A coordinated effort to bring desolate wetlands back to life has been awarded the state's highest environmental honor, the 2008 Texas Environmental Excellence Award. The Bahia Grande partnership is one of 12 statewide winners to be recognized with an award, presented by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality at its annual banquet April 30, in Austin.

Between the 1930s and 1950s, construction of the Brownsville Ship Channel and State Highway 48 gradually cut off the Bahia Grande basin's 6,800 acres from the marine waters it needed to flourish. As the wetland receded, the arid acreage became vulnerable to erosion. The constant winds picked up salt-encrusted sand, clogging air conditioning systems, causing power outages because of electrical line build-up, and creating an unsightly nuisance in the surrounding community.

In 2000, the Conservation Fund, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banded together to buy the property. Scientists studied the area and devised a plan to intentionally flood 10,000 acres. In 2003, they began building greenhouses to propagate native plants, and once the plants grew, workers re-established a coastal estuary lined with 3,000 black mangrove seedlings, valued for its protection and stabilization of low-lying coastal lands. They also planted Gulf cord grass, salt grass, and other native wetland species. In 2005, community efforts resulted in the first pilot channel being dug linking the ship channel to the dry basin. Within the first few months of flooding Bahia Grande, marine organisms resumed their historic migration patterns.

More than $14.6 million dollars has been spent to date, and the return on this investment can be seen in a landscape that's now a popular site for both nature studies and ecotourism. The Bahia Grande restoration also has offered scientists valuable insights on native-plant propagation. The community benefits from rejuvenated bird watching, sport fishing, and beauty along this formerly barren stretch of the Texas coast.

The TCEQ annually presents the Texas Environmental Excellence Awards to environmental projects across the state that demonstrate excellence in resource conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. The award-winning programs reflect the goals of the TCEQ itself: to protect Texas' human and natural resources and ensure clean air, clean water and the safe management of waste. For more information or to submit an application for next year's awards, visit www.teea.org.