Nellie Bennett Marsh Restoration Plan

True Environmental is currently providing ecological and engineering services for the completion of site assessments, resource surveys, stakeholder outreach coordination, and preliminary design for the stabilization of 2,600 feet of eroding shoreline and the restoration of 20 acres of tidal salt marsh in upper Barnegat Bay. True is working with the Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) and their project stakeholders to develop a comprehensive living shoreline and saltmarsh restoration design plan for Nellie Bennett Marsh, which is currently undergoing subsidence and edge erosion. Working with BBP, True assisted in developing a vision for the restoration project and developed multiple schematic design alternatives. Our designs are sensitive to the need not only to restore the marsh, but also of the need to protect it from future impacts from sea level rise. To this end, our design focuses on developing a phased approach for the protection of the entire marsh complex that can be implemented in phases as funding allows and that is adaptable as effects of climate change and sea level rise are realized over time.

Our professionals conducted a comprehensive evaluation of existing site conditions and utilized historical data to understand the causality of the rapid loss to the surface area of the marsh complex. We analyzed best methods for re-establishing marsh edges to the maximum allowable regulatory footprint and protecting the complex area from any future loss. We also focused on nature-based shoreline stabilization techniques, as well as ways to improve public access to the marsh area while minimizing impacts to local ecology.