The following note was
received after presenting a public lecture titled
Ike wiped entire towns off of the
map. Are we safer in Port Aransas?
The auditorium was standing room
only.
Greetings:
It is a pleasure for me to introduce you to Dr. Richard L. Watson of
Texas Coast Geology. There are many geologists in Texas; most of them
associated with our abundant oil and gas reserves. But surprisingly,
there are few who specialize in coastal dynamics – Watson is
one
of those few and he has unsurpassed expertise in the toughest sort of
geology there is – understanding the fast-moving and
ever-changing nature of the Texas Coast. Even fewer still are the
practicing geologists with active licensure as a ship captain and an
aircraft pilot. Again, Watson fits that bill.
I first had the privilege of working with Richard Watson during the
early stages of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Impact
Study on the Packery Channel reopening project in the 1990’s.
Using remote sensing and aircraft overflights, we documented
newly-created washover fans resulting from Hurricane Brett. These are
the same sort of geologic structures which created the real estate at
the Padre Isles subdivision and Harbor Island located at the natural
openings of Corpus Christi Bay into the Gulf of Mexico. Since that
time, my students have worked with Watson on documenting and monitoring
prop scarring in seagrass beds, sediment transport along coastal
margins, and the regular progress of maintenance dredging all along the
lower Texas coast.
As an independent consulting geologist, Watson brings over 30 years of
expertise and a wealth of long-term connections to every task. He has
been a friend and mentor to higher education in Texas and is an
outspoken advocate of geological and scientific professionalism.
Needless to say, it is a pleasure to work with him on any task large or
small.
Grady Price Blount,
Professor of Geology and Environmental Science
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
The
following letter was received after
presenting a talk at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.
The talk was titled Protect
the Natural Dune Seawall: Our First Line of Defense Against Hurricanes