Ocean House Marina has just released a behind the scenes look at the Charlestown Breachway Ninigret Pond salt marsh restoration project.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy damaged the marsh areas of the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge and the adjacent barrier island that protected it from the Atlantic Ocean.
Responding to this, the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) in December 2016 contracted with JF Brennan Company Inc. to dredge two sedimentation basins within the refuge breachway channel.
Sand deposited into the Ninigret Inlet during the hurricane was dredged using two 8″ hydraulic dredgers and transported via pipeline back to the marsh.
A bulldozer and amphibious excavator placed the sand to rebuild the damaged protective islands and stop salt water encroachment.
The goals of this coastal protection scheme were to preserve the functions of the existing salt marsh making it more resilient to future sea level rise, to slow the entry of sediment into the pond and to improve navigation by creating a deeper breachway channel.
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