December 8, 2017

Building Dunes with 30,000 New Plants at Island Beach State Park

by S-FX.com

IBSP-dune-grass-planters

Thanks to the 335 volunteers who came out on a beautiful December day, 30,000 American beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata) plants were installed at Island Beach State Park last Saturday.

Beachgrass is being planted at the park to help build and stabilize dunes. The blades of this plant trap wind-blown sand, and its vigorous growth enables the plant to withstand heavy deposits of sand and grow up through it. Strong underground stems (rhizomes) spread beneath the sand and give rise to many new plants.

Sand dunes provide protection against damaging coastal storms by absorbing wave energy, and they act as major sand storage areas which replenish sand to eroded beaches during storm events.

The Friends of Island Beach State Park sponsored and coordinated the planting, with the assistance of AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Justin Linton.  The Barnegat Bay Partnership will be providing funding assistance for another planting planned for the spring of 2019.

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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.

 

Building Dunes with 30,000 New Plants at Island Beach State Park

Thanks to the 335 volunteers who came out on a beautiful December day, 30,000 American beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata) plants were installed at Island Beach State Park last Saturday.

Beachgrass is being planted at the park to help build and stabilize dunes. The blades of this plant trap wind-blown sand, and its vigorous growth enables the plant to withstand heavy deposits of sand and grow up through it. Strong underground stems (rhizomes) spread beneath the sand and give rise to many new plants.

Sand dunes provide protection against damaging coastal storms by absorbing wave energy, and they act as major sand storage areas which replenish sand to eroded beaches during storm events.

The Friends of Island Beach State Park sponsored and coordinated the planting, with the assistance of AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Justin Linton.  The Barnegat Bay Partnership will be providing funding assistance for another planting planned for the spring of 2019.

Contact Building Dunes with 30,000 New Plants at Island Beach State ParkContact Building Dunes with 30,000 New Plants at Island Beach State Park
IBSP-dune-grass-planters