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Returning

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Ebony Howard, aneighth-grade studentfrom Elizabeth, N.J.,stands on a pier andcarefully lifts a starfish

from a water-filled glass aquariumas her giggling classmates sur-round her. She shrieks as one of itsarms breaks off.A biologist with the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers quickly assures

her that it will grow back and re-generate, and that it will be okay.The starfish was ultimately placedsafely in its natural habitat in theHudson River Estuary.The students were taking part

in the fourth annual Earth DayCelebration sponsored by theCorps and other agencies, held onthe Elizabeth Marina City Dockin April.

Four wetland restorations give promise

to the future of these unique public lands.

By JoAnne Castagna, Ed.D.

to the Wild

(above) Workers plant native wetland plants on the Joseph P. Medwick restoration site

in Rahway, N.J. (left) The sun sets on Elders East, a completed estuary restoration

project on Jamaica Bay, N.Y.

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perts described to the students that anestuary is a semi-enclosed coastal bodyof water with one or more rivers orstreams flowing into it, and with a freeconnection to the open sea. The Hud-son-Raritan Estuary is one of severalestuaries in the area on park, recreationand public lands that have seen declinesin habitat quality for wildlife due tosuch problems as pollution and invasivespecies.Students were taught by various

Earth Day volunteers about the effectsof pollution on their environment. Sci-entific experts taught students througha variety of interactive educational sta-tions where glass water-filled touchtanks containing estuary marine lifewere featured. Interactive pollution andwater quality testing demonstrationswere also conducted. The students alsoboarded a U.S. Coast Guard vessel for atour and boarded the Corps’ vesselHocking as it traveled near the estuary.Aboard the Hocking, Corps experts

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Howard and several other studentslearned that the nearby Hudson-Rari-tan Estuary—the starfish’s home—canbe restored by keeping it pollution-free.

It was on a sunny, breezy day whenthe more than 200 New Jersey highschool students gathered on the dockthat overlooks the estuary. Corps ex-

C I R C L E 2 O N C A R D O R V I S I T W W W . N R P A . O R G / F R E E I N F O

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently taken on several wetlands

restoration projects in the greater New York City area.

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discussed the estuary’s rich history, cur-rent condition, and the Corps’ ongoingport activities and the continuing envi-ronmental restoration projects in theestuary, four of which were recentlycompleted with much success.

The estuary is 16,212 square milesand is one of the most populated, with20 million people residing in theregion. It surrounds the Port of NewYork and New Jersey. For more than200 years, the New York District hasmanaged the port’s navigation, devel-opment and maintenance and is one ofthe Corps’ largest civil works missions.

Through the decades, the saltmarshes along the shores of navigationchannels have experienced some degra-dation and habitat loss due to a numberof factors—including years of commer-cial construction and developmentalong the shore and increased boat traf-fic. To restore these areas, the Corps’ hasan environmental restoration programin place.

Maintaining the health of the estuaryis important because salt marshes cleanthe water environment, reduce floodrisks and provide essential fish andwildlife habitats. Salt marshes are landthat is either covered by shallow wateror contain waterlogged soil.

In 2006, the New York District, incooperation with the Port Authority ofNew York and New Jersey, and state andlocal agencies successfully completedfour salt marsh restoration projects inthe estuary that are preserving andrestoring more than 143 acres of saltmarsh.

Keyspan, Staten Island, N.Y.One of the first salt marsh areas identi-fied for restoration by the Corps wasthe nine acres of marsh adjacent to theKeyspan Corporation Facility in StatenIsland, N.Y.

In recent years, areas of the site havebeen overrun by an invasive species ofcommon reed called Phragmites Aus-tralis. “This reed is a problem becauseits roots can grow very thick and highpreventing tide water from penetratingthe area frequently,” says Kerry Anne C I R C L E 5 O N C A R D O R V I S I T W W W . N R P A . O R G / F R E E I N F O

Donohue, project engineer, New YorkDistrict, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.“Without a frequent tide, fish, shellfishand other food sources, birds andmammals cannot exist,” adds Donohuewho is the district’s ecosystem restora-tion team leader in their EngineeringDivision.

The Corps removed the reeds and

36,200 cubic yards of soil, graded theland to suitable elevations for nativeplants, and planted a diverse group of107,000 native plants including cord-grass, salt hay and marine shrubs.

The plants are providing a foodsource for fish and other marine life inthe estuary and are also providing vege-tation for nesting birds.Water flow to

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the area has been reestablished, improv-ing the water and soil quality and pro-moting the return of native fish andwildlife.

Joseph P. Medwick Park,Rahway, N.J.The Corps focused their attention to

restoring approximately 14 acres of saltmarsh, located in the northern portionof Joseph P. Medwick Park along thesouthern shore of the Rahway River.Years ago, a berm was built on the

banks of the Raritan River, cutting offthe site from the daily tide. As a result,the area was overrun by the same inva-

sive reed that affected the Keyspan proj-ect. The reeds prevented a normal tideof water from flowing into the site andhas degraded the site, adversely affect-ing its fish nurseries and the bird andwildlife habitats that live there.The Corps removed the reed and

approximately 30,000 cubic yards ofsoil, re-contoured the land and planted270,000 plugs of native wetland plants,including saltmarsh cordgrass, salt hayand marine shrubs.Water flow to thearea has been restored as well.

Elders Island, Jamaica Bay, N.Y.Located in the boroughs of Brooklynand Queens, the easternmost areas ofNew York City, is the Jamaica Bay Gate-way National Recreation Area, a popu-lar park visited by millions each yearand home to a variety of wildlifespecies, including migratory birds andfish nurseries.Since colonial times, 90 percent of

the Jamaica Bay marsh islands havedegraded and the remaining acres ofislands are disappearing at a rate of 44acres per year, faster in the last decade.If the islands are not restored, theywill be completely lost within the nextthree decades.The Corps is successfully restoring

these islands—one of them being EldersPoint Island. The island is composed oftwo separate islands that are connectedby mudflats—Elders East and EldersWest—that totaled approximately 21vegetated acres prior to the Corps’restoration.The restoration plan for Elders Point

Island includes re-contouring the landusing dredged sand from various har-bor channels and restoring the existingvegetation.In the summer of 2006, 250,000

cubic yards of sand were pumped ontoElders East and 700,000 plants werehand-planted including saltmarsh cord-grass, salt hay and spike grass. Today,marsh grass is flourishing on EldersEast, promoting the return of wildlife.The tentative schedule for Elders Westis to place sand on the island next yearand plant vegetation in 2009.

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Woodbridge Creek Project,Woodbridge, N.J.Woodbridge Creek is a salt marsh witha diversity of vegetation and wildlife. Inrecent years, the invasive reeds have dis-rupted bird and wildlife habitats byhindering the flow of the tide.

The Corps restored approximately 23acres of the marsh. In addition, approx-imately eight acres adjacent to the sitewere restored in cooperation with theNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration and the New JerseyDepartment of Environmental Protec-tion. These additional acres helped torestore the land adversely affected bythe 1990 Exxon Bayway Oil Spill.

The restoration included removingsoil from within the marsh, grading theland elevations, making it suitable fornative marsh vegetation to flourish, andreplanting a variety of more than240,000 marsh plants.

As a result of a returning tide, juve-nile fish species are creating nurseriesthere, and bird and wildlife habitats arereturning to the site.

“This was a great opportunity toenergize the students, our future envi-ronmental leaders, about the health oftheir own estuary in the New York andNew Jersey Harbor, and understand theconnection between land and water,”explains Col. Nello Tortora, com-mander of the Corps of Engineers NewYork District.

Tortora hopes that by educating thenext generation of conservation deci-sion-makers, more public lands can bepreserved for the enjoyment of futuregenerations. And as these examplesdemonstrate, headway is being madeand successes are forthcoming.

Perhaps when a new generation ofeighth graders steps onto a New Jerseypier, it will be to hear about how theirpredecessors kept wetlands clean andhealthy so they could be enjoyed byeveryone. P&R

For additional information about theNew York District’s Hudson-RaritanEstuary Program, visit www.nan.usace.army.mil/harbor/. C I R C L E 4 4 O N C A R D O R V I S I T W W W . N R P A . O R G / F R E E I N F O O R V I S I T U S A T I N D I A N A P O L I S B O O T H 2 0 1 9

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