Sea Rim

INTERPRETIVE GUIDE SEA RIM STATE PARK SEA RIM STATE PARK FEATURES 4,000 ACRES OF MARSHLAND AND 5.2 MILES OF GULF SHORELINE. THE UNIQUE HABITAT INCLUDES BEACH MORNING GLORY, SNOWY EGRETS, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS, DUCKS, ALLIGATORS, BLUE CRABS, While Sea Rim State Park provides plenty of recreational activities—paddling, fishing, birding—it is also a nature preserve. Plant and animal communities depend upon you to protect them. You can do so by walking on the beach or designated footpaths, but not on the dunes. Please follow park rules and keep yourself safe, too. Be sure to let someone know where you will be and when you plan to return. Please be aware that paddlers usually hear the motorboats that frequent the marshes before their operators see or hear a kayak or canoe. All trash should be removed before you leave, but please leave all plants, animals, and artifacts you see untouched. The park offers programs and special events. Call park headquarters for more information. SPECKLED TROUT, RED DRUM AND FLOUNDER. ENJOY CAMPING ON THE BEACH, FISHING, HORSEBACK RIDING, STROLLING THE BOARDWALKS AND PADDLING MORE THAN Sea Rim State Park 19335 South Gulfway Drive Sabine Pass, Texas 77655 (409) 971-2559 www.tpwd.texas.gov/searim 10 MILES OF MARSH TRAILS. FAR AWAY FROM THE CARES OF URBAN LIFE, DISCOVER A SEASIDE REFUGE BURSTING WITH LIFE. © 2022 TPWD. PWD BR P4504-0055K (7/22) TPWD receives funds from the USFWS. TPWD prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, and gender, pursuant to state and federal law. To request an accommodation or obtain information in an alternative format, please contact TPWD on a Text Telephone (TTY) at (512) 389-8915 or by Relay Texas at 7-1-1 or (800) 735-2989 or by email at accessibility@tpwd.texas.gov. If you believe you have been discriminated against by TPWD, please contact TPWD, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office for Diversity and Workforce Management, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. This publication can be found at tpwd.texas.gov/park-pubs S E A R I M S T A T E P A R K NATURE SHAPES HISTORY BEACH AND DUNES N diverse array of interconnected life. MARSHES ative people occupied what is now the park beginning over 12,000 years ago. At first, they lived on land now under the sea. When the mouth of the Mississippi River moved eastward about 2,500 years ago and water covered the Sabine Bank barrier island, these early residents moved away. Atakapa people occupied this area from around the year 17 C.E. through the 18th century when Spain succeeded in banishing the French and controlling lands that became part of Texas. Along the beach, you encounter clams, mole crabs, ghost shrimp, gulls, plovers, willets and other sea and shore birds. Sargassum, a type of algae that washes onshore from April to August, is a lynchpin for life on the beach and dunes. It feeds and provides homes for fish and invertebrates while in the water. After it washes onto the beach, it feeds larger animals and enables dune formation both by preventing erosion and by nourishing the growth of dune plants including bitter panicum, marsh hay cordgrass, and Virginia dropseed. A maze of marsh plants intermixed with water extends inland from the dunes, a home that is both land and water. Because Sea Rim’s brackish and intermediate waters have less salt than salt marshes, they support a great variety of marsh plants. The root systems of these plants help build and stabilize marsh soil and the plants also provide food for many of the waterfowl home to the marshes. These waters act as both home and nursery for game fish and shellfish whose larvae migrate from the sea into the marshes. Mammals, including raccoons, otters, coyotes, and mink also lurk in the marshland. You may even see an American alligator hunting these waters. Ranchers ran cattle here between 1870 and the 1950s, but the land proved unsuitable for permanent buildings or extensive development. Then in 1972, the State of Texas purchased the land from the Horizon Sales Corporation and the Planet Oil and Mineral Corporation and opened it as a state park in 1977. Hurricane Rita smashed Sea Rim State Park in 2005, forcing it to close. Then Hurricane Ike added more damage in 2008. But with the strong support of the community, the park recovered and now offers more things to see and do than ever before. Sea Rim gets its name from the point where the marshes meet the sea. Between the sea and the marshes lie the beach and dunes, two habitats that each support a The beach offers unparalleled opportunities to catch game fish, including spotted sea trout and red drum. You can camp on the beach while admiring the night sky and being lulled to sleep by the surf. The beach side of the park also affords horseback riding, swimming, paddling, birding, and many other wildlife viewing opportunities, including observation from the marsh and dune boardwalks. The marshes abound with paddling, birding, and fishing opportunities. In the park’s marsh unit, at the boat launch, an air-conditioned cabin offers creature comforts right where your next day’s adventure begins. 1735 drawing of an Atakapa man. Alexandre de Batz.