A Marsh That's Worth Its Salt
A brackish marsh in Maine is once again becoming a saltwater ecosystem, thanks to a partnership of business, government and community organizations that includes Duke Energy.
Pemaquid Marsh is a six-acre salt marsh which had increasingly limited saltwater flow due to undersized, deteriorated culverts. The crushed and corroded culverts created a safety and maintenance issue for the town of Bristol and, since only 20 percent of the marsh was regularly flooded by tides, it began to convert to a freshwater marsh.
The town, with assistance from the Maine Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership (CWRP) and the Gulf of Maine Council/NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) Habitat Restoration Partnership, conducted a hydrological and vegetation analysis of the site. The recommendation was to replace the old galvanized steel culverts with a pre-stressed concrete box culvert to allow the tides to flow through freely. Monitoring of the site has shown complete restoration of tidal flow, which will diminish brackish species, increase native salt marsh plants and improve habitat for migratory waterfowl, shore birds, wading birds and estuarine fish.
Duke Energy is a corporate member of the CWRP, a public-private partnership which combines resources and expertise to protect, enhance and restore wetlands and other aquatic habitats. Duke Energy’s Maritimes & Northeast (M&NE) Pipeline is the lead partner in the Maine CWRP and worked with Coastal America, a federal interagency organization, to found the chapter in 2000. In 2001, the M&NE Pipeline was the sole recipient of Coastal America’s Special Recognition Award for its leadership in establishing the Maine CWRP.
Duke Energy is a key participant in the CWRP at the national and regional level through monetary and in-kind contributions, and voluntary leadership. Algonquin Gas Transmission was one of the charter members of the first CWRP chapter in Massachusetts. Duke Energy Gas Transmission founded the Texas chapter, and received the Coastal America Partnership Award in 2004 for its work to restore marshlands and build a trail system around the historic San Jacinto battleground near Houston.
Visit http://www.coastalamerica.gov/text/cwrp.html for more information about the CWRP.