Establishment of operational guidelines for Texas coastal zone management. Resource capability units II: Land resources of the Coastal Bend region, Texas. Final report.

Establishment of operational guidelines for effective management of the Texas Coastal Zone depends on comprehensive knowledge of the characteristics and distribution of natural and man-made environments. Forty-three land and water areas, each with like capabilities to withstand similar kinds and rates of use or activity without losing an acceptable level of environmental quality, have been delineated in the region encompassed by the Coastal Bend Council of Governments. Qualitative data on land and water capability derived from mapping surface and near surface environments in the 13 counties of the COG have been augmented by: (1) documenting the kinds, rates, and impetus of changes in dynamic shorline environments; (2) relating to physically defined land capability units of four of the counties; and (3) determining the distribution, amount, and quality of ground water available in the Coastal Bend region, and areas most favorable for future development of ground water resources. Additional information has been gathered on subsurface configuration of natural capability units and mineral resources in the region. This body of environmental data provided a basis for developing operational criteria against which the consequences of man's activities, future economic demographic growth, and the effects of potential management policies were measured. Procedures used to evaluate the consequences of growth in the Corpus Christi area and the effects of implementing three land management policies in the Coastal Zone are discussed in a companion report: Environmental impact of Economic and Demographic Expansion in the Corpus Christi Area -- Methodology.