East End Lagoon Park and Nature Preserve

The City of Galveston owns 685 acres of land at the east end of Galveston Island in the vicinity of Boddeker Drive and Apffel Park. The City would like to transform that land into a world-class, sustainable, natural recreational park and nature preserve with trails and a manned interpretive center.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas has requested that the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council assist in raising the money necessary to develop the master plan for the Park and Nature Preserve. The potential of the property for enhancing public awareness of Galveston's natural resources and wildlife habitats, weather and tides, and waterborne industry is extraordinary, given its tidal lagoons, wetlands (photo), grasslands, dunes, inter-tidal marshes, sea grass beds, Gulf access (photo), and view of the entrance to the Houston Ship Channel. GINTC is well underway in its efforts to assure that this vision of a nature preserve becomes a reality.

For a map of the land that will be included in the future East End Lagoon Park and Nature Preserve,

"Nature at the Beach" Story Board Project

The Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council has created five educational story boards that will be installed along the island's Seawall Boulevard. The first two boards to be installed (on a very, very chilly and windy day) are conceptually affiliated with the Galveston Bay Foundation's "Drive and Discover" program and partially funded by that organization. One gives a general overview of the Gulf shoreline (see photo) and the other specifically focuses on the beach. They are located at the Fort Crockett Seawall Park, between 45th and 50th Streets. The remaining three boards, which will cover birds, animals with and without backbones, and beach botany, will be installed in spring 2008.