Corps: Environmental restoration is possible  

Eighth grader Ebony Howard learns about starfish that live in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary from Ronald Pinzon, project biologist, New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Photo by JoAnne Castagna)

Workers planting native wetland plants on the Joseph P. Medwick restoration site in Rahway, N.J. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Sunset on Elders East, Jamaica Bay. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Mar. 28, 2008

By JoAnne Castagna, Ed.D.
New York District

Eighth grader Ebony Howard of Elizabeth, N.J., stands on a pier and carefully lifts a starfish from a water-filled glass aquarium as her giggling classmates surround her.  She shrieks as one of its arms breaks off.
  
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologist quickly assures her that it will grow back, and regenerate, and that it will be okay. 
 
The students were taking part in the fourth annual Earth Day Celebration sponsored by the Corps and other agencies, held on the Elizabeth Marina City Dock, in April 2007.
 
Howard and several other students learned what can also be restored is the nearby Hudson-Raritan Estuary, the starfish's home - by keeping it pollution free.
 
It was on a sunny, breezy day, when more than 200 New Jersey high school students gathered on the dock which overlooks the estuary. 
 
Corps experts told the students that an estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.
 
Students were taught by various Earth Day volunteers about the effects of pollution on their environment.  The students were educated through a variety of interactive educational stations manned by scientific and educational experts.  Featured were glass water-filled touch tanks containing estuary marine life and interactive pollution and water quality testing demonstrations.  The students also boarded a U.S. Coast Guard vessel for a tour and boarded the Corps' vessel Hocking as it traveled near the estuary.
 
Aboard the Hocking, Corps experts discussed the estuary's rich history, current condition and the Corps' ongoing port activities and environmental restoration projects ongoing in the estuary.  
 
The estuary is 16,212 square miles and is one of the most populated with 20 million people residing in the region.  It surrounds the Port of New York and New Jersey. For more than 200 years, the New York District has managed the port's navigation, development and maintenance. 
 
Over the decades, the salt marshes along the shores of navigation channels have experienced some degradation and habitat loss due to a number of factors including years of commercial construction and development along the shore and increased boat traffic.
 
The Corps' environmental restoration program is helping to bring these areas back to life.
 
Maintaining the health of the estuary is important because salt marshes clean the water environment, reduce flood risks and provide essential fish and wildlife habitats.  Salt Marshes are areas of land that are either covered by shallow water or containing waterlogged soil.
 
In 2006, the New York District in cooperation with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and state and local agencies successfully completed four salt marsh restoration projects in the estuary that are preserving and restoring more than 143 acres of salt marsh.

Salt Marsh Successes

Elders Island, Jamaica Bay, N.Y.
 
Located in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens is the Jamaica Bay Gateway National Recreation Area, a popular park visited by millions each year and home to a variety of wildlife species, including migratory birds and fish nurseries.
 
Since colonial times, 90 percent of the Jamaica Bay marsh islands have degraded and the remaining acres of islands are disappearing at a rate of 44 acres per year, faster in the last decade.  If the islands are not restored, they will be completely lost within the next three decades.
 
The Corps is successfully restoring these islands - one of them being Elders Point Island.  The island is comprised of two separate islands that are connected by mudflats - Elders East and Elders West - that totaled approximately 21 vegetated acres prior to the Corps' restoration.
 
The restoration plan for Elders Point Island includes re-contouring the land using dredged sand from various harbor channels and restoring the existing vegetation.
 
In the summer of 2006, 250,000 cubic yards of sand were pumped onto Elders East and 700,000 plants were hand planted including saltmarsh cordgrass, salt hay and spike grass.
 
Today, marsh grass is flourishing on Elders East, and wildlife is returning.
 
The tentative schedule for Elders West is to place sand on the island this year and plant vegetation in 2009.

Keyspan, Staten Island, N.Y.

One of the first salt marsh areas identified for restoration was nine acres of marsh adjacent to the Keyspan Corporation Facility in Staten Island, N.Y. 
 
In recent years, areas of the site have been overrun by an invasive species of common reed called Phragmites australis.  "This reed is a problem because its roots can grow very thick and high preventing tide water from penetrating the area frequently," said Kerry Anne Donohue, project engineer, New York District.  "Without a frequent tide, fish, shellfish and other food sources for birds and mammals cannot exist."
 
The Corps removed the reed and 36,200 cubic yards of soil, graded the land to elevations suitable for native plants and planted a diverse group of 107,000 native plants including saltmarsh cordgrass, salt hay and marine shrubs.
 
The plants are providing a food source for fish and other marine life in the estuary and also are providing vegetation for nesting birds.  Water flow to the area has been re-established, improving the water and soil quality and promoting the return of native fish and wildlife.

Joseph P. Medwick Park, Rahway, N.J.

The Corps decided to restore approximately 14 acres of salt marsh, located in the northern portion of Joseph P. Medwick Park along the southern shore of the Rahway River.
 
Years ago, a berm was built on the banks of the Raritan River, cutting off the site from the daily tide.  As a result the area was overrun by an invasive species of common reed called Phragmites australis that prefers the drier conditions.  The reed prevented a normal tide of water from flowing into the site which has degraded the site and adversely affected its fish nurseries and the bird and wildlife habitats.
 
The Corps removed the reed and about 30,000 cubic yards of soil, re-contoured the land and planted 270,000 plugs of native wetland plants including saltmarsh cordgrass, salt hay and marine shrubs. 
 
The plants are providing a food source for fish and other marine life in the estuary and vegetation for nesting birds.  Water flow to the area has been re-established, improving the water and soil quality and promoting the return of native fish and wildlife.

Woodbridge Creek Project, Woodbridge, N.J.

Woodbridge Creek is a salt marsh with a diversity of vegetation and wildlife.  In recent years, areas of the site have been overrun by an invasive species of common reed called Phragmites australis.  The reed prevented a normal tide of water from flowing into the site which has adversely affected its fish nurseries and the bird and wildlife habitats.
 
The Corps restored about 23 acres of the marsh.  Another eight acres adjacent to the site were restored in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 

The restoration included removing soil from within the marsh, grading the land elevations making it suitable for native marsh vegetation to flourish and replanting a variety of more than 240,000 marsh plants.
 
The plants are providing a food source for fish and other marine life in the estuary and providing vegetation for nesting birds.  The project has restored the water flow to the site and as a result juvenile fish species are creating nurseries there and bird and wildlife habitats are returning to the site.