2007 Coastal America Spirit Award

October 04, 2007

Agency: Coastal America
Project: Woodbridge Creek Restoration 

Coastal America Partnership selected the Berger-designed, US Army Corps/NOAA-led, Woodbridge Creek Restoration, to receive a 2007 Spirit Award. The Woodbridge Creek Mitigation and Restoration project created a 64-acre, high-quality salt marsh complex, including enhancements to designated preservation zones. For the mitigation effort, Berger assisted the Corps with the fieldwork required for the design plans, including biological benchmarking, vegetative cover maps, soil sampling and characterization, site survey and hydrologic modeling. Berger’s efforts also included a number of public outreach tasks.

As a result of the mitigation work, Berger was asked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to finalize the construction documents for a wetland restoration site immediately adjacent to the Corps’ Woodbridge Creek Wetland Mitigation site. The NOAA/NJDEP Woodbridge Creek Wetland Restoration mitigated for damages resulting from the 1998 Exxon Bayway Oil Spill. The wetland restoration project focused on removing a surrounding historical dike to restore twice-daily tidal inundation to the site. Restoring the natural ebb and flow of the tide has converted the wetland to a Spartina marsh and provides habitat for estuarine fish and shellfish species injured by the oil spill.