In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Without Borders program serves as the administrative authority for the International Wetlands Convention in the United States. The United States signed onto the Ramsar Convention in 1987 and currently recognizes 30 Ramsar sites. Ramsar sites within the CSWGCIN region include:
Visit the International Wetlands Program site for information on World Wetlands Day, how to nominate a site for the Ramsar designation of "Wetlands of International Importance," and links on wetlands sites and management.
For more information:
Visit the links below to check out coastal zone projects developed by CSWGCIN and its partners.
Galveston Bay marsh [Photo:Galveston Bay Estuary Program]
Wetlands are important habitats of Gulf Coastal estuaries; functioning as nursery and foraging areas for wildlife, filtering waterborne contaminants, stabilizing sediments, protecting shorelines, and reducing floods. Wetlands are also imperiled habitats due to increasing human development along the Gulf Coastal Plain. Wetland conservation activities along the Gulf Coast include restoration of fringing wetland and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitats and monitoring and delineation of natural wetland areas. CSWGCIN continued making information describing the distribution of natural and restored wetlands available via web-based mapping applications
During previous CSWGCIN award periods, ArcIMS mapping applications were developed showing the locations of SAV and fringing wetland restoration projects in the Galveston Bay Estuary. A SAV restoration planning tool (the Seagrass Information System) was created allowing SAV restoration project managers to query and view historical water quality data sampled near proposed SAV restoration sites. In this award period, CSWGCIN updated and expanded the Seagrass Information System to include geospatial data gathered from other wetland restoration and mitigation projects along the Texas Coast. CSWGCIN also acquired two new geospatial data sets describing the distribution of federal section 10/404 wetland permits and estuarine and palustrine wetlands.
CSWGCIN worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Texas Coastal Program, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Galveston Laboratory, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to acquire additional wetland restoration data for inclusion in the SAV and wetland restoration mapping application. CSWGCIN also worked with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Galveston Bay Estuary Program (GBEP), the TPWD, Dr. Samuel Brody of Texas A&M University, and the Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF) to acquire data describing wetland Section 10/404 permit locations in the Houston-Galveston, Texas area. The activities outlined above culminated in the creation of the Wetland and Seagrass Information System.
The Wetland and Seagrass Information System also includes the most recent data describing distributions of estuarine and palustrine wetland habitats in Southeast Texas. Geospatial data were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP). The C-CAP land cover classification is based on Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. Data describe five C-CAP wetland classes analyzed by GBEP's Status and Trends Project include: Estuarine Emergent Wetland, Estuarine Scrub/Shrub Wetland, Palustrine Emergent Wetland, Palustrine Forested Wetland, and Palustrine Scrub/Shrub Wetland.
Louisiana Coastal Wetlands - By 2050, without any further restoration action, scientists believe that one third of coastal Louisiana will have vanished into the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana currently experiences about 90 percent of the total coastal wetlands loss in the continental United States. The impacts on human populations, the oil and gas infrastructure, fisheries and the seafood industry, and wildlife will be considerable if coastal wetlands continue to disappear.
Use of LIDAR in Wetland Delineation on West Galveston Island, Texas - Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is a remote sensing technique that uses a laser mounted to an aircraft to measure vertical height of a land surface (elevation). LIDAR is increasingly used in support of Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) applications. LIDAR can be used in any application that has to consider the elevation of a land surface.
Great Egret Spotlight
Photo courtesy of Charles Lee
Great Egret Casmerodius albus
Description:One of the seven species of white herons, the Great Egret is tall, extremely slender, and long-necked with white plumage, black legs and feet, and a yellow bill. It is larger than any other heron except the Great Blue.
Life History:During the breeding season, both males and females exhibit long black plumes. Not all young that hatch survive the nestling period as aggression among nestlings is common, and large chicks frequently kill their smaller siblings. The Great Heron feeds alone and hunts fish, frogs, snakes, and crayfish in shallow water. The longevity record for a wild Great Egret is nearly 23 years.
Habitat:The Great Egret is found in tropical and temperate wetlands. As wetlands are destroyed, the Great Egret becomes threatened.
Distribution:The Great Egret is found on every continent except Antarctica. In the Americas, it breeds from Canada to Argentina and Chile. Wintering populations can be found as far north as waters remain ice-free in North America. Generally this ranges from Oregon south along the West Coast, and along Mexico down to Panama, as well as throughout much of the southern United States, and up the Eastern Seaboard, sometimes into New York and Massachusetts during warmer years.
Status:Although the Great Egret is not currently threatened, it is listed as a "Species of Concern" in Florida due to its vulnerability to wetland destruction and the possible loss of habitat and natural watercourses.
