Documentation of Successful Reclamation of a Gas Pipeline Right-of-Way in a Gulf Coast Barrier Island Ecosystem. Topical Report April 1980-April 1986

摘要

The study evaluates the revegetation of a 30-m-wide gas pipeline right-of-way (ROW) across Padre Island, Texas, a Gulf Coast barrier island. The ROW study site includes about three-fourths of the width of the island and is within the Padre Island National Seashore. Right-of-way construction activities were completed in 1979 and included breaching of the foredunes, grading, trenching, pipeline installation, and leveling -- which effectively removed all existing vegetation from the ROW. Following construction, the foredunes were rebuilt, fertilized, and sprigged with bitter panicum (Panicum amarum), a native dune grass. The remainder of the ROW inland from the foredunes was allowed to revegetate naturally. At four study plots, vegetative cover by species was measured on paired permanent transects on the ROW and in the adjacent undisturbed vegetation in 1980, 1981, and 1984.