Bayou Auguste Tidal Marsh & Greenway Restoration

Bayou Auguste is a tidal creek in urban Biloxi, Mississippi. Over time, this meandering bayou had been transformed into a channelized stream with development that had encroached from north and south. The bayou is now located within a housing development of the Biloxi Housing Authority who were interested in improving both the function and aesthetics of the bayou.

Cypress worked with the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain to incrementally plan, design, engineer and execute four projects along Bayou Auguste to restore an urban tidal stream, construct living shoreline and create floodplain marshes from filled areas converted to uplands.

This project removed fill material while restoring grade and contours of native marsh habitat. A reference site was fully characterized during phase 1 and 2 to establish appropriate local species, zonation, and elevations for design precedent and project success metric development in the same basin as the project site.

Phase 3 of this project involved cleanup of construction materials, riprap, soils and nuisance dumping refuse from a section near the mouth of the bayou. After removal of material, new marsh-friendly soil was placed in the now-subsided original floodplain to recreate lost fringe marsh habitat. All disturbed areas were stabilized with bioengineered erosion matting to preserve water quality and stabilize planted marsh grasses. 

Cypress developed the conceptual plan, construction specifications, permitted the project, and completed construction oversight of earthwork and planting.

Phase 4 involved extensive floodplain restoration and bank reshaping, along with a new community of native upland plants installed on the nonwetland park portion of the site. Phase 4 had an extended project timeline due to the grant funding process and personnel changes with the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. This project received an EPA Gulf of Mexico Gulf Guardian award in 2015. Monitoring reports for previous phases received praise for thoroughness and clarity from NOAA, the Land Trust and Fish America Foundation.