The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE) worked with eight members of its Corporate & Community Environmental Stewardship Program (CESP) to implement on-the-ground projects in 2010. These included habitat enhancements, as well as alternative projects, carried out with:
Logan Generating Company has been a CESP member for over 10 years and has made commendable efforts to maintain and conserve its surrounding natural resources by taking an explicit interest in restoring its property. The project area at the Logan Generating Station in Logan Township, New Jersey, consists of approximately 31 acres of fields that were converted from agricultural production to wildlife habitat by planting trees and shrubs, starting in 2002.
In 2010, Logan Generating began a monitoring program for this area to track the health and survival of planted trees and shrubs, as well as the area’s use by birds and other animals. They also began the process of eradicating Sericea lespedeza, an invasive plant that prevents healthy native plants from growing. After a couple of seasons of this work, they can begin planting the area again. In November, about 25 employees and some of their children planted about 100 trees and shrubs in a second habitat-restoration area on the property.
Sunoco became a CESP member in 2010 and has been working with PDE staff to plan several projects. Sunoco employees are active in the Marcus Hook and Philadelphia communities, so the goal for its CESP projects is to get more involved in these communities and also benefit the environment by doing planting projects at local elementary schools, community parks and ball fields, and around Sunoco’s properties. On Earth Day in April, Sunoco plans to have several opportunities for employees to participate in projects, such as marking storm drains with “No Dumping” signs or planting trees in the area to help improve the environment and educate the community about water pollution and other issues.
New Castle County also joined the CESP in 2010, and it has already laid the groundwork for improving the attractiveness and functionality of two stormwater ponds in Hockessin, Delaware. Both ponds have had problems with invasive plants like Phragmites, a nuisance made worse by the fact that they are located on the main road through town and adjacent to a ball field. New Castle County is currently working to enhance these stormwater ponds with native wetland plants. The ponds will be seeded by volunteers in the spring with attractive, native sprigs and plugs, such as blue flag iris and joe pye weed. Educational signs will also be placed on the sidewalk between the ponds to explain the need for plants in stormwater ponds to help soak up water and prevent nutrients from getting into nearby streams.
Pepco Holdings, Inc., is currently planning a rain-garden project at their site in Wilmington, Delaware. The rain garden will capture polluted runoff from one of the parking lots on the property, and the nutrients in the runoff will be absorbed by the native plants in the rain garden instead of leaching into the nearby Christina River. The rain-garden site is in an urban location and will provide a good opportunity to educate people walking by about how to manage their own runoff.
Pepco’s rain garden will be among the first installed in the Delaware Estuary’s watershed as part of a new “Rain Gardens for the Bays” campaign that the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary is working on with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others.
In 2008, Centocor, Noramco, GBSC and McNeil (all Johnson & Johnson companies) began working with the PDE on the first phase of a stream-restoration project at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Phase one of the project involved planting native trees, shrubs, and grasses in a 10-foot-wide buffer along a stream that flows through a pasture where animals are allowed to roam. This was needed because nutrient-rich animal waste was causing bacteria and algae to grow in the tributary, reducing the amount of oxygen available for aquatic plants living downstream. Additional plants were installed by company volunteers in 2009, and today, Centocor and Noramco are working with the PDE on new ideas for expanding and improving the New Bolton Center buffer project and other projects on their companies’ properties.
The New Bolton Center site is one of several demonstration plantings by the PDE that utilized The Guide to the Natural Communities of the Delaware Estuary (PDF file) for the selection of plants.
Wheelabrator Gloucester is located on 153 acres on the shores of the Delaware River, and the property includes a variety of habitat types, including grasslands, upland forests and wetlands. As part of the Wildlife Habitat Council’s Wildlife at Work program, the six-person Waste Management wildlife team actively manages 30 acres of the site for wildlife-habitat enhancement and restoration.
Wheelabrator is continuing its environmental symposium program with a local middle school, West Deptford Middle School, to educate the students on environmental issues. This year, the students are working on signs for Wheelabrator’s wildlife habitat that will educate the public about the Delaware River and the wildlife it supports.
In May, Mannington Mills volunteers in Salem, New Jersey took the third and final step to complete a major local habitat-restoration project. The three-stage project has restored 12 acres of low-grade agricultural ground to an improved streamside buffer. By planting this buffer with native trees and shrubs, they are establishing an area of shrub habitat that will last for over 30 years before eventually becoming forest. During this time, the project will provide habitat for the following bird species of concern: the blue-winged warbler, eastern kingbird, brown thrasher, prairie warbler, eastern towhee and field sparrow.
In March 2009, the entire field was planted with a mix of native grasses, which have established well over the past two years. In May 2009, they also established the beginnings of a woody buffer adjacent to the marsh. This spot is adjacent to Route 45, directly across the street from The Bank. In the fall of 2009, they planted the long, five-plus-acre stretch of the field with native shrubs and trees. In total, Mannington Mills planted well over 3,000 native trees and shrubs at this site during three volunteer events.
The New Jersey Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the PDE helped to coordinate this project, which was identified as one of only five Priority Projects for the Delaware Estuary by the PDE Alliance for Comprehensive Ecosystem Solutions in 2010. Additional and significant help was provided by an energetic class of science students from the local Mannington Township School.
For further details, please read this related press release and news article.
Mannington Mills has a large volunteer environmental group and several other projects going on, like monitoring the purple martin colony on its property.
ConocoPhilips and the PDE are currently teaming up to complete a rain garden in the community near the corporation’s property in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. The rain garden will intercept polluted rainwater and snowmelt running off nearby buildings and streets before it can run into the Delaware River nearby. The rain garden should be complete next spring and will have educational signs for the community.
In addition to being a member of the CESP, ConocoPhillips has provided additional funding to support the Freshwater Mussel Recovery Program. |
