by Dr. Barbara Brummer
As New Jersey’s coastal communities prepare for summer boating and hurricane season, a unique public-private partnership is advancing a smart, sustainable approach to protecting our coast. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, academic institutions and nonprofit partners, has launched the Regional Sediment Management Framework (RSMF), a guide to restoring and safeguarding the state’s valuable wetlands and iconic waterfronts.
The RSMF presents solutions to two simultaneous and pressing challenges—maintaining our navigation channels and helping our coastal marshes survive while facing and losing ground to increasing erosion and rising sea levels. It offers a new model for managing sediment as a resource and prioritizing projects that deliver multiple benefits for people, nature and the economy.
New Jersey’s back bays and coastal waterways must be routinely dredged to support the state’s $50 billion maritime economy, which includes marinas, boat ramps and other infrastructure that many coastal communities and visitors rely on. Traditionally, dredged sediment is treated as waste and transported to upland disposal sites while nearby wetlands and marshes are starved of the sediment needed to thrive and function as natural buffers.
The RSMF’s approach keeps sediment in the estuary system whenever possible, spreading it on marshes to nourish the habitat, give grasses a foothold and enhance community protection from flooding and storms. Since 2013, the NJDOT has used more than 1 million cubic yards of dredged material to restore marshes and beaches. RSMF will expand and accelerate the practice across more sites and projects.
June 1 was the beginning of hurricane season in New Jersey, underscoring the importance of strengthening our natural defenses. Restored marshes reduce wave energy and flood risk, offering cost-effective protection for nearby neighborhoods while providing critical habitat for fish and wildlife.
The RSMF is an important first step in scaling up marsh nourishment efforts, but long-term success requires sustained legislative funding so that the NJDOT can perform dredging that ensures safe navigation and restores our salt marshes. This sensible approach builds resilience to sea level rise and increasingly frequent storms for New Jersey’s coastal communities, supports recreational maritime activities and provides needed habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife.
Kudos to the NJDOT for initiating development of the RSMF, and to the NJDEP and others for fully supporting it. The initiative is a successful model for using nature in New Jersey to meet the challenges of maritime recreation, marshland restoration and community resilience. For the program to flourish, now we need advocacy and action to secure sustained and adequate funding resources.
– Dr. Barbara Brummer is the state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey. Tony MacDonald is the director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute.
