Story and photos by MC2(EXW) Todd Frantom
From The All Hands Magazine

As fish re-establish hatcheries along the new cobble beaches on Indian Head, Osprey are more frequently seen fishing.

The waterways surrounding Naval Support Facility (NSF) Indian Head, Md., faced a dilemma. At their average annual erosion rate of 1.5 feet per year, approximately 12,000 cubic yards of sediment per year was entering the watery environment. Navy structures, base shorelines and wildlife sanctuaries were in danger of disappearing forever. It was time to develop a shoreline management plan.

“In 2002 we surveyed shoreline erosion along the installation’s waterfront,” said Jeffrey Bossart, Installation Environmental Program director.

“The plan prioritized areas that needed immediate attention and recommended actions to manage shoreline erosion to protect the existing infrastructure at the base, improve water quality and enhance terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat.

Saving the Shoreline

“The Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River are national treasures,” said Donald Schregardus, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (environment). “The shoreline restoration at Indian Head is one of many projects in which DoD is investing to revitalize the bay.”

Schregardus has more than 25 years of service with federal and state environmental protection agencies. He was appointed deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (environment) in November 2001, and as such, reports to the assistant secretary of the Navy (installations and environment).

He is the principal policy advisor on environmental programs, including conservation of natural and cultural resources, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, cleanup of contaminated sites and programs for pollution prevention.

He also represents the Department of the Navy on the DoD Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Board and provides coordination for the DoD Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

Filing for project permits began in 2004 and continued through 2006. Ground was broken on the project in 2007. Schregardus, Baltimore’s National Aquarium, the Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board, the Charles County Soil Conservation District, the Charles County Master Gardeners and the Maryland Conservation Corps have neared completion of phase three of the four-phase project. Phase three was designed to protect mission critical infrastructure, and to enhance aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitats while improving water quality by reducing sediment loading to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“This project affects the Potomac in a positive way,” said Bossart. “It’s reducing sedimentation in the water column where before there was really no habitat for fish or wildlife to harbor around. We’re bringing in stone beaches so it’s actually providing fish spawning habitats.”

Navy Environmental Stewardship

According to Robert Summers, deputy secretary, Maryland Department of Environment, projects like these support the Navy’s stewardship of the environment as well protects the Navy’s mission.

“Moving this rock in here and dealing with this situation is quite costly, but it’s an investment in our infrastructure that is absolutely vital,” said Summers. “Without this, the base wouldn’t be here very long and buildings would be lost. Without a clean Chesapeake Bay, we don’t have a basis for our economy in this state.”

“Although the importance of this project is high,” Bossart said, “there were numerous challenges. Some of the challenges we had to face were the long-term planning and funding, while trying to convince several of the agencies on the regulatory side that this is a good thing to do.”

During a recent dignitary and media visit, Natural Resources Program Manager at NSF Indian Head Seth Berry, talked about the progress of the shoreline stabilization project –its history, status and future activities. Guest were given an opportunity to visit restoration sites and received a first hand opportunity to work with volunteers planting trees.

In October 2010, the National Aquarium in Baltimore recruited volunteers from the AmeriCorps, Maryland Conservation Corps, Charles County Master Gardeners, Aquarium Conservation Team, local community and Navy military and civilian personnel to support the planting of trees, shrubs and grasses in the riparian floodplain areas.

While tromping along in deep sand, between plantings of young, wrapped hard woods, Bossart explained to his audience the challenges that have been met and the situations that continue to be a challenge.

Many dignitaries decided to take part and help the volunteers tearing into the hard clay along the beach while continuing to listen to Bossart, Berry, Schregardus and other subject matter experts who have worked on this project.

“After Hurricane Isabel further made the shoreline erosion on the base worse, the Navy received $5.2 million in hurricane relief funding,” said Bozzart.

“The money was used to fund the design, permitting and construction of the initial phase of the shoreline stabilization project. And, with the support of the Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board and the Charles County Soil Conservation District, work began in November 2007 with the construction of a series of breakwaters and sills along approximately 3,500 feet of the eastern shore of the Potomac River.

“In October 2010, the National Aquarium in Baltimore recruited volunteers from the AmeriCorps, Maryland Conservation Corps, Charles County Master Gardeners, Aquarium Conservation Team, local community and Navy military and civilian personnel to support the planting of trees, shrubs and grasses in the riparian floodplain areas,” said Bossart.

These stabilization efforts have greatly reduced or eliminated impacts of wave action on the shoreline. As a result, approximately 2,900 feet of shoreline will naturally stabilize.

In addition, extensive erosion along a 600-foot section of the stabilized shoreline required bank grading to stabilize the slope and protect two office buildings within 35 feet of the top of the shoreline.

“Behind the breakwaters and sills,” continued Bossart, “an area of nearly 11 acres was backfilled to create more than an acre of inertial vegetated wetland habitat and 9.5 acres of wetland habitat suitable for scrub-shrub, riparian floodplain forest and upland trees and shrubs.

“What we have essentially done is created a standard format for this type of shoreline restoration,” said Bossart.

“Our design has stood the test of time from the initial phases,” he added. “For almost a decade we have shown that the system works, had no failures in structures and through trying small variations in methods, such as testing the hardiest grasses, shrubs and trees enhanced success rate in vegetation.”

Today the Aquarium staff and volunteers continue to plant native wetland plants in the inter-tidal wetland areas and replace damaged or dead trees and shrubs from the fall planting effort.

“This project uses state-of-the-art design to minimize the facility’s impact on the environment,” Schregardus pointed out. “It’s also an example of fiscal stewardship. The Navy has been able to achieve more while reducing its costs through partnerships with the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board, and the Charles Soil Conservation District.”

During the project, volunteers helped plant a variety of wetland grasses, trees and shrubs, which are native to the Chesapeake Bay, along the waters edge to help stabilize the area, reduce erosion, protect the existing land and provide a habitat for numerous species of wildlife.

A river otter enjoys the bounty of fish along the Chesapeake watershed.

“This project and the shoreline stabilization design that has evolved into what it is today over the last nine years by the Navy has been adopted as the standard practice around the watersheds around the nation,” said Bossart.

In the broadest perspective, the project not only establishes a healthy ecosystem in Chesapeake Bay Watershed it has also given us the know-how, too,” said Schregardus. “This decision changes the way we as a nation, the Navy and society care for the future of our shorelines.”

Frantom is assigned to Defense Media Activity, Washington, D.C.

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