Texas Sea Grant Supports Youth Coastal Restoration through Plan-It Projects Partnership

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A growing regional education initiative is bringing high school students into the heart of coastal conservation. The Plan-It Projects, Plan-It Marsh and Plan-It Dunes, are empowering the next generation of environmental stewards through hands-on learning experiences that support the restoration of degraded marsh and dune habitats across the Gulf Coast.

A Program Rooted in the Gulf Coast

The Plan-It projects began making waves to positively impact degraded Gulf Coast marsh and dune habitat in 2022. Building upon the Plan-It Marsh classroom curriculum, originally developed in 2019-2020, a team of [SH1] extension specialists, including Dr. Stacy Hines in conjunction with faculty and staff at Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center, refreshed and expanded the Plan-It projects. The programs were piloted with environmental science teachers from Mississippi high schools and funded through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf of America (formerly Mexico) Program.

The Plan-It projects paired classroom curriculum with training modules to teach students how to propagate and plant native marsh and dune vegetation. Throughout the year, participating students are responsible for the care and cultivation of the plants, such as cordgrass and sea oats, gaining both technical skills and a personal connection to coastal conservation. The semester culminates in a field-based restoration project where students plant their vegetation at real-world sites to revitalize degraded marsh and dune habitat along the Gulf Coast.

The Plan-It Projects aim to address a critical need. Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, marsh and dune ecosystems are deteriorating due to increasing development, natural disasters, and other environmental stressors. Yet these habitats provide vital ecological and economic benefits. They improve biodiversity, enhance water quality, support fisheries and wildlife, and act as natural buffers, reducing the impacts of flooding, erosion, and storms. Restoration of these systems is essential, and through programs like Plan-It Marsh and Plan-It Dunes, youth are being equipped to take action.

Since 2022, 507 middle and high school students at 10 Mississippi schools gained STEM career knowledge and skills through direct participation in the Plan-It programs or through outreach educational events. 4,460 native plants were propagated to restore 10-acres of degraded marsh and dune habitat, increasing resiliency in 6 coastal communities.

Plan-It Comes to Texas

Plan-It Projects were launched in Texas in 2024 with support from the Gulf of America (formerly Mexico) Alliance. The Texas program is still facilitated by Dr. Hines, now Assistant Professor and Extension Rangeland Habitat Management Specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, with her new team in Corpus Christi, and various partners assisting through education and volunteering. April Taylor, Texas Sea Grant’s Coastal Resilience Specialist based in Corpus Christi, has coordinated and collaborated on educator trainings and student engagement for two years and continues to play a key role in expanding the program throughout the state.

Taylor joined educators from six Texas schools at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Center in Corpus Christi for a Plan-It Projects Teacher Workshop. Hosted by Ashley Cisneros and Dr. Stacy Hines, the training allowed teachers to select between two project tracks: Plan-It Dunes, focusing on coastal dune restoration using native species like Bitter Panicum and Indian Blanket, and Plan-It Marsh, which centers on marsh habitat restoration using plants such as Saltwort, Black Needlerush, Gulf Cordgrass, and Smooth Cordgrass.

Two schools selected Plan-It Dunes, while four chose Plan-It Marsh. Participants agreed to schedule their restoration field trips for February 2025, aligning planting efforts with seasonal conditions that would give native plants the best opportunity to establish and thrive before spring.

During the workshop, teachers toured the on-site greenhouse to observe propagation methods and the native plants their students will grow and care for throughout the school year. The team educated several of the teachers on the propagation of coastal plants. These plants will be planted approximately two feet apart at selected restoration sites, with expectations that they will begin spreading within a year.

Texas’ 2024 Plan-It program saw 271 students at 6 high schools participating. 122.5 volunteer contact hours were earned harvesting and potting 1,336 native marsh and dune plants to use in 2025 restoration trips.

Making the Program Widely Available

[SH2] Texas Sea Grant remains committed to supporting community-based resilience efforts, and the Plan-It Projects are a clear example of the power of youth education in driving long-term ecological restoration. April Taylor, who has collaborated on trainings and educational outreach for Plan-It Projects in Texas since the program’s arrival, will continue to support its growth in collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife and other regional partners.

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About Texas A&M AgriLife

As the largest comprehensive agriculture program nationally, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System. With over 5,000 employees, and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve the quantity and quality of food production to benefit human health and lower health care costs, while increasing profitability for producers and ensuring environmental sustainability.

About Texas Sea Grant

Texas Sea Grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government, the State of Texas and universities across the state to create knowledge, tools, products and services that benefit the economy, the environment and the citizens of Texas. It is administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is one of 34 university-based Sea Grant Programs around the country. Texas Sea Grant is a non-academic research center at Texas A&M University. The program’s mission is to improve the understanding, wise use and stewardship of Texas coastal and marine resources.