June 10, 2025

A Restoration Story: Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh

by Nina Sassano

nellie drone

Tucked in northern Barnegat Bay, the 20-acre Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh has long served as a buffer against flooding, a home for wildlife, and a space for recreation. But decades of degradation—subsidence, vegetation loss, and shoreline erosion—have left nearly 60% of the marsh transformed into mudflat, threatening nearby infrastructure and natural habitats.

Nellie 1024x585

In response, the Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) and the Borough of Point Pleasant, assisted by Matrix New World Engineering, launched a nature-based restoration effort in 2023 to improve the degradation of this 20-acre span of marsh.

Why It Matters

Healthy salt marshes protect homes, schools, and water treatment facilities from storm surge and flooding. For Point Pleasant, that means protecting key landmarks like Nellie Bennett Elementary School and the Point Pleasant Water Treatment Plant. The marsh also ranks as a top priority for intervention, earning a 9.5/10 on the Community Exposure Index (part of NFWF’s CREST tool) due to its proximity to vulnerable infrastructure.

A Nature Based Approach

Nellie2 1024x648
A concept design for restoration plans.

The proposed restoration plan uses innovative, sustainable techniques including:

Assisted Accretion – Placing clean dredged material to rebuild marsh elevation and encourage vegetation regrowth.
Shoreline Stabilization – Strategic use of rip-rap, lagoons, and coir log-stabilized shorelines to reduce erosion and improve wildlife habitat.
Native Planting – Re-establishing maritime forest vegetation as well as low and high marsh to improve biodiversity and resilience.
Tidal Channel Development – Enhancing natural water flow and sediment transport to improve marsh health.

Community at the Core

From the start, the project has prioritized community engagement. Stakeholders—including local residents, school leaders, town officials, and HOAs—have been involved in shaping goals, voicing concerns, and supporting the project’s direction. Through public meetings, surveys, and agency collaboration, the restoration effort reflects both ecological science and community values.

Looking Ahead

An overhead view of the degradation of Nellie Bennett Marsh
Degradation of Nellie Bennett Marsh

The project has reached a 60% design milestone and continues to evolve through input from technical experts and resource agencies. Permitting is underway, and planning is guided by environmental data, projected sea-level rise, and a shared commitment to long-term sustainability.

The restoration of Nellie Bennett Marsh isn’t just about saving a wetland—it’s about protecting a community, rebuilding resilience, and setting a model for coastal restoration across New Jersey.

To learn more, visit The Barnegat Bay Partnership’s page highlighting the Restoration Project.

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UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

A Restoration Story: Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh

Tucked in northern Barnegat Bay, the 20-acre Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh has long served as a buffer against flooding, a home for wildlife, and a space for recreation. But decades of degradation—subsidence, vegetation loss, and shoreline erosion—have left nearly 60% of the marsh transformed into mudflat, threatening nearby infrastructure and natural habitats.

Nellie 1024x585

In response, the Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) and the Borough of Point Pleasant, assisted by Matrix New World Engineering, launched a nature-based restoration effort in 2023 to improve the degradation of this 20-acre span of marsh.

Why It Matters

Healthy salt marshes protect homes, schools, and water treatment facilities from storm surge and flooding. For Point Pleasant, that means protecting key landmarks like Nellie Bennett Elementary School and the Point Pleasant Water Treatment Plant. The marsh also ranks as a top priority for intervention, earning a 9.5/10 on the Community Exposure Index (part of NFWF’s CREST tool) due to its proximity to vulnerable infrastructure.

A Nature Based Approach

Nellie2 1024x648
A concept design for restoration plans.

The proposed restoration plan uses innovative, sustainable techniques including:

Assisted Accretion – Placing clean dredged material to rebuild marsh elevation and encourage vegetation regrowth.
Shoreline Stabilization – Strategic use of rip-rap, lagoons, and coir log-stabilized shorelines to reduce erosion and improve wildlife habitat.
Native Planting – Re-establishing maritime forest vegetation as well as low and high marsh to improve biodiversity and resilience.
Tidal Channel Development – Enhancing natural water flow and sediment transport to improve marsh health.

Community at the Core

From the start, the project has prioritized community engagement. Stakeholders—including local residents, school leaders, town officials, and HOAs—have been involved in shaping goals, voicing concerns, and supporting the project’s direction. Through public meetings, surveys, and agency collaboration, the restoration effort reflects both ecological science and community values.

Looking Ahead

An overhead view of the degradation of Nellie Bennett Marsh
Degradation of Nellie Bennett Marsh

The project has reached a 60% design milestone and continues to evolve through input from technical experts and resource agencies. Permitting is underway, and planning is guided by environmental data, projected sea-level rise, and a shared commitment to long-term sustainability.

The restoration of Nellie Bennett Marsh isn’t just about saving a wetland—it’s about protecting a community, rebuilding resilience, and setting a model for coastal restoration across New Jersey.

To learn more, visit The Barnegat Bay Partnership’s page highlighting the Restoration Project.

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