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Site Enhancements
As Fermata Inc. began to plan the route for the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, we identified sites to enhance that would benefit both local communities and add special amenities to the Trail. We looked for areas that needed funds to provide safe access for trail users, upgrade a particular property from being a passable site to an excellent wildlife viewing spot, or properties that could even be opened to the public for the first time. Several of the enhancement sites on the Upper and Central portion of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail are detailed below. Fermata Inc. coordinated all aspects of the development of these enhancements. We identified the sites, worked with local interests to reach consensus on which features would be appropriate, recommended the design features for the enhancements, and coordinated the installation of the amenities. Fermata Inc. personnel actually selected the plants to the placed within the various butterfly and hummingbird gardens, determined the routing of boardwalks, and suggested the placement of observation towers and parking pullouts. The following Trail enhancements have been selected to show the diversity of improvements that Fermata Inc. can conceptualize, design and implement at a specific wildlife viewing location. For information about how we may assist you in enhancing wildlife viewing opportunities for you, your agency, or your organization, contact us. Let us aid you in your specific efforts, whether they be a dragonfly pond, butterfly garden, canopy walkway, interpretive boardwalks, or birding and nature trails that span a state, region or entire country. Parking and Entrance Gate at TOS Sabine Woods - UTC 026 The Texas Ornithological Society owns Sabine Woods, one of the new isolated oak mottes on the upper Texas coast north of High Island. For years birders were forced to park along the highway to visit the site, and then climb a barbed wire fence to enter the woods. Through the Trail project, Fermata arranged for a parking area to be constructed on the TxDOT right-of-way, and installed an entrance gate (both pedestrian and vehicular) to facilitate entry into the woods. Boardwalk at Sea Rim State Park - UTC 027 Birders have long taken their chances with highway traffic to stop at the wetland and willow complex just beyond the entrance to Sea Rim State Park. Now there is a pullout and one of Texas' best birding boardwalks to explore the ponds and check the willows, salt cedars and red mulberries for spring migrants. Fermata Inc. used enhancement funds to design and build the boardwalk and the pullout. TxDOT High Island Roadside Park - UTC 051 This park with its oaks and picnic tables was long overlooked by birders rushing to Houston Audubon Society's more famous High Island Sanctuaries. Enhancement funds were used by Fermata to design and corridinate the building of a nature trail, irrigated butterfly and hummingbird gardens, and an educational kiosk with maps to direct people to all of the birding sites in High Island. The Corps Woods at Galveston - UTC 061 Galveston has a new birding park that is a result of a unique partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the City of Galveston, the Galveston Parks Board, The Galveston Chapter of the Houston Audubon Society, TPWD, and TxDOT. Fermata Inc. assisted in negotiating an agreement through which a portion of land owned by the ACOE has been leased to the City of Galveston as a nature sanctuary. Enhancements conceptualized and coordinated by Fermata at the site include a nature trail, boardwalks through the woods to access a slough, a parking lot, and to fence that delineates the property. The Galveston Parks Board has agreed to maintain the site. Fermata Inc. personnel are especially proud of the role they played in facilitating this unique partnership that now provides Galveston with a remarkable site for viewing migratory birds. Sundance Garden, Bay Street Park in Texas City - UTC 075 Fermata Inc., working with local volunteers and community officials in Texas City, developed and installed an extensive butterfly and hummingbird garden in a public park. As a result of that work, Texas City has asked Fermata Inc. about how to best develop more wildlife habitats in the park, including the removal of the exotic Chinese Tallow trees that proliferate there. See Projects in Development for more information on Texas City. Trull Marsh - CTC 011 Trull Marsh is located adjacent to TX 35 in Palacios. This semi-tidal marsh attracts an incredible variety of water birds, depending upon the water level. For years birders would stop on the shoulder of TX 35 (a busy highway running directly through Palacios), and watch the ducks, herons, and egrets feed within a few feet of the highway. In order to safely redirect wildlife viewers away from the highway, Fermata worked to design an observation deck that would be placed behind the marsh. Now birders can park in a parking lot constructed for the site, and walk an ADA compliant boardwalk out to an observation platform. The platform is placed at a distance from the wetlands so that observers do not disturb the feeding water birds. Lavaca / Navidad Estuary - CTC 023 This site is closed as FM 616 is being widened to four lanes. In the near future the observation platform will be rebuilt along the new, improved highway. Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area - CTC 036 The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department faced a challenge in allowing open public access to the Guadalupe Delta WMA. As with many wildlife management areas, the road system would not support extensive vehicular traffic, and no developed trail system existed within the site. Therefore, Fermata developed a parking area and observation platform that overlooks an extensive marsh and lake within the WMA. Now, the public can view waterfowl, shorebirds, and other waterbirds that frequent this wetland within the WMA, without actually entering the property itself. Rockport Demo Bird Garden and Wetlands Pond - CTC 050 Rockport and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) joined together to turn a highway rest area into a premiere hummingbird and butterfly garden. Rockport has become noted for the tens of thousands of hummingbirds (mostly Ruby-throated) that migrate through in September, and the community hosts the annual HummerBird Festival to celebrate this remarkable spectacle. At this site visitors can learn about gardening with native plants, how to attract hummingbirds to their own properties, and take a boardwalk stroll through an impressive stand of Trumpet Creeper (a native hummingbird plant) to a willow grove and wet slough. This boardwalk was designed by Fermata personnel and constructed with enhancement funds from the GTCBT. Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary in Rockport - CTC 051 The sanctuary is on the site where, beginning in the 1930s, Connie and her husband Jack ran their small hotel, Rockport Cottages. It was Connie who alerted ornithologists to the huge bird migrations seen along the Texas Coast, much of which could be seen streaming through the oak mottes on her six-acre property. Under the direction of Fermata Inc., GTCBT enhancement funds were used to build a freshwater pond for birds, dragonflies and other wetland dependent species, an interpretive kiosk and observation platform, and an all-weather trail at the Sanctuary. Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden in Aransas Pass - CTC 052
Aransas Pass now has a traffic stopping hummingbird and butterfly garden at one of its gateway parks, thanks to GTCBT enhancement funds. Fermata Inc. worked with the community to renovate a community park that at best served as an eyesore in its original manifestation. The native plants used to landscape the garden are thriving and producing impressive blooms with little to no maintenance required, making this site a prime example of how wildlife habitat can be created in an urban environment. The combination of the new garden and the coastal oak motte in the small park makes this a prime birding spot, especially during migrations. Enhancement funds were used to design and plant the hummingbird garden, and the community itself has invested in the installation of restrooms and new picnic facilities. Newbury Park is an excellent example of how Fermata Inc. has been able to leverage ISTEA (now TEA-21) funds with investments from local communities. Port Aransas Wetland Park - CTC 059 This ephemeral freshwater wetland is surrounded by a reconstructed sand dune community, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the two habitats--freshwater temporary ponds and sand dunes. Enhancement funds were used by Fermata Inc to design and develop the dune community, construct a boardwalk and observation gazebo that overlooks a freshwater pond, and install parking facilities at the trailhead. The dune reconstruction has now matured to the point that Sea Oats are seeding and Beach Morning Glories are blooming in profusion. When the pond is wet, visitors can be surrounded by hoards of waterfowl and shorebirds. The Park is a joint project of TPWD, TxDOT, and the City of Port Aransas.
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