Activities at Cape May Plant Materials Center (PMC)
The following documents require Adobe
Acrobat.
2007 PMC Activity Report
(360 kb)
NEW
2006
PMC Activity Report (728 kb)
Cape May
Plant Materials Center Newsletter FY 2007, Quarter 1 (333 kb)
Cape
May Plant Materials Center Newsletter FY 2006, Quarter 1 (319 kb)
Cape May Plant Materials Center is assisting with restoration at
Wanchese Harbor. The following article and photos appeared in the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers June 2007 newsletter. The entire newsletter is available
as a PDF file
Wilmington District
News Online, June 2007 (2MB)
Through Trial and Error, Wanchese Harbor Project Off to a Good Start
Biology and Engineering Working in Tandem
It’s
only 10 acres in size, but it’s making a huge mark in ecosystem restoration in
North Carolina.
Coastal wetlands that used to exist helped protect the entrance at Wanchese
Harbor from erosion, had whittled down over the years to a thin strip of
vegetation that was incapable of stopping further erosion. In addition, it
ceased being a sanctuary for small creatures. It threatened not only the harbor
entrance that leads fishermen to open ocean, but the North Carolina Seafood
Industrial Park as well. Then the Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Interagency
Work Group stepped in to offer a solution; a project that would give Wilmington
District biologists and engineers an opportunity to use dredged material from a
nearby navigation channel to restore the estuarine habitat and protect the
remaining marsh.
“The Wanchese Harbor is an important harbor area,” said Wilmington District
Marine Biologist Chuck Wilson. “We used dredged material from the navigation
channel to try and stop erosion and bring back the ecological balance that was
once there.”
So
far, Wilson said the project is working. Plants are thriving, and a variety of
waterfowl are beginning to investigate the man-made area. However, the initial
stages of the project were a guessing game of trying to build an ecosystem from
scratch. Through adaptive management the team found an excellent formula that
worked.
![comparing root systems of plants](images/PMC/CU_%20Plants_%20in_Hands_small.jpg) |
![PMC Plant Manager Bill Skaradek at Wanchese](images/PMC/Wanchese%20BandW_small.jpg) |
![high tide at site](images/PMC/Chuck-Hilliard_small.jpg) |
![Samples of planted marsh grasses displayed](images/PMC/WanchesePlants_small.jpg) |
Part of recreating a wetlands area is knowing plant
survivability. The live plant on the right has a more developed root
system.
Chuck Wilson photo |
Bill Skaradek from the US Department of Agriculture
examines test plots of US Government grown plants at the Wanchese Harbor
restoration site.
Chuck Wilson photo |
Wilson and MAJ Hilliard inspect the contours of the
site at normal high tide.
Bill Dennis photo |
Skaradek shows Chuck Wilson (left) and Project
Manager MAJ Rob Hilliard samples of recently planted marsh grasses that
are thriving at the site.
Bill Dennis photo |
Bill
Dennis helped design the Wanchese Harbor Project. “The most difficult thing we
had to work with was the different sediments that eventually got into the
basin,” he said. “There was a whole range of coarse sands, silt, and clay, quite
a mixture. To come up with a way to contour the area to meet specific elevation
requirements with all of that mix was difficult. There was a lot of
‘guesstimation’ as well. So it took some effort on the construction side because
we needed something stable that we could smooth into the contours.”
From an engineering standpoint Dennis said the key was to establish and
maintain the right elevation so plants would take root and be able to exist in
the fluctuating tide as nature had intended. From the biological side, Wilson
said a combination of hard science, intuition and applying what they had learned
from restoring shoreline marsh at Festival Park gave them insight into how the
plants would probably grow with the unpredictable fluctuation of the tide. The
thriving growth of the recently planted marsh grasses was a good indicator of
the overall health of the emerging ecosystem, and it also was a good sign that
the elevations grade and planting operations were correct.
“The marsh grasses are growing well, and we have about 90 percent survival of
plants. Ducks and geese are already using the new marsh which is a good sign of
it being a potential wildlife habitat. We just hope they don’t graze too much.”
Wilson said the majority of those plants were provided by a planting
contractor. However, a portion came from the Cape May Plant Material Center in
New Jersey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-run facility. He said the plants
grown in New Jersey were used in conjunction with a contractor’s plants to
establish test plots for quality control.
“If there was any catastrophic plant mortality, the test plots could help us
determine if it was a problem with the plants or the site conditions. If the
contractor’s plants died, but the government plants lived, it would indicate
that it was a problem with the plants and not a problem with the design.”
Wilson added that Bill Skaradek of the Cape May facility will use test plots
to look at the performance or different nursery-grown plant containers in these
tough growing conditions. One benefit that is already noticeable is that plants
with deeper roots may prevent geese from pulling the plants up, minimizing
damage.
The success of the Wanchese Harbor Project is a good example of how
engineering and biology work together for ecosystem restoration. For Dennis and
Wilson it was an opportunity to somewhat cross train to get a better idea of how
all the pieces of the project were put together.
“It’s definitely a team effort,” stated Dennis. “We learned a lot from each
other. I learned what plant species grew there, and Chuck is learning the
engineering side of using riprap; how high to stack them and where to place
them.”
The big picture is that this 10-acre USACE project is one small part of an
overall plan by various state agencies and private organizations to help protect
and preserve North Carolina’s coastal ecosystems. The overall goal, Wilson said,
is to help restore the Albemarle/Pamlico Sound National Estuary.
“The State of North Carolina Division of Marine Resources, the Coastal
Federation and the Nature Conservancy are building oyster reefs and similar
projects in the estuary. All our joint work is a step in the right direction for
the state. The Wilmington District has had a lot of experience in coastal
restoration. Our oldest project which has been very successful is the Morehead
Army Reserve Center, now 12 years old. It’s considered a successful site, as
well as Island 13 and Festival Park. The Wilmington District has been fortunate
to receive national recognition on all of these sites.”
What motivates Wilson is a simple love of biology and unlocking of various
doors that only Mother Nature could open. He’s passionate about his work, and he
feels that teamwork motivates others to do excellent work.
“I love what I do. When we’re building these habitats that are functioning
it’s a great legacy to be able to leave behind, a place that you can go to.
We’re building them from ground up. It’s interesting taking what used to be
barren piles of sand and turning them into what are now thriving primary nursery
areas. I think we’re making a real contribution to the local environment and to
science because pilot projects like Wanchese Harbor are good examples for others
to observe.”
Cape May Plant Materials Center Celebrates 40 Years of Conservation Success
for New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic Region
September
2005 - “The Cape May Plant Materials Center has been instrumental in helping
protect our coastal resources, saving lives and property for the past 40 years,”
Doug Zehner, Acting New Jersey State Conservationist for USDA, Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS), said Thursday. Zehner told about 90 guests who were
invited to the Center to celebrate its forty years of service to the region,
“The 88th Congress authorized our agency to establish the Cape May Plant
Materials Center after a Nor’easter, known as the ‘Storm of 1962,’ caused severe
damage from Long Island to the Carolina coast. The Center’s mission was to
develop plant products and technology to enhance shoreline stabilization in
coastal areas vulnerable to damage from hurricanes and tropical storms.”
Bob Escheman, National Program Leader for the NRCS Plant Materials Program,
explained that the Cape May Plant Materials Center (PMC) is one of twenty-six
plant materials centers operated by NRCS throughout the country to develop plant
solutions for natural resource conservation issues. “The Cape May PMC has been a
leader in the development of conservation plants for both coastal and upland
ecosystems providing habitat for wildlife and people,” he said. The Cape May
facility provides conservation services for East coast which includes
significant portions North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey,
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
From left to right: Bob Escheman, NRCS Plant Materials Director,
Jennifer Sneed, representing Senator Frank Lautenberg, Chris Miller,
Plant Materials Specialist, Barbara Douglas, Biological Science Aid,
Betty Marshall, Biological Science Aid, Bill Skaradek, Plant Materials
Manager, Noel Murray, Biological Technician and Carl Granieri,
representing Congressman Frank LoBiondo (right), participated in the
40th Anniversary Celebration at the Cape May Plant Materials Center. Not
in photo: James Futrell, Farm Foreman.
Former PMC employees
joined the celebration.
![Don Hamer](images/PMC/DonHamer_small.jpg) |
![John Dickerson and Dave Lorenz with Noel Murray](images/PMC/Dickerson-Murray-Lorenz_small.jpg) |
Don Hamer gives
his attention to tour guide. |
John Dickerson
and Dave Lorenz
visit with PMC
technician Noel Murray. |
< Back to plants
Last Modified:
March 09, 2009
|