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Spoil to Splendor: A Story of Chesapeake Bay Island Restoration

Spoil to Splendor: A Story of Chesapeake Bay Island Restoration. Presented by Christopher P. Guy, Peter C. McGowan And Robbie Callahan U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Chesapeake Bay Field Office Annapolis, Maryland.

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Spoil to Splendor: A Story of Chesapeake Bay Island Restoration

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  1. Spoil to Splendor: A Story of Chesapeake Bay Island Restoration Presented by Christopher P. Guy, Peter C. McGowan And Robbie Callahan U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Chesapeake Bay Field Office Annapolis, Maryland

  2. The Paul S. Sarbanes Ecological Restoration Project at Poplar Island, Talbot County Maryland

  3. Partners ● U.S Army Corps of Engineers* ● Maryland Port Authority* ● Maryland Environmental Service* ● Maryland Geological Survey ● Maryland Dept. Environment ● Maryland Dept. Of Natural Resources ● University of Maryland ● Ohio University ● USGS ● NOAA ● USFWS * Principal funding organizations/project management

  4. What is Poplar Island? A 27 year, 700 million dollar beneficial use of dredged material project. Accepting clean material from Baltimore approach channels to restore island habitat to the Chesapeake Bay.

  5. Why Bother? ●Loss of island and wetland habitat as well as culturally significant areas throughout Chesapeake Bay due to erosion and sea level rise. ● Placement site for maintenance dredging material

  6. So Where Is It Anyway? ●34 Nautical miles south of Baltimore, Maryland ● 17 miles SSE of Annapolis, Maryland ● 30 miles east of Washington D.C.

  7. Poplar Island Tilghman Island 1934-Picture provided by the Smithsonian Institution

  8. N

  9. 1847: >1100 acres

  10. Design Features ● 1,140 acres (50% wetlands/50% uplands); 1847 ● 570 acres of marsh (80% low marsh/20% high marsh) ● 40 mcy capacity (25 mcy at present)

  11. North Wetlands Uplands

  12. Project Restoration Goals: ● Create remote and diverse island habitat ● Restore quiescent water habitat in Poplar Harbor to promote submerged aquatic vegetation recovery ● Create/enhance tidal wetlands to provide fish and wildlife habitat

  13. Project Restoration Goals: ● Create bare/sparsely vegetated islands within the restored marshes to provide nesting habitat for birds (terns, black skimmers, oyster catcher etc.) ● Create/enhance vegetated islands within the restore marshes to provide nesting habitat for birds (egrets, herons, black duck, etc.)

  14. Island Aerials 1998 (Pre-construction) September 2009

  15. Wildlife Management Activities ● Disease response ● Predator/nuisance species control (gulls, great horned owl,mute swan, fox, muskrat,) and surveillance. ● Monitoring (wildlife, wetland, and SAV).

  16. Wildlife Management Activities ● Habitat enhancement (shrub plantings, Christmas trees, and snags). ● Nesting structures installation (osprey, tree swallows etc). ● Develop wildlife management plan.

  17. Wildlife Disease Response • Avian Botulism • Steatitis • Avian Paramyxovirus (Newcastle Disease)

  18. Wildlife Disease Response

  19. Predator/Nuisance Species Control

  20. Habitat Enhancement

  21. Nest Box/Structures

  22. Avian Monitoring Least and Common terns Double-crested cormorant Osprey Snowy egret

  23. Wetland Monitoring ● Estimating areal coverage by species ● Measuring stem heights ● Species diversity

  24. OCTOBER MAY JUNE JULY SEPTEMBER AUGUST Marsh Restoration Progression

  25. Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Monitoring

  26. “POP”ular Destination Great Blue Heron American Avocet Sandpiper Willet Tree Swallow Gulls Black Skimmer Snowy Egret Red-winged Blackbird

  27. Questions ???

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