Return to the Main Page Evangeline Whorton, of Scenic Galveston, Inc., a nonprofit conservation organization, has worked tirelessly for the last six years as an unpaid volunteer to make the I-45 Scenic Corridor Project in lower Galveston Bay a reality. This estuarine wetland acquisition and restoration project is located along Interstate-45 on its approach to Galveston Island in Texas. Through past commercial development and neglect, much of the estuarine habitat along this corridor has been degraded or lost. The purpose of the I-45 Project is to purchase and restore these lands and create a scenic natural conservation corridor. The wetlands will be placed in a public trust and permanently protected. Ms. Wharton has obtained more than $1.2 million in private and public funds to initiate the project and, to date, Scenic Galveston has purchased 831 acres of wetlands. One major restoration currently underway is to convert 56 acres of destroyed wetland back into productive estuarine marsh. This is possible due to NOAA Natural Resource Damage Assessment restoration developed as partial settlement from the Galveston Bay Apex Barge Oil Spill. NOAA's Fisheries Service was active in this case as the NOAA trustee, and in advocating estuarine habitat restoration for the benefit of fisheries. The Interstate-45 Scenic Corridor promises to be a oasis for waterfowl, fish, and other wetland animals along the rapidly developing Texas coast. Joseph M. Branceleone Mark Twain told us, "It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them." It is best to have the honors you deserve, and Branceleone certainly qualifies for this one. In New England, a 300-year history of commercial fishing informs the thoughts, motivations, and actions of all involved in managing these natural resources. A third- generation Gloucester fisherman, turned shoreside businessman and fishery management professional, Branceleone has served as chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council during the fishing industry's most trying modern times. It is a time when the famed Walt Kelly maxim, "We have met the enemy, and he is us," resonates as description of the glorious lost past, the uncertain present, and the promising future of commercial fishing in the region. If only. If only we can turn that enemy to an ally—if only Joe Branceleone's model of firmness, quiet persuasion, and persistence can attract others with talent into the fray. As Joe serves his last term, Georges Bank is not being overfished for the first time in 30 years, scallopers look forward to a smoothing of the boom-and-bust of the past decades, and everywhere, fishermen are turning to the council process as never before to set a course for the difficult path ahead. In his own words, Joe describes himself as "one of those who believed that fishermen should be allowed to conduct their business without government intervention." During his lifetime, he's seen wooden boats turn to steel, a skipper's fish-sense improved with computers and satellites, and a moontide of fish turned to a trickle. During his time with the council, he's become an advocate not for the past, but for the future of the fisheries, bringing fishermen and their families along with him. "I am doing my utmost," he has said, "to ensure that everything possible is being done to rebuild the precious stocks of cod, haddock, and yellowtail, while at the same time trying to minimize the impacts to the industry which is already surviving marginally, I must admit the latter is the most difficult." Branceleone has been at the forefront, and often the face, of the tough, contentious, and very public decision making that has occurred in New England. This has demanded not only perseverence, but personal courage not often required of a citizen in a public process; the courage not just to make the decision, but to live with it afterward.