Follets Island
Implementing Organization
Galveston Bay Foundation
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$1,000,000
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Funding Program
North American Wetlands Conservation Act NAWCA
Details
Project Category
Environmental
Project Actions
Land Acquisition/Protection
Targeted Resources
Wetlands/Marshes/Estuaries
Project Description
This project will permanently protect 478 acres of coastal barrier island habitat consisting primarily of salt and freshwater wetlands and tall grass native prairie on Follets Island. The Trust for Public Land will purchase 4 tracts through fee title acquisition and transfer those tracts to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for permanent protection and management. Deemed a nationally significant coastal barrier ecosystem, Follets Island is situated within the Gulf Prairies and Marshes ecological region and borders the Christmas Bay Coastal Preserve and Drum Bay, which are part of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem, and part of the Galveston Bay Estuary Program. The project is also adjacent to the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge and is located within the Columbia Bottomlands project area established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve important wetlands through partnership conservation efforts. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department acquired 441 acres of the island in 2014 establishing the Follets Island Conservation Initiative. This NAWCA project proposal is part of a larger partnership effort led by The Trust for Public Land and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to increase the Follets Island Conservation Initiative, a coastal preserve, to approximately 2,000 acres. Through this current NAWCA project the preserve area will be more than doubled in size to 919 acres. Important priority waterfowl species that will benefit from this project include mottled ducks, redhead ducks, lesser scaup, mallards and many other species.
Contact
Mike Lange9792998431
txpartners@gmail.com
Project Website
Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, Phillips 66 Company, Private Contributors, Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation, The Trust for Public Land
None