Defining and Mapping Foredunes, the Line of Vegetation, and Shorelines along the Texas Gulf Coast

Gibeaut, James; Caudle, Tiffany

It is well know that wide, high, and well-vegetated foredunes are aesthetically pleasing, an important habitat within the beach/dune system, protect landward areas from storm damage, and are a source of sand to speed beach recovery after a storm. Gibeaut et al. (2002) showed that along the upper Texas coast washover and damage to beach-front construction from tropical storms with surges up to 1.5-m high does not occur where the foredunes are at least 3-m high or 30 m wide. They also showed, however, that much of the developed areas along Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula did not have this level of protection and suffered episodic damage from Tropical Storms Josephine and Frances in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Protection of natural foredunes and their enhancement is an excellent way to decrease the susceptibility of the shoreline to storm damage while improving the beach/dune environment. This project provided data and information to better understand the protective role of foredunes and to help protect them from destructive practices. The focus of this report is the development of the criteria used for defining the landward and seaward boundaries of the foredune, defining the landward boundary of the public beach easement (line of vegetation), and defining the shoreline for shoreline change analysis. We make recommendations on how to map these lines and on strategies for developing construction setback distances.

Defining and Mapping Foredunes, the Line of Vegetation, and Shorelines along the Texas Gulf Coast

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