State, fed agencies oppose Segment E wetlands permit

Say mitigation plan inadequate

Steve Hawley, Sep 22, 09.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) formally opposed the proposed Grand Parkway Segment E wetlands permit, according to the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition. Both agencies submitted comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers, which is considering the permit application.

The Segment E mitigation plan states that the project would impact 45.63 acres of wetlands, and it calls for the Harris County Toll Road Authority to purchase 23 acres of credits in the Katy Cypress Wetland Mitigation Bank and 22.63 acres in the Greens Bayou Wetland Mitigation Bank.

However, FWS states that the project would impact a larger area, including areas outside the immediate right-of-way. In addition, the agency classifies the impacted wetlands as “medium quality,” while the mitigation plan calls them “low quality.” Medium quality wetlands require more mitigation than lower quality wetlands. In addition, FWS says it is “not appropriate” to use the Greens Bayou Wetland Mitigation Bank, which is 30 miles to the east of Segment E and in a separate watershed. Instead, the agency says that mitigation efforts should all be located in the Cypress Creek watershed.

TPWD also says that any mitigation should be done in the Katy Prairie, perhaps in conjunction with the Katy Prairie Conservancy. Furthermore, it concludes that Segment E “would most likely encourage further residential and commercial development on the remaining undeveloped land in western Harris County,” which would worsen water quality downstream and ultimately impact Galveston Bay. The agency’s conclusions appear to be well-founded - in March, TxDOT Assistant Executive Director John Barton told the Texas Transportation Commission that Segment E “will be an opportunity to open up areas for development in the Greater Houston area,” while Peter Houghton, Vice President of Master-Planned Communities at General Growth Properties, told the Harris County Commissioners Court, “We need this road to continue the build-out of Bridgeland.” Bridgeland is an 11,400-acre General Growth property centered around the proposed Segment E.

By some estimates based on the extent of development around the existing Segment D of the Parkway, about 100 square miles of the Katy Prairie would be impacted. The Grand Parkway is a decades-old project designed to “get out in front of growth,” according to several local elected officials. It had been essentially stymied until stimulus money from the American Recovery and Investment Act became available. Segment E, the next section to be built, and the hoped-for development along it would destroy nearly half of the remaining Katy Prairie, a sensitive area that provides natural services and wildlife habitat. If the existing piece of the Parkway is any indication, the whole Parkway project and its ensuing development would displace some 1,100 square miles of Prairie, Big Thicket, Piney Woods, Columbia Bottomlands, Prairie Systems, and Bayou Wilderness.

Both FWS and TPWD, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Department of Transportation, and Federal Highway Administration, participated in a site visit on September 15 and examined the proposed plans.

Segment E is currently scheduled to begin construction in early 2010 using $181 million in stimulus funds, but the project must first receive the wetlands permit. In addition, the Sierra Club filed suit against Segment E in March, claiming that the Federal Highway Administration failed to adequately assess the project’s environmental impacts. It is unclear what impact the lawsuit could have.

Excerpts from both letters are below, followed by links to the full letters.

US Fish & Wildlife Service:

The Service believes that the project’s impacts to waters of the U.S., including wetlands, are greater than what is stated in the [Public Notice]. The dredging, filling and excavating of part of a wetland alters the water regime of the whole wetland. In addition, the proposed highway may hinder wildlife species attempting to access the remaining adjacent wetlands and is some cases may result in mortality of these wildlife species. Therefore, we request that the project’s impacts be re-calculated to include all of each wetland transected by the project instead of being limited to that portion of a wetland located within the project area.
...
The CMP [Conceptual Mitigation Plan] will not adequately compensate for the impacts associated with the project. The Service does not consider the wetlands proposed to be impacted to be low quality as stated in the CMP. While the emergent wetland sites have been used for past agriculture activities, they continue to provide feeding areas for an abundance of resident and migratory avian species, to provide flood water storage and enhance water quality. In addition, these areas have the potential to be restored to native prairie wetland ecosystems. The Service recommends that at a minimum a medium quality ratio (equal to 0.6 WET II score) be applied to credit purchase. The use of the Greens Bayou Wetlands Mitigation Bank is not appropriate to use for a project of this large scale. Significant impacts are occurring within the Katy Prairie Cypress Creek watershed due to rapid suburban growth and development. In addition, portions of Cypress Creek, Bear Creek, South Mayde Creek, Langham Creek, and Mason Creek are all listed on the 2008 Texas Commission on Environmental Qulaity’s 303(d) list as impaired waters. For these reasons, we recommend the applicant find in-kind wetland compensation within the immediate Cypress Creek watershed
...
The Service recommends this permit not be issued as proposed due to an inadequate mitigation plan. The Service would like work with the applicant and the other resource agencies to develop a mitigation plan which provides compensation within the immediate Cypress Creek Watershed for all impacts to isolated and jurisdictional wetlands and to riparian forest as a result of the project.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department:

TPWD has concerns regarding the proposed project and mitigation plan. Roads affect wildlife by altering and isolating habitat, hindering the movement of wildlife, and promoting extensive wildlife mortality. These effects are perhaps most evident when roads arc constructed through wetlands (Findley and Bourdages 2000, Ashley and Robinson 1996). In addition, the vast majority of mortality associated with roads impacts amphibians and reptiles (Ashley and Robinson 1996). These species migrate along and across highways to find suitable foraging, breeding, and overwintering sites while at other times they use roadside habitat itself (e.g., for thermoregulation). Construction of the proposed project will permanently bisect wildlife habitat and will directly impact wildlife as described above.

Building roads generally increases development, and this project would most likely encourage further residential and commercial development on the remaining undeveloped land in western Harris County. The construction of impervious structures and surfaces associated with development typically leads to a decrease in downstream water quality. All of the waterbodies crossed by the proposed project (Mason Creek, South Mayde Creek, Bear Creek, Langham Creek, and Cypress Creek) are currently listed as impaired waterbodies on the
TCEQ’s 303(d) List for elevated bacteria levels. Therefore, the applicant’s proposed impacts will individually and cumulatively contribute to the continued degradation of water quality within those waterbodies, Lake Houston and, ultimately, Galveston Bay.
...
The Katy Prairie represents an endangered ecosystem found only in North America with less than 1% of the original coastal tallgrass prairie remaining. Therefore, TPWD recommends the applicant perform compensatory mitigation on the Katy Prairie by purchasing as many credits as possible from the KCWMB [Katy Cypress Wetland Mitigation Bank, instead of the Greens Bayou Wetland Mitigation Bank] for emergent wetland impacts. If a sufficient number of wetland mitigation credits are unavailable from the KCWMB, TPWD recommends the applicant mitigate any remaining emergent wet land impacts by acquiring additional land through coordination with the Katy Prairie Conservancy - an organization formed specifically to protect Katy Prairie habitats through land acquisition and other conservation strategies - and completing a creation or restoration-based mitigation plan.
...
As currently proposed, TPWD recommends denial of this permit application.

Full letter: US Fish & Wildlife Service
Full letter: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

Vicinity maps, plans, and proposed mitigation: Project SWG-1997-02901

(Photo credit: Katy Prairie Conservancy)