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At the American Littoral Society, we strive to help our fellow community members become better stewards of the coast. While education and advocacy can change behavior and stop detrimental activities, these outcomes do not always represent total success. Sometimes further action is needed to reverse the damage that has been done. One way we do this is through community-based habitat restoration of our natural environment. Through restoration projects, we engage community members in activities to restore viable, productive ecosystems that are important to the coast. This can include planting beach grass, clearing marine debris from a salt marsh; replacing grass lawns with native plant communities; monitoring shellfish in aquaculture tanks; or bagging shell as part of an oyster reef restoration project. Restoration projects can be very large in scope, like our ten-year project in Florida to replace an invasive plant with native plants; or they can be small, like a day spent removing debris that is smothering a salt marsh. Below, you will find information on: - Restoration Projects
- How You Can Help
- Restoration News
- Restoration Resources
- Restoration Funding Partners
- Restoration Project Partners
Restoration Projects Operation Clean Sweep : Jamaica Bay (NY) NJ Living Shorelines Initiative Sandy Hook Barrier Dune Restoration Project : Highlands NJ Shadow Lake Fishway Project : Navesink River (NJ) Baykeeper Community Oyster Restoration Program : Navesink River (NJ) Shrewsbury Island Marsh Restoration Project : Shrewsbury River (NJ) Coastal Watershed Conservation and Restoration Initiative : Navesink, Shrewsbury, Shark, & Manasquan rivers (NJ) Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program Project PORTS : Delaware Bay Delaware Estuary Regional Restoration Initiative Restoration Site Inventory : Jamaica Bay to Delaware Bay
How You Can Help 1) Volunteer on a project... Add yourself to our mailing list so you don′t miss out. ~~~ check back later for upcoming volunteer opportunities! ~~~~ 2) Champion a site... If there is a degraded natural habitat in your community, we′d like to hear about it, especially if it is a site that you or your group would like to work on. We maintain an inventory of sites that need to be restored. This helps us prioritize our work, find funding, and match people and organizations to projects. To learn more and nominate a site, please download our habitat restoration inventory form or contact us at (732) 291-0055 or bill@littoralsociety.org. 3) Donate cash, services, equipment, and more... Our restoration program is funded by public and private grants as well as donations from our members and non-members. Direct donations of cash and in-kind time, services, equipment, and materials are critical to the growth of this program and may support activities such as pre-project planning and follow-up monitoring not covered by our grants.
Restoration News Clam Planting in Barnegat Bay: Watch the end-of-season work of the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program in this video. There′s a New FLUPSY in Barnegat Bay: What is a FLUPSY and what does it have to do with habitat restoration? A FLUPSY or FLoating UPweller System is a device used in aquaculture for raising shellfish, similar to the land-based upweller you may have read about in a previous issue (in 2008, we told about our new upweller at the Mantoloking Yacht Club). It allows for faster, predator-free growth than in the wild, giving shellfish a jumpstart before they are "planted" in the bay. This new FLUPSY is located at Trader′s Cove Marina and Park in Brick Township, N.J. It comes thanks to the generosity of the landowner, Brick Township, and funding from the National Partnership between NOAA′s Community-based Restoration Program and Restore America′s Estuaries. With the coordinated hard work of our partners in the Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program, the Society further expanded the impact of this great program. Compared to a typical land-based upweller, this FLUPSY can grow ten times more clams with much less energy. Like all of this program′s upwellers, which now number 10, it is stocked with "baby" hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) and oysters (Crassostrea virginica). After a summer of growth, clams are planted in temporary beds, protected from predators, monitored  until they are of a size (~1.5 in.) where they are less vulnerable to many predators, and planted in scattered beds around the bay. Oysters are planted on the program′s reef restoration site near the mouth of the Toms River. The Trader′s Cove location is particularly exciting because it is in the process of becoming a recreational park, attracting hundreds of people daily who can then learn about the bay and how to protect and restore it. A primary aim of the Shellfish Restoration Program is to use shellfish as a tool to educate watershed communities about how they can improve the bay. As the bay improves over time, it will become more hospitable to viable, self-sustaining shellfish which are vital components of a healthy bay ecosystem. For more information about our Habitat Restoration Program and how to become involved, please contact the program director Bill Shadel at bill@littoralsociety.org. FLUPSY diagram credit: Jeff Ferzoco, Regional Plan Association
Restoration Resources Habitat is the primary reason we work to restore oyster reefs. For a great illustration of the oyster reef as habitat for other marine animals, check out this video. Interested in dam removal? Check out these websites: Winnicut River Dam Removal, NOAA Dam Removal, & Seber Grove Dam Removal. Here′s a great video from Restore America′s Estuaries that illustrates why habitat restoration is so important. Want to learn more about the restoration of aquatic habitats? Visit the NOAA Restoration Portal. An article about restoring American eels Ecological Restoration Reading Resources from the Society for Ecological Restoration
Restoration Funding Partners  
Restoration Project Partners NOAA Restoration Center Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Monmouth University Monmouth Conservation Foundation Township of Brick (NJ)
Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences National Park Service New York City Department of Environmental Protection Boro of Monmouth Beach (NJ) Ducks Unlimited US Fish and Wildlife Service Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory NJ Bureau of Shellfisheries Mantoloking (NJ) Yacht Club Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service of Ocean County ReClam the Bay NY/NJ Baykeeper
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