Work Continues with Volunteer Day on Saturday, May 21
Two municipalities and residential communities have come together to help the American Littoral Society restore marshland at Slade Dale Sanctuary using tree branches and about 200 recycled Christmas trees.
Lacey Township collected, stored and transported the recycled Christmas trees to Point Pleasant free of charge. The Township of Point Pleasant has also provided similar tree collection and transportation for this project in the past. Now, the Society is enlisting volunteers to help refill a system of breakwaters in Beaverdam Creek with these recycled Christmas trees and brush donated by Lacey Township.
Known as branchbox breakwaters, these wooden structures are designed to control erosion by using trees and brush to slow currents and waves, as well as capture the sediment being carried in the water. The trees in the breakwaters must be replaced periodically.
The shoreline at Slade Dale Sanctuary has eroded approximately 600 feet since 1930. The Sanctuary’s pine-oak forest, hardwood swamp, and salt marsh provide a space of protected wilderness in an otherwise heavily developed coastal area of NJ. Besides providing nursery habitat for fish, and foraging habitat for birds such as osprey, egrets, and bald eagles, the salt marsh at Slade Dale also helps protect uplands from flooding during storms.
In addition to sprucing up the breakwaters, the Society’s plans at the site include implementing other natural erosion strategies, adding native plants along the shoreline, and launching a community science monitoring program.
The Slade Dale marsh restoration project is generously supported by US Fish & Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, Borough of Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Rotary Club, Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, Lacey Township, and Bill Borowsky (owner of Nature’s Reward Farm Market.)
What:Â Slade Dale Volunteer Day
Who:Â American Littoral Society, Point Pleasant Township, Lacey Township
When:Â Saturday, May 21, 2022 from 10 am to 12 pm
Where:Â GPS: 2235 Sea Point Drive, Point Pleasant, NJ
For more information, please visit littoralsociety.org.