Through the coordinated efforts of more than 75 businesses, private individuals, and government partners, desolate wetlands are coming back to life. The Bahia Grande land tract sprawls over 21,000 acres in southeastern Cameron County, and its revival restores the estuary to what it was seven decades ago-a vital nursery for recreationally and commercially important aquatic species.

Between the 1930s and 1950s, construction of the Brownsville Ship Channel and State Highway 48 gradually cut off the Bahia Grande basin from the marine waters it needed to flourish. As the wetland receded, the arid acreage became vulnerable to erosion. The constant winds picked up salt-encrusted sand, clogging air conditioning systems, causing power outages because of electrical line build-up, and creating an unsightly nuisance in the surrounding community.

Change arrived in the year 2000, when The Conservation Fund, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banded together to buy the property. Scientists studied the area and devised a plan to intentionally flood 10,000 acres. In 2003, they began building greenhouses to propagate native plants, and once the plants grew, workers re-established a coastal estuary lined with 3,000 black mangrove seedlings, valued for its protection and stabilization of low-lying coastal lands. They also planted Gulf cord grass, Salt grass, and other native, wetland species. In 2005, community efforts resulted in digging the first pilot channel to link the ship channel to the dry basin. Within the first few months of flooding Bahia Grande, marine organisms resumed their historic migration patterns.

More than $14.6 million has been spent to date, and the return on this investment can be seen in a landscape that's now a popular site for both nature studies and ecotourism. The Bahia Grande restoration also has offered scientists valuable insights on native-plant propagation. Ultimately, the community will gain benefits from rejuvenated bird watching, sport fishing, and beauty along this formerly barren stretch of the Texas coast.