A Partnership to Mitigate Inland Bays Wetland Loss

A Partnership to Mitigate Inland Bays Wetland Loss. . , Not so long ago, around the 1920's, the shores of Pepper Creek were lined with abundant saltmarshes. These tidal wetlands stabilized coastal woodlands like you are walking through today at DBG, which in turn protected inland properties., Over time, erosive wave action from boats and storms, as well as development practices along the shoreline, reduced the creek's historic saltmarsh extent, limiting its function in protecting the woodlands. A "ghost marsh" formed along the shoreline, characterized by remnants of dying trees, thinning strands of native saltmarsh grasses and diminished sediments. This indicated that this coastal ecosystem's viability was in jeopardy and help was needed., Help came when the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) needed a site to perform a wetland "mitigation" to compensate for the removal of freshwater and tidal wetlands at their traffic improvement project along the SR 24 corridor. Mitigation is required by Federal law when wetlands or other waters of the United States are impacted by road construction. Compensation for those impacts include restoration, creation, or preservation of aquatic resources similar to those impacted., In the past, DelDOT negotiated and purchased private properties to create or restore wetlands. But finding wetland mitigation sites has become increasingly difficult. Shoreline properties are hard to come by due to increased development or the reluctance of owners to sell. So DelDOT took a new approach to finding owners like non-profit organizations (i.e. DBG) that they could partner with to perform mitigation. While a single project may not be an exact match to the resource lost, DelDOT ensures that the mitigation process follows a "watershed" approach, resulting in an improvement in the quality and quantity of aquatic resources within the same watershed impacted., [Sidebar:] , What you see in front of you today is a new hybrid living shoreline, the result of this watershed approach to mitigating wetland loss by the DBG-DelDOT partnership. The outcome: an increase in size and the restoration of this previously diminishing Pepper Creek saltmarsh. The beneficiaries: this coastal ecosystem and our Inland Bays Watershed.