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San Bernard
dredging could benefit county
Published June
2, 2008
Friends of the
River San Bernard made a
presentation to the Texas Chapter of
American Shore and Beach
Preservation Association at the LCRA
Nature Center in Matagorda on
Monday, May 19 about dredging the
San Bernard.
They also delivered good news to
Matagorda County about sand source
nourishment on Sargent beach.
When the Army Corps of Engineers
pulled $4.5 million from the funding
of building the locks on the
Colorado River and put it into the
dredging of the mouth of the San
Bernard River, it did not keep
Matagorda County from benefitting
from the funds, said to Roy Edwards,
Friends of the River San Bernard
member.
The sand from the dredging will be
used to nourish the eroding Sargent
beach, Edwards said.
Edwards said the problem began when
the Port of Freeport requested the
Army Corps of Engineers build them a
dead water port in 1929.
“The Corps said you have two choices
— we can either move your town or
move your river,” said Edwards.
“They opted to move the river.”
They moved the mouth of the Brazos
River from 13.5 miles away from the
San Bernard to 3.8 miles from the
mouth of the San Bernard, Edwards
said.
When that happened the Brazos formed
a delta, said Edwards.
“It extended two miles into the Gulf
of Mexico,” he said.
“When the delta was built, it
started bypassing beach quality sand
at the rate of 176,000 cubic yards
per year.”
Edwards said in 1983 the mouth of
the San Bernard was at its original
location and status at 1,000 feet
wide and 8.5 feet deep.
“The little village of River’s End
had 70 plus shrimp boats, bait
camps, bars, restaurants and
everything else,” Edwards explained.
Edwards said everything changed in
1989.
“We started to get this soil hook up
here and shrimpers couldn’t get out
anymore and River’s End no longer
contributes to the economy of
Brazoria County,” Edwards said.
According to Edwards, in 1995 the
river was still at 1,100 feet wide
and 8.5 feet deep but started moving
to the southwest at a rate of 1.2
feet per day.
“In five years, it had moved 6,000
feet to the southwest, had narrowed
down to 200 feet wide and four feet
deep,” Edwards said.
When San Bernard River conditions
became that serious, the Friends
began petitioning their county
commissioners for help and a
resolution of support for dredging
at the suggestion of Jerry Patterson
of the General Land Office.
“I was reading in the newspaper that
Jerry Patterson with the GLO was
doing a beach renourishment project,
so I sat down and wrote a letter to
him saying ‘look, you want to do a
beach renourishment, well I’ve got
sand in the San Bernard River’,”
Edwards said.
“We would like to give this sand to
anybody who will come get it.”
“He wrote me back a letter saying,
‘good idea but get in touch with
your local state and federal
representatives’,” said Edwards.
In 2006, the river picked up speed
and began moving to the southwest at
a rate of 1.6 feet per day, Edwards
said.
“If you look at these pictures of
2006, the river no longer went into
the Gulf of Mexico.” Edwards said.
At that point, a Brazoria County
Commissioner introduced members of
the Friends of the San Bernard to
U.S. Representative Ron Paul.
When the Friends made their case to
Ron Paul, he understood their
problem and told them he would help
get it dredged.
“He said the opening of the mouth of
the San Bernard River is a righteous
project and it will be funded,”
Edwards said.
“It may not be within the time
period that you want but it will be
funded and it will be opened.”
Paul began the ball rolling and was
able to schedule a meeting for the
Friends with the assistant secretary
of the army — head of all civil
works projects.
“We took him to the mouth of the
river put him on a golf cart took
him down on the sand spit and he
walked across the San Bernard River
— which at that time was as wet as
this floor,” Edwards said.
“We made an impression on the man.”
When he returned to Washington last
summer, the assistant secretary of
the army wrote to the Corps of
Engineers in Galveston and directed
them to find a way to fund the San
Bernard River dredge.
“They took $4.5 million from the
re-building of the locks in the
Colorado River and put it towards
the dredging of the mouth of the San
Bernard River,” said Edwards.
“They promised to put that money
back and do that project next year
but this year they are going to do
ours.”
The dredge will start in the
Intracoastal and go down 10 feet at
low tide and 100 feet wide across
the bottom at a 3 to 1 slope making
it 165 feet wide across the top.
Edwards explained that when they hit
beach quality said it will first be
used to renourish their sand spit.
“Because as this sand spit moved
down it wiped out all the dune and
we have nothing to protect us from a
storm surge,” Edwards said.
The remaining sand will fill the
surf line and the long shore current
will bring the sand down to
Matagorda Bay and help rebuild
Sargent beach.
Edwards added that the Army Corps of
Engineers plans to re-dredge every
six to eight years so it will be a
continuing sand source for Sargent
and Matagorda.
According to Matagorda County
commissioner George Deshotels, the
mouth of the Brazos River is the
obstruction that is one of the main
reasons why there is such a high
erosion rate at Sargent.
“The moral of the story is if you
have a project — it’s not just your
project it is the everybody’s
project — it will effect other
people,” Deshotels said.
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