Army Corps Launches Wetlands Program

"We're capitalizing on opportunities to create and preserve wetland in one of the most urbanized, industrialized areas in the nation," says Col. Richard J. Polo Jr., the Corps' district commander. "While this restoration project is being undertaken to mitigate the impact of the harbor deepening project, the overall program will have long-term positive effects on our estuary.

"The environment isn't a side consideration," Polo adds. "Nor does it take a back seat to the critical channel deepening work. They go hand-in-hand." Besides the Woodbridge project, the program includes a $3.3-million park restoration in Carteret, with the Dawson Corp. of Clarksburg picking up the contract for that one. And a $5.4-million salt marsh mitigation project at the KeySpan Corp. site in Staten Island, NY has been awarded to the New York Concrete Corp. of Staten Island.

In Jamaica Bay, NY, meanwhile, Galvin Brothers of Great Neck, NY has won the $13-million contract for the Elder's Point East Island restoration. And the Corps and the Port Authority will oversee the restoration of another 23 acres of tidal wetlands at various locations in the two states, with yet another 27 acres being set aside for state preservation.

Finally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the NJ DEP are restoring nearly 18 acres of tidal wetlands to provide compensatory restoration related to the 1990 Exxon Bayway Refinery oil spill. The overall wetlands program involves nearly 150 acres at the various sites. "This represents a good example of what strong partnerships between public agencies can accomplish," says Richard Larrabee, direct of the Port Authority's Commerce Department.