EPA Awards Grant to Protect the Barnegat and Delaware Estuaries (NJ)
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today awarded nearly $400,000 to Ocean
County College to evaluate the health of Barnegat Bay’s
coastal marshes. The grant will also allow the college to assess
the ability of the marshes to perform natural functions that
benefit coastal communities. This grant will enhance and expand
monitoring and assessment work being conducted by the Partnership
for the Delaware Estuary, a non-profit organization established to
restore and protect the Delaware Estuary. Estuaries are bodies of
water where salt water from the sea mixes with fresh water from
rivers and streams.
“Marshes and coastal wetlands protect
coastal communities from flooding, provide important habitat for
fish, birds and mammals, and improve water quality,” said
Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Healthy tidal
marshes are critical as we begin to address the impacts of climate
change and rising sea levels. The Ocean County College project will
give us a better understanding of conditions in the estuaries and
lead to the restoration and protection of our
wetlands.”
Ocean County College will use the EPA grant to
evaluate the general condition of wetlands in the estuaries using
indicators like the characteristics and health of plants. The
college will also collect more extensive data on sediment and water
quality and use it to analyze the health of the wetlands and
diagnose the causes of wetlands degradation. The data collected
will help the public and policymakers assess vulnerabilities due to
climate change, and focus protection and restoration efforts on
effective ways to adapt to sea level rise. EPA previously awarded
$248,000 in Wetland Program Development Grants to the Partnership
for the Delaware Estuary. The New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection gave $150,000 in 319 grants for monitoring
in the Barnegat Estuary.
Estuaries and their coastal wetlands are among
the most productive ecosystems on earth and are particularly
vulnerable to climate change. The need to monitor and assess our
coastal wetlands has been identified as one of the highest
priorities in the Delaware and Barnegat estuaries. Healthy wetlands
protect against rising seas, contribute to improved water quality,
sequester carbon and nutrients, and provide fish and wildlife
habitat. Healthy estuaries provide a critical line of defense
against climate change to coastal communities. Wetlands surrounding
estuaries like the Barnegat and the Delaware Bay act as buffers
that can help protect against some of the impacts of rising
seas.
Wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic have historically
been poorly monitored compared to other aquatic habitats. Wetlands
inventory data is limited and often out-of-date, but satellite
imagery and local information indicate that we are losing coastal
wetlands. Wetlands lost on Delaware Bay shores due to rising sea
levels and degradation has doubled since the 1990’s. Over
half the coastal wetlands are gone, and over a quarter of the
Barnegat Bay’s tidal wetlands have been lost to
development.
EPA’s partners in this grant project
include Ocean County College; Partnership for the Delaware Estuary;
Barnegat Bay Partnership; Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection;
New Jersey Coastal Management Office, United States Fish and
Wildlife Service; and Rutgers University – Haskins Shellfish
Research Lab.
The Partnership for the Delaware and Barnegat
Bay Partnership are two of EPA’s 28 National Estuary
Programs. The Delaware and Barnegat Bay Estuaries are members of
EPA’s “Climate Ready Estuaries” program. For more
information on this program, visit: http://www.epa.gov/climatereadyestuaries.
For more information on EPA’s National Estuary Program,
visit: http://www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries.
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