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History of Delaware and New Jersey salt marsh restoration sites
Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
History of Delaware and New Jersey salt marsh restoration sites Kurt R. Philipp ∗ Wetlands Research Services, P.O. Box 156, Newark, DE 19715, USA Received 29 February 2004; accepted 8 April 2005
Abstract Humans have modified the tidal marsh sites of the Public Service Enterprise Group Estuary Enhancement Program over the past 400 years as well as by natural processes such as sea level change and storms. We used the data reported here – photographs and maps that showed the range of changes and the time frame in which these changes occurred – as the basis for restoration design. These data show the ephemeral nature of some salt marsh features and the persistence of others, despite centuries of diking, hurricanes and flooding. These data were used to develop the restoration time lines and the expectations as to marsh form and function. The individual history of each restoration site is reviewed through historic maps and aerial photographs and is followed by reference to site features, such as drainage ditches, channels, tidal range, vegetation change, and land use over time. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Tidal marsh geomorphology; Restoration planning; Diked marshes; Tidal marshland use
1. Introduction The Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG), Estuary Enhancement Program (EEP) is restoring large areas of tidal marsh within the Delaware River and Bay. Part of this marsh restoration effort focused upon large areas (approximately 1780 ha) of tidal marsh that had been cultivated for salt hay (Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata). Management of tidal marshes for salt hay farming usually involves the construction of access roads, drainage ditches, and dikes (Sebold, 1992). Another part of restoration effort focuses upon areas (approximately 2770 ha) of tidal marsh that had become dominated by the common reed, Phrag∗
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mites australis since the mid 20th Century. Phragmites appears to have spread rapidly over the last 50 years and today is extensively distributed throughout the estuary in monospecific and mixed stands (Philipp, 1995; Philipp et al., 1997). The EEP is managing tidal marshes in New Jersey and Delaware both to restore tidal flow to diked salt hay marshes and to remove Phragmites as the dominant species and then restore vegetation on these marshes to plants, such as Spartina alterniflora, that are associated with greater fish and wildlife use. Tidal marshes of the Delaware River Estuary have been managed for various purposes over the past 400+ years. These coastal lands were used for agriculture and were protected from storm tides and the relative rise of sea level with water control structures, natu-
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
ral coastal berms, and man-made dikes. The five EEP restoration sites in this study include undiked natural tidal marshes, diked lands breached by severe storms over 100 years ago, and diked lands breached incrementally as recently as 20–50 years ago. By 1990, the effects of tidal restriction in the diked meadows had brought profound changes in sediment morphology, site elevation and the pattern and character of tidal creeks. Coastal marsh restoration projects need to be consistent with the processes of coastal marsh evolution and recent history (Roman et al., 2002; Williams and Orr, 2002; Crooks et al., 2002). In this study the history of each restoration site is inferred from historic maps and aerial photographs that show site features such as drainage ditches, channels, the extent of tide, vegetation change, and land use over time. These data
215
were vital to restoration planning and to measuring restoration progress: revegetation, elevation change, and morphology change (Weinstein et al., 1997; Weinstein et al., 2000). The broad vistas of open tidal marshes and the maze of meandering tidal creeks are typical natural landscapes of the east coast of the U.S. These tidal marshes have been affected by the people living along the Delaware Estuary (Stutz, 1998; Berger et al., 1994). There have been indirect impacts from human development of coastal watersheds and direct impacts upon tidal marshes from fisheries, farming, mosquito control, and filling (for dredged material disposal and coastal land development (Daiber, 1986; Daiber, 1987; Sebold, 1992). Philipp and Ratsep (1998) and Weinstein et al. (2000) have described the history of the tidal marshes of the Delaware Estuary.
Fig. 1. Coastal marsh and barrier island transgression (Kraft et al., 1992 with permission from J.C. Kraft.).
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2. Study area The study area consists of five restoration sites within the Estuary Enhancement Program (See Fig. 1, Teal and Peterson, 2005). Restoration sites were selected on the basis of availability through ownership and management restoration potential as evident by marsh configuration, morphology, and hydrology. In New Jersey, Phragmites marsh restoration sites are located in Alloway Creek and Cohansey River. Delaware sites are the Rocks, Cedar Swamp, and Woodland Beach. Restoration actions in the Phragmites marsh sites have consisted of application of herbicide application over the entire marsh plain areas
(1997 and 1998), trial application of other management techniques, including mowing, removal of relict dikes, and modification of micro-topography (1999), and herbicide application on selected marsh areas. The salt hay restoration site is the Maurice River Township site, near Thompson’s Beach. The adjacent reference area of Moore’s Beach is described together with the Maurice River Township site. Restoration actions in the salt hay sites consisted of breaching dikes and dredging of major new tidal creek channels. Information provided here is from historic maps and aerial photographs of the sites, as well as from historical reviews, accounts, interviews, and field observations throughout tidal marshes of the region.
Fig. 2. History of Jefferson Marsh (Orson et al., 1992 with permissions from R. Orson).
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
3. Discussion 3.1. Shoreline transgression Human use of tidal marshes of the Delaware Estuary has taken place within a period of relative sea level rise (Titus, 1988) where tidal marshes, as well as barrier beaches, have transgressed landward, constantly adjusting to the current tidal range through the accretion of sediments and organic material (Kraft et al., 1992). Fig. 1 presents an example of this landward transgression/migration. Orson et al. (1992) used sediment dating and pollen analysis to reconstruct the history of Jefferson freshwater tidal marsh (near National Park, New Jersey) from 2500 years ago to the present. Fig. 2 shows the evolution of vegetation on the site from an oak forest 2500 before present (BP), with a steep non-tidal creek bank, through to an alder and sedge/cattail fringe marsh of 350 year BP. There was land clearing and farming on this fertile floodplain/marshy fringe in the 1600–1700s. But with sea level rise, the farmers of the next century
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needed to build dikes to keep out storm and spring tides as sea level rose about one foot per 100 years (Titus, 1988). Farming meadowlands behind dikes became a widespread practice throughout the estuary in the 1700 and 1800s and is documented in records of Meadow bank companies (Sebold, 1992). Meadow refers to land in agricultural production with drainage modified by dikes and ditches. Timothy hay, wheat, corn, potatoes and strawberries were grown in these reclaimed lands. As sea level continued to rise relative to these meadows, it became too costly to maintain dikes for the lower meadows and they were abandoned for meadows on higher ground. By the early 1900s (1940 for the Jefferson Marsh), most meadows had been abandoned and the dikes breached, allowing tidal water to flow over the once farmed meadow. 3.2. Alloway Creek and Cohansey River Fig. 3 shows the progression of diked meadow creation and abandonment at the EEP Alloway Creek site. In 1848, a dike was built along the river shoreline
Fig. 3. Alloway Creek Site—Point Elsinborough to Alloway Creek 1848, 1883, and 1898. “Meadow” refers to land in agricultural production with drainage modified by dikes and ditches.
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Fig. 4. Cohansey River site, 1872, 1887, and 1890.
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
with farmed meadows behind the dike. Meadow areas can be identified by the array of right angle drainage ditches behind the dikes. By 1883, the upper portion of the dike had been abandoned and the meadow area flooded with tidal flow creating an area of open water/flats or embayment and tidal marsh. Meadows had been established by then on higher ground farther south along the shore (south of Straight Ditch). In 1898 meadows are shown farther east along Alloway Creek, while the open water/flats to the north are still evident. Meadows were also present along the Cohansey River site, to the south on the Delaware River (Fig. 4). Striping indicates marsh in the areas between the Cohansey River meanders in the 1872 image in contrast to the unmarked uplands. Less striping in these same areas in the 1887 image indicates these areas
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are cultivated and not marsh. Half of the westernmost meander appears to be cultivated former marsh in the 1887 and 1890 images. The two easternmost meanders on the northern shore also appear to be cultivated and not marsh in 1890. Meadow abandonment and dike breaching continued through the early 1900s with tidal flow established in nearly all former meadows on both Alloway Creek and the Cohansey River by the 1950s. Fig. 5 shows the Alloway Creek site in 1997. It is easy to see the mosaic of tidal creeks that have developed in what were once diked meadows. Philipp used these patterns to map meadow locations in the estuary (Philipp and Ratsep, 1998) and to identify four general classes of ditch and tidal creek patterns in abandoned meadows: ‘sinuous’—natural
Fig. 5. Color reversal infrared aerial photograph of Alloway Creek site, 1997.
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Fig. 6. Tidal creek pattern examples and their locations along the Delaware River and Bay.
tidal creeks; ‘open/flats’—open water, formerly open meadow; ‘ditched’—tidal creeks, formerly meadow ditches; and ‘dendritic’—new channels, formerly open meadow (Fig. 6) taken from example locations along the Delaware River and Bay. Fig. 7 displays the distribution of diked meadows from a review of historical maps and photographs. Most diked meadow areas of Fig. 7 display either dendritic, open/flats, or ditched tidal creek patterns, if they have not been filled for land development. Diked meadowland isolated from tidal flow did not receive sediment from the bay needed to maintain surface elevations. Subsidence and compaction of the meadow surfaces over time further reduced their elevation. It appears that long periods of diked meadow use during a time of rising sea level created creek patterns
of open/flats to dendritic classes. For those meadows used over a shorter time, the flow patterns are in the ditched class. 3.3. Cedar Swamp An 1828 map (Fig. 8) shows the upper meadow area in Alloway Creek was upland, not marsh. Notably, it shows, what is now the Cedar Swamp salt marsh site area, as Cedar Creek. Fig. 9, an 1841 map of Cedar Swamp area, displays both a roadway (and dike) and dike alone between Liston Neck and Thorofare Neck and no Cedar Creek, only marsh. The map presented in an 1850 atlas (Fig. 10a) also shows the roadway and dike, but no marsh, indicating that the area behind dike and road was farmed meadow. This 1850 map
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
Fig. 7. Historical tide gated meadows from historical maps and photographs.
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Fig. 8. Delaware River–Delaware City to Bombay Hook, 1828.
also shows a forested wetland (cedar swamp) behind the roadway dike. Bryan (1997) and Florio (1978) described two hurricanes that changed this portion of the coast
and tidal marshes. The 1878 hurricane breached the dikes at Collins Beach (once the mouth of Cedar Creek) and breached Bombay Hook Island. The Collins Beach dikes were rebuilt only to be washed out for
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Fig. 9. Cedar Swamp, 1841.
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Fig. 10. Cedar Swamp. (a) 1850, (b) 1927, (c) 1998, and (d) Color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
good in the coastal hurricane of 1893. The Cedar Swamp meadow area became tidal marsh with the dendritic creek pattern of former meadows (Fig. 10b). Relic sections of the Cedar Swamp dike can be seen in the 1927 photograph and today (Fig. 10c and d). The marsh creeks have continued to fill in since 1927 and dead cedar trees can still be found today in the area marked as forested wetland in the 1850 map. 3.4. Woodland Beach and the rocks The hurricane of 1878 breached Bombay Hook Island and also changed the Duck Creek marshes in the
area that is now the EEP Woodland Beach site. Maps from Florio (1978) and Fig. 8 illustrate the progression following the storm breach (Fig. 11). The roadways crossing Old Duck Creek suggest that dikes created the meadows. The 1860 image shows the sinuous pattern of undisturbed natural tidal creeks. Accounts indicate that the 1878 storm breach (The Break) allowed an area of open water/tidal flats to form (1910 image) that greatly enhanced waterfowl use. Landowners rebuilt the roadway dike at “the stoppen” to ensure this wildlife use for hunting. Over time, more breaches connected the open water embayment to the river and tidal drainage developed sufficiently to allow marsh plain evolution with a dendritic pattern of tidal creeks. Fig. 12 shows images
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Fig. 11. Evolution of Woodland Beach: 1860 to present.
of 1927 and 1997. The tidal creeks have continued to fill in between 1927 and 1997. Historic maps of the EEP Rocks site show no indication the area was diked to create meadow. Fig. 13(a)
1927 and (b) 1997 show no area of diked marsh. Linear ditches on the site may have been cut to enhance marsh access for hunting or trapping (Daiber, 1986).
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Fig. 12. Woodland Beach (a) 1927 and (b) color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
3.5. Maurice River Township and Moore’s Beach The natural shoreline beach berm along the Maurice River Cove of the Delaware Bay afforded protection for large expanses of salt hay marshes. These coastal tidal marshes along the cove have long history of salt hay farming (Sebold, 1992). Fig. 14 shows the Maurice River Township restoration site and the adjacent Moore’s Beach reference site. Early salt hay farming in these marshes was basically harvesting salt hay in natural marshes. Ditching the natural marshes helped access for harvest and as relative sea level increased (about one foot per century), became necessary to maintain the salt hay community. A slow increase in the distribution of ditching is apparent in Fig. 14 through 1842 to 1894. The 1946 map in Fig. 15 indicates that ditches for salt hay farming were widespread in the area. The continued pace of rela-
tive sea level rise, as well as, several hurricanes and coastal storms (Northeasters) in the 1950s resulted in the need for most of the salt hay farms to have man made dikes along their lower elevations by the early 1960s. Coastal storms in the early 1980s caused breaches in the natural beach berm and dikes along the shores of the Maurice River Cove. Breaches in dikes along Riggins Ditch (shown at Lost Meander location in Fig. 15(b) initially caused the flooding of a salt hay farm to the east of this tidal creek and the formation of a tidal lagoon and mud flats. The loss of a natural creek meander near the mouth of Riggins Ditch (Fig. 15b) is coincident with the increase in tidal prism volume of this creek from the flooded former salt hay farm. Multiple breaches in the bay beach berm of Moore’s or Robinson Beach developed during the early 1980s
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Fig. 13. The Rocks (a) 1927 and (b) color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
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Fig. 14. Maurice River Township restoration site and Moore’s Beach reference site (a) USGS Quad, (b) 1842, (c) 1888, and (d) 1894.
Fig. 15. Maurice River Township restoration site and Moore’s Beach reference site (a) 1946, (b) 1986, (c) 1992, and (d) 1996.
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(Fig. 15(b 1986, (c) 1992, and (d) 1996) and established a large lagoon and tidal mud flats that persist today. Fig. 15(c) 1992 was used as the example of the open/flats tidal marsh creek pattern in Fig. 6. A breach in the bay beach berm of what is now the Maurice River Township site (Thompson’s Beach), occurred in 1993 and can be seen in Fig. 15(d) 1996. Concern for the development of large lagoons and tidal mud flats from natural uncontrolled bay berm breaches helped shape the successful design of EEP salt hay restoration sites, including the Maurice River Township site. It seems likely that a large open water embayment would have become established on the Maurice River Township site, if restoration efforts had not begun in 1997.
4. Conclusion The EEP Phragmites restoration sites of Alloway Creek and Cohansey River are diked meadowlands. The past land use is evident from the patterns made by their tidal creeks—either dendritic or ditched pattern classes. Cedar Swamp and Woodland Beach have historical records showing dikes or natural island barriers that were breached in great storm events; there are no records they were used as meadow land. These two sites, as well as a portion of the Alloway Creek site, illustrate a progression of open water/flats embayment to a dendritic creek pattern and evolved marsh plain following dike breaches. The Rocks shows no record in historical maps and photographs of diked or storm influenced marsh plain development. The Rocks has linear ditches, but no relic dike areas. The Maurice River Township restoration site and the adjacent Moore’s Beach reference site show a history of uncontrolled bay berm and dike breaches. The eastern portion of Moore’s Beach, outside of the reference site, has an extensive area of open water/flats embayment that persists today. Restoration efforts on the Maurice River Township site were taken before a similar open water embayment could become established. These maps and photographs were valuable tools in designing the restorations for the EEP restoration sites because they illustrated the range of physical changes that might occur and the time over which changes could be projected.
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References Berger, J., Sinton J.W., Radke, J., 1994. History of the human ecology of the Delaware estuary. A report to the Delaware Estuary Program by Expert Information Systems, Inc. Bryan, E.D., 1997. Ho! For Collin’s Beach! Dover, DE. p. 85. Crooks, S., Schutten, J., Sheern, G.D., Pye, K., Davy, A.J., 2002. Drainage and elevation as factors in the restoration of salt marsh in Britain. Restor. Ecol. 10 (3), 591–602. Daiber, F.C., 1987. A brief history of tidal marsh mosquito control. In: Whitman, W.R., Meredith, W.H. (Eds.), Proceedings of a Symposium on Waterfowl and Wetlands in the Coastal Zone of the Atlantic Flyway. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Dover, DE. Daiber, F.C., 1986. Conservation of tidal marshes. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, p. 341. Florio, A.J., 1978. Tales of Bay View Neck, In: The Great Tidal Wave. Spring, The Delaware Conservationist. DNREC, Dover, DE, p. 16. Kraft, J.C., Yi, H., Khalequzzaman, M.D., 1992. Geologic and human factors in the decline of the tidal salt marsh lithosome: the Delaware Estuary and Atlantic coastal zone. Sediment. Geol. 80, 233–246. Orson, R.A., Simpson, R.L., Good, R.E., 1992. The paleoecological development of a late Holocene tidal freshwater marsh of the Upper Delaware River Estuary. Estuaries 15 (2), 130–146. Philipp, Kurt, 1995. Tidal wetlands characterization—then and now. Delaware Estuary Program. Final Report to Delaware River Basin Commission, p. 165. Philipp, Kurt., Ratsep, I.A., 1998. Conceptual design investigations and analysis. In: Proceedings if the Wetlands Engineering and River Restoration Conference, Denver, CO. Philipp, K., Ratsep, I.A., Bailey, A., 1997. Phragmites australis in the Delaware Estuary: historical review and a management approach. In: Proceedings of the Estuarine Research Federation International Conference. The State of Our Estuaries, Providence, RI. Roman, C.T., Raposa, K.B., Adamowicz, S.C., James-Pirri, M., Catena, J.G., 2002. Quantifying vegetation and nekton response to tidal restoration of a New England salt marsh. Restor. Ecol. 10 (3), 450–460. Sebold, K.R., 1992. From Marsh to Farm: the Landscape Transformation of Coastal New Jersey. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. Stutz, B., 1998. Natural Lives, Modern Times: People and Places of the Delaware River. Crown Publishers Inc., New York, p. 389. Teal, J.M., Peterson, S.B., 2005. Introduction to the Delaware Bay salt marsh restoration. Ecol. Eng.. Titus, J.G., 1988. Sea level rise and wetland loss: on overview. In: Titus, J.G. (Ed.), Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise and Coastal Wetlands. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation, Washington, DC, p. 152, EPA230-05-86-013. Weinstein, M.P., Balletto, J.H., Teal, J.M., Ludwig, D.F., 1997. Success criteria and adaptive management for a large-scale
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wetland restoration project. Wetlands Ecol. Manage. 4, 111– 127. Weinstein, M.P., Philipp, K.R., Goodwin, P., 2000. Catastrophes, near-catastrophes, and the bounds of expectation: success criteria for macroscale marsh restoration. In: Weinstein, M.P., Kreeger,
D.A. (Eds.), Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology. Kluwer Academic, Boston, MA, pp. 777–804. Williams, P.B., Orr, M.K., 2002. Physical evolution of restored breached levee salt marshes in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Restor. Ecol. 10 (3), 527–542.
History of Delaware and New Jersey salt marsh restoration sites Kurt R. Philipp ∗ Wetlands Research Services, P.O. Box 156, Newark, DE 19715, USA Received 29 February 2004; accepted 8 April 2005
Abstract Humans have modified the tidal marsh sites of the Public Service Enterprise Group Estuary Enhancement Program over the past 400 years as well as by natural processes such as sea level change and storms. We used the data reported here – photographs and maps that showed the range of changes and the time frame in which these changes occurred – as the basis for restoration design. These data show the ephemeral nature of some salt marsh features and the persistence of others, despite centuries of diking, hurricanes and flooding. These data were used to develop the restoration time lines and the expectations as to marsh form and function. The individual history of each restoration site is reviewed through historic maps and aerial photographs and is followed by reference to site features, such as drainage ditches, channels, tidal range, vegetation change, and land use over time. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Tidal marsh geomorphology; Restoration planning; Diked marshes; Tidal marshland use
1. Introduction The Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG), Estuary Enhancement Program (EEP) is restoring large areas of tidal marsh within the Delaware River and Bay. Part of this marsh restoration effort focused upon large areas (approximately 1780 ha) of tidal marsh that had been cultivated for salt hay (Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata). Management of tidal marshes for salt hay farming usually involves the construction of access roads, drainage ditches, and dikes (Sebold, 1992). Another part of restoration effort focuses upon areas (approximately 2770 ha) of tidal marsh that had become dominated by the common reed, Phrag∗
Tel.: +1 302 738 7535; fax: +1 302 738 9173.
0925-8574/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2005.04.010
mites australis since the mid 20th Century. Phragmites appears to have spread rapidly over the last 50 years and today is extensively distributed throughout the estuary in monospecific and mixed stands (Philipp, 1995; Philipp et al., 1997). The EEP is managing tidal marshes in New Jersey and Delaware both to restore tidal flow to diked salt hay marshes and to remove Phragmites as the dominant species and then restore vegetation on these marshes to plants, such as Spartina alterniflora, that are associated with greater fish and wildlife use. Tidal marshes of the Delaware River Estuary have been managed for various purposes over the past 400+ years. These coastal lands were used for agriculture and were protected from storm tides and the relative rise of sea level with water control structures, natu-
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
ral coastal berms, and man-made dikes. The five EEP restoration sites in this study include undiked natural tidal marshes, diked lands breached by severe storms over 100 years ago, and diked lands breached incrementally as recently as 20–50 years ago. By 1990, the effects of tidal restriction in the diked meadows had brought profound changes in sediment morphology, site elevation and the pattern and character of tidal creeks. Coastal marsh restoration projects need to be consistent with the processes of coastal marsh evolution and recent history (Roman et al., 2002; Williams and Orr, 2002; Crooks et al., 2002). In this study the history of each restoration site is inferred from historic maps and aerial photographs that show site features such as drainage ditches, channels, the extent of tide, vegetation change, and land use over time. These data
215
were vital to restoration planning and to measuring restoration progress: revegetation, elevation change, and morphology change (Weinstein et al., 1997; Weinstein et al., 2000). The broad vistas of open tidal marshes and the maze of meandering tidal creeks are typical natural landscapes of the east coast of the U.S. These tidal marshes have been affected by the people living along the Delaware Estuary (Stutz, 1998; Berger et al., 1994). There have been indirect impacts from human development of coastal watersheds and direct impacts upon tidal marshes from fisheries, farming, mosquito control, and filling (for dredged material disposal and coastal land development (Daiber, 1986; Daiber, 1987; Sebold, 1992). Philipp and Ratsep (1998) and Weinstein et al. (2000) have described the history of the tidal marshes of the Delaware Estuary.
Fig. 1. Coastal marsh and barrier island transgression (Kraft et al., 1992 with permission from J.C. Kraft.).
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K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
2. Study area The study area consists of five restoration sites within the Estuary Enhancement Program (See Fig. 1, Teal and Peterson, 2005). Restoration sites were selected on the basis of availability through ownership and management restoration potential as evident by marsh configuration, morphology, and hydrology. In New Jersey, Phragmites marsh restoration sites are located in Alloway Creek and Cohansey River. Delaware sites are the Rocks, Cedar Swamp, and Woodland Beach. Restoration actions in the Phragmites marsh sites have consisted of application of herbicide application over the entire marsh plain areas
(1997 and 1998), trial application of other management techniques, including mowing, removal of relict dikes, and modification of micro-topography (1999), and herbicide application on selected marsh areas. The salt hay restoration site is the Maurice River Township site, near Thompson’s Beach. The adjacent reference area of Moore’s Beach is described together with the Maurice River Township site. Restoration actions in the salt hay sites consisted of breaching dikes and dredging of major new tidal creek channels. Information provided here is from historic maps and aerial photographs of the sites, as well as from historical reviews, accounts, interviews, and field observations throughout tidal marshes of the region.
Fig. 2. History of Jefferson Marsh (Orson et al., 1992 with permissions from R. Orson).
K.R. Philipp / Ecological Engineering 25 (2005) 214–230
3. Discussion 3.1. Shoreline transgression Human use of tidal marshes of the Delaware Estuary has taken place within a period of relative sea level rise (Titus, 1988) where tidal marshes, as well as barrier beaches, have transgressed landward, constantly adjusting to the current tidal range through the accretion of sediments and organic material (Kraft et al., 1992). Fig. 1 presents an example of this landward transgression/migration. Orson et al. (1992) used sediment dating and pollen analysis to reconstruct the history of Jefferson freshwater tidal marsh (near National Park, New Jersey) from 2500 years ago to the present. Fig. 2 shows the evolution of vegetation on the site from an oak forest 2500 before present (BP), with a steep non-tidal creek bank, through to an alder and sedge/cattail fringe marsh of 350 year BP. There was land clearing and farming on this fertile floodplain/marshy fringe in the 1600–1700s. But with sea level rise, the farmers of the next century
217
needed to build dikes to keep out storm and spring tides as sea level rose about one foot per 100 years (Titus, 1988). Farming meadowlands behind dikes became a widespread practice throughout the estuary in the 1700 and 1800s and is documented in records of Meadow bank companies (Sebold, 1992). Meadow refers to land in agricultural production with drainage modified by dikes and ditches. Timothy hay, wheat, corn, potatoes and strawberries were grown in these reclaimed lands. As sea level continued to rise relative to these meadows, it became too costly to maintain dikes for the lower meadows and they were abandoned for meadows on higher ground. By the early 1900s (1940 for the Jefferson Marsh), most meadows had been abandoned and the dikes breached, allowing tidal water to flow over the once farmed meadow. 3.2. Alloway Creek and Cohansey River Fig. 3 shows the progression of diked meadow creation and abandonment at the EEP Alloway Creek site. In 1848, a dike was built along the river shoreline
Fig. 3. Alloway Creek Site—Point Elsinborough to Alloway Creek 1848, 1883, and 1898. “Meadow” refers to land in agricultural production with drainage modified by dikes and ditches.
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Fig. 4. Cohansey River site, 1872, 1887, and 1890.
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with farmed meadows behind the dike. Meadow areas can be identified by the array of right angle drainage ditches behind the dikes. By 1883, the upper portion of the dike had been abandoned and the meadow area flooded with tidal flow creating an area of open water/flats or embayment and tidal marsh. Meadows had been established by then on higher ground farther south along the shore (south of Straight Ditch). In 1898 meadows are shown farther east along Alloway Creek, while the open water/flats to the north are still evident. Meadows were also present along the Cohansey River site, to the south on the Delaware River (Fig. 4). Striping indicates marsh in the areas between the Cohansey River meanders in the 1872 image in contrast to the unmarked uplands. Less striping in these same areas in the 1887 image indicates these areas
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are cultivated and not marsh. Half of the westernmost meander appears to be cultivated former marsh in the 1887 and 1890 images. The two easternmost meanders on the northern shore also appear to be cultivated and not marsh in 1890. Meadow abandonment and dike breaching continued through the early 1900s with tidal flow established in nearly all former meadows on both Alloway Creek and the Cohansey River by the 1950s. Fig. 5 shows the Alloway Creek site in 1997. It is easy to see the mosaic of tidal creeks that have developed in what were once diked meadows. Philipp used these patterns to map meadow locations in the estuary (Philipp and Ratsep, 1998) and to identify four general classes of ditch and tidal creek patterns in abandoned meadows: ‘sinuous’—natural
Fig. 5. Color reversal infrared aerial photograph of Alloway Creek site, 1997.
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Fig. 6. Tidal creek pattern examples and their locations along the Delaware River and Bay.
tidal creeks; ‘open/flats’—open water, formerly open meadow; ‘ditched’—tidal creeks, formerly meadow ditches; and ‘dendritic’—new channels, formerly open meadow (Fig. 6) taken from example locations along the Delaware River and Bay. Fig. 7 displays the distribution of diked meadows from a review of historical maps and photographs. Most diked meadow areas of Fig. 7 display either dendritic, open/flats, or ditched tidal creek patterns, if they have not been filled for land development. Diked meadowland isolated from tidal flow did not receive sediment from the bay needed to maintain surface elevations. Subsidence and compaction of the meadow surfaces over time further reduced their elevation. It appears that long periods of diked meadow use during a time of rising sea level created creek patterns
of open/flats to dendritic classes. For those meadows used over a shorter time, the flow patterns are in the ditched class. 3.3. Cedar Swamp An 1828 map (Fig. 8) shows the upper meadow area in Alloway Creek was upland, not marsh. Notably, it shows, what is now the Cedar Swamp salt marsh site area, as Cedar Creek. Fig. 9, an 1841 map of Cedar Swamp area, displays both a roadway (and dike) and dike alone between Liston Neck and Thorofare Neck and no Cedar Creek, only marsh. The map presented in an 1850 atlas (Fig. 10a) also shows the roadway and dike, but no marsh, indicating that the area behind dike and road was farmed meadow. This 1850 map
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Fig. 7. Historical tide gated meadows from historical maps and photographs.
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Fig. 8. Delaware River–Delaware City to Bombay Hook, 1828.
also shows a forested wetland (cedar swamp) behind the roadway dike. Bryan (1997) and Florio (1978) described two hurricanes that changed this portion of the coast
and tidal marshes. The 1878 hurricane breached the dikes at Collins Beach (once the mouth of Cedar Creek) and breached Bombay Hook Island. The Collins Beach dikes were rebuilt only to be washed out for
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Fig. 9. Cedar Swamp, 1841.
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Fig. 10. Cedar Swamp. (a) 1850, (b) 1927, (c) 1998, and (d) Color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
good in the coastal hurricane of 1893. The Cedar Swamp meadow area became tidal marsh with the dendritic creek pattern of former meadows (Fig. 10b). Relic sections of the Cedar Swamp dike can be seen in the 1927 photograph and today (Fig. 10c and d). The marsh creeks have continued to fill in since 1927 and dead cedar trees can still be found today in the area marked as forested wetland in the 1850 map. 3.4. Woodland Beach and the rocks The hurricane of 1878 breached Bombay Hook Island and also changed the Duck Creek marshes in the
area that is now the EEP Woodland Beach site. Maps from Florio (1978) and Fig. 8 illustrate the progression following the storm breach (Fig. 11). The roadways crossing Old Duck Creek suggest that dikes created the meadows. The 1860 image shows the sinuous pattern of undisturbed natural tidal creeks. Accounts indicate that the 1878 storm breach (The Break) allowed an area of open water/tidal flats to form (1910 image) that greatly enhanced waterfowl use. Landowners rebuilt the roadway dike at “the stoppen” to ensure this wildlife use for hunting. Over time, more breaches connected the open water embayment to the river and tidal drainage developed sufficiently to allow marsh plain evolution with a dendritic pattern of tidal creeks. Fig. 12 shows images
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Fig. 11. Evolution of Woodland Beach: 1860 to present.
of 1927 and 1997. The tidal creeks have continued to fill in between 1927 and 1997. Historic maps of the EEP Rocks site show no indication the area was diked to create meadow. Fig. 13(a)
1927 and (b) 1997 show no area of diked marsh. Linear ditches on the site may have been cut to enhance marsh access for hunting or trapping (Daiber, 1986).
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Fig. 12. Woodland Beach (a) 1927 and (b) color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
3.5. Maurice River Township and Moore’s Beach The natural shoreline beach berm along the Maurice River Cove of the Delaware Bay afforded protection for large expanses of salt hay marshes. These coastal tidal marshes along the cove have long history of salt hay farming (Sebold, 1992). Fig. 14 shows the Maurice River Township restoration site and the adjacent Moore’s Beach reference site. Early salt hay farming in these marshes was basically harvesting salt hay in natural marshes. Ditching the natural marshes helped access for harvest and as relative sea level increased (about one foot per century), became necessary to maintain the salt hay community. A slow increase in the distribution of ditching is apparent in Fig. 14 through 1842 to 1894. The 1946 map in Fig. 15 indicates that ditches for salt hay farming were widespread in the area. The continued pace of rela-
tive sea level rise, as well as, several hurricanes and coastal storms (Northeasters) in the 1950s resulted in the need for most of the salt hay farms to have man made dikes along their lower elevations by the early 1960s. Coastal storms in the early 1980s caused breaches in the natural beach berm and dikes along the shores of the Maurice River Cove. Breaches in dikes along Riggins Ditch (shown at Lost Meander location in Fig. 15(b) initially caused the flooding of a salt hay farm to the east of this tidal creek and the formation of a tidal lagoon and mud flats. The loss of a natural creek meander near the mouth of Riggins Ditch (Fig. 15b) is coincident with the increase in tidal prism volume of this creek from the flooded former salt hay farm. Multiple breaches in the bay beach berm of Moore’s or Robinson Beach developed during the early 1980s
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Fig. 13. The Rocks (a) 1927 and (b) color reversal infrared aerial photograph 1997.
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Fig. 14. Maurice River Township restoration site and Moore’s Beach reference site (a) USGS Quad, (b) 1842, (c) 1888, and (d) 1894.
Fig. 15. Maurice River Township restoration site and Moore’s Beach reference site (a) 1946, (b) 1986, (c) 1992, and (d) 1996.
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(Fig. 15(b 1986, (c) 1992, and (d) 1996) and established a large lagoon and tidal mud flats that persist today. Fig. 15(c) 1992 was used as the example of the open/flats tidal marsh creek pattern in Fig. 6. A breach in the bay beach berm of what is now the Maurice River Township site (Thompson’s Beach), occurred in 1993 and can be seen in Fig. 15(d) 1996. Concern for the development of large lagoons and tidal mud flats from natural uncontrolled bay berm breaches helped shape the successful design of EEP salt hay restoration sites, including the Maurice River Township site. It seems likely that a large open water embayment would have become established on the Maurice River Township site, if restoration efforts had not begun in 1997.
4. Conclusion The EEP Phragmites restoration sites of Alloway Creek and Cohansey River are diked meadowlands. The past land use is evident from the patterns made by their tidal creeks—either dendritic or ditched pattern classes. Cedar Swamp and Woodland Beach have historical records showing dikes or natural island barriers that were breached in great storm events; there are no records they were used as meadow land. These two sites, as well as a portion of the Alloway Creek site, illustrate a progression of open water/flats embayment to a dendritic creek pattern and evolved marsh plain following dike breaches. The Rocks shows no record in historical maps and photographs of diked or storm influenced marsh plain development. The Rocks has linear ditches, but no relic dike areas. The Maurice River Township restoration site and the adjacent Moore’s Beach reference site show a history of uncontrolled bay berm and dike breaches. The eastern portion of Moore’s Beach, outside of the reference site, has an extensive area of open water/flats embayment that persists today. Restoration efforts on the Maurice River Township site were taken before a similar open water embayment could become established. These maps and photographs were valuable tools in designing the restorations for the EEP restoration sites because they illustrated the range of physical changes that might occur and the time over which changes could be projected.
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