Restoring bird habitats while sustaining ours
By JoAnne Castagna, Ed.D.
This past spring, Dr. Lenore Tedesco was looking out her window at The Wetlands Institute that sits in the middle of vast marshland in Cape May County, New Jersey. Outside, heavy rain and flooding tides associated with the Mother’s Day Nor’easter, were thoroughly soaking the marsh, a low-lying wet- land with grassy vegetation that is usually present in areas of transition between land and water. To her dismay, she saw birds and their chicks being flooded out of their marsh homes. Some of the birds escaped to roads and some were struck by cars. What pleased Tedesco, who is the executive director of The Wetlands Institute, was that some birds found refuge in the high grounds of several marsh islands that were recently restored with dredged sand and mud. These dredging and beneficial use projects are the result of a col - laboration between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division, and other agencies and organizations. The projects involve dredging critical navigation channels and using the sediment to restore vanishing bird habitats while also enhancing resilience for coastal communities. Beneficially using sand and mud is of increasing importance to US - ACE. “One of the Army Corps’ primary missions is to dredge federal navigational waterways to ensure easy passage by vessels,” said Rena Weichenberg, environmental team lead of the planning and policy divi- sion, North Atlantic Division. “Sand and mud sediment removed from the bottom of the waterways was often historically placed in permitted ocean disposal sites or confined disposal facilities. There has been a welcomed evolution towards USACE retaining sediment in the system, and beneficially using it to both protect people and to protect, restore, and create aquatic and related habitats.” Following are two USACE projects taking advantage of dredged mate- rial within the North Atlantic Division. Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab, Cape May, New Jersey USACE Philadelphia District In 2019, the USACE Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Engineer Re - search and Development Center, The Wetlands Institute, and the State of New Jersey partnered to form the Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab in Cape May County. The lab is based on a concept pioneered by the Dutch who use a “living lab for mud” to test and demonstrate environmental and social benefits. The goals of the initiative are multi-faceted – advance and improve
dredging and marsh restoration techniques in coastal New Jersey through innovative research, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and practical application. Tedesco said, “The lab was created to act as a think tank to advance dredging and marsh restoration techniques. We put together a host of projects where we can test how we can beneficially use dredged mate - rial to create resiliency for both our ecosystems and our communities.” Seven Mile Island, New Jersey, has proven an ideal site for the lab due to the presence of existing and historic dredged material place - ment sites, federal and state channels including the New Jersey In- tracoastal Waterway, extensive tidal marshes, and a mixture of sandy and muddy sediments. The Wetlands Institute facility located adjacent to the marsh has served as a meeting space for partners and provides an ideal place to observe the successes of projects. The lab is surrounded by 15,000 acres of marshland, providing a habitat for birds, fish, shellfish, and other wildlife. Marshes help to maintain water quality by removing nitrogen and phosphates and act as a buffer from flooding for coastal communities during destructive and powerful storms. According to Tedesco, one study done by Lloyd’s of London showed marshes play a critical role in reducing damage to infrastructure from coastal storms. These industry models showed during Hurricane Sandy marshes prevented $625 million in direct flood damages across 12 states. In New Jersey, coastal marshes reduced property damages by more than 20 percent. Unfortunately, marshes are at risk of decline due in large part to sea level rise, putting coastal communities at risk. Rising waters are also harming ecosystems. Tedesco said, “Marsh grasses grow well over a very narrow range of water depth. During times of naturally slow rising The Dredge Fullerton, owned and operated by Barnegat Bay Dredging Company, conducts dredging in the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway near Stone Harbor, N.J. The sediment was placed to create habitat on marshland owned by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife. Photo: Gary Paul.
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October 2022 csengineermag.com
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