Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh Getting $4.8M Makeover In Point Pleasant

POINT PLEASANT, NJ — Thirteen acres of the Nellie Bennett Salt Marsh will be restored under a $4.8 million grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The grant was awarded to the Barnegat Bay Partnership, NJDEP officials said Thursday.

The salt marsh, which sits south of Nellie Bennett Elementary School at the confluence of Beaver Dam Creek and the Metedeconk River in northern Barnegat Bay, has experienced severe degradation and loss of vegetation over the past several decades. Nearly 60 percent of the marsh has converted to mudflat since the 1960, according to a Barnegat Bay Partnership project presentation.

The damage to the salt marsh has affected its ability to protect surrounding areas, including nearby homes, from flooding, and has affected the ecology as well, the Partnership said.

The work involves using 29,000 cubic yards of material dredged from nearby lagoons, along with municipal compost placed in coir logs, to elevate and rebuild the marsh platform.

Coir logs are biodegradable tubes used for erosion control in high marsh areas.

The project, when completed, will restore 1,500 feet of shoreline, the partnership said.

It will "provide valuable wildlife habitat and serve as a buffer that protects the Nellie Bennett Elementary School, nearby drinking water infrastructure, local roadways, and more than 150 homes in surrounding neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding and erosion," the NJDEP said.

"On the first Earth Day in 1970, children could walk across this entire marsh as it protected the Boro from storm surge," Point Pleasant Mayor Robert Sabosik said. "With this grant, the marsh will protect the community for decades to come."

"Restoring the Nellie Bennett Marsh improves coastal resilience in the Borough of Point Pleasant, restores a natural carbon sink along the New Jersey coast, and brings back important wildlife habitat in a highly developed part of the Barnegat Bay," said Andrew McGowan, director of the Barnegat Bay Partnership. "We are very appreciative of the support and funding from NJDEP, the many partners of the Barnegat Bay Partnership who have shared their thoughts and suggestions as we developed the project, and the Borough of Point Pleasant for working with us to make this happen."

NJDEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak announced the grant on Wednesday in a public appearance at Sunshine Harbor, with Council President Joe Veni and Councilwoman Valerie Coulson on hand for the borough.

Veni said the project was a team effort that included cooperation between Sabosik, the council and the Barnegat Bay Partnership.

Restoring the marsh will strengthen coastal resiliency, enhance wildlife habitats, and help protect the community from storm surges and flooding, Veni said.