A Sanctuary in Suburbia

By Kathy Dean, Public Affairs Specialist

At Clear Lake Shores, visitors to Jarboe Bayou Park will find an oasis in the middle of suburbia. Ten years ago this area had eroded along the banks. Wildlife searched for better habitat and the land looked like a good place for another house lot. Today people can sit on benches and watch the sailboats and the wildlife that have returned.

Vanessa Hamilton, a Clear Lakes Shores city councilwoman, worked tirelessly for 10 years to bring this park to fruition. The city bought the land in 1997 to build a park. Three grants and nine years later, the city has restored more than 700 feet of shoreline and two island remnants.

Smooth cordgrass was needed to attract shrimp, oysters and crabs, which in turn bring white ibises, green herons, hawks and river otters to feed. Eddie Seidensticker, NRCS resource conservationist, helped the city by supplying the plants and helping them plant the shoreline.

The park was dedicated at Jarboe Bayou Park Friday, Oct. 20, 2006. NRCS has played a major part in restoring untold acres of shoreline by creating wildlife habitat, enhancing parks, and stopping the continuing erosion of the marshes in the Galveston Bay System.


 

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