Celebrating Go Texan Day: A Look at Hollaway's Work Across the State

With our company’s headquarters located in Houston since 1994, Hollaway’s environmental team is completely at home on the Texas Gulf coast. Our work has taken us from Orange County near the Texas-Louisiana border, all the way south to Cameron County near the U.S.-Mexico border!

Largely within the ecological region known as the Western Gulf Coastal Plain, the Gulf Prairies and Marshes region is described by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department as “a narrow band about 60 miles wide along the Texas coast from the Louisiana border to Brownsville . . . characterized by long and continual confrontations with the sea, wind and rain.” Shallow bays, estuaries, salt marshes, dunes and tidal flats are common within this area.

In recent years, climate change and its effects have brought increased attention and action related to coastal resiliency in Texas and beyond. In the Upper Texas Coast region, Hollaway is currently providing environmental and public engagement support for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Program (S2G). Following major coastal storm surge events in recent years (e.g., Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008), this program aims to initiate projects that reduce the risk of storm surge impacts in Orange, Jefferson, and Brazoria Counties, Texas.

Environmental Scientist, Kasey Clarke, prepares for a winter airboat ride to help characterize coastal marsh habitats and evaluate site access for future environmental studies within one S2G study area.

Further south, along the coast in Chambers County, Hollaway helped a client meet their Clean Water Act obligations related to construction and dredging required for a new commercial loading/unloading dock. Hollaway prepared a Permittee-Responsible Mitigation plan addressing oyster reef impacts in accordance with 33 Code of Federal Register (CFR) 332.4(c) and 40 CFR 2203.92(c). Our team also implemented the plan, which involved constructing a new oyster reef adjacent to an existing reef and relocating oyster shells from a proposed dredge area to a newly constructed mitigation site.

A team of four Hollaway biologists moved 0.08 acre of oyster shells by hand in five-gallon buckets to a newly constructed mitigation site. This was hard work, but we loved every minute of it!

Our next project takes us near the southern tip of the Texas Gulf Coast in South Padre Island, where our environmental team supported our client by conducting a subaquatic vegetation survey as part of a new residential development on the Lower Laguna Madre. During inter-agency review of a Clean Water Act Individual Permit, several state agencies requested the completion of a detailed seagrass survey. Hollaway was pleased to support our client and offer our expertise in this area.

Turtle grass and shoal grasses were observed and delineated by our environmental team.

This South Padre Island project also provided an opportunity for our Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 Certified Remote Drone Pilot to capture real-time aerial images, which were instrumental in verifying the presence and locations of seagrass beds throughout the proposed development area.

An aerial image of the proposed development area in South Padre Island captured via drone by Hollaway’s FAA-licensed drone pilot.

No matter where our work and clients take us, the Hollaway team looks forward to providing environmental expertise on important projects and helping to conserve Texas’ natural resources while taking in the unique beauty of this great state!