Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project: Adaptive Management Process for Assessment of Wetland Cell Development and Habitat Restoration Success
Type:
Presented during:
WODCON XVIII - 2007 Orlando, Florida, USA
Authors:
Elseroad
Abstract: The Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project (PIERP) is using clean dredged material from the Chesapeake Bay approach channels to the Port of Baltimore to restore approximately 460 hectares (1,140 acres) of remote island habitat in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Equal areas of tidal marsh and uplands will be created from 32 million cubic meters (42 million cubic yards) of dredged material placed at the island. Inflow of dredged material began in 2001 and is expected to continue for 15-20 years. The Poplar Island Adaptive Management Plan (AMP) provides the framework for managing the habitat restoration goal of the PIERP. The Plan establishes a hierarchy of goals, objective, attributes, criteria, and monitoring plans for the project. Each criterion is expressed as a target with acceptable bounds, recognizing the inherent uncertainty of ecological restoration. For every criterion there is a monitoring plan to collect the data necessary to measure progress toward meeting that criterion. The Adaptive Management Team annually reviews progress toward meeting project criteria and uses the experience gained each year to revise project design and operations or to modify the objectives, attributes, or criteria if they have proved to be unrealistic. An 11-hectare (27-acre) demonstration wetland cell with sand substrate was completed on the island in 2003. Through the adaptive management process, the lessons learned from the demonstration cell were applied to the design and construction of the first full-size, 13-hectare (32-acre) wetland cell, which was constructed with dredged material and completed in 2005. The lessons learned from that cell are being applied to the next two wetland cells, which are scheduled for construction and planting in 2007-2008.
Keywords: Marsh restoration, dredged material management, beneficial uses, adaptive management plan, tern habitat