Wetlands are important habitats in coastal estuaries. They function as nursery and foraging areas for commercially and recreationally important wildlife including species of finfish, shellfish, and waterfowl. Wetlands also contribute other important ecosystem services including: filtration of waterborne contaminants, stabilization of sediments and shoreline, and protection from flooding due to extreme weather events. Due to increasing human development along the coastal plains, wetlands have become imperiled habitats. In an effort to protect wetlands, wetland protection activities along the Gulf Coast are underway. These include restoration of fringing wetland and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitats as well as monitoring, delineation, and conservation of natural wetland areas.

Numerous wetland restoration sites have been planted by the public and private sector in the Galveston Bay Estuary since the early 1970s. Since their initial planting, few of the restoration sites have been monitored to assess the success of the restoration project in terms of wetland acreage and ecosystem function.

To begin the important task of monitoring and assessing key wetland restoration sites, the CSWGC node worked with local partners to develop technology infrastructure. CSWGCIN teamed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF), and the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) to develop an online data entry portal, backend database, and real time mapping application to collect and disseminate data describing monitoring of Galveston Bay wetland restoration sites.