U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS Engineering With Nature
Dr. Kelly A. Burks-Copes, chief, Program Support Branch for the Mega Projects Division (MPD) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District, right, and Maj. Ian O’Sullivan, deputy commander for MPD, left, speak with National Public Radio Climate Desk Correspondent Rebecca Hersher near the East End Lagoon Nature Preserve during the district’s “Ring Tour.” Galveston District’s Ring Tour takes a route around Galveston Island to show the upcoming and prospective areas where coastal storm surge defenses will be put in place as part of the Coastal Texas Program. U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY TREVOR WELSH
Engineering With Nature
T
he Texas Gulf Coast is one of the nation’s liveliest and most productive economic regions: Every year, about 600 million tons of cargo move through ports from Orange to Port Isabel, generating about $250 billion in trade. A quarter of all Texans – about 7.3 million people – live along the state’s 367-mile coast. BY CRAIG COLLINS
16 I AMERICA’S ENGINEERS
The region is also, for several reasons – subsidence, sea level rise, and storm surges driven by powerful hurricanes and tropical storms – suffering one of the highest rates of land loss of any coastal area in the United States. According to the Texas General Land Office (GLO), “Sixty-four percent of the Texas coast is eroding at an average rate of about 6 feet per year, with some locations losing more than 30 feet per year.”
The GLO is one of the many partners the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District has been working with to study and design an ambitious and cost-effective solution to the many problems associated with these losses: Risks to public health and economies; ecosystem damage; and weakened coastal defenses against storms and erosion. The six-year effort involved experts from other countries and cities
