Coastal Program staff from the Corpus Christi Ecological Service Field Office are finalizing a grant agreement with the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island NWR to control invasive plant species on property adjacent to Aransas NWR.  The agreement will provide $23,500 for the St. Charles & Matagorda Bays Invasive Plant Early Eradication Project.  The importance of the St. Charles Bay area, in Aransas and Calhoun Counties, Texas, is especially significant for it’s designation as critical habitat for the only wild flock of federally-listed, endangered whooping cranes in the world.  Colonization by invasive plants is quickly converting critical habitat tracts into monocultures of invasive plant stands.  Historically in this environment, floral conversion by invasive plants renders habitat unsuitable for whooping crane use.  This project will assist in reclaiming 729 acres through the eradication of invasive plants within the treatment zone.