This past September, District staff members Becky Laboy and Kristin Adams attended the fourth annual New Jersey Bay Islands Initiative field trip, hosted by the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Tuckerton. The NJ Bay Islands Initiative is a group that seeks to work with federal, state and local government agencies, universities, residents, business owners, local decision makers, NGOs, and visitors to protect and restore islands found in our estuaries across the state of New Jersey. The group met to share updates from their organizations, current projects and to learn more about the Coastal Zone Soil Survey, under the leadership of the USDA-NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service).
David Steinmann, Soil Scientist – Soil Survey Office Leader for the Soil and Plant Science Division | Special Projects Region for the USDA-NRCS based in Hammonton, conducts various soil survey projects throughout Maryland, Delaware and Southern New Jersey. David demonstrated soil sampling in the salt marsh adjacent to the forest and closer to the bay. He explained to the group the difference in soil color, texture and composition, including percentages of sand, silt and clay. This information can help inform restoration practitioners regarding a wide range of projects including beneficial reuse of dredge material, wetland restoration, living shorelines and shellfish/SAV restoration projects. Once soil survey projects are complete, the data is made available on the Web Soil Survey.
For more information about OCSCD’s involvement in the New Jersey Bay Islands Initiative, visit our NJBII project webpage.
