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To facilitate portions of the 2025-2029 Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP), Princeton Hydro conducted a series of tasks such as delineating the extent of the northern and southern dune protection areas, where suitable habitat for the federally threatened, state endangered piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is present and confirming the extent of wetlands associated with a prior Letter of Interpretation. The project team also conducted an ecological assessment of the existing ecological communities with a focus on identifying the presence/extent/type of invasive species present to inform future targeted habitat management efforts identified within the INRMP and procured, on behalf of NJDMAVA, a Letter of Interpretation – Line Verification, Freshwater Wetlands General Permit 16 – Creation, restoration, and enhancement of habitat and water quality functions and values, and Coastal Zone Management General Permit 24 – Habitat creation, restoration, enhancement, and living shoreline activities. [gallery link="none" columns="2" size="large" ids="18801,18803"] [post_title] => Sea Girt Nation Guard Training Center Habitat Enhancement Project [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => sea-girt-nation-guard-training-center-habitat-enhancement-project [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-12-08 21:44:33 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-12-08 21:44:33 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://princetonhydro.com/?post_type=project&p=18800 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => project [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 18610 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2025-11-05 14:49:39 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-11-05 14:49:39 [post_content] => The Anchor QEA–Princeton Hydro team was selected by Audubon New York (and its partners Save the Sound and New York State Parks) to design the restoration and enhancement of an approximately 400-acre tidal marsh on the north-central coast of Long Island. The marsh has experienced restricted tidal flow since an earthen berm was breached in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy. The restricted tidal flow led to marsh degradation, which converted portions of the former salt marsh to brackish and freshwater marsh. The lack of tidal flushing also enabled invasive Phragmites australis to establish and spread within the marsh system. Design goals included:
The New Jersey Department of Military and Veteran Affairs (NJDMAVA) retained Princeton Hydro to implement ecological services at the Sea Girt National Guard Training Center in the Borough of Sea Girt, Monmouth County, New Jersey. To facilitate portions of the 2025-2029 Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP), Princeton Hydro conducted a series of tasks such as delineating the extent of the northern and southern dune protection areas, where suitable habitat for the federally threatened, state endangered piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is present and confirming the extent of wetlands associated with a prior Letter of Interpretation.
The project team also conducted an ecological assessment of the existing ecological communities with a focus on identifying the presence/extent/type of invasive species present to inform future targeted habitat management efforts identified within the INRMP and procured, on behalf of NJDMAVA, a Letter of Interpretation – Line Verification, Freshwater Wetlands General Permit 16 – Creation, restoration, and enhancement of habitat and water quality functions and values, and Coastal Zone Management General Permit 24 – Habitat creation, restoration, enhancement, and living shoreline activities.
The Anchor QEA–Princeton Hydro team was selected by Audubon New York (and its partners Save the Sound and New York State Parks) to design the restoration and enhancement of an approximately 400-acre tidal marsh on the north-central coast of Long Island. The marsh has experienced restricted tidal flow since an earthen berm was breached in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy. The restricted tidal flow led to marsh degradation, which converted portions of the former salt marsh to brackish and freshwater marsh. The lack of tidal flushing also enabled invasive Phragmites australis to establish and spread within the marsh system.
The Anchor QEA–Princeton Hydro team developed 60% Designs, including design drawings, a cost estimate, a long-term management plan, and a QAPP. The project design includes dredging approximately 15,000 cubic yards of material from Sunken Meadow Creek and thin layer placement of dredged material onto adjacent marsh cells to develop low and high marsh footprints; treating approximately 20 acres of Phragmites australis and phased replanting the areas with native species; creating approximately 2,000 linear feet of channels in the marsh and improving approximately 8,500 linear feet of existing channels to enhance drainage and tidal flushing; creating tidal pools and installing anchored rootwads to promote habitat diversity; modifying existing culverts within the primary flow channel through the marsh; and planting within the high and low salt marsh footprints.
The Gloucester County Solid Waste Complex (GCSWC) was required to implement a grassland bird habitat and hibernacula mitigation and maintenance plan, totaling 71.34-acres, within an undeveloped southern portion of GCSWC land (Site). This mitigation and maintenance plan was required to offset an expansion of the existing landfill into an area which presently provides suitable grassland bird habitat. In addition to the creation of grassland bird habitat, the Permit Modification also required the implementation of periodic grassland bird surveys to document the development of the grassland and to ensure that suitable grassland habitat has been created which supports breeding grassland bird species.
Princeton Hydro assessed the existing ecological communities within a portion of the undeveloped land within the GCSWC, which was being targeted for the creation of grassland bird habitat and a hibernacula mitigation and maintenance plan. This effort identified the existing ecological communities, documented plant species, provided recommendations for grassland habitat enhancement within the existing ecological communities where warranted, provided guidelines for hibernaculum creation, and provided seed mix recommendations to create quality grassland bird habitat. This report, the “Grassland Habitat Ecological Communities Analysis”, served as the basis for the habitat creation efforts on-Site.
Concomitant to the implementation of the recommended restoration measures outlined in the Grassland Habitat Ecological Communities Analysis document, Princeton Hydro developed a systematic monitoring plan for the avian species on-Site, titled “The Grassland Bird Species and Hibernacula Monitoring Plan”. In 2023, the recommended management measures were implemented, including the application of the recommended upland and wet meadow seed mixes installed within a 70-acre portion of the Site. The seed mixes were selected to include native, desirable grassland flora which are preferred by grassland nesting avifauna. In addition to the creation of grassland bird habitat, approximately 1.34-acres of wildlife hibernacula, designed by Princeton Hydro, were installed. Subsequent to habitat implementation measures, it was determined in early 2024 that the grassland seed mix had germinated successfully, and in response, the grassland bird species monitoring was initiated for the 2024 breeding season.
Results of the first monitoring of the grassland indicate that it has developed quality habitat in its initial growing season. Additionally, the created habitat was supporting a number of grassland obligate and grassland edge breeding bird species. Point count and incidental avian surveys of the Site documented the presence of grassland and grassland edge breeding birds throughout the breeding season. These species included New Jersey State Threatened Breeding Species Grasshopper Sparrow, Horned Lark, and American Kestrel, and Special Concern Breeding Species Field Sparrow, Bank Swallow, and Brown Thrasher. In addition to these species which possess a New Jersey State listing designation, a number of additional grassland obligate, open country, and grassland edge species were documented, including a rare New Jersey breeding species in Dickcissel, along with Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Orchard Oriole, and Eastern Kingbird. Confirmations of successful breeding (i.e. nests, fledged young, feeding young, etc.) were observed in many of these species, indicating that the Site is already productive for the targeted grassland avifauna.
The N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) received a grant for this project from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation. Grantees were charged with providing increased resilience to natural infrastructure that will in turn increase the resiliency of coastal communities in the face of future storms like Hurricane Sandy. Due to the need to maintain navigation channels and assist in the adaptation of tidal marshes to sea level rise and subsidence, the project was completed to investigate and assess the use of dredged material disposal placement, and the effectiveness of this method in maintaining marshes at an elevation that supports native marsh vegetation to reinforce the subsoils and protect the local community.
One of the metrics analyzed was the impact, if any, of the placement of dredged material on the community composition, abundance, and distribution of avian species within the two dredged material placement sites, one proximal to the Atlantic Ocean in Avalon, New Jersey and the other proximal to Delaware Bay Fortescue, New Jersey.
Princeton Hydro, in conjunction with the Fish and Wildlife Service, Wetlands Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, developed a monitoring plan that utilized the BACI (before, after, control, impact) study design and the protocols from the “Standardized North American Marsh Bird Monitoring Protocols” developed by Courtney Conway in 2012 for both the Fortescue and Avalon sites.
Surveys were implemented over a period of four years, 2014-2017, occurring during the spring, summer, and fall periods to capture the avian community composition changes both seasonally and year over year at both sites with seven survey areas at Fortescue and nine at Avalon. Post thin layer placement surveys indicated that (1) avian species richness increased at Avalon, but was negligible at Fortescue; (2) species guild assemblage experienced a shift, with an increase in shorebirds coinciding with a decrease in waders and passerines at Avalon, while there was an increase in gulls and waders and a decrease in passerines at Fortescue; (3) loafing by shorebirds and gulls increased at Avalon, while Fortescue had negligible changes in loafing. Over time, loafing activities at both sites decreased with an increase in foraging observed and the communities of both sites shifted from gull/shorebird dominated to passerine/wader dominated as the marsh vegetation developed.
Over 40 years ago, Mercer County purchased 279 acres of flood-prone land along Miry Run as part of a restoration and flood mitigation initiative. In 2018, Mercer County Park Commission (MCPC) contracted Princeton Hydro and Simone Collins Landscape Architecture to develop the Miry Run Ponds Master Plan with three primary goals: (1) Provide passive recreation to complement other County activities; (2) Preserve and enhance the habitat, water quality, and natural systems that currently exist onsite; and (3) Provide linkage to adjacent trails and parks.
The team assessed the land area and proposed a concept plan to enhance the area and create recreational lake activities. Applying expertise in science-based assessment and evaluations, we performed:
Our project team facilitated focus groups with local municipalities, residents, interest groups, and County stakeholders to seek their input and report on site evaluation findings. In partnership with the County, we held public meetings to gather feedback on the conceptual site designs. This helped to inform the park planning process and determine how best to manage the site to meet the needs of the community and future generations.
The final Miry Run Pond Master Plan goes above and beyond the original vision, proposing considerable improvements to the area prioritizing valuable natural features, including 34 acres of reforestation, 64 acres of new meadows, 19 acres of vernal pools, and 7.9 miles of walking trails. It serves as a long-term vision and will be implemented over multiple phases. Dredging of the lake began in 2023.
Mercer County’s John A. Roebling Memorial Park offers residents in the surrounding area a freshwater marsh with river fishing, kayaking, hiking, and wildlife-watching. The park contains the northernmost freshwater tidal marsh on the Delaware River, Abbott Marshland. Tidal marshes, like the 3,000-acre Abbott Marshlands, contain valuable habitat for many rare species like River Otter, American Eel, Bald Eagle, and many species of wading birds. Unfortunately, the Abbott Marshland has experienced a significant amount of loss and degradation, partially due to the introduction of the invasive Phragmites australis (Phragmites).
For the Mercer County Park Commission (MCPC), Princeton Hydro put together a plan to reduce and control the Phragmites to increase biodiversity, improve water quality, broaden recreational opportunities, and enhance the visitor experience at the park. This stewardship project replaced the Phragmites with native species with a goal to reduce its ability to recolonize the marsh. Once the restoration was completed, these areas gave way to native flora, enhanced tidal function, and incredible viewscapes. Princeton Hydro also conducted a Floristic Quality Assessment to identify invasive areas and an Evaluation of Planned Wetlands to identify key wetland functions/values to be enhanced/restored, as well as performed hydrologic monitoring to understand tidal stage elevations.
Phase 1 of the restoration process included multiple herbicide applications in Spring and Fall to eradicate the Phragmites. We led the permit application process, which included securing a Flood Hazard Area (FHA) General Permit #4, Freshwater Wetlands (FWW) General Permit #16, and Coastal (CZM) General Permit #24. Our field operations crew applied the herbicide Imazapyr using our amphibious Marsh Master vehicle and airboat as well as on foot with a backpack sprayer. Following herbicide treatment, the Marsh Master was be equipped with a steel lawn roller with a welded angle iron to roll over and crush/snap the common reed stalks. The stalks would be rolled in opposite directions to break and mulch the stalks and expose the native seedbank. One year later, we documented a dozen “volunteer” native species growing in the marsh. During the project, Princeton Hydro worked alongside MCPC to keep the public informed and engaged through public meetings and outreach. MCPC launched the “Capture the Change” initiative to help document the visual changes seen in the park as the restoration progresses by sharing photos on social media using #BagthePhrag.
Princeton Hydro was hired by The Nature Conservancy to design and permit the replacement of the Mitchell Brook culvert in Whatley, MA. The culvert was designed according to the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards to promote aquatic organism passage.
Road crossings over streams have gained recent attention in the Northeast for interrupting stream continuity, fragmenting habitat, and creating barriers to fish passage. The USGS, in partnership with other agencies, had been collecting fish passage data at two road crossings in a small rural watershed in western Massachusetts.
The Nature Conservancy contracted Princeton Hydro to design and implement a culvert crossing retrofit that would allow for before-and-after comparison of fish passage rates on Mitchell Brook, a tributary to the West River. As one of the few stream crossing retrofits with extensive fish passage data collection, the project is intended to serve as a model for ongoing efforts.
Princeton Hydro completed a geomorphic assessment and hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, and applied the USFS Stream Simulation process to develop a design that satisfied the Massachusetts Stream Crossing Standards. As the crossing was a public road, the design also had to satisfy MassDOT road and bridge standards. Princeton Hydro gained the necessary permit approvals from Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the local Conservation Commission (administering state Wetland regulations), and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
On behalf of the Borough of Bernardsville Environmental Commission, Princeton Hydro prepared an updated Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI) report. An ERI is a factual basis for understanding all of the environmental resources in the municipality and is used for municipal master plan updates and land use planning. It is an objective index that describes the features and functions of the resources, and does not interpret or recommend specific actions. An ERI is commonly used by municipalities to identify priority areas for open space, farmland, and historic preservation.
The Bernardsville ERI includes a compilation of text, tables, maps, and figures. Using GIS data layers, we precisely detailed the location and extent of the Borough’s resource including wetlands, open space, impervious cover, known contaminated sites, farmland, water features, and more. The accompanying narrative gives a descriptive account of land use trends, including historic places, threatened and endangered species, soils, and natural areas.
The final report, designed in Adobe Indesign, also included a report card highlighting trends in land use and population over the last decade. In partnership with the Bernardsville Environmental Commission, Princeton Hydro presented the ERI to the Bernardsville Planning Board, and it was officially adopted into the Master Plan as an Appendix to the Conservation Element in February 2019.
The Turtle Creek Mitigation site is one of several sites identified to offset impacts to freshwater wetlands, coastal wetlands, and threatened and endangered species habitat resulting from the widening of the Garden State Parkway Milepost 30-80.
The 259-acre Turtle Creek Mitigation Site was identified to offset impacts to threatened and endangered species including Northern Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus), Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii), Barred Owl (Strix varia), Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), and Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), among others. Princeton Hydro was contracted to conduct a two-phase survey to first identify, map, and assess the habitat on the site and second to conduct directed surveys in the field to verify the species’ presence.
The identification, mapping, and screening-level assessment of on-site habitats used aerial photographs and ESRI ArcMap®. Once habitats were mapped, they were ground-verified as well as evaluated for the potential for each habitat to support the target listed species.
The second phase of the project involved conducting directed surveys to determine the presence of target species. The surveys were conducted from spring through autumn of 2007. Surveys were scheduled and conducted on the site during the time of year that the species would be most readily observed, such as during breeding, nesting, or flowering times. Additionally, survey methods were specific to each species such as conspecific vocalization playback for amphibian and bird species, time constrained searches in habitat identified as suitable for that species during their most active time, and random incidental encounter using transect searches through their suitable habitat. These methods are accepted survey techniques and increase the likelihood of detecting the target species.
The surveys and subsequent report summarized the results and facilitated the approval of the site as an offset to suitable habitat impact that will result from the Garden State Parkway Widening project.
GreenVest, LLC and Princeton Hydro, LLC worked together to restore a 33.89 acre parcel of land located in the Mullica River Watershed in the Township of Evesham in Burlington County, New Jersey. For a century, the land was used as cranberry cultivation bogs and was intensively manipulated to facilitate cranberry production. This included a network of earthen berms surrounding the cranberry cultivating bogs, a series of ditches and water control structures were to manage water onsite, and other agricultural infrastructure.
Although the site was highly degraded, it was bordered mostly by Atlantic white cedar dominated swamp and still contained four state listed species, including the state-endangered Timber Rattlesnake and the Pine Barrens Tree Frog, making it a priority site for restoration. The presence of these species influenced the design as it included provisions to incorporate habitat elements for these species.
Through the implementation of restoration activities focused on removing the site’s agricultural infrastructure, Princeton Hydro and GreenVest were able to restore a natural wetland system on the site. In addition, the restoration project reconnected the site to its floodplain and re-established a natural stream channel. The expansive, flat and wide floodplain wetland complex of the Alquatka Branch of the Mullica River provides floodplain connectivity for relatively frequent storm events and allows for a sustainable floodplain wetland complex in the former cranberry bog cells.
Additionally, the project involved innovative restoration techniques that required building consensus among local watershed protection groups and state and regional regulators, including New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Pinelands Commission. The project also incorporated a balance of both ecological and human health and safety benefits.
The restoration of the site focused on the establishment of several wetland types including emergent and forested wetlands based on the restored site hydrology. Restoration planting at the site took place in four primary areas: 1.70 acres of Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, 5.60 acres of Emergent Wetland, 8.53 acres of Forested Scrub-shrub Wetland, and 3.75 acres of upland and wetland transition area enhancement.
Plantings in the emergent wetland included 12,197 plugs of the following:
The forested scrub-shrub wetland included 1,965 containerized plantings consisting of the following species:
For the Atlantic White Cedar restoration area, 1.70 acres were planted with 718 containerized plants. These included 20% of the plantings as Atlantic White Cedar. The Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) component of the restoration project was designed to convert an existing portion of a cranberry bog to its historical ecological community. Atlantic White Cedar wetlands provide invaluable habitat to a variety of threatened/endangered species in New Jersey, including Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii), Barred Owl (Strix varia), and Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) while also providing an array of ecosystem functions associated with wetlands including water storage, water filtration, and biological productivity.
In the end, the project restored 34 acres of a highly functioning forested wetland/upland complex and reestablished 1,600+ linear feet of historic headwater stream channels. The project significantly uplifted threatened and endangered species habitat. The entire restored stream reach has fully formed and has been stable since the end of the 2015 growing season. And, the project won the Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve's "2018 Land Ethics Award of Merit."
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