[RWG] WEB: Seminar on "Reveg. & Rest. of an Oil Contaminated Wetland in N. NJ"

[Olivia Kwong]

This seminar will be done using a conference call & web slideshow. 
Please see http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/ecorestoration3/ for more 
information and registration.

Revegetation and Restoration of an Oil Contaminated Wetland in Northern 
New Jersey
Sponsored by: U.S. EPA Land Revitalization Office
January 19, 2006, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, EST (19:00-21:00 GMT)

Removing spilled oil from the environment is difficult, time consuming, 
and expensive especially if a critical habitat or ecologically sensitive 
area has been affected. Past removal practices have had extreme 
deleterious effects on the ecosystem both immediate and long-term to such 
extent as to question whether removing oil from these sensitive systems 
are environmentally wise in the first place. This presentation will 
attempt to show that a carefully supervised cleanup followed by a 
scientifically driven monitoring program can be effective in removing oil 
from a sensitive wetland habitat using the Green Pond Oil Spill Removal 
project as the prime example.

This project involved a small flood plain wetland located on the south 
bank of the Pequannock River in Morris County, New Jersey which was 
contaminated by oil seeping out of the ground. The source of the oil was 
from a pipeline that transported oil from the oil fields in western New 
York State to Bayonne at the turn of the century. The pipeline was 
abandoned in the 1920's and removed, leaving behind subsurface deposits of 
spilled oil that contaminated the adjacent wetland during periods of 
elevated groundwater. Six to eight inches of the native soil horizon was 
removed as part of the oil spill cleanup effort thereby denuding the 
wetland.

The Revegetation/Restoration commenced with the placement of hemp mat to 
minimize erosion as all of the stream side vegetation was removed during 
the cleanup operation followed by the emplacement of coir logs along the 
stream edge. In the spring of 1999, plantings of potted native shrubs and 
forbes were installed by a private landscape firm experienced in wetland 
restoration. A deer fence was placed around the entire site to protect the 
new plantings

A monitoring program for determining the success of the 
revegetation/restoration effort with Spring and end-of-the-growing season 
surveys conducted along established transects and throughout the overall 
site. Species composition and productivity measurements were an integral 
part of the parameters to measure the progress of the effort to determine 
comparability between the remediated site and undisturbed wetlands. An 
Invasive Species Management plan was an integral activity of the 
Revegetation/ Restoration Project for the Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum 
salicaria), an invasive plant from Northern Europe. Herbivorous beetles 
(Galerucella calmariensis and Galerucella pusilla) were obtained from the 
State of New Jersey Bio-Control Laboratory and released at the site. The 
success of this control strategy was monitored using a protocol developed 
by Dr. Brend Blossey at Cornell University.

The presentation will incorporate all that has been learned from the 
removal activity in terms of How Clean is Clean as applied to an oil 
contaminated fresh water wetland. This information should be useful for 
decision makers, responders, and consultants alike when faced with 
remediating disturbed or contaminated habitats.

Background: In December 2001, EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 
Response (OSWER) launched the Revitalization Initiative. As with the EPA's 
Brownfields' pilot projects, OSWER recognized that reuse and redevelopment 
considerations should be incorporated in all of OSWER's cleanup programs. 
The Land Revitalization Office was formed to ensure coordination occurs 
across all OSWER offices to achieve the Agency's land use goals. The group 
serves as an advocate for reuse and revitalization of formerly 
contaminated land. They provide coordination on programmatic, policy, and 
regional implementation issues across all OSWER waste programs. The Land 
Revitalization Office develops methods to advocate, improve, and 
streamline OSWER reuse programs, tests new ways of conducting business, 
and assesses program trends to better determine further directions to 
enhance waste programs cleanup and reuse. This training is sponsored by 
EPA's Land Revitalization Office.

Instructor:

     * Royal J. Nadeau, The Eco-Strategies Group 
(royal at theeco-strategiesgroup.com)
     * Michael F. Solecki, Response and Prevention Branch  Region II 
(solecki.michael at epa.gov)

Moderator:

     * Scott Fredericks, U.S. EPA Environmental Response Team 
(fredericks.scott at epa.gov)