Restoring Tidal Wetlands with Living Shorelines—an Edge at a Time

Restoring Tidal Wetlands with Living Shorelines—an Edge at a Time. . , In 2020, in partnership with the Center for the Inland Bays (CIB) and DNREC, over 300' of DBG's Pepper Creek southeast edge was restored using a natural living shoreline approach to preserve and protect the eroding tidal saltmarsh. In 2023, a second natural approach to shoreline stabilization began on the remaining unrestored portion of the Pepper Creek southwest edge, this one sponsored by the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) in partnership with DBG., The $560,000 DelDOT mitigation project restored the eroding saltmarsh along approximately 500' of DBG's tidal shoreline and built out the marsh to its original 1920's extent. This effort created one third of an acre of new tidal wetland and further protected another half acre of existing tidal wetland edge and its adjacent woodlands from erosion due to wave action., In this hybrid living shoreline approach, a rock sill structure was built for stability and back-filled with sand and vegetation to extend the marsh. While the marsh is covered at high tide, breaks in the rock sill act as an outlet as the tide recedes. As the tide moves in and out over the new extent, 7200 plugs of smooth cord grass (Spartina alterniflora) perform their estuarial function in the following ways: ,

. Adding new native habitat and nursery grounds for Pepper Creek wildlife , . Filtering out pollutants and excess nutrients from the water , . Capturing sediments and stabilizing the shoreline from erosion , . Controlling flood waters , . Increasing coastal woodlands resilience to sea-level rise

, Tidal wetlands have quite a large responsibility, wouldn't you say?, Openings built into the rock sill living shoreline structure allow the natural comings and goings of existing wildlife, such as reptiles, amphibians, river otters, shellfish, shorebirds and bald eagles. A 2022 CIB survey recorded a daily count of up to thirty Diamondback terrapins that frequented the DBG site during the spring breeding season, looking for sandy nesting sites and foraging for food (i.e. snails living on the Spartina grasses). This turtle lives its entire life cycle in a brackish habitat such as ours at Pepper Creek. But their habitat has been reduced by the loss of creekside sandy beaches due to unnatural bulkhead-type hardened shorelines. The DBG-DelDOT living shoreline restoration helps ensure the viability of the terrapins' natural habitat as well as the quality of its surrounding water., [Captions:] , One can imagine that our DBG resident bald eagle family watched from their very tall loblolly pine nest above the shoreline as this project progressed, maybe as wind and flood tides pounded away at their fishing habitat below. And they may have noted that one of their favorite fishing perches remains standing in the middle of the new marsh due to the insight of the restoration team. Although the project's progress was often dependent upon the eagles' mating and breeding seasons, their enhanced habitat is evidence that this partnership's watershed approach to mitigating wetland loss protects far more than just the land restored. , Eagle photo by Nancy E. Hodgspath, The above photos show a rendering of the DBG-DelDOT Hybrid Living Shoreline, the shoreline stabilization Concept Map, some of our coastal wildlife that benefit from the new shoreline (DBG's bald eagle pair, a great blue heron, Diamondback terrapins, and a blue crab), and the new rock sill marsh at incoming tide prior to 2024 Spartina grass planting.