Restoration of Oyster Reefs According to the International Guidelines, coral and shellfish reefs can act as the first line of defense against flooding, storm damage, and ero - sion in coastal areas. Reefs do this by buffering wave energy. Reefs also provide additional benefits, including fisheries production, habitat and biodiversity, recreation, and tourism and revenue. Unfortunately, in the Hudson Raritan Estuary, oyster populations are practically extinct. Up until the late 1800s, the bottom of the estuary was blanketed with oysters. The eastern oyster populated 200,000 acres of the estuary and today it’s considered ecologically extinct, primarily caused by water pollution, dredging, poor land management, and overharvesting. The Army Corps in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the NY/NJ Baykeeper is aiming to bring the oyster back with the Oyster Restoration at Naval Weapons Station Earle Project in New Jersey. The Naval Weapons Station Earle is a secluded Naval location on the coast of New Jersey, on the Raritan Bay. The plan is to expand a .25-acre oyster reef constructed by the NY/NJ Baykeeper to create a 10-acre oyster reef habitat under the station’s 2.9-mile pier that is close to the land and away from naval ship activity. Stacey MacEwan, project manager, New Jersey Department of En- vironmental Protection, Office of Natural Resource Restoration said, “Oysters bring a range of benefits to the estuary. Oysters improve water quality through filtration processes, but the reef itself provides a vertical structure that supports a diverse community of fish and in - vertebrate species, and the reef structure can also help to protect the shoreline from erosion. This type of project can provide large-scale benefits in a relatively small footprint.” Meredith Comi, coastal restoration program director with the NY/NJ Baykeeper agreed, “Knowing that protecting our shorelines is leading to an increase in species diversity is very cool and is even more of a reason to use natural and nature-based features in resilience projects.” Bridges may have felt a pang of sadness when the tourist he encountered in the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge expressed that the survival of our natural resources is fleeting. But there is also hope that many of these natural resources will continue to thrive for future generations, especially with the increased use of natural and nature-based engineer- ing features. Terchunian is optimistic, “Natural features provide mul- tiple benefits, including flood and erosion protection, habitat creation, open space, and recreation. These benefits accrue to multiple segments of society from naturalists to property owners and the average citizen. Building natural beaches and dunes will ensure that there is room on the beach for everyone.”
In fact, according to a report released by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, the Army Corps restoration of a Jamaica Bay marsh island in 2011 likely mitigated storm surge during Hurricane Sandy the following year and helped to protect the com - munity. The Cross Bay Bridge – which is near this island – was not damaged due to Sandy and was only temporarily closed. In contrast, bridges east of this structure suffered substantial damage and were closed until the following year. Stakeholders attribute the bridge’s survival to the nearby restored marsh island. The Army Corps in collaboration with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection plans to restore five additional marsh is - lands as part of the Hudson Raritan Estuary Restoration Program and is currently advancing one of these marsh islands that sits in the heart of the bay– Stony Creek Marsh Island. Sixty-two acres of the island will be restored. To perform this work, approximately 150,000 cubic yards of sand will be beneficially used from the dredging of the Jamaica Bay Federal Navigation Channel or nearby Ambrose Channel and placed on the island. The material will be graded and contoured to appropriate elevations suitable for a marsh and then planted with native vegetation. When completed, the island will have 26 acres of low marsh, 22.5 acres of high marsh, 3.5 acres of scrub-shrub wetland, 8.7 acres of shallow marine habitat, and 1.4 acres of tidal channels or narrow inlets. This will create a healthy marsh island within one of the most biodi- verse regions in the Northeastern United States. Jamaica Bay provides critical spawning and nursery habitat for more than 80 migratory and estuarine fish species, as well as terrapins and four species of endan - gered or threated turtles. In addition, 300 bird species – or 20 percent of the Nation’s birds - call the bay their home and visit it every year as a stopover point along the Atlantic Flyway migration route to their breeding grounds. They include many species of sparrows, warblers, thrashers, crows, herons, and urban birds. Many of the species are listed as threatened and en- dangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, including the threatened piping plover and red knot. NY/NJ Baykeeper divers in the Raritan Bay being handed an oyster castle, a concrete block, that will be stacked to make a pyramid to provide habitat structure for the oyster reef and other marine life. Photo: NY/NJ Baykeeper.
DR. JOANNE CASTAGNA is a public affairs specialist and writer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. She can be reached at joanne.castagna@usace.army.mil.
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April 2023 csengineermag.com
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