Priority Projects for the Delaware Estuary 2010

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1 Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Alliance for Comprehensive Ecosystem Services (PDE Alliance) Regional Restoration Project Review 2010 Priority Projects for the Delaware Estuary The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Alliance for Comprehensive Ecosystem Solutions (PDE Alliance) identified five projects as those most important to promote and support for the Delaware Estuary in Following are the 2010 Priority Projects for the Delaware Estuary: Bridesburg Urban Waterfront Restoration Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Mill Creek Stream Restoration Mannington Mill Scrub Shrub Strategic Reforestation of Riparian Zones to Best Meet Environmental Goals The PDE Alliance is a collaboration of public and private entities with diverse interests, and one important one in common: protecting and enhancing the Delaware Estuary. It includes agency leadership from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Delaware, the State of New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Delaware River Basin Commission, and the City of Philadelphia. Also on the Alliance are leaders from the private sector, including companies, foundations, and organizations with a long history of supporting restoration in the Delaware Estuary, like DuPont, PSEG, ConocoPhillips, The William Penn Foundation, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Each year, the PDE Alliance will identify a select list of projects to support and promote, based on expert review of projects from the PDE Project Registry is a pilot year for the PDE Alliance, but that didn t stop the group from selecting an ambitious set of projects, together in need of over $2 million. Each of these projects addresses one or more of the PDE Alliance s priorities: tidal wetlands, urban waterfronts, forested riparian and headwaters areas, and shellfish or other signature species of the Delaware Estuary. The PDE Project Registry was created at the end of 2009 as a way to collect and store project information so that projects can be easily matched up with funding or partnership opportunities as they arise. Use of the Registry is open to any organization with a project, or any funder or partner looking for a project. PDE is currently working to make the Project Registry available online so that project information can be added or searched directly by users. In the meantime, anyone interested in submitting a project to the Registry, or accessing project information in the Registry should contact PDE Restoration Specialist Laura Whalen at LWhalen@DelawareEstuary.org. 1 P age

2 Bridesburg Urban Waterfront Restoration Description Project Type: Urban Waterfront and Tidal Wetland Restoration Philadelphia Waterfront, 3101 Orthodox St., Philadelphia,PA Primary Outcomes: 15 acres and 2000 linear feet of urban shoreline restored Funds Requested: Engineering design with budget options to be completed by May Lead Entity: Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) Point of Contact: Paul Racette, The project area is upland, river bank, and intertidal land along the North Delaware River Greenway trail alignment in Philadelphia. The project goal is to restore a mixture of riverfront forests/meadows and adjacent freshwater tidal wetlands. PEC and its partners have just completed an ecological assessment project along the entire stretch of Philadelphia s Delaware riverfront. This project was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection s (PADEP s) Coastal Zone Management Program and the William Penn Foundation. Criteria rating key habitat, site, and recreational opportunities were developed to help identify and prioritize restoration opportunities. The Bridesburg site is an early ecological restoration opportunity identified during this effort, with hopefully more sites to follow in the future. Key partners in the ecological restoration assessment project included the Delaware River City Corporation (DRCC), the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project site consists of two parcels located in Bridesburg, a historic Philadelphia neighborhood. The first is an approximately 17 acre parcel owned by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) and the second is an approximately 60 acre parcel owned by National Grid locally known as the Philly Coke site. The degraded former industrial shoreline along these two properties has been vacant for years, and accordingly, the second parcel has recently seen the reemergence of a small measure of riparian habitat as well as a tidal wetland within a protected inlet area with spatterdock and eel grass. If implemented, the conceptual design (picture below) would create a new wetland, riparian habitat, and restored upland forest habitat on one parcel, and the design will also address opportunities to enhance riparian habitat, existing tidal wetlands, and upland forest habitat on the second parcel. These restored and enhanced shorelines, when built, will be a model for further ecological restoration opportunities along Philadelphia s Delaware riverfront. In addition, this project will provide a working green buffer alongside a future walking and biking trail that will be a part of the future North Delaware River Greenway system. A major new greenway along 8 miles of Philadelphia s Delaware riverfront, the North Delaware River Greenway has been a focus of the Council and of the Delaware River City Corporation for many years. It will eventually connect to additional trail and greenway segments in Bucks County and in the Central Philadelphia riverfront, thus completing also a major segment of the 3,000 mile East Coast Greenway through Pennsylvania. Construction of the recreational trail will offer an important opportunity to undertake adjacent ecological restoration activities in the riparian, littoral and inter tidal zone. Although the trail is a critical element of the greenway, it occupies a very narrow swath (15 ft wide or less) through the landscape. Much of the land on either side of the trail is to be restored and managed for its natural resource value and benefit. The intent is to create new habitat for birds and wildlife, to revegetate the riparian area with native trees and shrubs, and to restore tidal wetlands and flats. 2 P age

3 Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project Project Type: Primary Outcomes: Funds Requested: Lead Entity: Point of Contact: Signature Species (Bivalve Shellfish) Restoration Delaware Bay see map below Oyster bed revitalization at several sites in Bay $200,000 $2,000,000 (scalable) Rutgers University Eric Powell, Description: The Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project is a cooperative initiative that is revitalizing Eastern oysters, a signature species of the Delaware Estuary. This work is being carried out by the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Task Force: a collaborative group of organizations, institutions, and agencies working at the local, state, regional, and federal levels. Together, their goal is nothing less than the sustained revitalization of Delaware Bay oysters and the industry that once thrived upon them. Delaware Bay oysters have been impacted by climate change, habitat loss, and other natural factors. The most significant causes of decline are the oyster diseases, MSX that appeared in the 1950s and Dermo that came into the Bay in the 1990s. The presence of Dermo is a direct result of global warming. Researchers remain optimistic that the species can remain an important component of the Bay ecosystem despite many years of belowaverage biological recruitment (i.e., the number of young oysters entering the population each year) and high levels of disease mortality. This optimism comes from a program taking place on oyster beds managed by the States of Delaware and New Jersey through active input of clean clam shell (a by product of local commercial clam processing plants) to enhance recruitment and rebuild oyster abundance. Strategic placement of clean shell during the spawning season in areas normally receiving sets of oyster larvae have resulted in well above average recruitment. Once oyster larvae are recruited, or attached, they are called spat for their first growing season and will remain on these beds. These restoration efforts would not have been possible without the support of Congressional appropriations in 2005 through 2008 totaling $5 million, which have run out. During four years of implementation, the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project has doubled oyster recruitment in targeted areas of the Bay and permitted a vibrant oyster fishery without endangering the sustainability of the resource. Efforts are underway to secure new federal funding, but obtaining gap funding is crucial to maintain benefits. If this same progress can be maintained over time, the result will be a continued economic boost to the many bayshore communities that have depended on the shellfish industry for more than a century. To them, healthy oysters represent their past, present and future. 3 P age

4 The outcome will be enhanced recruitment of oysters through the planting of clean shell (cultch). This activity will expand oyster abundance, and revitalize the natural resource. Improvements in Bay habitat quality will result from increased habitat that benefits a variety of species including recreationally and commercially important crabs and fish. At the same time, recovery of the bayshores of the two states will be supported by the continuation of an important commercial fishery. Mill Creek Stream & Wetland Restoration Description Project Type: Forested headwater/ riparian corridor restoration 3975 Mill Creek Road, Hockessin, DE Primary Outcomes: 2.5 acres and 2,175 linear feet (plus 1 acre of streamside buffer) Funds Requested: $226,744 (Total project cost is $453,488 and 50% has been secured) Lead Entity: Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Point of Contact: Stephen Williams, , stephen.williams@state.de.us This project will restore a portion of Mill Creek, in New Castle, DE, which is a designated National Wild & Scenic River System of the White Clay Creek watershed. Mill Creek is an excellent candidate for restoration because of its unique environmental features and uses. For example, Mill Creek serves as a source of public drinking water, it is one of only six trout stocked streams in the state, it provides a habitat corridor in an area of dense development, and it is a potential migration corridor for the endangered bog turtle. This project will restore approximately 2,175 linear feet of Mill Creek using a variety of restoration techniques (e.g., rock toe and log toe protection, cross vanes, log vanes, root wads, riffle and pool sequences, and random bolder placement). This method of stream restoration measures the watershed inputs and valley type (e.g., size of drainage area, topographic relief, overland runoff) and provides a means to change the stream s pattern, profile and dimension to accommodate for the effects caused by urbanization. The restoration project will also include the creation of approximately 2.5 acres of emergent wetlands adjacent to the stream channel in an area that is currently an open field. Native trees and shrubs will be planted in the wetland areas and along the stream. The project outcomes include enhanced stream side buffers, restored bank stability, reduced in stream sediment loading, increased floodplain storage, improved water quality and wildlife habitat. Also, a habitat corridor will be created in a developed area that is in close proximity to the White Clay Creek State Park. Another outcome of this project would be increased public education and outreach. An outreach effort, conducted by Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Army Corp of Engineers at Delaware Nature Society, surveyed the general public to identify issues in the watershed. Stream restoration was of interest by numerous individuals residing in the Red Clay Creek and White Clay Creek watersheds. 4 P age

5 Strategic Reforestation of Riparian Zones to Best Meet Multiple Environmental Goals Description Project Type: Forested headwaters/riparian corridors restoration Throughout the Delaware Estuary Primary Outcomes: A strategic program of buffer restoration Funds Requested: $60,000 Lead Entity: Academy of Natural Sciences Point of Contact: Jerry V. Mead, , mead@ansp.org Nearly 40% of the riparian zones in the Piedmont and Coastal of the Delaware Estuary plain lack forest cover. Furthermore, aquatic habitats in these areas are most at risk to climate change. Reforesting riparian zones is a cost effective way to improve habitats and water quality in both streams and bays, but prioritizing where to reforest has been a challenge. The Academy of Natural Sciences has developed a user friendly planning tool that allows interested stakeholders to examine the potential impacts of climate change and land cover on environmental variables (e.g., water temperature and quality, fish growth potential). The Academy will run a demonstration project in spring 2010 to refine this tool and use it to build a strategy for reforesting the basin. The proposed project would implement that strategy by working with conservation groups within the targeted areas to assemble volunteers for tree and shrub plantings throughout the selected sub watersheds. The project partners include Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Delaware River Basin Commission, Friends of the Wissahickon, Lower Merion Conservancy, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia Water Department, Schuylkill Environmental Center, Lehigh County Conservation District, University of Pennsylvania. The Academy has letters of support from these partners that states that they will work with the Academy to develop and implement riparian buffer restoration plans. Requested funds would enable implementation to begin. The outcomes of this project would be reforestation of riparian buffers at priority areas within the Delaware Estuary. Another outcome will be education and outreach to the public volunteering with the many partners on this project. These outcomes match the goals of the Delaware Estuary Regional Restoration Initiative to: Facilitate coordination among various conservation, enhancement, and restoration efforts under way Apply scientific principles in evaluating ecosystem services resulting from different types of restoration efforts Identify high value restoration activities and work to cultivate projects that fill project gaps Mannington Mills Shrub Scrub Riparian Restoration 5 P age

6 Description Project Type: Tidal Wetlands and Forested Headwaters/Riparian Corridors Mannington Mills, Salem County, NJ (see map below) Primary Outcomes: 15 acres of riparian buffer restored Funds Requested: $45,000 Lead Entity: NJ Audubon Society Point of Contact: Elizabeth Ciuzio, , The Mannington Mills is a floor covering manufacturing company in Salem County, dating back to The company s environmental vision is to exceed the environmental expectations of the people we care deeply about To that end, the company has joined the US Green Building Council and is manufacturing products for use in green buildings. As part of the company s environmental initiative, Mannington is interested in developing habitat improvement projects on its Salem County property. The objective of this project is to restore 15 acres of riparian habitat, designed with native grasses and shrubs to target early successional habitat for declining birds. Avian species that require early successional habitats such as shrub scrub habitats are experiencing precipitous declines throughout North America. In the New England/MidAtlantic Bird Conservation Region (in which Salem County is located), Partners in Flight s Species Assessment Database identifies several regionally important avian species that utilize shrub scrub habitat in need of management action ( Target species of this restoration project are blue winged warbler, prairie warbler, eastern kingbird, brown thrasher, eastern towhee, field sparrow, American woodcock and bobwhite quail. Secondary management targets include bobwhite quail and American woodcock. Furthermore, the reforested site will provide valuable habitat for migrating birds seeking resting and refueling habitat during their north and south bound migrations (referred to as stop over habitat). The expected outcomes of the project include: 5 20 years of early successional habitat (before it becomes forest) Habitat for declining bird species as well as other wildlife Improved water quality from conversion of an annually tilled field to forest Education and outreach to school groups volunteering to help with the planting days Map of Priority Projects in the Delaware Estuary: 6 P age

7 Approximate location of project Project is estuary wide 7 P age