                                3                              21




                                        DEEPWATER
                                        Marine Subtidal                           3,535       0.2%                 6,841       0.4%                 +3,306      +93.5%
                                                                                     68                               27                               74
                                         stuar ne u t a                         '5 '8         2.2%            1,5 0,073        7. %                 + , 22      +0' %
                                                                                       4                                4                             140
                                        Riverine                                59,303        3.6%                60,159       14%                  +856        + 1A%
                                                                                       9                                8                             203
                                        Lacustrine                              67,544        4.0%              147,363        8.4%                 +79,819  +118.0%
                                                                                     23                               15                               21
                                        TOTAL                                1,668,233        100%            1,764,436        100%                 +96,203     +5.8%
                                                                                       4                                4                              25




                                        UPLANDS
                                        Agriculture                          5,315,561        75.4%           4,697,248        65.6%                -618,313    -11.6%
                                                                                       3                                3                              11
                                        Urban                                   329,790       4.7%              858,490        12.0%                +528,700 +160.0%
                                                                                     16                               10                               11
                                        Other                                1,178,802        16.7%             788,186        11.0%                -390,616    -33.0%
                                                                                       6                                6                              14
                                        Forested Plantation                     82,302        1.2%              404,284        5,7%                 +321,982 +391.0%
                                      L                                              23                               12                               13
                                        Rural Development                       138,114       2.0%              410,748        5.7%                 +272,634 +197.0%
                                                                                     10                                 6                              10
                                        TOTAL                                7,044,569        100%            7,158,956        100%                 +114,387    +1.6%
                                                                                       2                                2                              33



             12














                                                                            Figures 7a-6
                                            Distri6ution of all coastal Texas wetlands in 1955 (a) and 1992 (b)
                                        Note: the 'pixels'shown on these graphics represent USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles



                                                          r       j


                            Fig. 7o                                                               Fig. 76





                                                                                                                      J
                                                      Est. % coverage                                                        Est. % (overage
                                                         Wss than 10%                                                            Less than 10%
                                                     K   10to24%                                                                 10 to 24%
                                                         25to49%                                                                 25 to 49%
                                                         50 to 74%                                                               50 to 74%
                                                         75% or mom                                                              75% or more






                Estuarine wetlands                                                      "other" (15,805 acres); estuarine emergents
                                                                                        (14,376 acres); rural development (4,079 acres);
                Overall, estuarine intcrtidal wetlands sustained a
                                                                                        and, palustrine emergents (3,686 acres).
                net loss of about 59,618 acres (a 9.5 percent
                decrease); an average annual net loss of about                          Loss of estuarine intcrtidal wetlands to upland
                1,600 acres over the 37 years. Figure 16 summa-                         11
                rizes the dynamics of net acreage changes for                           other" and conversion to palustrine cmergents
                estuarine werlands and dcepwater habitats.                              resulted partly from the construction of dredge
                                                                                        spoil compartments along the Gulf 1ntracoastal
                Estuarine intertidal emergents decreased from                           Waterway and other ship channels, and also from
                387,211 acres in 1955 to 355,632 acres in 1992.                         construction of roads, levees, etc. that altered
                The net loss of 31,579 acres (an 8.2 percent                            original tidal hydrologic characteristics.
                decrease) resulted primarily from loss or conver-
                                                                                        Estuarine intertidal scrub-shrub increased from
                Sion to: estuarine subtidal bays (19,931 acres);
                palustrine emergcnts (9,238 acres); lacustrine                          2,563 acres in 1955 to 4,966 acres in 1992. This
                reservoirs (7,023 acres); and, upland categories                        net gain of 2,403 acres (a 93.8 percent increase)
                other than agriculture (6,291 acres).                                   resulted primarily from conversion of estuarine
                                                                                        emergents (2,226 acres) to estuarine scrub-
                The loss of estuarine marsh to open subtidal bay                        shrub.
                occurred primarily between Freeport and Port                            Palustrine wetlands
                Arthur and was associated with the submergence
                (drowning) and erosion of wetlands probably                             Overall, palustrine wetlands decreased by 151,048
                due to faulting and land subsidence resulting                           acres (a 4.3 percent loss) from 3,474,330 acres
                from the withdrawal of underground water and                            in 1955 to 3,323,282 acres in 1992. Figure 17
                oil and gas as described by White and Tremblay                          summarizes the dynamics of net acreage changes
                (1995).                                                                 for palustrine wetlands.

                Estuarine intertidal unconsolidated (unvegetat-                         Palustrine emergents decreased from 806,996
                ed) shore decreased from 236,414 acres in 1955                          acres in 1955 to 571,867 acres in 1992. This net
                to 205,972 acres in 1992. This net loss of                              loss of 235,129 acres (a 29 percent decrease)
                30,442 acres (a 12.9 percent decrease) resulted                         resulted primarily from loss or conversion to: agri-
                primarily from loss or conversion to: upland                            culture (67,745 acres); the other upland categories



                                                                                                                                                                             13














                                (37,183 acres), especially urban and rural develop-        tation (14,232 acres); rural development
                                ment; palustrine farmed (62,830 acres); palustrine         (13,112 acres); urban (9,563 acres); and, lacus-
                                scrub-shrub (42,198 acres); palustrine forested            trinc reservoirs (15,436 acres). Loss of forested
                                (13,072 acres); ponds (5,171 acres); and, lacus-           wetlands to forested plantation was confined to
                                trine reservoirs (20,470 acres).                           the upper coast, with Newton, Hardin, and
                                                                                           Jefferson Counties showing the greatest losses
                                Palustrine emergents sustained an average annual           (Fig. 20).
                                net loss of 6,355 acres. This was the largest
                                acreage change for any wetland category studied            Palustrinc scrub-shrub wetlands increased from
                                (Fig. 18). On the upper and mid-coast, part of             107,951 acres in 1955 to 171,295 acres in 1992.
                                the conversion of emergents to scrub-shrub                 This net gain of 63,344 acres (a 58.7 percent
                                resulted from invasion by the introduced                   increase) resulted primarily from conversion of.
                                Chinese Tallow-tree (White et al. 1993). The               palustrine emergents (42,197 acres); palustrine
                                20,470-acre loss of emergents to lacustrine was            forested (29,573 acres); and, palustrinc farmed
                                due to reservoir construction.                             (2,138 acres) to scrub-shrub wetlands.

                                The 67,745-acre loss of emergents to agriculture           Palustrinc unconsolidated bottom, mostly man-
                                occurred despite the 618,313-acre net loss for             made ponds, increased from 15,872 acres in
                                the agriculture category. The loss of palustrine           1955 to 37,621 acres in 1992. This net gain of
                                -,xetlands to agriculture was widespread along the         21,749 acres (a 137 percent increase) consisted
                                coast and was greatest in Chambers, Harris,                primarily of gain from or conversion of. agricul-
                                Brazoria, Fort Bend, Wharton, Matagorda, and               ture (7,759 acres); upland "other" (2,337 acres),-
                                Reffigio Counties (Fig. 19).                               palustrine emergents (5,171 acres); palustrine
                                                                                           farmed (2,985 acres); and, palustrine forested
                                Palustrine forested wetlands decreased from                (2,910 acres) to ponds. A loss of natural prairie
                                886,285 acres in 1955 to 789,808 acres in 1992.            potholes was masked by the proliferation of
                                This net loss of 96,477 acres (a 10.9 percent              man-made stock tanks and other ponds.
                                decrease) resulted primarily from loss or conver-
                                sion to: palustrine scrub-shrub (29,573 acres);            Palustrine farmed wetlands increased from
                                palustrine farmed (12,252 acres); ponds (2,910             1,645,492 acres in 1955 to 1,741,981 acres in
                                acres); agriculture (26,818 acres); forested plan-         1992. This net gain of 96,489 acres (a 5.9 per-



                                                        Fig. 8                                                     Fig. 9
                                        Estuarine wetland distribution in 1992                 Estuarine emergent wetland distribution in 1992









                                                                   Est. % coverage                                            Est. % coverage
                                                                      1 to 9%
                                                                                                                                 1 to 5%
                                                                      10to2A%                                                    6 to 10%
                                                                      25 to A9%                                                  11 to 20%
                                                                      50to7A%                                                    21 to 50%
                                                                      75% or more                                                Gn@ater than 50%




           14















            cent increase) consisted primarily of gain from or      Estuarine subtidal unconsolidated bottom, i.e.,
            conversion of: agriculture (140,865 acres);             open water of bays and lagoons, increased from
            palustrine emergents (62,830 acres); and, palus-        1,537,851 acres in 1955 to 1,550,073 acres in
            trine forested (12,252 acres) to farmed wetlands.       1992 (Fig. 16). This net gain of 12,222 acres (a
                                                                    0.8 percent increase) resulted primarily from
            Most of the palustrine farmed wetlands acreage          conversion of. estuarine emergents (i9,931
            is in some type of rice production rotation, pri-       acres); upland "other" (3,875 acres); and, agri-
            marily in Wharton, Colorado, Brazoria,                  culture (2,461 acres) to subtidal bays. These
            Matagorda, Jackson, Jefferson, Chambers,                conversions resulted from the submergence and
            Liberty, and Fort Bend counties. Texas ranks            erosion of tidal marshes and bay shorelines most-
            fourth among all states in rice production, with        ly along the upper and mid-coast.
            an average annual value in the early 1990s of
            about $150 million (Texas Agricultural Statistics       Lacustrine acreage increased from 67,544 acres
            Service 1994).                                          in 1955 to 147,363 acres in 1992. This net gain
                                                                    of 79,819 acres (a 118 percent increase) resulted
            There were losses of palustrine wetlands, particu-      primarily from conversion of: palustrinc emcr-
            larly palustrine farmed (96,500 acres) and palus-       gents. (20,470 acres); palustrine forested (15,436
            trine emergents (29,100 acres), to urban and            acres); palustrine farmed (11,110 acres); upland
            rural development. Loss to urban land use was           "other" (11,791 acres); agriculture (6,409
            greatest in the Houston and Beaumont-Port               acres); and, estuarine intcrtidal wetlands (8,100
            Arthur areas (Fig. 21). Loss to rural develop-          acres), mostly emcrgents, to lacustrine. The
            merit was greatest in Orange, Jefferson,                expansion of the lacustrinc category resulted
            Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Brazoria, and              from reservoir construction.
            Nueces Counties (Fig. 22).
                                                                    Marine subtidal habitats, i.e., open Gulf water,
            Deepwater habitats                                      were included in this study only insofar as they
            Overall, deepwater habitats increased by 96 203         relate to losses or gains 4 the other measured
            acres (a 5.8 percent gain), from 1,668,@33 acres        habitat categories. For example, the erosion of
            in 1955 to 1,764,436 acres in 1992.                     Gulf beaches would create a loss of marine inter-
                                                                    tidal shore to marine subtidal; or, the accretion




                                  Fig. 10                                                Fig. 11
              Estuarine unvegetated wedand distribution in 1992      Estuarine scrub-shrub wetland distribution in 1992












                                            Est. % coverage                                     Occurrence
                                            i  I to 5%                                              Present/sparse
                                               6 to 10%                                            Some estuarine shrubs
                                               I I to 20%                                          Shrubs more common
                                            IN 21 to 50r%
                                               Greater than 50%








                                                                                                                                       15















                              of sand on a barrier island beach would create a         Agriculture, the largest land-use category, expe-
                              loss of marine subtidal to marine intertidal. In         rienced a 618,313-acrc net loss even though
                              that regard, marine subtidal acreage increased           98,000 acres of palustrine vegetated wetlands,
                              from 3,535 in 1955 to 6,841 in 1992. This net            mostly emergent and forested, were lost to agri-
                              gain of 3,306 acres (a 93.5 percent increase)            culture, as were 12,000 acres of upland "other."
                              resulted primarily from conversion of: marine
                              intertidal beaches (2,044 acres); and upland             Upland urban increased from 329,790 acres in
                              "other" (1,627 acres) to marine subtidal.                1955 to 858,490 acres in 1992. This gain of
                                                                                       528,700 acres (a 160 percent increase) resulted
                              Upland categories                                        primarily from conversion of: agriculture
                              Overall, upland categories increased by 114,387          (323,706 acres); upland "other" (72,271 acres);
                              acres (a 1.6 percent gain) from 7,044,569 acres          rural development (64,252 acres); palustrine
                              in 1955 to 7,158,956 acres in 1992.                      farmed (36,628 acres); palustrine emergents
                                                                                       (15,966 acres); palustrine forested (9,563 acres);
                              Upland agriculture decreased from 5,315,561              and, palustrine scrub-shrub (2,425 acres) to
                              acres in 1955 to 4,697,248 acres in     1992. This       urban.
                              net loss of 618,313 acres (a 11.6 percent                Upland "other      primarily unmanaged or non-
                              decrease) resulted primarily from loss or conver-
                              sion to: urban (323,706 acres); rural develop-           patterned forest and rangelands, and barren land,
                              ment (184,633 acres); forested plantation                decreased from 1,178,802 acres in 1955 to
                              (58,891 acres); palustrine farmed (140,865               788,186 acres in 1992. This net loss of 390,616
                              acres); ponds (7,759 acres); and, lacustrine reser-      acres (a 33 percent decrease) resulted primarily
                              voirs (6,409 acres).                                     from loss or conversion to: forested plantation
                                                                                       (244,900 acres); urban (72,271 acres); rural
                                                                                       development (53,507 acres); agriculture (11,960



                              Village Creek, Hardin County
                              RIVERINE & PALUSTRINE FORESTED

                              JIM D CK















                                                                  Qr
                                                                                                    0.1. 1 P,



          16










                                                 Fig. 12                                                                          Fig. 13
                          Distribution of palustrine wetlands in 1992                              Distribution of polustrine emergent wetlands in 1992





                                                                   L




                                                              Est. % coverage                                                                  Est. % coverage
                                                                   Less than 10%                                                                   Less than 5%
                                                                   10to24%
                                                                                                                                                   5 to 9%
                                                              r", 25 to A9%                                                                        10 to 19%
                                                                   50 to 7A%
                                                                                                                                                   20to29%
                                                                   75% or more
                                                                                                                                                   30% or more









                                                  Fig. 1 A                                                                         Fig. 15
                                                                                                                                                         flands in 1992
                     Distribution of palustrine forested wetlands in 1992                          Distribution of palustrine scrub-shru6 we




                                                                               1A




                                                            L

                                                            rj


                                                               Est. % coverage
                                                                   Less than 5%                                                               Est. % coverage
                                                                                                                                                   Less than 3%
                                                                   5 to 9%                                                                         3 to 4%
                                                               Fj  10 to 2A%
                                                                                                                                                   5 to 7%
                                                                   25toA9%
                                                                                                                                                   8 to 10%
                                                                   50% or more
                                                                                                                                                   More than 10%

















                                                                                                                                                                                                       17














                              acres); palustrine forested (14,570 acres); ponds       acres) to forested plantation. Commercial timber
                              (2,337 acres); lacustrine reservoirs (11,791            operations in southeast Texas have emphasized
                              acres); and, estuarine subtidal bays (3,875 acres).     the growing of Loblolly and nonnative Slash
                              Much of the upland "other" acreage that was             Pine for production of pulp for paper, lumber
                              converted to forested plantation was originally         and plyboard for building, and pressure -treated
                              native hardwood and pine-hardwood forest.               fenceposts, pilings, landscape timbers, etc. (G.
                                                                                      Spencer pers. comm.). There is a growing export
                              Upland forested plantation (silviculture), primar-      market, particularly to Japan, for hardwood chips
                              ily planted and managed pine plantations, clear         used in the produ@tion of high quality papers.
                              cuts, and other intensively managed forest
                              stands, increased from 82,302 acres in 1955 to          Upland rural development, i.e., low-intensity,
                              404,284 acres in 1992. This net gain of 321,982         often isolated development outside distinct cities
                              acres (a 391 percent increase) resulted primarily       or towns, increased from 138,114 acres in 1955
                              from conversion of. upland "other" (244,900             to 410,748 acres in 1992. This net gain of
                              acres); agriculture (58,891 acres); palustrine          272,634 acres (a 197 percent increase) resulted
                              forested (14,232 acres); palustrinc emergents           primarily from conversion of: agriculture
                              (4,588 acres); and, palustrine farmed (1,774            (184,633 acres); upland "other" (53,507 acres);
                                                                                      palustrine farmed (59,838 acres); palustrine
                                                                                      forested (13,112 acres); and, palustrine emer-
                              Timber Harvest by Barge                                 gents (13,062 acres) to rural development.
                              RIVERINE & PALUSTRINE FORESTED

                              TEXAS PARKS &WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT










                                  All








                                                 L







                                                                                                0



                                                                                           V71
                                    Or
                              Rc-






          18















                                                                                                                                                1.20
                                        3.7't                                                          14.4                                                  1-0     1.7
                                                                                                                                                                          1.7
                                 4.1                                                                                                                                            3.6

                                                                                                                                                                                       7.0


                                                                                                                                                           ergents                           9.2
                       15
                                                                                                                                                             387.2
                                               Unvegetated                                                                                                   355.6
                                                                                                                                             199
                                                      Shore                                                                                                 -,31.6
                                                                        9.8
                                                      236.4
                                                      206.0
                                                      -30.4

                                                                                                                                                                            2.2


                                  3.9                                                                 Subtidal
                                                                                                         BUYS
                          4!;  Agriculture                                                             1537.9                                                                         Shrubs
                          ft   Rural development                                                     -1550.1                                                                             2.6
                                                                                                        +12.2                                                     :yj 3.2                5.0
                               Urban                                                                                                                                                    +2.4
                               Other uplands
                               Reservoirs
                               Palustrine emergents
                               Pahishme shrubs

                               Acres x 1000



                                                                                                   Fig. 16
                                                  Net acreage changes for estuarine wetlands and cleepwater habitats of coastal Texas
                                                                                               1955 to 1992



























                                                                                                                                                                                             19



















                                                                                                                                                      96         13.1
                                4.6                                                                                                                                   V14.2
                   16.0   13.1 A IP    3.6                                                                                                                                      15.4
                20.5zs@,                                                                24     2.1                                                                                     6.8
             67. @      "\ \                                                      2.50  A Z5
                           Emergents                           42.2           3.3 41;                                       29.6
                                 807.0
                                 571 *9                                                                ru 5
                               -235.1                                                                108.0
                                                                                    1.7V             171.3
                                                        62.8                                         +63.3                             12.3
          2.0                                                                                   2.1
               3.7
                 9.2                                                                                                                                                              14.6


                                                                                                                                              4.6


                                       140.9                                                                                                       36.6
                                                                                                formed
                                                                                                  1645.5                                          59.8
                                                                                                  17-410
                                        5.2                                                       +96.5                                                    2.9

                                                                                                                                                             47p Agriculture
                                                                                                                                                             ft Rural development
                                                                                                                                                             gh  Urban
                                                                                                                                                                 Forested plantations
                                                                                                                                                                 Other uplands
                                                                                                     3.0                                                     :7) Reservoirs
                                                                                                     onds                                                    c:a Estuarine shore
                                                                                                     15.9                                                    VY  Estuarine emergents
                                                                                    7.8              37.6                                                    Qm  Palustrine shore
                                                                                         2.3         +21.7                                                       Acres x 1000





                                                                                                  Fig. 17
                                                              Net acreage changes for palustrine wetlands of coastal Texas
                                                                                            1955 to 1992









              20



















                                                                           Figure 18
                                               Changes in coastal Texas wetland acreages, 1955 - 1992


                        Palustrine    Palustrine    Polustrine    Polustrine     Ponds         Other        Estuarine     Estuarine     Estuarine
                         Forested    Scrub-Shrub    Emergent       Formed                     Palustrine    Emergent    S(rub-Shrub      Shore




               0
                                      +63,300    1 -235,100       +96,500       +21,700       -1,000     L-_31 60L         2,400


                      NET CHANGE (in o.cres).








               Bird Watching, Mid-coast
               ESTUARINE SCRUB/SHRUB
               TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT







                                                                                                                             kv,
                                                                                                                                 vf







                                 IM






                                              NOW,
                                                                                         Aft


                                                                                                                                  '@A 7.ii*Z



                                                                                                                                                                    21










                                            Fig. 19                                                                       Fig. 20
                        Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to agriculture                                 Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to silviculture
                                        1955 to 1992                                                                   1955 to 1992






















                                                              Low to none                                                                    Low to none
                                                              Moderate                                                                       Moderate
                                                              High                                                                           High
                                                          F-1 insufficient data                                                              Insufficient data



                                                   /V Coastal study boundary                                                      /V Coastal study boundary




                                            Fig. 21                                                                       Fig. 22
                          Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to urban                                 Loss of coastal Texas wetlands to rural development
                                        1955 to 1992                                                                   1955 to 1992
























                                                              Low to none                                                                    Low to none
                                                              Moderate                                                                       Moderate
                                                              High                                                                       0   High
                                                          E] insufficient data                                                          0    Insufficient data


                                                   N Coastal study boundary                                                       /V Coastal study boundary





           22







                                 Conclusions


                                 We examined the status of coastal Texas wet-             nonpatterned native forests, grasslands, and
                                 lands at two points in time - the mid-1950s              brush lands. As these habitats, as well as agricul-
                                 and the early 1990s. The average annual net loss         tural lands, undergo urban, rural, and silvicultur-
                                 of all vegetated wetlands for that period was            al development, pressure to make up losses of
                                 5,400 acres. However, federal and state legisla-         farm and range lands at the expense of wetlands
                                 tion such as the 1948 "Clean Water Act" as               may intensify.
                                 amended, the 1969 National Environmental
                                 Policy Act, the 1985 and 1990 "Farm Bills," the          In 1992, palustrine farmed wetlands comprised
                                 1986 Emergency Wetlands Resources Act, the               52 percent of all palustrine wetlands and 45 per-
                                 1989 North American Wetlands Conservation                cent of total wetlands for coastal Texas. The pre-
                                 Act, the 1981 Texas Water-fowl Stamp Act, the            dominance of this wetland type commands
                                 1991 Texas Coastal Coordination Act, and oth-            attention from coastal resource managers; and
                                 crs, have had a positive influence on wetlands           also indicates great potential for the conservation
                                 conservation and management in Texas. For                of wildlife and other resources.
                                 example, in the Galveston Bay area, the average
                                 rate of loss of vegetated wetlands decreased from        The Gulf Coast Joint Venture of the North
                                 about 1,000 acres per year from 1953-1979 to             American Waterfowl Management Plan and the
                                 about 500 acres per year from 1979-1989                  Texas Wetlands Conservation Plan (Texas Parks
                                 (White et al. 1993).                                     and Wildlife Dept. 1997) have led the way in
                                                                                          Texas regarding private lands incentive programs
                                 Nevertheless, our results indicate that vegetated        for wetlands conservation and management. The
                                 wetlands, particularly freshwater emergent and           role of private landowners in wetlands conscrva-
                                 forested wetlands, are resources that need addi-         tion is crucial, and efforts to provide incentives
                                 tional conservation efforts. The acreage losses          and assistance must be redoubled. The great
                                 within the upland agriculture and upland                 potential of coastal Texas for wetlands restora-
                                 "other" categories also give cause for concern.          tion on upland agricultural lands is, as yet, large-
                                 The upland "other" category consists mostly of           ly unrealized.





                                 Mid-coast Salt Marsh

                                 ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL EMERGENT

                                 ROSE SULLIVAN















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                                                                                                                                             23







                                Literature Cited


                                Anderson, J.R_, E.E. Hardy, J.T. Roach, and R.E.           Texas Agricultural Statistics Service. 1994. 1993
                                Witner. 1976. A land use and land cover classifica-        Texas Crop Statistics. Bull. 252(2), Austin, TX.
                                tion system for use with remote sensor data. U.S.
                                Geological Survey Professional Paper 964, U.S.             Texas General Land Office. 1995. Texas coastal
                                Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.                        management program. Austin, TX.

                                Cowardin, L.M., V. Carter, F.C. Golet, and E.T.            Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 1993.
                                LaRoe. 1979. Classification of wetlands and deep-          Saltwater finfish research and management in Texas:
                                water habitats of the United States. U.S, Fish and         a report to the Governor and the 73rd Legislature.
                                Wildlife Service, FWS/OBS - 79/31, Washington,             Coastal Fisheries Branch, Austin, TX.
                                D.C.
                                                                                           Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 1997. Texas
                                Dahl, T.E. and C.E. Johnson. 1991. Status and              wetlands conservation plan. Austin, TX.
                                trends of wetlands in the conterminous United
                                States, mid-1970's to mid-1980's. U.S. Dept. of            Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. and Texas Dept. of
                                Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C.      Commerce. No date. Nature tourism in the Lone
                                                                                           Star State; economic opportunities in nature: a
                                Eubanks, T.L., P. Kerlinger, and R.H. Payne. 1993.         report from the state task force on Texas nature
                                High Island: a case study in avitourism. Birding           tourism. Austin, TX.
                                25:415-420.
                                                                                           Tiner, R.W., Jr. 1984. Wetlands of the United
                                Frayer, W.E. and J.M. Heffier. 1991. Florida wet-          States: current status and recent trends. U.S. Dept.
                                lands: status and trends, 1970's to 1980's. U.S.           of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington,
                                Dept. of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta,     D.C.
                                GA.
                                                                                           U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1990a. Cartographic
                                Frayer, W.E., T.J. Monahan, D.C. Bowden, and               conventions for the National Wetlands Inventory.
                                F.A. Graybill. 1983. Status and trends of wetlands         St. Petersburg, FL.
                                and dcepwater habitats in the conterminous United
                                States, 1950's to 1970's. Colorado State Univ., Fort       U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1990b. Photo inter-
                                Collins, CO.                                               pretation conventions for the National Wetlands
                                                                                           Inventory. St. Petersburg, FL.
                                Frayer, W.E., D.E. Peters, and H.R. Pywell. 1989.
                                Wetlands of the California Central Valley: status and      U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1993. 1991 national
                                trends, 1939 to mid-1980's. U.S. Dept. of Interior,        survey of fishing, hunting, and wildlife- associated
                                Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, OR-                   recreation: Texas. U.S. Dept. of Interior and U.S.
                                                                                           Dept. of Commerce, U.S. Government Printing
                                Hammond, E.H. 1970. Physical subdivisions of the           Office, Washington, D.C.
                                United States of America. In: National Atlas of the
                                United States of America. U.S. Geological Survey,          White, W.A. and T.A. Tremblay. 1995.
                                Washington, D.C.                                           Submergence of wetlands as a result of human-
                                                                                           induced subsidence and faulting along the upper
                                Hefner, J.M., B.O. Wilen, T.E. Dahl, and W.E.              Texas Gulf Coast. J. Coastal Res. 11:788-807.
                                Frayer. 1994. Southeast wetlands; status and trends,
                                mid-1970's to mid-1980's. U.S. Dept. of Interior,          White, W.A., T.A. Tremblay, E.G. Wermund, Jr.,
                                Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA.                    and L.R_ Handley. 1993. Trends and status of wet-
                                                                                           land and aquatic habitats in the Galveston Bay sys-
                                Robinson, L., P. Campbell, and L. Butler. 1994.            tem, Texas. Galveston Bay National Estuary Prog.
                                Trends in Texas commercial fishery landings, 1972-         Publ. GBNEP- 3 1, Webster, TX.
                                1993. Management Data Series No. 111, Texas
                                Parks and Wildlife Dept., Coastal Fisheries Branch,        Whittington, D., G. Cassidy, D. Amaral, E.
                                Austin, TX.                                                McClelland, H. Wang, and C. Poulos. 1994. The
                                                                                           economic value of improving the environmental
                                Teisl, M.F. and R_ Southwick. 1995. The economic           quality of Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay National
                                contributions of bird and waterfowl recreation in          Estuary Prog. Publ. GBNEP-38, Webster, TX.
                                the United States during 1991. Southwick Assocs.,
                                Arlington, VA.


          24






             Habitat Categories

             Wetland and deepwater habitat categories used            This is the maximum depth in which emergent                 Appendix A
             in this report were adapted from Cowardin et al.         plants normally grow.
             (1979). In general terms, wetlands are lands
             where saturation with water is the dominant fac-         Within the classification hierarchy, wetlands and
             tor determining the nature of soil development           deepwater habitats are grouped according to five
             and the types of plant and animal assemblages            major systems: Marine, Estuarine, Palustrine,
             living in the soil and on its surface. Wetlands are      Riverine, and Lacustrine. Systems consist of cnvi-
             lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic       ronments of similar hydrologic, geomorphologi-
             ecosystems where the water table usually is at or        cal, chemical, and biological characteristics. Each
             near the surface or the land is covered by shallow       svstem is further divided by the predominant
             water. The classification systern requires that          e@ological influence, such as the ebb and flow of
             wetlands have one or mo@e of the following               the tide, and by substrate material and flooding
             attributes: 1) at least periodically, the land sup-      regimes, or by vegetative life form. Groupings of
             ports predominantly hydrophytes (water-loving            habitat categories were made to accommodate
             plants); 2) the substrate i@ predominantly               the special interests of the study and the detail to
             undrained hydric (water-logged) soil; and, 3) the        which aerial photography could be interpreted.
             substrate is nonsoil and is saturated with water or
             covered by shallow water at some time during             An overview of the Cowardin et al. classification
             the growing season of each year.                         system and general descriptions of category types
                                                                      can be found in Dahl and Johnson (1991). The
             Deepwater habitats consist of certain permanent-         following descriptions are specific examples of
             ly flooded lands. The separation between wet-            the most common coastal Texas wetland habitats
             land and deepwater habitat in tidal areas coin-          included within the study categories.
             cides with the elevation of the extreme low water
             of spring tide. In other areas, the separation is at     Marine Wetlands
             a depth of 2 meters (6.6 feet) below low water.          The marine intertidal unconsolidated shore cate-
                                                                      gory includes beaches, bars, and flats alternately
                                                                      exposed and flooded by tidal action, including
             Galveston Island Salt Marsb                              the splash zone, of the open Gulf of Mexico.

             ESTUARJNE INTERTIDAL EMERGENT

             J M DICK






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                                                                                                                                            25


















                              Estuarine Wetlands                                        The estuarine intertidal unconsolidated shore
                              The estuarine intertidal emergent category                category includes wetlands with less than 30 per-
                              includes coastal marshes which are flooded peri'-         cent areal coverage by vegetation and periodical-
                              odicallv by tidal waters with salinity of at least        ly flooded by tidal waters with salinity of at least
                                                                                        0.5 parts per thousand. This category includes
                              0.5 parts per thousand. The three types of estu-          sandbars, mudflats, and other nonvegetated or
                              arine marshes that occur along the Gulf of                sparsely vegetated habitats called saitflats.
                              Mexico are commonlv called salt marsh, brackish
                                                                                        Saltflats are hypersaline environments that gener-
                              marsh, and intermediate marsh. These types can            allv occur near the interface of salt marsh and
                              be separated based on salinity, as reflected by the       u0and habitats. Sparse vegetation of saltflats
                              dominant plant assemblages. Some common                   may include glassworts (Salicornia spp.),
                              plants of the estuarine marshes include Smooth            Saltwort, and Shoregrass (Monantbochloe lit-
                              Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), Saltwort               toralis). Wetlands consisting mostly of sand flats
                              (Batis maritima), Seashore Saltgrass (Disticblis          dominated by algal beds or blue-green algal mats
                              spicata), and Seashore Dropseed (Sporobolus vir-          and periodically flooded by astronomic or wind
                              ginicus) in salt marshes-, Black Needlerush               tides were also included in this category. These
                              (Juncus roemerianus), Marshhay Cordgrass                  habitats occur extensively on the lower Texas
                              (Sparrina patens), and Olney's Bulrush (Scirpus           coast along the Laguna Madre.
                              americanus) in brackish marshes; and California
                              Bulrush (Scirpus californicus), Southern Cattail          This study did not include estuarine subtidal
                              (Typha domingensis), and Seashore Paspalurn               aquatic beds (seagrasses) or oyster reefs because
                              (Paspalum vaginatum) in intermediate marshes.             these habitats cannot always be accurately delin-
                              The estuarine intertidal scrub-shrub category             eated on color infrared aerial photos.
                              describes wetlands dominated by woody vegeta-             Palustrine Wetlands
                              tion and periodically flooded by tidal waters with
                              salinity of at least 0.5 parts per thousand. On the       The palustrine forested category includes all
                              Texas coast, this category includes wetlands              freshwater (less than 0.5 parts per thousand
                              dominated by the evergreen shrubs Eastern                 ocean-derived salinity) wetlands dominated by
                              Baccharis (Baccharis balimifolia), Marshelder             woody vegetation greater than 6 meters (20 feet@)
                              (-Tva frutescens), and on the mid- and lower              in height. Floodplain wetlands called hardwood
                              coast, Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans).              bottomlands are the predominant habitat of this
                              Sea Oxeve (Borricbia frutescens), although a              category. Water regimes range from brief period-
                              shrub, does not appear as such on aerial photos           ic flooding to near permanent inundation. For
                              probably because it often occurs in low, dense            example, assemblages dominated by oaks such as
                              stands of unbranched plants.                              Overcup Oak (Quercus lyrata), Water Oak
                                                                                        (Q. nigra), and Willow Oak (Q. pbellos) along
                                                                                        with Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica),
                                                                                        Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and Black
                                  W@i
                                                                                        Willow (Salix nigra) are subject to seasonal
                                                                                        flooding. Old river channels and oxbows may
                                          !-Jl,
                                                                                        support swamps vegetated predominantly by

                                                                1.4
                                                                                        Bald Cypress (Taxodium disticbum) and Water-
                                                                                        Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) and may be flooded
               R                                                                        almost continuously. Forested wetlands with
                            . ......                                                    intermediate degrees of flooding are an extensive
                                                                                        component of the hardwood bottomland spec
                          V
                                                                                        trum. Some common trees of the intermediate
                                     -lit
                                                                                        zones include elms (Ulmus spp.), Red Maple
                                                                                        (Acer rubrum), Water Hickory (Carya aquatica),
                                                     4:11
                                                                                          d Hackberry/Su gar- Berry (Celtis spp.). In
                                                            1:7                         an
                                                                                        addition to hardwood bottomlands, interfluvial
                                                                                        forested wetlands such as wet pine flatwoods


                                                                                        Cypress Swamp, Orange County
                                                                                        PALUSTRINE FORESTED

                                                                                        TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPT.


          26














             dominated by Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) cover              species such as Gulf Cordgrass (Spartina sparti-
             large acreages on the upper Texas coast.                    nae), sedges (Carex spp.), Bushy Bluestein
                                                                         (Andropogonglomeratus), Switchgra@s (Panicum
             The palustrine scrub-shrub category includes all            virgatum), Seacoast Bluestein (Scbizachyrium
             freshwater wetlands dominated by woody vege-                scoparium var. littoralis), Giant Bristle Grass
             tation less than 20 feet in height. These habitats          (Seraria magna), and other grasses.
             include formerly forested wetlands experiencing
             regrowth or invasion bv species such as Green               The palustrine farmed category consists primarily
             Ash or the introducea Chinese Tallow-trcc                   of actively farmed rice (Oryza sativa) fields, but
             (Sapium sebiferum). This category includes                  also includes some natural wetlands which are
             shrub-dominated floodplain depressions, beaver              farmed when dry enough.
             ponds, gravel pits, river point-bars, and backwa-
             ters of ponds and reservoirs vegetated by species           The palustrine aquatic bed category includes shal-
             such as Swamp Privet (Forestiera acuminata),                low freshwater wetlands dominated by floating or
             Brook-side Alder (Alnus serrulata), Black                   submerged vegetation. Typical species are floating
             Willow, ash (Fraxinus carolintana, F. pennsyl-              vascular plants such as duckweed (Lemna spp.),
             vanica), Buttonbush (Cephalanthus spp.), and                and Common Water-Hyacinth (Eicbhornia cras-
             Planer-tree (Planera aquatica). Chinese Tallow-             sipes); and rooted vascular plants such as water-
             tree is rapidly invading palustrine emergent wet-           lilies (]@@ympbaea spp.), pondweeds (Potamogeton
             lands, including rice fields, on the upper and              spp.), and Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillara).
             mid-coast. Rattlebush (Sesbania spp.) and
             SaItcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) are common in               Two palustrine nonvegetated (less than 30 per-
             depressions and along drainages throughout the              cent areal coverage by vegetation) categories
             coastal plain.                                              were evaluated. These are palustrine unconsoli-
                                                                         dated bottom, which includes all ponds and
             The palustrine emergent category includes all               other permanently flooded open freshwater bod-
             freshwater wetlands dominated by rooted herba-              ies less than 20 acres in size; and palustrine
             ceous (nonwoody) plants. Most habitats in this              unconsolidated shore, which includes periodical-
             category are freshwater marshes dominated by                Iv flooded freshwater beaches, bars, and flats, as
             plants such as cattails (Typha spp.), spikerushes           well as palustrine wetlands temporarily devoid of
             (Eleocbaris spp.), smartweeds (Polygonum spp.),             vegetation.
             arrowheads (Sagittaria spp.), etc. Also included
             are wet prairies and meadows vegetated by                   Redhead Pond, Corpus Christi
                                                                         PALUSTRINE UNCONSOLIDATED BOTTOM

                                                                         BR AN BENEDICT


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                                                                                                                                                   27















                               Deepwater Habitats                                           Upland Categories
                               Several deepwater habitat categories were includ-            All areas not identified as wetlands or deepwater
                               ed as they are the aquatic end of the continuum              habitats were placed in five upland categories.
                               for which wetlands function as transitional                  The agriculture category consists of cropland,
                               zones. These categories are: marine subtidal,                pasture, and managed range. The urban catego-
                               where the substrate is permanently submerged                 ry consists of cities, towns, and other intensively
                               by the open Gulf of Mexico; estuarine subtidal,              built-up areas. The " other " uplands category was
                               which includes the permanently submerged areas               adapted from Anderson et al. (1976). "Other"
                               of bays, lagoons, and lakes where ocean-derived              includes unmanaged or nonpatterned forest land
                               salinity exceeds 0.5 parts per thousand, where               and rangeland, and barren land, as well as lands
                               there is at least partial obstruction (barrier islands       that have been drained and cleared but not put
                               or peninsulas) from the open Gulf of Mexico,                 to identifiable use. The forested plantation cate-
                               and there is occasional dilution by freshwater               gory includes planted and managed pine planta-
                               runoff from the land; riverine, which includes all           tions, clear cuts, and other intensively managed
                               flooded unvegetated freshwater habitats found                forests. The rural devclopmi ent category includes
                               within a channel; and lacustrine, which includes             low-density, often isolated development outside
                               all flooded unvegetated freshwater areas of lakes            distinct cities and towns. Rural infrastructure
                               and reservoirs larger than 20 acres.                         including major roads, other transportation,
                                                                                            power, and communications facilities, mines and
                                                                                            quarries, and golf courses and other recreational
                                                                                            areas were included.



                               Houston Ship Cbannel, San Jacinto River
                               RJVERINE

                               TEXAS PARKS & W LDLIFE DEPARTMENT



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          28







            Data Tables


            Estimates produced include acreages with associ-         total acreage by category for 1955. Table entries           Appendix B
            ated standard errors. Some estimates are not             are interpreted as in the following examples (all
            considered reliable enough to recommend their            from the seventh row or column of Table 1):
            use for making decisions. An indication of the
            statistical reliability of each acreage estimate is          447,293 acres classified as palustrine
            given in the summary tables included in this                 emergent in 1955 were again classified as
            appendix. The standard error of each entry                   palustrine emergent in 1992;
            expressed as a percentage of the entry (SE %) is
            below each acreage estimate. Reliab@lity can be              92,562 acres classified as palustrine emergent
            stated generally as: "we are 68 percent confident            in 1955 had changed to agriculture by 1992;
            that the  true value is within the interval con-
            structed by adding to and subtracting from the               15,523 acres classified as palustrine emergent
            estimate  the SE%/100 times the estimate." For               in 1955 had changed to upland "other" by
            example, if an estimate is one million acres and             1992;
            the SE% is 20, then we are 68 percent confident
            that the true value is between 800,000 and                   12,692 acres classified as palustrinc scrub-
            1,200,000 acres. An equivalent statement for 95              shrub in 1955 had changed to palustrine
            percent confidence can be made by adding and                 emergent by 1992;
            subtracting twice the amount to @nd from the
            estimate. Therefore, a large SE% indicates that          90  70,886 acres classified as palustrine emergent
            the estimate has little, if any, reliability. If the         in 1955 had changed to palustrine farmed by
            SE% is 100 or greater, we can not state that we              1992;
            are 68 percent confident that the true value is
            not zero.                                                so  The estimate of palustrine emergent area in
                                                                         1955 is 806,996 acres;
            This discussion of reliability is meant to aid in
            interpretation of the studv results. It was expect-      so  The estimate of palustrine emergent area in
            ed that only certain estimates would be precise              1992 is 571,867 acres;
            enough to be meaningful. However, all estimates
            are included in the summary tables for additivity        so  The estimate of net change in palustrine
            and ease of comparison.                                      emergent area from 1955 to 1992 is
                                                                         -235,129 acres.
            Estimates for 1955, 1992, and change over that
            period were produced for the categories
            described in Appendix A. These estimates are
            summari  zed in Table I of Appendix B. Table 2
            summarizes estimates by selected surface area
            groups. Totals for columns are estimates of total
            acreage by category for 1992. Row totals (the
            column on the extreme right) are estimates of














                                        Impounded Farm Pond
                        PALUSTIUNE UNCONSOLIDATED BOTTOM

                                         TEXAS PARKS& WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT


                                                                                                                                           29








                      Texas Coastal Wetlands, Mid- I 950s to Early I 990s
                      TABLE I Area, in thousands of acres, by surface area classification.



                                                                                                 19 9 2                                L A-- S             S          I      F     I     C A T                  1   0      N          S
                      Sampling error, in percent,
                      is given below estimate.
                                                                                                                                                         PALUSTRIME







                                     E                         0.2 F                                                                                                                                                                          0.3
                                                               70            fOl 1[70 7@[ -&-l [70                                                                    07F 273      [n=7F-0                                                                E@7                     4.8
                                                               64                    i                                                                                       31                                                                  64
                          INTER110AL                   33                                                                                                                                                                                                                            22
                                                                          2.71    @1-9 j70518 7157                                                                           0.3                                                                 9           0 F--3.7-]           387.2
                                                                                                            6            12.71[::O%IF- 0.8               7171         73              3%6           1 I,'F--7 70,Ml..2          [: MI.O       7.---',,
                                       Lf4             I                                                                                                                                    [:f
                                                               1          29                     58         56           42'   73 1        39            1            53     76          27                     153 1      30         45                        1       32 1         12
                                                               0.4 7L.4!  '4 1 1                                                                                                                                           0-1  7        .1 =1
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                [::!]             2.6
                                                                                                                         64L                                                                                                                                                         38
                                                               49         54
             COD
                                       1               0.3 11 26.2 F- 073            7@1 170                             371 7-@T 7-11-] 7 77-1-47                                       2.1 al.]               F- @11 IF-FO2   -0-47 FT8 -6 E @O F--T441                         236.4
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           46]F
                                                       46      15                    i                                   46                39                                            23         87          65         46 1       44 J1      25                     47           15
                                                       ------  0.11@                                                                                     0.3 [:[email protected]        0 [::fF- 172                       IM  F-i27.62                                            K4
                                                                                  0.1 F 660.5[:@63%3                     3 n57 [!!.@I  3.5 1                                                                                                  6.9         7
                                                               I                                                                       1                                                                                              37]                 1 74!                   886.3
                                                                                                                                                         52           35 [
                                                               64                                                                                                                           1       13          1 L_@ @31             35         17       L
                                                                          Enj                               14           14                11 1 E%                                                                  i      I I  I        1@1 ---L6j                     19           8
                                                       ------- --1[-- ]1[ @337                                           ---0.717 -1V[--@-OA F-7                                              -0                -2.77 @ 1 f02   --Y4        ---
                                                                                                                                                                      7.3          [::@I]F .77                  F
                                                       0<0,1',,[                                            3110         F
                                                                                                                         2*7                                          F      0                                             17   [ 12@F 117F 0.4 IF 2.9                            1 OB.O
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      8
                                                                                                 11         15           191   72      1                 1            32 J[                                                           ,                      3,
                                                                                                            En                                                        .... .                1       13          11 111     17
                                       F--@.!27 _3 4 IF- JOIF-Z.11F-1878                         [::n549    [ n447.3 F--27.3 [         7-7 1 [----075    F- TO-.9                           F--I-.3 ]F-Y57.9@ 912.6             IFT6-. 1@     15.5        T4.           1 .7      BOTO
                                                                                                                                                                                                    29 11       27 11      10   l@    17         19       L
                                                                                                            14           91    32                        32 11        17 1   7                                                           IM                             6            6
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        L
                                                                                                            M 1                3 1, F 1-3,               [:n                       -<01     I                   [f @1      3    17-1-1   F- '61                                   11.3
                                                                                                 49 IL      '6                 33 11       . I                        ff                                                   40         37-11                             48           21
                                       Enl-<O-1 1770                              @F--71
                                       [::nF.-<-0I F-O 7F-O 76[::@F-2 T-0-3@F-7 677-073                                                                  F-0-5@[:f F-<0T[--aO 1@71-01F                              1-0         FTO 7-][-TO.3][-@0- @1F--O 67                     15.9
                                                       L--@ @!                       I           @ 1        1            @3 1  4, 1        , I           -1           6 1                                       1@2 11     11   11    22 1       2.0                    23           8
             U-                        71 F            - -----                                                           171 [- 1-1                      0-2          177@1 1@7F@f[f]7                                                                                            0.4
                                                                                                                                                         41                                                                                                     If]                  29
                                                                                                 7-9471                  8.1 [7@]F-3-1@E!@@06 ZI                                                    0.4 [:!12.@4[:@284][@36.6][ M159 [: 214 [ M622                                1645.5
                                                                          =26 1                             411                                                                                                 65         28         29         29          51         20           6
             COD                                       L                                                                 27                14                         7
                                                       0.3 F-107.8, F-0 7-0 57                                                                                               1.2176         7-                                                            7Z                      3.5
                                                       831     .7 IL                                                                                                         56          .  1                   11                                        1
                                                                                                                                                                                         7                                                                                           68
                                       F -A 1          1-1271             0.2     9-!@F                     074]F-0.7-,, 74.1 a0l [7F <0.1                                                                      33]@F 09-1- 3F7[                                        2         1537.9
                                                                                                                                           44                                                                                                                           9
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     4
                                                                                                            0.2 F--07717-<07.1         0.1                                                                                            0.1
                                                       01                                                                                                                                           2-7 1'- 071 F%7]ET-72-0                               0.1 F-14@               59.3
                                                                                                 39         54           42                34                                                       9 lL--L9j              36         36 IL--@L                 1       40 1         9
             L3                                                                                  EI                                    ET                                                                                                                 In
                                                                                                            --                         ---                 -17 1                   76-11F-67                                                              ----I
                                                                                                                                       F 641761 F                     3                             3 F         6 @4F 1 6P@I 0                               0                    67.5
                                                       F-,-o-@D@0                                1.4 '- 06,              5-4 '<O I
                                                                                     L                                                                                                                                                                                  0.4
                                                                          I                      'j                                                                          1           69 1       61                     67                                           94           23
                                                       I       I          j             __L      L@47       1728         1             11  36 1          88 1         78                                                                         41             1
             Ln                                        F--274 F--0-2] '0 4 1 --T5 -8@ F- 679                F-2478       -13           F                 in                                                                                                     [-Yv@
                      AORIPOURE                                                                                                        1877   F-10-1]         69.2 -@EI@F--235]F-270aM                              n4336.1 Fi247.3      M162.0           6 n02         0.8       5315.6
                                                       61_,L_ 30 L___55JL         IjL                       Is           12    28          8             45           12           1     31 J1      21          74         3    1     13         10          23 1       8            3
             LM                                                                                                                                                                                                            0.6  M3253    [: a28           @@- I [@f               329.8
                                RUN        70 F 10             DO 71@                            0.2 1[ f                GIF<Ol        <011                                                                         i
                                                                                                                                                                      11           1     0.'                        EI
                                                                                                 67                      49                                                  0     76'1                                    65         16         42                                  16
                               othtR   F-715 ,,'-6.2                      0.1     2.7                       F-127        0-4           17i:i77IFTI -2] -19 77 07 F-I -2@                                        12.8 --IiT747.OF--F5T]      542.0         [::!24!6@5    3i.@2     1178.8
                                                                                                                         0 F
                                                       @@L                35      27                        24 11        28 1  37      1   12                         31 1               17 11      22 1        36                    18 1       8           is         13           6
                                                                                                            18                                                                                                                  1        Pn
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           102
                                                               0                                                                                                                                                                      0.8 [ 176           7-5.3         2-2 1,    82.3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 38
                                                                                                                                                                      71                            81              1      55         66         38          24 L
                                                                                                 51
                                                                                        -7
                                       17707                   @77D'                             0 2                     <1 I          11                0, 077       117                           0 1 [771               37 F6@
                         RANTATION     1                                                                                                                                           E                                                                                                 23

                               MAL,                    41 i
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  130.1
                                                                                                            0.4
                                                                                     L                                                                                                                          46
                                                               E4 ]1[:n,-l 37,                              7 0 6][f                                                  "[:ff                                     F 076      6 2 1              47          03            161
                                                                                                            52           30                              L            2JI
                                       En i                                                                                                                                                 I                                                    2o       L-LI          12

                                1992                   4.9 355.6          5.0  206.0    789.8               1713         571.9 8.9     37.6              1.B  1742.0         6.8   1550.1           60.2        147.4 4697.2    858.5       788.2         404.3         410.7     12818.1
                      SURFACE AREA                     20      11         30      17             7          9            7     21          5             19           6      27          4          8           15         3          10         6           12         6            0
                                                       1-31.6 !F-2-4][--3(                       -                       --                                                        -                            79.8 [6nI83     [iii-7      -390.6        322.0
                             CHANGE                                               1.4 F-11.21               6173               @23 7   W                 3                                                                                                                           0
                                                                                                                         -211.1]@ "]7                                        3.3   7 12T
                                                                                                                                              @F7
                                                                                                 4          2@
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             13
                                                               4711       40 J1   57 1           24 l@      23 11        ID                              1            421    74 1        140 @JF 2,01,11        21         11   1     11 @       14                     0
                      30







                      Texas Coastal Wetlands, Mid- I 95\Os to Early 1990s
                      TABLE 2 Area, in thousands of acres, by selected surface area groups.




                      Sampling error, in percent,                         1 9 9 2                       CLASS I FICATI ONS
                      is given below estimate.


                                                                            MARINE             ESTUARINE            PALUSTRINE                                                        1955AREA

                                             C01)
                                                             MARINE                                     -572@=!                                   2.4                    0.3              4.8
                                                                                                                                                  31,                                      22
                                                          ESTUARINE          -@-77                                                                                       37.1
                                                                                          11            497,4                                     71,17[
                                             C.3                               43                       10                                                               16

                                             LL.
                                                        PALUSTRINE             0 2                      3.7             7 @Ir--                   63.1                   T119.77        3 74.3
                                             COD                                                                                                  20                                       3

                                             -a                                0.3                      53.1            12.2                                             10.2            1668.2
                                                                               81                       23               18                                              17                4
                                             LO
                                             LO
                                             Cn                                                                                                                                     -7644@i
                                                                                          Lfl 12.2                     283.1                      35@8                   6 711-67 F
                                                                                                        Is
                                                                               34                       is               8                        15                     2       1

                                                        1992 AREA 1            4 9                      566.6                                     176i.4                 7159.0  r---F2i I     T
                                                                                                        9                            F            4                      2
                                                                                          I                                          L-                                  ff7

                                                            CHANGE                        1             @59.6          -151.1                     96.2                   114.4
                                                                                                                         26                       75                     33








                      Duck Hunting
                      PALUSTRINE EMERGENT

                      TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT













                                                 "o





                                                                                                         .... .. ....
                                                                                   . . .. .... ......

                                                                                                                        V\-






                             Admowledgments

                             Many individuals within the U.S. Fish and              The authors also express their appreciation to Dr.
                             Wildlife Service and others contributed to this        Kenneth P. Burnham, Colorado State University,
                             report. The authors especially thank W. W.             for providing statistical programming support
                             Hagenbuck, National Wetlands Inventory                 and oversight; and to Thomas Gale, Gale
                             Regional Coordinator, Albuquerque, NM; D. W.           Communications, St. Paul, MN, for editing,
                             Woodard, NWI Group Leader, St. Petersburg,             layout, and graphics.
                             FL; B.O. Wilen, NWI Project Leader, Arlington,
                             VA; K.E. Cathey, J.A. Dick, R.E. Sullivan, and         We thank the Texas Parks and Wildlife
                             S.J. Vosler, NWI Group, Austin, TX; M.                 Department for photos.
                             Newcastle, Office of Public Affairs-Printing,
                             Washington, DC; K. Patterson and staff at              This report should be cited as:
                             Geonex, Inc. in St. Petersburg.
                                                                                    Moulton, D.W., T.E. Dahl, and D.M. Dall.
                             Special recognition is due the staff of the            1997. Texas Coastal Wetlands; Status and
                             Wetlands Status and Trends Unit, St. Petersburg,       Trends, mid-1950s to early 1990s. U.S.
                             which includes Richard D. Young, who                   Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife
                             performed the GIS data analysis, and Martha C.         Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 32 pages.
                             Caldwell, who was responsible for the statistical
                             outputs.















                                                                                         k" @o'



















                                                                   "M





                             Back Cover:
                             Gulf Intracoastal Waterwa
                                                        Y,
                             Dredge Spoil Compartments
                             ESTUARINE TNTERTTDAL EMERGENT

                             TEXAS PARKS & WILDL FIE DEPARTMENT




                                                                                                                                      4
                                                   Oyster Harvest
                                             ESTUARINE SUBTIDAL

                                          TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT


          32








































                                                                                        DATE DUE





















                                                                      GAYLOROINo. 2333                               PRINTEO M US.A.





























                                           -45



                                     - lac-i.










              r77;j!




















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