NOAA Earth Day 2010

Lincoln Park Wetland Restoration – Jersey City, New Jersey

Lincoln Park Wetland Restoration

Linsoln Park Wetland Area

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has been awarded $10.6 million in NOAA Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to restore marsh and protect coastal and marine habitats. The project had been in the works for 10 years, and this funding was the catalyst that finally set this project in motion. It has helped create 40 full-time jobs for unemployed workers to date.

The project also received $2.3 million in oil spill settlement funds from the Harbor Spill Restoration Committee comprised of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP). This funding was used to restore marine resources that were injured due to oil spills in the Hudson Raritan Estuary. More than $300,000 was provided by the New Jersey DEP’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration for project design, which will also be providing up to an additional $1 million in funding for project construction.

This project will restore the area’s native salt marsh community to improve the overall ecological health of the Hackensack River ecosystem. It is also creating an ecological oasis just outside of New York City that will be open to the public, providing critical green space so important to urban communities.

Lincoln Park Wetland Restoration

Restoration of the tidal wetland hydrology at the site will be done by excavating previously placed dredge and landfill material and re-contouring the site to create intertidal habitat and tidal creeks. This project will restore approximately 24 acres of wetland and 11 acres of wetlands transition area and will create 4,500 linear feet of tidally flowed creeks. It will also restore fish passage to a former tidal pond and create 3,000 ft of pathway connecting the park to the Liberty To Gap National Trail.

From the Event