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For eleven years the Galveston Bay Foundation has worked with almost 5500 volunteers to restore 132 acres of marsh through Marsh Mania events. Recently Yolanda made it out to Clear Creek to talk with Lee Anne Wilde, coordinator for Marsh Mania, to learn more about preserving our Texas wetlands.

Marsh grass is essential to keeping Galveston Bay's eco-system healthy. It serves to protect the shoreline from erosion as well as provide habitat for fish and wildlife. In the case of a storm, it protects communities by breaking up wind and wave energy coming into the shore.

"It also helps sediment drop out of the water, which can actually build land," says Wilde.

The need to replant the marsh has sprung from the historic pumping out of groundwater from underneath Galveston Bay. The pumping has caused certain areas to subside, leaving them an inhospitable environment for the marsh grass to grow.

"This type of grass is really specialized to meet and adapt to the changing condition of the area where the water and the land meet," says Wilde, "It needs to be dry sometimes; it needs to wet sometimes. When it sinks, it stays wet all the time and it drowns."

Solid marsh is important not only to our eco-system, but also to the Texas economy. According to Wilde, 90 percent of the seafood we eat spends some part of its life in a marsh.

The Galveston Bay Foundation hosts Marsh Mania each year, and they're always looking for volunteers.