Gallery

New Jersey urban park before and after

Here is the abstract of an article that appeared in the September 2007 issue of Ecological Restoration, followed by a series of photos showing the restoration in progress.

The Restoration of an Urban Floodplain in Rahway, New Jersey by Christopher C. Obropta and Peter L. Kallin

The highly urbanized Rahway River watershed in New Jersey suffers from frequent flooding due to extensive development and destruction of riparian wetlands and floodplains. A diverse group of stakeholders worked together to restore a 1.8 ha site on the floodplain to riparian wetland with the goals of providing wildlife habitat, filtering pollutants from stormwater runoff, providing stormwater retention to minimize flooding, and providing public access for passive recreation as well as education about wetlands and watershed management. This wetland restoration site has been incorporated into the Union County Parks System as the Michael S. Bezega Wetlands Observation Area. Due to the urban setting (14 houses were removed from the site), the project design and implementation were very complex. Developing the water budgets required analyses of the tidal Rahway River as well as stormwater runoff from local drainage areas. Funding was obtained from six different funding agencies, and the project was constructed largely with city and county public works personnel. Native plants were installed by volunteers who continue to do invasive species management at the site. Key factors contributing to the success of this project include extensive involvement of a diverse partnership of stakeholders, a multi-disciplinary project team, thorough up-front design and engineering analyses, careful selection of vegetation palettes based on analyses of reference wetlands, and extensive on-site supervision of the construction crews by personnel who could make design decisions in the field.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Looking northwest toward future upper swale area from the corner of Union and Allen Streets in Rahway, NJ. During Tropical Storm Floyd, this corner was submerged under nearly seven feet of water with only the very top of the street sign visible. The dark tree at the right edge of the photograph is the large cedar that is visible in later photos.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) Dr. Kallin (center) supervises Sherriff's Labor Assistance Program (SLAP) "volunteers" spreading wetland soils in upper wet pond. The SLAP Program allows citizens convicted of minor offences to perform public service in place of fines or other punishment. The stump in the center is a "habitat island" that is visible in later photographs.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Upper wet pond a month after initial planting with upper swale/wet meadow in background. The St. Johns Russian Orthodox Church is visible in the background. The church provided many volunteers for the project.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Upper wet pond three months after planting with cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) and swamp rosemallow (Hibiscis moscheutos) in bloom. (August 16,2002)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) Two hundred fourth and fifth graders planting the upper swale. On the one year anniversary of 9/11, students were allowed to miss school to perform community service projects such as planting the wetland. These students planted over 3000 shrubs and nearly 7500 herbaceous plugs under the supervision of Union County Parks personnel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) This is the same spot two years later, with extensive coverage of lesser and nodding bur marigolds (Bidens sp.), boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

7) A year after the opening dedication with benches and pedestrian path along river. The park is now a popular recreation destination. (June 2, 2004)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------