The New England Regional Dredging Team: Sustainable Connections among Dredged Material Managers

1. The New England Regional Dredging Team: Sustainable Connections among Dredged Material Managers Drew A. Carey, CoastalVision LLC Steven Wolf, US Army Corps of Engineers, New England District Melville P. Coté, Jr. US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1

2. NERDT Structure- Mid-Level Managers- Sudbury Group- State Teams- Local Planning Groups • Regular meetings • Website

3. NERDT Organization

4. New England RDT benefits • agencies deal with broader, regional issues, public gets involved at state and local level • collegial atmosphere at Sudbury Group has helped agency staff build relationships and trust • allowed us to discuss and resolve many issues absent project-specific urgency • provides opportunities to address issues on a more regional basis

5. Example NERDT Collaborations • Revisiting scientific basis for time-of-year restrictions, led by Massachusetts • Promoting beneficial use of dredged material for beach nourishment and capping • Providing lessons learned in the usage of confined aquatic disposal (CAD) cells

6. Time-of-Year Restrictions • MA Division of Marine Fisheries developed site-specific recommendations • NERDThelped promote the project nationally, surveyed members, and provided comments Watersheds and coastal regions of Massachusetts used for TOY delineations

7. TOY Restrictions by watershed

8. Promoting Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for Beach Nourishment Concerns about efficacy of nearshore placement of coarse material for beach nourishment

9. Beneficial Use Identify Sites where Nearshore Placement Could Potentially Be Effective • physical environment • material type

10. Developing study to ‘seed’ coarse material with fluorescent particles and track movement from near shore placement from Partrac

11. And…. Evaluating Potential for Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for Capping of Historic Industrial Waste Site 1958 Saturday Evening Post article on disposal at the IWS

12. Planned future deepening of Boston Harbor could provide ample capping material

13. Beneficial Use • Streamlining of data gathering using the EPA Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) BOLD • Side scan sonar used to map the edges of the historic disposal site

14. Lessons Learned from Beneficial Use Projects • Need to plan well ahead of dredging project timetable • Challenges with funding and meshing timetables of need for dredging and needs for material • NERDT discusses issues regularly to identify potential solutions to overcome barriers

15. Lessons Learned from Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) Cell Usage for Dredged Material in New England

16. NERDT Supports Regional Sustainability Through Local Connections • Discusses and resolves technical issues • Represents region’s interests at National Dredging Team and conferences • Makes connections between state agencies from five states and four federal agencies • Shares lessons for beneficial reuse and resource protection across states

17. Thank You • NERDT Co-chairs: • Mel Coté, Region 1 EPA • Steve Wolf, New England District, USACE • NERDT Facilitator: • Drew Carey, CoastalVision LLC www.nerdt.org