USACE completes dredging and marsh restoration project

The Dredge Fullerton, owned and operated by Barnegat Bay Dredging Company, conducts dredging in the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway near Stone Harbor, N.J. as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project. The sediment was placed to create habitat on marshland owned by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife. (Photo by Gary Paul)

Stone Harbor, N.J. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its contractor Barnegat Bay Dredging Company recently completed a dredging and marsh restoration project near Stone Harbor, N.J. Work involved dredging sediment from the channel of the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway and beneficially using the material to create habitat on marshland owned by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife.

Barnegat Bay Dredging Company began dredging in late November near channel markers 419 and 421 in the vicinity of Stone Harbor and Middle Township, N.J and completed work in late December. The dredged sand was placed on nesting bird habitat near Dung Thoroughfare. The Wetlands Institute of Stone Harbor, N.J. assisted with site assessment and will continue to monitor site conditions and habitat usage.

In 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife, the Nature Conservancy, and the Wetlands Institute joined efforts and conducted several dredging and marsh restoration projects in coastal New Jersey. The projects involved beneficially using dredged material to restore marsh and create habitat on land owned and managed by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife.

“We’re working to find ways to improve coastal navigation and use the dredged material in a beneficial and cost-effective way,” said USACE Project Manager Monica Chasten. “We balance the need to dredge for navigation purposes with the fact that sediment can be a resource for ecological and shore protection purposes.”

Dredging is necessary along the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway to enable safe maritime navigation. When the dredged material is clean and suitable, USACE looks for opportunities to reuse the material. In the past, dredged material was pumped into confined disposal sites cut off from coastal processes.