At New Jersey Legislature’s Annual Joint Environment Panel on Shore Issues, The Nature Conservancy Urges Nature-Based Solutions to Coastal Climate Challenges

Use of Clean Dredge Material Benefits Economy and Ecology

Clean sediment dredged from a boat channel is mixed with water and spread over the marsh surface at the Ring Island Restoration site in Middle Township, NJ. This restoration technique increases the elevation of drowning marshes and clears clogged boat channels. Credit: TNC

Chester, NJ – Experts from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) testified in Toms River today at the New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy Committee and Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee’s joint annual hearing on shore issues. They highlighted the benefits of nature-based solutions to negative climate-related impacts at the Jersey Shore, including coastal salt marshes that are drowning from sea level rise.

Coastal salt marshes slow waves during storms, support recreation opportunities, sequester carbon, and provide critical habitat for fish, crabs and birds. TNC has been on the leading edge of piloting and championing an innovative strategy using clean sediment dredged from boating navigation channels to raise the elevation of salt marshes that are dying off due to water inundation.

“Using clean dredge material to give our salt marshes a lifeline is a win-win nature-based solution for our shore communities,” said Adrianna Zito-Livingston, Coastal Projects Manager for The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey. “While keeping critical boating channels open, we’re increasing the health of habitat that protects homes and livelihoods and is a nursery for coastal wildlife.”

According to the 2020 New Jersey Scientific Report on Climate Change, there is a 50% chance that by 2050 sea level rise will meet or exceed 1.4 feet and a 17% chance that it will exceed 2.1 feet, putting a significant amount of New Jersey’s 200,000 acres of salt marshes at risk of drowning. The report concludes that “increased flooding and salinity are projected to lead to a loss of 92% of brackish marshes, 32% of tidal swamps, and 6% of tidal fresh marshes in the Delaware Estuary by 2100.”

“Nearly a decade after Superstorm Sandy and a year after Hurricane Ida, storms have been increasing in frequency and intensity, and we need to prepare for the next one now,” said Eric Olsen, Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey. “Just as we invest in replenishing our beaches and dunes, we must increase funding for New Jersey’s Shore Protection Fund to invest in the nature-based restoration of our salt marshes in a way that makes our communities more economically and ecologically resilient.”

In addition to piloting this marsh restoration approach that “keeps sediment in the system,” The Nature Conservancy is advancing the practice of beneficial use at the regional scale by bringing together the Beneficial Use Learning Network, an interdisciplinary, multi-organizational group where project managers share and develop the best and most effective ways to use sediment to restore marshes. The Learning Network has engaged more than 150 participants from the Mid-Atlantic and New England to transfer knowledge needed to scale the technique.

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About The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy, a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been committed to protecting the lands and waters on which all life depends for more than 60 years in New Jersey. Using science and an equity lens to guide our focus and execution, we are tackling the dual threats of biodiversity loss and climate change, maximizing resilience and benefits for nature and people.