Monica Chasten, EWN Proving Ground Lead, USACE Philadelphia District & Lenore P. Tedesco, Executive Director, The Wetlands Institute
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Philadelphia District has been participating in the national Regional Sediment Management (RSM) and Engineering With Nature (EWN) Programs with considerable lessons learned developed for navigation dredging and placement activities in New Jersey, especially since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Over the last decade, beneficial use placements involving shoreline stabilization and marsh restoration have significantly increased in the Philadelphia District’s region, helping to advance practices and policies that keep dredged material in the natural sediment system while enhancing natural infrastructure in the back bays. The Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab (SMIIL) was created in 2019 by the primary partners of USACE, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and The Wetlands Institute, with goals to advance the science, challenge thinking and promote innovation for dredging and placement practices being implemented in the Philadelphia District’s coastal environment. This presentation will focus on examples of successful dredging and innovative placement projects in coastal New Jersey, as well as an overview of SMIIL and overarching lessons learned so far from the ongoing work of over 30 different practitioners and researchers working in this forum.
The N-EWN Knowledge Series offers 1 Continuing Education Credit (CEC) per seminar. This Series is presented by N-EWN, Limnotech, the University of Georgia, and USACE ERDC.