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Restoring Injured Habitats & Natural Resources: |
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CASE STUDY: Sediment Trapping at "The Jaws, " St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
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| Heavy equipment is used to restore LA coastline. |
In December 2004, CWPPRA contractors completed terrace and channel construction to reduce shoreline erosion on West Cote Blanche Bay in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. The project, called Sediment Trapping at "The Jaws," is expected to create nearly 2,000 wetland acres over the next 20 years.
Prior to project construction, continuous wind and wave energy in the bay eroded 15 feet of shoreline per year and prevented accumulating Gulf Intracoastal Waterway sediments from developing into a marsh. The Jaws project created 38,700 linear feet of earthen terraces and adjacent channels to reduce wave fetch, the distance waves can travel unimpeded. These enhancements induce sedimentation and promote emergent vegetation. To complete the project, contractors will plant grass seed on the terraces to form the beginning of a vegetated marsh. The project was constructed at a cost of $1.8 million.
For more information, contact:
Erik Zobrist
e-mail: erik.zobrist@noaa.gov
CASE STUDY: Delta Wide Crevasses, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
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| One of many crevasses, or breaks in the natural levee, constructed to
allow sediment-laden water from the river into shallow open water areas.
Over time, the deposited sediments will create wetlands. |
Channelization of the Mississippi River has prevented natural delta building processes from occurring in shallow open water areas adjacent to the river. Existing marshes have deteriorated due to lack of nutrients, subsidence or natural sinking of the land, saltwater encroachment, and storm impacts. The CWPPRA-led "Delta Wide Crevasses" project involved creating cuts, or crevasses, through the river levee in Plaquemines Parish to allow fresh river water, nutrients, and sediments to nourish wetlands that had previously been cut off from the river. These crevasses help trap sediments, which promotes delta formation and wetland growth.
On March 11, 2005, the second round of crevasse splay construction was completed on the Delta Wide Crevasses project. The project is a prime example of ecosystem-based management that involves private partners and the utilization of natural processes to reverse land loss. The project has a total project cost of $6.8 million and is predicted to re-establish about 2,400 wetland acres over the next 20 years.
For more information, contact:
Erik Zobrist
e-mail: erik.zobrist@noaa.gov
CASE STUDY: Salmon Restoration in Commencement Bay, Washington
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| A wild salmon swims in Commencement Bay. |
Since the early 1990s, NOAA has been working to prevent injury to salmon and other natural resources in Washington’s Commencement Bay. A major trans-Pacific port, the bay is home to chemical and concrete production and aluminum smelting plants, lumber mills, and oil storage facilities. Pollutants such as arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, chlorinated solvents, and PCBs have contaminated the bay’s eight waterways. During the past century, tidal areas were filled and meandering streams channelized to pave the way for industrial uses.
Even though the area is highly urbanized, Commencement Bay still provides habitat for salmon and other fish. As a result, almost all restoration in the area is designed to reclaim critical pieces of habitat for wildlife that depend on the bay for food and shelter. NOAA works with other agencies, local conservation groups, tribal leaders, and the public to assess the risks, quantify the injury that has occurred, evaluate and propose ways to clean up the contamination, and develop, implement, and monitor restoration efforts.
NOAA’s activities in Commencement Bay include:
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| Student volunteers plant wetlands in the Commencement Bay watershed. |
- Restoring and enhancing refuge and foraging habitat for juvenile salmon and providing more habitat for wetland-dependent species to reestablish stocks.
- Improving the habitat value of beaches by demolishing and disposing of two derelict barges on the shoreline and removing a former drydock and sunken concrete float.
- Reestablishing and creating intertidal, salt marsh, and riparian habitat along remaining mudflats.
- Excavating and contouring formerly filled land to create a natural shoreline with hummocks and other natural marsh features, increasing the habitat value for shorebirds, salmon, river otters, and other fish and wildlife.
- Restoring intertidal habitat by excavating material, grading, and planting vegetation, as well as rerouting hillside runoff to aid the reestablishment of brackish marshes.
- Evaluating existing and recommended fish passage improvements in a stream channel upstream of railroad tracks, and planting native vegetation within and adjacent to newly created wetlands and on nearby hillsides.
Commencement Bay is just one example of NOAA's work to reverse habitat degradation and loss so that fish and wildlife populations can thrive once more.
For more information, contact:
Jennifer Steger
e-mail: jennifer.steger@noaa.gov
Robert Wolotira
e-mail: robert.wolotira@noaa.gov
CASE STUDY: Reversing Wetland Losses in Louisiana
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| An old mill still stands in a wetland area of coastal Louisiana. |
Louisiana is plagued by the highest rate of coastal wetland loss in the nation. Since the 1930s, one million acres of coastal wetlands have disappeared. If no action is taken, Louisiana is projected to lose another million acres over the next 40 years. The construction of levees and canals and the deepening of navigation channels have starved these wetlands of their lifeblood -- fresh water and sediment. Natural rates of subsidence and erosion are no longer balanced by sediment deposition from the Mississippi and other coastal rivers. The resulting increased salinity is killing the wetlands.
To halt this destruction, Congress enacted the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. Through this Act, NOAA, other federal agencies, and the state of Louisiana develop and implement large-scale, multi-million-dollar restoration projects. NOAA has administered nearly $100 million in CWPPRA funds, benefiting over 100,000 acres of threatened wetlands. Typical NOAA projects involve creating and protecting marshes, stabilizing barrier islands, trapping sediment, and restoring hydrology. NOAA uses innovative techniques and technologies and then monitors the projects to learn how to improve future restoration efforts.
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| This bucket dredge at Natal Channel was used in the Atchafalaya sediment delivery project. |
In conjunction with Louisiana Sea Grant and other state agencies, NOAA is also conducting research to aid the regionwide wetland restoration effort. By analyzing sediment transport, nutrient levels, marsh accretion rates, hydrologic changes and other habitat characteristics, NOAA is collecting valuable data for improving the performance of restoration projects -- with the goal of preventing the loss of another million wetland acres.
For more information, contact:
Erik Zobrist
e-mail: erik.zobrist@noaa.gov
CASE STUDY: Restoring Wetlands in Long Island Sound, New York
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| Construction at Bar Beach. |
Many valuable wetlands in Long Island Sound have been degraded by contamination and lost to filling, dredging, and “marsh drowning” from sea-level rise and coastal subsidence processes. This turn of events has significantly impacted native wildlife populations and the quality of life for local residents.
In 1992, a comprehensive settlement was reached for cleanup and natural resource damages at the Applied Environmental Services/Shore Realty Superfund Site in Glenwood Landing, NY. As part of this settlement, a degraded salt marsh in nearby Bar Beach Lagoon, across the harbor from the Superfund Site, was restored in the spring of 2003. The restoration, led by NOAA, was the product of collaboration between many partners, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Town of North Hempstead, and the industries responsible for damages at the Superfund Site. The project succeeded in excavating more than 3,000 cubic yards of rubble, rock, tires, timber debris, and gravel from the 400-foot-long shoreline. Local volunteers planted 2,000 Spartina marsh plants and installed stakes, line and plastic tape to keep geese and other plant grazers from entering the site while the marsh grasses were reestablished. The project site will be monitored for five years to assess plant survival and wildlife use in the restored marsh.
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| Agency and community volunteers plant the marsh grass Spartina. |
This project benefited from a remarkable degree of cooperation and leveraging of resources by several public agencies, industry, and the local community. The trustees provided support for project planning, design, and fieldwork. The industries fully funded the design and contributed to the construction, above and beyond the requirements of their original Superfund settlement. The town contributed funds and in-kind services, and helped organize volunteer participants. In addition, NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program awarded a grant to the Town of Hempstead to assist with the project. Ongoing communication and cooperation among the trustees and stakeholders, and the active participation of the local community, were key to the selection and implementation of a successful project.
For more information, contact:
Lisa Rosman
e-mail: Lisa.Rosman@noaa.gov
Jim Turek
e-mail: James.G.Turek@noaa.gov
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