Environment
Bolivar peninsula is a barrier island, with a coastal prairie habitat and a subtropical climate. Nature lovers living in a Fortenberry Home will reap maximum enjoyment since most of the year, the weather is nice enough for outdoor activities. On your large deck overlooking the marsh, bay or even catching a glimpse of the ocean, you can watch the birds and sunrises or sunbathe under warm sunsets listening to the fish jump or the birds fishing in the canal. If you thought moving to Bolivar was going to be good, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that its natural side is more interesting than you ever imagined.
Climate
On Bolivar, the winters are mild and the summers hot. Bolivar receives approximately 44 inches of rain per year with rain falling an average of 89 days per year and distributed evenly throughout the year. September is the wettest month with average rainfall of 6 inches. If you plant native, coastal prairie plants, you will rarely, if ever have to water your yard and you will see many more birds and butterflies than you could hope for otherwise. Learn more about attracting wildlife with native plants. There is an average of 204 sunny days per year. The average low temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit occurs in January and the average high in August at 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hurricanes happen on Bolivar relatively rarely but there are measures to take to secure your property and protect the lives of yourself and your loved ones. The Hurricane Preparedness Guide will help you develop a plan for your family.
Private Landowners
Today, 95% of Texas land is privately owned so environmental education, preservation, restoration and responsible management must come from all private landowners. Homeowners can be good environmental stewards by getting involved in many ways, both in organized groups or in private habits around the home and garden.
Fortunately, Texas is home to the leaders in the nation in a trend toward private citizen involvement and stewardship. Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas A&M University joined together to create the, award-winning, nationally-acclaimed Texas Master Naturalist Program to develop a corp of educated volunteers to provide education, outreach, and services dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. Since its inception in 1998, the Texas Master Naturalist program has had widespread success and garnered interest from other states. Federal funding was achieved so that the department could spread their model and help other states follow our lead. The Texas Master Naturalist Program was the first of its kind in the nation and is now leading the way for many other states.
Another important movement taking place among private property owners is the formation of Wildlife Management Associations, also known as Wildlife Co-ops, which are groups of local landowners working together for their common wildlife interests. The Oak-Prairie Wildlife District leads the state in Wildlife Co-ops and the future of wildlife in this region of Texas depends largely on their success. Fortenberry Homes is proud to do its share in making our great landscapes in Bolivar healthier and more beautiful by making this information available to you and incorporating earth-friendly features into our properties.
Galveston Bay Area Chapter Texas Master Naturalist
Wildlife Management Association Guide (pdf)
Gardening In Sync With Nature
If you think the traditional flower garden is beautiful, you will be delighted to learn that gardening in sync with the local habitat can drastically enhance your garden's appeal to birds, butterflies, beneficial insects and humans alike. Did you know Texas has native species of orchid, foxgloves, ferns, anemones, crossvine, and wisteria, just to name a few? This style of gardening, by primarily using native plant species, works with nature instead of fighting against it. As a result, it is cheaper, easier to maintain, healthier for all living things, and more beautiful than traditional gardens.
To learn more about these concepts and techniques, visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.'s Texas Native Plant Database or take a class such as the Houston Audubon Society's Gardening With Native Plants to Attract Birds and Butterflies website.
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.'s Texas Wildscapes Certification program offers homeowners a chance to participate by certifying them to create a natural habitat in their own backyards.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin is a nationally-recognized organization dedicated to deepening the understanding of these concepts and spreading the practices.
Beach and Dune Ecology
If you have ever wondered about the ecology of beaches, you will find coastal processes an interesting topic. Mother Nature has a way of dealing with everything it seems. The beach marks a transition between land and sea, making it one of the most dynamic and complex habitats of all. The power of the wind and waves both accretes (builds up) and erodes the shore and physically regulates the shoreline and its associated, dynamic habitat. The many zones of shoreline, from splash zone to fore dune are rich with abundant plants and animals, although sometimes you have to look closely to see many of the smaller, more hidden creatures buried just under the surface of the sand or among the leaves of the dune vegetation. An amazing feature of soft shorelines such as that found on Bolivar (and other Texas) beaches, is the dance that occurs between the dune and the wind and waves to regulate the beach.
In the case of Bolivar beaches, the normal state is where sand and sediment from the Mississippi River is constantly flowing along and toward the shore in a slight diagonal direction in "longshore currents" and being deposited along the beaches to replenish them. During storms, this state is interrupted and wave and wind energy instead washes the sand away from the beaches and the dune. Then, during the regular flow of these coastal currents, sand is always redeposited on the beach where the wind blows it into the vegetation, reforming and fortifying the dunes. In effect, the dunes act as stabilizers in the dance of alternately absorbing and then releasing the sand as it is taken away and redeposited on the beach. As long as nothing interrupts this flow of sand in the longshore currents or the dunes, beaches will exist in a healthy state of dynamic equilibrium.
Some of the information below was taken from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Texas Coastal Program website where you can find a lot of interesting, useful and important information.
The existence of jetties and groins change the shoreline dynamic by blocking the flow of sediment, leaving beaches downstream to wither with a lack of sand while the beach are built up as the sediment is backed up on the front side of the blocking structure. This is the situation with Bolivar and Galveston beaches due to the presence of the Jetties and groins in Galveston. In a rare twist of fate, the sand that has built up on the east side of Bolivar's north jetty has created a dazzling addition to the already-present natural habitat for shorebirds and been named the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary
Black Skimmers
Bolivar Flats is an expansive coastal wetland system which, 60 years ago, stretched nearly unbroken along the mid- and Upper Texas Gulf Coast. These wetland systems historically provided unique habitat for an abundant and diverse number of wildlife species. However, these ecologically vital and fragile ecosystems have degraded over the years due to hydrologic changes on the landscape, commercial and residential development, proliferation of invasive and exotic weeds, salt water intrusion, lack of natural wild fires, and cattle grazing impacts.
Black Skimmer Eggs
Understanding the ecology of the beach helps all of us make better decisions about our own actions, such as driving on the beach, walking on the dunes or disturbing a bird's nest we find on the ground. In the case of the Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary, this lesson drives home especially hard. The shoreline habitat area is especially important to shorebirds, which use the shallow flats, and a number of rare and endangered species of birds which inhabit the Bolivar Flats at some point during the year, such as the spring-nesting Least Terns. Unfortunately, research has shown that these nesting populations have decreased since 1996 (36 pairs) to a low of 7 nesting pairs in 2000 and this may be due to vehicular traffic through and near nesting areas. Restricting access and restoration of coastal prairie habitats have shown the the potential to increase nesting population and success of colonial waterbirds as well as resident, over-wintering and migrating grassland birds. It is promising and encouraging to see birds responding to restorative efforts and a good example of the importance of understanding beach ecology in our everyday actions.
Students of Bolivar School Restore Prairie/Dune Swale Habitat
With an understanding of these issues, the Bolivar community has worked diligently over the last several years to build up and protect the sand dunes along its beaches. The dunes protect homes and businesses from storm surge by absorbing some of the wave energy and provide some protection from the wind. Dunes help prevent beach erosion by locking up sand that would otherwise wash down the coast. Dunes are also the first line of defense in hurricanes and tropical storms, slowing the onset of flood water and even saving property and lives. Stabilizing roots of dune vegetation make the plants growing on the dunes a powerful helper in maintaining the health of the dunes. The construction and strict use of walkovers is an important measure in protecting this vegetation and the dunes from foot traffic that would otherwise tear it apart. Canal City recognizes and values this importance and provides the walkover for its residents.
Download Texas Beaches and Dunes to learn more or visit The Dune Guide website from the General Land Office.
To report destruction of dunes, or if you have any questions about dune protection or restoration, call the General Land Office Beach Access and Dune Protection Program at 1-800-998- 4GLO.
To learn more about Texas coastal issues, visit the General Land Office's Coastal Issues website.
Geotube
The Geotube is a man-made structure put in place along the vegetative line where you need good dunes. The geotube acts as a type of dune enhancement or dune replacement in an area where sand does not develop into dunes very well. You can visit the Bolivar Chamber of Commerce to learn more about the Gilchrist Geotube beach protection project.
Wildlife on Beaches
The dunes and beaches are home to many creatures and plants. There are birds, invertebrates, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, grasses, cacti and wildflowers, just to name some.
Coastal Prairie Ecology
Some of the information in this section was taken from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.'s Oak-Prairie Wildlife Management website.
Bolivar is part of the Coastal Prairies eco-region, a tallgrass prairie similar in many ways to the tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains. There were an estimated 6.5 million acres of Coastal Prairie in Texas in pre-settlement times. Today, less than 1% of the Coastal Prairie remains. Fire is an important part of prairie ecology and historically occurred from summer lightening strikes during droughts. Fire is the natural mechanism for prairie renewal because the fires prevent woody growth from establishing, stimulate seed germination, replenish nutrients in the soil, and allow light to reach young leaves. Although the small remaining areas of prairie exist where grazing occurred rather than plowing for agriculture, overgrazing has also caused major losses. Because 95% of Texas is privately-owned, the fate of our habitats lies in the hands of private landowners. Fortunately, landowners are becoming increasingly interested in wildlife and habitat management. More landowners earn income from other professions and depend less on the land for making a living. The major challenge is that land ownership is becoming increasingly fragmented. With each generation of our growing population, ranches and farms get smaller. Most landowners no longer own enough acreage to effectively manage for wildlife without cooperating with their neighbors. The solution is Wildlife Management Associations, also known as Wildlife Co-ops, which are groups of local landowners working together for their common wildlife interests. The Oak-Prairie Wildlife District, where Bolivar is located, leads the state in Wildlife Co-ops! The future of wildlife in this region of Texas depends largely of the success of this coop. Living on Bolivar means you can be a part of this effort if you choose.
Wildlife in the Bolivar and Nearby Coastal Prairies
The Texas Coastal Prairie is home to thousands of animal species today and some extinct ones that we know of are the prairie vole and Louisiana Indian Paintbrush. Historically, the Coastal Prairie was home to herds of bison, pronghorn antelope and red wolves and of course, birds. More Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, White Ibis and White-faced Ibis exist in the Texas Coastal Prairie than any place else in the United States. It is also home to North America's most endangered bird, the Attwater's Prairie Chicken as well as the exclusive winter breeding ground for the extremely endangered Whooping Crane, the only crane species found only in North America.
You can learn more about these birds from the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge website and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Whooping Crane website.
Wetland Ecology
At night in the fall or spring, you can open your windows (with screens secure) and listen to the chorus of frogs calling to their mates in the marsh. At sunup, you can lie in bed listening to the birds chatter. Would it surprise you to learn that Texas has some of the most abundant and diverse coastal wetlands in the world? If so, you would not be alone. Until recent years, wetlands were thought to be useless wastelands; but, now we know just the opposite is true. Just as the rainforests are the "lungs of the planet", filtering the air, the wetlands are the "kidneys of the planet", filtering the water. Just as the shoreline marks the transition between the land and the sea, wetlands mark the transition between the land and the freshwater environments. As a result, wetlands contain both upland and aquatic features making them valuable for the rich plant and animal communities they support. The unique characteristics of wetlands relate to soil types, timing and extent of wetness, oxygen levels, vegetation and more. Also, just as dunes absorb and release sand on the shore, wetlands work in concert with water changes, absorbing and slowly releasing flood waters and providing habitat and cleaner water in the process.
Our Texas coastal wetlands were created millions of years ago when present-day Dallas, Austin and San Antonio marked the edge of the continent and the sea. Present day coastal marshes were then at the bottom of the newly-forming Gulf of Mexico. Since then, sedimentary deposition has continued to build up the Coastal Plain.
Wetlands are important for:
- Water Quality: plants and soils in wetland literally filter and detoxify water as it seeps into the ground.
- Nursery Habitat: economically-important juvenile fish and shellfish require near-shore (coastal) wetlands for survival.
- Wildlife Habitat: the bounty of the wetlands is used by a variety of animals for food and shelter.
- Flood Buffers: flooding is reduced in areas with wetlands as they naturally detain the water.
- Erosion Control: wetlands are buffers to reduce shoreline erosion and stabilize banks.
- Recreation: fishing, hunting, birding and wildlife watching are strong and growing sectors of the tourism economy.
Reasons for past losses of vast wetlands and current threats to the health and integrity of wetlands include agriculture (no longer a threat), industrial development and (sub)urban sprawl (the biggest threat to freshwater wetlands). The mining of oil, gas and groundwater has been the greatest cause of saltwater wetland loss as the subsidence it induces brings a drop in elevation, causing wetlands to be permanently flooded, drowning vegetation in coastal areas such as Houston. Freshwater inflow from rivers has been reduced in areas such as Corpus Christi Bay and is causing changes in the estuary's productivity. Due to their importance, wetlands are now protected by law and efforts are underway across the country to restore them where possible.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Wetlands website offers good information on wetlands if you would like to learn more.
You can also learn more at the Texas Coastal Wetlands website funded by the Galveston Bay Estuary Program.
Wildlife in Wetlands
Wildlife living in coastal wetlands is richly diverse. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. "wetlands provide unique and critical habitat for thousands of species of animals ranging from fish, birds, mollusks, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects. Many endangered and threatened species utilize wetland habitat, and most species of amphibians are dependent on sources of water (such as wetlands) for reproductive success".
A terrific local example of wetlands that are being preserved and managed well is the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge located just north of Bolivar peninsula between Winnie and High Island. There, you will find abundant wildlife such as snakes, shellfish, waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, marsh and waterbirds, and neotropical/nearctic and temperate landbirds, blue crab, red drum, flounder and speckled sea trout, alligators and more. Even the endangered Bald Eagle, Brown Pelican and Piping Plovers are found there. One of the most important wildlife uses of Bolivar wetlands is as a stopping-over habitat for birds from all over North America during their migration. These birds depend on healthy coastal wetlands of the upper-Texas coast for their survival.
If you would like to visit Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, it is open to the public for wildlife observation, recreational fishing, crabbing, hiking, canoeing and kayaking, waterfowl hunting and more. Commercial uses include controlled livestock grazing, cooperative rice farming, oil and gas production and alligator harvest.
Cheniers, Oak Motts and Neo-tropical Migrants
The coastal ecology of Bolivar peninsula, especially that just east of Canal City in High Island, is dominated by cheniers, ancient gulf beach ridges stranded inland by the cyclical process of historic erosion and the deltaic sedimentation process of the shifting Mississippi River. The chenier habitat extends from the coastal plains of southwestern Louisiana over to East Bay at the northwest side of Bolivar peninsula in Texas. As the Mississippi shifted westward and eastward again repeatedly over the last several thousand years, it deposited sediment across its floodplain creating large, shallow flats that were intermittently eroded and built up again by wave action. The wave action on the delta created ridges as sediment was stacked atop itself into successive beach rims parallel to shore. This repeating process created several parallel ridges with marshes, wetlands, larger bayous and lakes in the troughs between them.
Growing on these cheniers are large stands of oak trees (or oak motts as they are known locally) so closely packed together that their roots and branches touch creating vital habitat for migrating neotropical birds. During the migrating season's peak in late April and early May, these oak motts together with the surrounding vegetation will provide resting and feeding grounds for literally millions of neotropical birds arriving from 600 miles away in the Yucatan Peninsula and beyond. These flights usually occur in just one night and some birds will literally fall out of the sky on the first land available. Without the oak cheniers and the surrounding vegetation, the birds' chances at survival are not good. In the protected areas of Bolivar peninsula, you will witness birds using their havens to rinse off the salt, rest in the trees, eat and drink. After a rest here, they are off to continue their migrations to the northern United States and Canada.