Four Corner - Texas Water Development Board

2.3.5 SUMMARY
A thorough wetland determination and/or delineation should be conducted on any
parcels of property identified for the purpose of constructing water or wastewater
facilities. Even areas identified as uplands or primarily uplands in this preliminary
wetlands investigation should be evaluated for potential wetland areas once
potential facility locations have been identified.
This preliminary wetlands investigation was performed by Earth Tech m
accordance with generally accepted practices as set forth in the Corps of
Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual (Technical Report Y-87-1). Earth Tech
observed the same degree of care and skill generally exercised by wetland
professionals under similar circumstances. The conclusions are based on our
professional judgement regarding the significance of the information gathered
during the course of this study. Specifically, Earth Tech does not and cannot
represent that all or any portion of the study area is in fact jurisdictional waters of
the United States, including wetlands, under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act
inasmuch as such legal determinations can only be made by authorized staff
members of the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers.
2.3. DESCRIPTION OF AREA'S POTENTIAL HISTORIC SITES
2.3.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The wide variety of native floral and faunal resources supported an indigenous
population in Fort Bend County. When Cabeza de Vaca, a survivor of the
Narvaez expedition to colonize southern Florida, was shipwrecked in 1528 on
what has often been identified as Galveston Island (probably Oyster Bay
Peninsula), he was met by the native Americans of the area (Krieger, 1959). This
group of Native Americans was part of the Karankawa group that was probably
made up to at least five tribes (Aten. 1983). There were three other related native
groups on the upper Texas coast at that time; the Akokisa who occupied the
Four Corners Area Water and Wastewater Facilities Planning Study
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FINAL REPORT